The history behind the Don Hirst Trust by Alan Chidley

I became aware recently that the reason for the exsistence of The Don Hirst Trust was not known by the majority of our members.

It was set up following the events described below, reports Alan Chidley, Club Historian.

In 1985 our Mens Track & Field team were in Division 5 of the British League and were awarded a home meeting to take place on 10th.August.

To promote a British League match an all weather track had to be used. At this time we did not have such a track therefore had to hire other stadiums such as West London.

All tracks in our area were booked for that day so we were forced to hire the Luton track for our home meeting.

As normal, requests were made for members to help on the day and several responded to these requests, including Don Hirst, who had become involved with our club due to his son Andy being a member.

On the day I was Meeting Coordinator, therefore part of my job was to go around to the various events to see if any help was needed.

I was at the Pole Vault, which was inside the top of the home straight with the discus circle situated at the top left hand end of the field. I was looking towards where Don was helping with this event, with the discus circle behind him.

On one or two occasions I saw a Discus land not far from where he was standing and there was some bantor such as “that one almost got you” and he made a comment about it.

I then had to go into the back of the stand with John Turpin to get drinks for the officials. We came out carrying trays of drinks and I remember saying to John, “something has happened, there is someone on the ground with a small crowd around him”.

We discovered that a thrower had got the release of his discus slightly wrong and it had come out at an angle from the net, which we now know was not up to standard and hit Don square on the back of the head.

The steeplechase was just finishing in which there was a doctor running, he was told what had happened and went to attend.

An ambulance was called and I went to the entry point to make sure it was clear for its arrival. I remember it took about 25 minutes to arrive and then Don was taken away.

After the match I went to the hospital where Don was connected to life support equipment and his wife had been told to talk to him in the hope that brain activity could restart. We were joined by his son and daughter who stayed by the bedside.

The doctor indicated to me that there was really no hope,but I suppose we were all hoping for a miracle.

He died that night and some time later I attended the coroners inquest where I had been called to give evidence.A verdict of accidental death was reached.

Over the next few months I was interviewed by the insurance Company but I never heard the final outcome of any claim.

It was the darkest day of my time with our club and something that will stay with me forever.

To make everything even worse for Mary, his wife, I later learnt that Don was her 2nd.husband and her first husband had been knocked off his bike and died of head injuries.

I hope the family recovered eventually from this terrible tragedy.

RIP Don Hirst.