Tipton Harriers
Encyclopedia
Tipton Harriers were created in September 1910, when the members of the Tipton
Tipton
Tipton is a town in the Sandwell borough of the West Midlands, England, with a population of around 47,000. Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is a part of the Black Country....

 branch of Birchfield Harriers
Birchfield Harriers
Birchfield Harriers is an athletics club, founded in 1877. Its home is at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium, England.Named after the Birchfield district of Birmingham, their previous home , at nearby Perry Barr, was Alexander Sports Ground. It still carries their badge, a running stag, rendered in...

 resolved to end their connection and become independent. Soon, over 40 members were meeting and training regularly from a former painters' workshop and store in a loft behind a shop and houses in Waterloo Street. These primitive facilities, sparsely furnished, using two 18 feet square, 8 inches deep beer cooling vats as baths with water heated in an old copper washing boiler, remained the club H.Q. until 1936. The house where the formation took place was demolished in the 1960s.

Much of this happened despite serious bomb damage during the Zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...

 raids in 1916 and the obstruction of the non-improving landlady.

In competition the green and white hooped vests with the whippet emblem surmounting the slogan "Swift and Eager", soon became a force to be reckoned with in cross-country competition. This despite the demands of the armed forces and munitions work during World War 1, and the ravages caused by the economic depressions of the 1920s and early 1930s when at times up to 80% of the members were unemployed. After the war membership grew and club branches were founded at Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...

, Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...

, Wednesbury
Wednesbury
Wednesbury is a market town in England's Black Country, part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in West Midlands, near the source of the River Tame. Similarly to the word Wednesday, it is pronounced .-Pre-Medieval and Medieval times:...

 and Cradley Heath until this practice was banned by the M.C.A.A.A. in 1924.

The first major team successes, winning the Midlands 'junior' and Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

Championships arrived in the 1925-26 season where they were also runners-up in the Midland Senior Championship. This marked the beginning of the first golden age for the club, which was dominated by two outstanding individuals, Jack Holden, and the club president 'Innie' Palethorpe. Together they transformed the image and the reputation of the club.

The Harrier public house, which opened on Powis Avenue in the 1950s, is named after Tipton Harriers.
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