The Forum re-assembled on the 8th of January after its Christmas break.

The first guest speaker for the new session was Neil Ramshaw who is the Secretary of the Harlow Forum and brought New Year’s greetings from his members. Neil’s talk was titled Some British Sporting Heroes of Mine in which he described the life and achievements of sportsmen whose careers he had followed.

His surprising first choice was Jackie Pallo, a professional wrestler who featured in ITV’s Saturday afternoon programmes during the seventies and eighties which Neil watched with his father.

He followed with Christopher Brasher, an athlete most famous for acting as a pace-maker for Roger Bannister’s first four-minute mile and for co-founding the London Marathon.

Although not a great fan of motorsport Neil featured John Surtees in his list because he was the only person to be world champion on both two and four wheels.

Neil followed with Roger Utley from Rugby Union, the runner Brendan Foster, Ray Reardon from snooker and Henry Cooper the celebrated boxer, before time forced him to finish.

Forum Chairman Mike Earle thanked Neil for a trip down memory lane.