Nostalgia: Olympic medal winner honed his skills in Glossop

John Sherwood was one of Great Britain's top 400 metre hurdlers 50 years ago.

But not many people know that John - who was a Commonwealth Games medallist and won bronze in the 1968 Olympic Games in Munich - honed his skills in Glossop.

He did it by hurdling over heavy wooden benches at the North Road home of Glossop Cricket Club.

John was a pupil at Read School, Selby, where one of the masters was Frank Hudson who lived in North Road.

Mr Hudson was also an athletics coach at Read and seeing John’s potential as a 12-year-old brought him to Glossop during school holidays for extra coaching.

He told the Chronicle in the summer of 1970: “We would practice on the cricket ground and on the market ground.

“He always showed plenty of promise.”

Mr Hudson who was a member of Manchester University Athletics Club, steered John through his early days as an athlete and was delighted when he became an England international.

John competed all over the world, winning a European silver medal in Greece and from where he sent a postcard to his old coach in Glossop.

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UP AND OVER: Olympian John Sherwood learning his technique at Glossop Cricket Club.