A service of thanksgiving for Bruce Judd was held at St Nicolas Parish Church, Cranleigh on 5 June 2006. It was attended by family and friends including colleagues on the Surrey County Committee and contemporaries of Bruce from Walton AC. An address was given by Derek Crookes and the following is based upon that and the remarks made by the Rector, the Rev’d Canon Nigel Nicholson.
Those of us in the Athletics community knew of his activities in and around the sport but we learnt how he and Eileen had been very involved in the local community. Bruce was a member of the local Robbie Burns Society and became very involved with the schemes to help orphans in Romania.
Bruce’s active athletic career was with Walton AC where he achieved a high standard in Road, Cross Country and Track over the middle and long distances. The main focus for the club over the winter months were the Southern Area 12-stage relay, the London to Brighton in October and the National event (also London to Brighton) in March. Bruce was, at various times, Captain and Team Manager of the Walton teams which held their own with the best in these events. This obviously meant a lot of administration by Bruce as well as competing. Bruce ran well on the track in races with the likes of Gordon Pirie, Peter Driver and Chris Chataway.
At the time when Bruce was running his training and competition had to be fitted around a working week where Saturday working, at least half a day, but some times a full day, was the norm. He was an engineer with Cooper (the world-famous motor racing marque) in Surbiton. The story was told where Bruce received an invitation for a race a Chiswick on a Saturday – a day that he was working all day. He worked out that he could travel from work to Chiswick, race, and then get back to work without his absence causing much attention. Unfortunately, he had not reckoned on the race being televised and he was spotted by one of his managers! Luckily Bruce did not lose his job and, no doubt made up the time and probably gained in the esteem of his colleagues. One of his roles at Cooper was a significant involvement in the initial Mini Cooper project.
In his active days and later a characteristic of Bruce was his modesty with regard to his achievements. Clearly he was a very loyal team man. Following this he went into officiating and administration. In addition to roles he held at Walton AC, including running their successful road relays for many years, he became a committee member of the South of the Thames CC Association and was their president in 1994/1995. He also joined the Surrey County AA Committee and was our President in 1995/1996.
The vast amount of hard work done can be seen from the number of County sub-committees he was involved with:-
(a)Road – this included visiting road races in the County to check on such things as Course Marshalling, First Aid, Refreshments and checking for points of danger.
(b)Championships – as meeting secretary for the Young Athletes CC Relays, the Veterans Championships and the main CC Championships he was a key member.
(c)Coaching & Development – where he liaised with Regional and County Development Officers to provide opportunities for promising young athletes to further their goals.
One proviso for all his hard work was that there had to be at least 3 free weekends for him to go to Scotland (his roots were Scottish) to visit family and to see his favourite football team – Falkirk.
His officiating duties included being a Track Judge and a Recorder. Several people have described Bruce as unflappable. One example of this occurred at a Surrey Youth Games where he was the Chief Judge with only one assistant. A 100 Metres race had five competitors all wearing number 4! Calmly, a result was obtained by quickly writing down such features as: Blue Shorts, Long hair, Glasses etc on the result card.
In spite of the difficulties inherent with the roles he has undertaken Bruce was never derogatory about anyone. He was a high-class athlete, official and administrator. Bruce was characterised as quiet and unassuming – a person who got on with things, often in the background, not seeking any personal glory – a real gentleman. He will be greatly missed.
