Telford running legend looks back on a life shaped by the track as he turns 85

They may not know him by name, or even have seen his face, but virtually anyone who has been to a parkrun in Telford in recent times will have heard him bellowing encouragement from the sidelines.

His diminutive high-vis frame, perched on a tree stump off to the side of the route's busiest junction, belies a loud voice that never tires of shouting "Come on, young man/lady!" or "All the way!"

Jim, who turned 85 earlier this month, can't run anymore because of illness. It was a tough blow to take post-Covid lockdowns, especially as he had been one of Telford parkrun's true stalwarts.

He started running soon after parkrun came to Telford in 2013, having stepped away from his lifelong love of the track to spend more time with his family 11 years prior.

He struck up a friendship that would last years with the other early Telford parkrun pioneers and racked up hundreds of Saturday morning runs over the years - 358 by his count.

When he returned to running later in life he was well aware he wasn't as quick as he used to be - and he used to be very quick.

"I was a serious runner in my younger days - not international standard but I was better than the average runner," Jim said.

"When I was in school I was made to play football, then when I joined the military in October 1955 the choice was football or cross country running - I said cross country running because that's what I wanted to do.

"It's like I say to the parents trying to chivvy their kids along - they have to want to do it. I would say 'come along young man, come along young lady, you don't want to get beaten by a great-grandfather' and encourage them.

"It's like with anything - they have to want to do it."

After what he calls a "very severe" upbringing in Dorset, Jim enjoyed the order and the discipline the RAF gave him - and it allowed him to embrace his true passion of running, making full use of the force's running tracks wherever in the world he was posted.

He competed in every race going, and enjoyed testing himself against some of the force's top athletes.

"In 1956 I met up with a national serviceman who was on the peripheries of the Great Britain international standard, he was only doing his two years national service. I finished about a lap behind him in a three-mile race and he wrote me a lovely letter after he retired from the RAF thanking me."

Jim spoke of one Inter-service Championship in the Middle East between Navy, Army and Air Force runners in which he ran a 4:59 mile in bare feet on a sandy track in scorching heat - he came second in that race.

And it was while stationed at RAF Cosford between 1974 and 1981 that he and a band of other running servicemen challenged each other and kept each other honest.

"There was the best part of 10 really good runners - when I say really good runners, they were sub-five minutes milers - although several of us ran marathons as well.

"I carried on from there in until my mid-40s, doing lots of road runs, track runs and cross country. I took part in two long road relays - five mile legs from John O'Groats to Land's End and from Skegness to Blackpool."

Jim always took his running seriously and relentlessly pursued his targets, especially that of sub-five minute miles - at one stage he was running 100 to 120 miles a week. He admits that at times his family "went on the back burner", though after his RAF days he did give up running for more than a decade to enjoy life with his wife Teresa and his children.

"If you want to do well that's the sort of thing you have to do, it's the same with any sport."

Jim says he left the RAF for civilian life in the summer of 1981, his final assignment being to dismantle Vulcan bombers at a base in Lincolnshire.

Having spent time posted at RAF Cosford and enjoyed his taste of Shropshire, Jim and Teresa settled in Sutton Hill, where Jim has lived ever since, and he went on to work at Lyreco.

They had seven children together, and the family has since blossomed with 24 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren spread around the world.

Jim says he has eight families now, and many of his descendants still live nearby in Telford.

Sadly Teresa was diagnosed with dementia and eventually moved into a nursing home in Telford. Jim would dutifully visit her every day.

"Unfortunately in 2011 [my wife Teresa] got taken away from me with dementia. Having had running all my life I went back to it.

"I had given it up in my 60s for about 11 years - just because I didn't want to do it anymore and wanted to share the rest of my life with my family.

"I have to stand on my own two feet and I have done that since the age of 10."

And in 2013 he found parkrun, which had recently started up in Telford.

Though he had lost some speed over the decades, he took to it like a duck to water and quickly became one of the most familiar figures at the Saturday morning 5k runs.

The inclusive spirit of parkrun was a far cry from the competitive races of his youth, but he enjoyed cajoling the runners of all abilities taking part.

It's parkrun that really put Jim on the map in Telford, as he racked up more than 300 runs over the years and became an unmistakeable local celebrity.

"The parkrun is different - they don't have to do it start to finish, it's all ages and all abilities. Kids, seniors, oldies, now they all take part.

"It's a wonderful thing that has got so many people off their backsides. Depending on where they are from they can come down for 9am and be back in at 10am with the rest of the day.

"I have enjoyed it, I've encouraged, I've inspired and the amount of people that have come up to me in recent months to say I'm the only reason they are doing this...

"I've gone down there and done what I've done but anyone can do that.

"I've always enjoyed competition because you are getting back the rewards from what you put in.

"But you can't force people to do something.

"I've learned in this last nine or 10 years about all the clubs around Telford. I was part of the Telford Harriers and our policy was to encourage everybody no matter how slow they were or how fast.

"To say 'you're not good enough for us, go somewhere else' - that's the last thing someone wants to hear. They want encouragement."

Despite enjoying his time with the Harriers, Jim has decided recently to stay away now that the club has returned to meetings post-Covid.

"It's my ego: Having done what I had done, and I would go there and help them to improve, I didn't want to go there and hinder them."

Sadly in 2021 Jim was diagnosed with bowel cancer. He had an operation to remove a tumour last year but for the sake of his health, his running days were over.

"I didn't let it get me down. Even when parkrun started up again I went down, not for sympathy but to show them how much I had deteriorated."

He still attends every parkrun he feels able to, to cheer from the sidelines rather than take part himself - and he intends to keep that up as long as he can.

"I must admit if it was bucketing it down I wouldn't go. I have enough problems with my health now, I wouldn't want to catch pneumonia."

Jim always appreciates the greetings he gets on Saturdays, especially the now-traditional fussing at the run closest to his birthday. His 85th earlier this month was a big occasion, with 493 runners turning up.

"If it wasn't for me there probably would have been 50 to 100 people fewer [that day] because I know they had come to see me. I know how well I'm liked.

"God willing I'll keep coming as long as I'm able."