MEMORIES OF A ROYAL BLUE IN THE USA

A former Sunderland Harrier has rekindled his link with the club after a period of 58 years.

Ian Halliwell a former Monkwearmouth Grammar School pupil and one of a group of talented athletes at the school during the 1960s, got in touch with the Harriers after discovering a Sunderland Harriers lapel badge.
He said: “I came across something I'd like you to have - a Harriers lapel badge that dates back to the 1920s.
I only knew of one other in existence in the 1960s, but do not recall the owner. My aunt gave it to me around 1962 - apparently it belonged to my great-uncle, Henry Maughan, and I wore it on my "Monkey House" school blazer!”

“I was an active member of the club in the 1960s and left to go to Imperial College in London in 1966. I worked for Rolls-Royce in Derby until 1981, when I emigrated first to Canada and later to the USA.
I carried on running until into my 50s when a huge staph infection destroyed my left hip. After that I turned to cycling and I still do that at the age of 72. I am currently semi-retired but work part-time as a consultant to NASA and lecture and teach at US universities.’’

Memories Of A Royal Blue In The Usa.

“I spent most of yesterday evening going through the club website and was saddened to see that Glynn Bathgate had died. I knew Glynn through the Scouts as well as the Harriers, and he helped me when I won two 50-Mile events they organized in 1963 and 1964, when I was 16 and 17.’’

“I am now setting best times on the bike, believe it or not. I discovered at the age of 70, that I've been anaemic all my life and have just got that sorted out. If only I had found that out in my late teens (which is when it probably began), I wouldn't have been running 3-hour marathons!
However, all those 70-mile training weeks have kept me pretty healthy, despite having been diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic in 1963.”

“My wife, Val (also ex-Monkwearmouth Grammar School), have been together for 49 years now and have a 30-acre place in a hilly area of central Ohio about 40 miles east of Columbus. Amazing running country and very challenging on a bike! I spend a lot of time on my Kubota tractor these days, cutting grass. That's when I plan my lectures."

“One thing I am fairly proud of is that in 2018 I had a text book published with a German friend on modelling jet engine performance. My first activity in retirement. It was a huge endeavour, at 750 pages! We just signed a contract with the publishers for Edition 2, which will be 900 pages! I'm a glutton for punishment. You don't get rich off text books though!.’’