Rare books, magazines, programmes and priceless track and field memorabilia urgently need a new home
The archive and library of an estimated 10,000 items which have been looked after by the National Union of Track Statisticians (NUTS) in recent years are in danger of being lost due to being evicted from their current home in Croydon.
The collection has only nine days to find a new permanent, or even temporary, home before the eviction takes place due to the current venue being used for a different purpose in the near future.
In a statement, NUTS describe it as a “precious resource for sports journalists, students and researchers, or for anyone with an interest in athletics, the archive houses a peerless collection of athletics records and club histories bequeathed or gifted to NUTS by notable writers and statisticians such as Norris McWhirter and Bob Sparks (former President of the worldwide Association of Track and Field Statisticians), as well as coaching manuals and rare biographies.”
The archive used to be housed at a school in Cobham Hall in Kent but it moved in recent years to Croydon and has been largely looked after by Mike Fleet, a member of Croydon Harriers and former Commonwealth Games 880 yards finalist.
In the run-up to London 2012, there were loose plans to build a national athletics museum at the London Stadium – and there has occasionally been a pop-up display of historical items at venues like the Alexander Stadium – but plans for a museum at Stratford fell through although there is a West Ham supporters’ store there now instead.
“The volunteer-run facility,” says Fleet, “houses thousands of items, including a signed photo montage of the legendary Roger Bannister first sub-four-minute mile, a presentation scale model of the Beijing Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium and a United Kingdom Map of the 2012 Olympic Torch relay featuring the badges of all the cities and towns along the route.”
Other items in the collection include a world record-breaking javelin, a Sergey Bubka vaulting pole, the vests and tracksuits of famous Olympians, and numerous medals and vintage posters.
It also holds papers including the archive of the London Athletics Club, the personal collection of Olympic gold medal winner David Hemery, plus items of international importance including documents relating to the Berlin Olympics of 1936.
Fleet adds: “When it’s gone, it’s gone. The archive preserves the stories, achievements,…
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