October 23: Celebration of the contributions of Brian Graves to the life of MMKAC.
More than 30 friends and family members gathered at the Red Lion public house in Fenny Stratford to celebrate the contributions of Brian Graves to Milton Keynes AC/Marshall Milton Keynes over almost 50 years. The event was organised by MMK’s Head of Endurance, Barry Hearn.
Brian Graves was born on 29 March 1940. He grew up in East London, where he played football and athletics for his school. He joined Victoria Park Harriers and competed for them as a triple jumper/long jumper with personal bests of 13.42m/6.41m. He came to Bletchley, via Watford, in 1966, where he played football for one of the local teams. In 1976, he joined Milton Keynes AC as a distance runner, with an interest in fell running and orienteering. In 1977, he ran 2:57:11 in the Barnsley Marathon.
Over the next 49 years he made an enormous number of contributions to the life of the club.
In the 1970s, he joined the committee and acted as club treasurer and fixtures secretary. In 1978 he started the quarterly club newsletter, full of stories and pictures, almost all initiated by Brian. He edited the newletter for 46 years. In 2010, they went online. See Newsletter.
In the 1980s he was club secretary for most of the decade.
In 1983 he started organising the Tour of Milton Keynes, later called the Brian Graves Tour of Milton Keynes, with six races in six days, including a mile on the track, a hill race, a cross country race and three road races, with a total distance of approximately 26.2 miles. He orginised the event for about 25 years, befor handing over to others. It died after the 2020 covid pandemic. Many club runners regarded the Tour as the highlight of their running year.
In 1985, he researched, wrote and published, with the help of Doreen Rayner, “A history of athletics in Wolverton and Milton Keynes 1885-1985” as part of the Club’s Centenary celebrations.
He started the club hill-race championships, the Watchless Wolverton 5, the Xmas Kanter, orienteering events, trips to the Lake District and to Scotland (where he could bag Munros). All the events Brian organised were for the benefit of MK/MMK members, plus “guests”.
Over the last 20 years, he has been the club’s photographer and press reporter, turning out for league athletics fixtures, the Chiltern Cross Country League, open meetings and road races. Many of the pictures on this website were taken by Brian.
He retired at the end of 2024. He is regarded by many members over the years as the heart and soul of the club.
At the the SportMK Awards, in January 2025(pictured above), Brian was awarded the Rick Townsend award for his lifetime of service to athletics. He is a Life Member of the Club.
More pictures of the celebration by Roy Campbell
Pictures of Brian over the years, by his good friend and former MMK member, Tom Blackman
