As 2016 draws to a close it has indeed provided sports followers with some enduringly satisfying memories. Hal Robson-Kanu’s "Cruyff turn" goal for Wales in the Euro 2016 quarter-final against Belgium. Wayde van Niekerk’s world 400 metres record in the Rio 2016 final - outrageously, from lane eight. Michael Phelps earning his 23rd and final Olympic swimming gold, aged 31, stretching his wings for a final time in the US 4x100m medley relay…

Lord knows, we all need images such as these to reflect upon amidst so many others of such a disquieting and dispiriting nature.

That said, it is not a huge, reverberative sporting moment that is providing me with a dram of warmth in the chill of midwinter but instead news of a lower key triumph - the renewal of the Crystal Palace athletics stadium.

In October 2014 it was announced that the 15,000-seater arena faced being bulldozed under plans put forward by the Greater London Authority (GLA), which was contemplating knocking down the stands and removing the outdoor track along with the indoor training facility.

Much wrangling ensued before UK Athletics announced last year that it favoured retention of both the outdoor track and indoor facilities - although this stance was adopted too late for it to figure in the final report to the Mayor of London which advocated demolition. Awkwardly enough, this report was conducted by CSM Strategic, whose executive chairman, Sebastian Coe, claimed his first outdoor national record on the Crystal Palace track in 1977.

Uncertainties remained over the future of what many regard as the spiritual home of British athletics, given that it hosted the country’s biggest meetings between 1970 and 2011. But this winter, with support from Labour’s newly installed Mayor at the GLA, Sadiq Khan, the facilities have received a significant face-lift, with more improvements planned next year.

In domestic athletics terms, Crystal Palace dropped out of the Premier League in 2013, when UK Athletics switched the annual two-day International Association of Athletics Federations Diamond League meeting to the recently constructed London Olympic stadium, rebranding it as the Anniversary Games.

But the latest news, reported by Athletics Weekly, strengthens the conviction that the venue will remain as a much-valued haunt for athletes from all over south-east England - and also offers promise of a renewed competitive identity.

Starting with three indoor events in January and February, Crystal Palace is due to stage the South of England Championships for senior and young athletes next summer, plus a number of open meetings.

"Crystal Palace has a global reputation and is possibly the most iconic track and field venue in Europe," John Powell, chair of the Crystal Palace Sports Partnership, told Athletics Weekly.

"The meetings will be returning to Crystal Palace next year and it will be match-fit for competitive athletics."

Powell, who has fought long and hard to preserve the Crystal Palace sports facilities, has earned the right to be over-the-top in his praise of the venue. 

The most iconic track and field venue in Europe it ain't. Like the unwritten British Constitution, this stadium is a piecemeal construction in which utility, rather than beauty, has been the guiding principle.

However, you certainly cannot deny the global reputation Crystal Palace has built since it first took over the annual Amateur Athletics Association Championships from the now long-gone White City stadium in 1971.

Over the years I have watched athletics taking place in many different parts of the world - but the first meeting I ever saw was at Crystal Palace in 1973, on the day after, to my eternal regret, Dave Bedford set his world 10,000m record of 27min 30.80sec.

That regret - about the timing, rather than the fact of the record, just to be clear - was severely mitigated by a Saturday in which the men’s main AAA Championship programme produced victories for David Jenkins in the 400m, Andy Carter in a British 800m record of 1:45.12, Brendan Foster in the 5,000m and Alan Pascoe in the 400m hurdles.

The programme I still have from that day bears the autographs of Jenkins, Carter and Pascoe. The latter almost fell over as he balanced on one leg in the act of signing. It does not bear the autograph of shot put winner Geoff Capes, who shooed me away with very little grace after I had waited for him to finish speaking to someone - perhaps a journalist - outside the arena.

It was as a journalist that I returned to the stadium in 1990 and witnessed Steve Backley break the world javelin record. 

Later on that Friday evening I strolled out with him and Cliff Temple, the late and very much lamented Sunday Times athletics correspondent, to inspect the patch of turf into which the hugely affable Backley had planted the spear. 

Cliff and I both heard him emit a low whistle as he contemplated the distance - 90.98m to be precise - back to the throwing arc.

Of course this is sentiment, and no facility is retained for that reason. But it is, nevertheless, very pleasing to think that this particular piece of south London will continue to provide athletics, albeit at a less exalted level, with the drama of competition, not to mention a convenient venue in which to conduct indoor winter training.

Pleasing too to think of more summer evenings in which family groups will picnic as in years gone by on the gentle undulations of the park beyond the stadium’s perimeter before gathering their bags together and moving towards the track…