Posted 15-02-05
GEOFF MOULDEN
Members of Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club will be very sad to hear of the passing of Geoff Moulden at the age of 75.
Geoff was an early member of the former Wimbledon Athletic Club which was formed in 1952 and was a founder member of Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club in 1967 serving as its president a few years later. He was also a past president of Surrey County and for many years served as their junior men's track and field team manager with his wife Claire, also a member of both clubs, given the task of washing endless county vests after each match.
From the club's perspective, Geoff will probably best be remembered for launching the Wimbledon open 10 miles road race in 1961. It is still going strong some 44 years later and he was involved in helping at the race each year except on one occasion when it clashed with his daughter, Sarah's, wedding.
Many people knew he was a qualified track judge but, perhaps less well known was that he was a qualified starter, timekeeper, track judge and coach.
He moved to the Wimbledon area in the early 1950's from Aldershot where he had helped establish an athletic club at Farnham that subsequently merged to form Aldershot, Farnham and District Athletic Club. When he arrived at Wimbledon, he had planned to join Belgrave but on calling the AAA, which was then based in London, they requested that he joined the newly formed Wimbledon Club where he became a pivotal figure as club captain, along with the then vice-captain Terry Elmer and chairman Tommy Robertson in driving the new club forward.
A report in the Merton and Morden Borough News in May 1960 stated: "Geoff will try his hand at anything, either on the track or field but he is a triple jumper and sprinter." Claire was also a member of the Wimbledon club. He acted as clerk of the course at a representative match in May 1961 to mark the opening of the new stand at Wimbledon Park track.
While Wimbledon Athletic Club committee meetings were held at a room in the now demolished South Western pub opposite Wimbledon Station, early committee meetings of the newly formed Hercules Wimbledon club were held in the Moulden house in Lambton Road into which they had moved a year or so earlier, and while Geoff and Claire always offered a warm welcome, visitors were always forced to negotiate their way past their latest dog!
Apart from his passion for athletics, Geoff was also a keen model train enthusiasts and philatelist and was a member of both the Wimbledon Model Railway and Philatelist clubs. He also served as a magistrate on the Wimbledon bench for more than 20 years and was also a trustee of the London Coaching Foundation.
He met Claire while working for the former London County Council at County Hall, Westminster, and they married in November 1954. He then moved to the City Corporation working in their planning department, becoming something of an expert on their cemeteries.
He later switched to become involved in sport and leisure promotion in the square mile and for many years was the City's representative on the London Marathon organising committee from its inception in 1981. He also ran a feeding station at the 23rd mile and formed a 23rd mile running club from City Corporation employees who ran in the marathon or operated the station designing special T-shirts for club members.
The funeral is taking place at the North East Surrey Crematorium, Lower Morden Lane, Lower Morden, on Tuesday, February 22 at 2.30pm. Claire requests no flowers but that any donations should be sent to Kingston Hospital ITU.
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