Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kent Advertiser, 5th June 1885
Here we have the first mention of the club I could find in the Chronicle archives, writes club chair Dan Witt. Reassuring to know that the club always was first and foremost promoting our younger athletes!
Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser, 30th October 1891
The mind boggles…what is a running club doing putting on a concert, let alone a Smoking Concert. Numbers were low at 8 members on a Wednesday night in October. Some things don’t change!
The Chronicle & Courier 24th October 1919
Note the original name “The Sevenoaks and District Athletic and Cycle Club”. Costume(!) adopted was white vest with the Sevenoaks Shield and black shorts. Object of the club is to encourage athletics generally but is proposed to pay special attention to running, cycling, walking and boxing! Aha, it says it hopes to restore the club to the reputation it had before the war. That explains why the original club disbanded; presumably that is why the next iteration gets temporarily reformed in the 1950s…
Sevenoaks Chronicle 6th May 1927
This article says that the current club was formed in 1920 (1919 as above) and has recently been asked to move from its traditional Knole Paddock home. Tye’s Cricket Club came to the rescue and offered their ground on Bradbourne Road as a temporary base until other ground of their own can be found. This was presumably short lived, as later articles again mention Knole Paddock as the location for club races, including the handicap.
The Chronicle and Courier 28th August 1931
Wow, that is impressive; a mile on a track ‘in not the best condition’ around the Paddock in 4 minutes 40 seconds!
Sevenoaks Chronicle 15th April 1932
The next mention of the club again revolves around the “crack” runner Harry Ibbotson, leaving the club for Aylesford Paper Mills Sport Club. What a scandal! Presumably in those days, companies had better facilities than local running clubs that were poorly funded? A resident of Kemsing, he reportedly he won the Rochester Road Race and came third in the Wilson Cup (club handicap) despite running off a scratch time – not sure what this means…?
Sevenoaks Chronicle 4th February 1938
Here we have description of the club handicap road races race for the Wilson Cup. Seems most races were over 3 miles, although now held from the Arboretum Café, does this suggest the run was in the hillier Knole Park?
Chronicle & Courier 26th November 1937
Given that the club President was Lord Sackville, it seems likely that both the runs and the AGM were held in Knole!