CTC Gazette, Vol 1924, No 4
Articles in this issue
- Leading notes on the 1923 report and its £765 15s. 4d. surplus, a 'Safety First' critique quoting 'Alpha of the Plough' in the Star urging imprisonment and licence cancellation for dangerous drivers, F. T. Bidlake's Road Records Association toast recalling the superior pre-motor roads of 1895, the Moveable Dwellings Bill's threat to cycle camping, Italy's new compulsory keep-to-the-right rule, and beginners' licences for motorists.
- H. W. Wilson reports from two autumns on the Italian lakes: the west-bank road south of Argegno so rough it took four hours from Cadenabbia to Como, the boulder-strewn new Bellagio–Como road, the Menaggio–Porlezza–San Mamette ride on Lake Lugano, and the cyclist host Signor Mella's Hotel Belle Ile at Cadenabbia at 8s. a day en pension.
- The £83 17s. 6d. collected by the late Miss M. F. F. Hodgson of the Metropolitan D.A. for a C.T.C. war memorial has bought five inscribed electric motors for the Lord Roberts Memorial Workshops, providing employment for disabled soldiers and sailors.
- John Urry's monthly column on the call of the spring roads, the great programme of road resurfacing over the winter, a defence of the horse against motor monopoly with a prediction for when the petrol runs out, and an improved three-speed gear.
- News notes: the 50,000-member recruiting aim, the reprieved Clopton Bridge at Stratford-on-Avon, the Olympia Cycle Show set for November 3rd–8th, Councillor W. G. Quigley's £4 return excursion tickets to Bale, the final edition of Wayfarer's 'Your England and Mine', the snowstorm Cyclists v. Harriers match at Walsall won by W. H. Genders (Walsall Roads C.C.) in 35 mins. 59 secs., and Kuklos's 'Old Inns' lecture to 700 at the Liverpool Y.M.C.A.
- Letters on the origin of place names (Alton and the 'toun' suffix), a rider with 100,000 miles on Sturmey-Archer three-speeds answering Vernon Blake's two-speed gear article with tales of riding tandem against the Mistral from Arles to Carcassonne, the Esperanto-for-tourists debate, and whether open-sided light tyres survive the stony roads of the Scottish Highlands.
- April lighting-up times and moon phases, followed by illustrated notes on the tiny weather-boarded church of Perivale in Middlesex, the Hermit's Cave in the cliff at Dale in Derbyshire, the 14th-century Priest's House at Muchelney in Somerset, and the priest's house at Great Wakering behind Southend.
- W. P. Cook describes rough-stuff crossings: the 'over the top' route of the Berwyns from George Borrow's Ceiriog Valley via Bwlch-Maen-Gwynedd and the Fford Gam Elin, and the Roman Steps causeway through the Rhinog Mountains, with Bartholomew and one-inch Ordnance maps recommended.
- Launch of the great recruiting campaign, with messages from W. M. Robinson ('Wayfarer'), Vice-Presidents W. G. Howard Gritten and F. T. Bidlake, Council chairman W. Haigh, John Urry, and W. P. Cook, arguing that only combination protects the five million cyclists of Britain from hostile legislation.
- Comment column on A. J. Wilson ('Faed') stepping down after 36 years as Road Records Association president with F. T. Bidlake chosen to succeed him, J. Burden Barnes taking the Road Racing Council chair, and the case for raising the motor speed limit from 20 to 30 m.p.h., tracing its history from the red-flag days through the 12 m.p.h. limit of 1896.
- Press cuttings: Bicycling News protesting the odious term 'push' cycles in the monthly trade returns, a retort to 'Mil-Bar' of Motor Cycling who cannot understand anyone with motor-cycle money keeping to a bicycle, and comment on the State's treatment of motoring.
- Charles G. Harper on Romney Marsh, the 'fifth quarter of the world' of Rev. Richard Harris Barham's 'Ingoldsby Legends': witches over Dymchurch Wall, the Napoleonic Martello towers and Military Canal, Lympne above the Roman Portus Lemanis and Studfall Castle, and Shepway Cross where the Cinque Ports court still meets.
- Notice and agenda for the AGM at the Hall of the Royal Society of Arts, Adelphi, London, on April 11th, 1924, with motions by A. Candler on the London Traffic Bill and a 30 m.p.h. speed limit, A. J. Leake on fairer Council representation, and E. J. Green against holding six Council meetings a year.
- The 1923 report: membership above its last pre-war level with the best month of enrolments since August 1910, the Roll of Honour headed by the Metropolitan D.A. with 188 introductions, £1,568 13s. 2d. in damages won for members run down by motor cars, charabancs and lorries, the 25 per cent. railway-rate reduction, the Cyclists' Conference with the N.C.U., and National Bicycle Week's 888-mile Relay Ride carrying the Lord Mayor of London's message to 30 cities.
- Notices of application to form new District Associations for Oxford (Leonard Ellis), Reading (Wm. Haigh), and Derby (J. T. Masser), together with the Gazette and sales accounts for 1923.
- The Club's balance sheet at December 31st, 1923, and revenue account, showing subscription income from over 13,000 renewing and new ordinary, family and affiliated members against the cost of the Gazette, danger boards, and legal expenses on behalf of cyclists.
- A batch of correspondence prompted by last month's 'The Value of Service' editorial, led by Mid-Yorkshire D.A. secretary G. C. Backhouse defending his committee's Leeds proposal to reduce the 10s. Club subscription.
- D.A. news and runs lists: a Northern members' concert at Birmingham and Midland headquarters, the Liverpool D.A.'s 100-mile trial on May 3rd, 50 Mid-Yorkshire members mustered at Stamford Bridge, the Metropolitan tandem run on May 4th, the Manchester D.A.'s Easter tour based on the Eagle Hotel at Llanfyllin, and the Bolton Section's nine-hour century run from Bolton to Burton-in-Kendal.