Veteris through 1979 searchable, but hunt is on for missing issues

Possibly the last issue of Veteris.

Possibly the last issue of Veteris.

While updating mastershistory.org, I uploaded newly scanned issues of Veteris magazine from 1977 through 1979. When first created in 2008, the site had issues only through 1976. But when I reviewed the old archive I was shocked to realize I hadn’t made them searchable PDFs. In other words, they were invisible to Google as far as indexing text and pictures. Not good. So I downloaded the whole original batch and made each issue searchable (or editable in PDF parlance). So now we have almost a complete set of the British-based magazine of the short-lived Association of Veteran Athletes. If anyone has issues before April 1979, let me know. Also ready for your nostalgic pleasure are newspaper stories about the 1989 WAVA world meet in Eugene, Oregon. The Oregonian and Register-Guard did a ton of stories and even featured the meet on Page 1. The clips are incredible. The late NMN publisher Al Sheahen saved them, thank goodness.

But back to Veteris:

This compact magazine covered the world of masters track, including major U.S. meets. It profiled great athletes, kept seasonal rankings and ran fire-breathing editorials and letters to the editor. My kind of outfit.

Alas, this was printed in the last issue I have — April 1979:

In a last desperate attempt to keep Veteris going, we are reverting to its original yearly publication policy of four magazines. We will guarantee the magazine for a further twelve months only if we have the backing of our readers when re-subscriptions are due in April.

The magazine will have a new look with many more pages than at present. In fact, each issue will be a bumper one. The cost will be £6.60 per year (overseas apart) with no cost for post and package. We want to continue with the magazine – If you feel the same, persuade other fellow veterans to take the mag. Remember, if Veteris fails, then the loudest veteran voice is gone …… maybe for ever!!

I think that prophesied its demise. National Masters News took up the slack, however, and still carries the torch.

These were the top folks at Veteris in the 1979 issue:

EXECUTIVE STAFF
Chairman — Ernie Barrett
Managing Director — Barry Whitmore
Subscriptions — Lynne Barrett
Advertising — Melanie Thomas

EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor — Ernie Barrett
Consultant Editor — James 0′ Brien
Assistant Editor — Chris Reed
Special Contributions — Clive Shippen, Wilfred Morgan, Peter Scott, Vince Regan, Stan Allen

OVERSEAS CORRESPONDENTS
Australia — Wal Sheppard, Jack Pennington
Belgium — Jacques Serruys
Canada — Don Farquharson
New Zealand — Ian Mallowes, John Drew
U.S.A. — Bob Fine, Al Sheahan
Finland — Charles Greenlees
Holland — Gys Knoppert
U.K. Rankings — David Burton
Results — Jack Fitzgerald
Statistics — John Hayward

GRAPHICS
Photography — Mark Shearman

Any of these people still reachable for info on why Veteris went away?

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December 5, 2016

3 Responses

  1. Jeff Davison - December 5, 2016

    Thank you to David Pain for his copies that we scanned as well. Still looking to see if anyone had additional missing copies.

  2. Clive Shippen - April 11, 2018

    I was the founder Editor of Veteris in 1973. When Jack Fitzgerald, John Hayward and I founded WAVA in a London pub that year it was largely in anticipation of David Pain’s U.S. Masters visit in August of that year. We contacted many nations to see if they would support our meeting at London’s Crystal Palace. So it was there that the first unofficial WAVA Championship was born.in 1977 business pressures req’d
    me to pass on the editorship to Ernie Barrett. I don’t know what then happened. CS 2018

  3. Jeff Davison - December 4, 2019

    Hi Clive.

    We appreciated the response and the work that you and your team did in the 1970s.

    Jeff Davison
    jeff@shr1.org

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