Vol 1, No 21
Articles in this issue
- Prints in full the City of Winchester bye-laws of 9 November 1877, made under 5 & 6 William IV. cap. 76 and signed by Town Clerk Walter Bailey, imposing penalties up to 40s. for riding a bicycle or velocipede in the city without a bell, or between an hour after sunset and an hour before sunrise without a lamp. A closing note from Mr. Coleman warns that the same law comes into force at Kingston in ten days.
- Editor A. Ogier Ward answers a Bicycle Journal paragraph on the Winchester bell summonses which described Captain Henry Edwards as editor of the “London Bicycle Journal,” printing his letter of protest and denying that Edwards has ever been connected with this Gazette.
- M. D. Rücker, Captain and Hon. Sec. of the Racing Committee, reports that expenses will be heavier than anticipated and asks members, who with their ladies are admitted free, to bring paying friends, reminding racing men that the limit of fifty entries is not yet reached and that badges are not transferable.
- Meeting of the 12th: Henry Gilmour Dymoke and Geo. Arthur Bell elected, T. L. Barton's resignation accepted, Mr. Emson's complaint at the deferred election of Mr. Bell read, J. Scott Stokes appointed co-Editor of the Gazette with A. Ogier Ward, and 100 certificates ordered for members completing the 100 Miles Road Medal Trial inside ten hours.
- A renewed appeal for subscriptions to the prize proposed by “A. L. O. B.,” scolding members for not getting their sisters to help and explaining that although the prize could not be competed for until next year, a challenge prize must be specially made and the subscription list kept open some time.
- Ashley Barrett rides the 58 miles from Lewisham to Worthing in six hours to join friends in seaside lodgings, taking a solitary tea at the “Grapes,” Reigate, at a table that kept tipping the crockery into his lap, passing L.B.C. men returning from the Brighton meet beyond Horsham, and crossing the South Downs by a gradual rideable climb.
- Wm. and T. Johns ride their trusty 54- and 50-inch “Stassens” 285 miles from Croydon by Basingstoke, Salisbury (sheltering from a thunderstorm in a shepherd's hut), Blandford, Dorchester, Bridport and Honiton fair to Plymouth, then on through Liskeard and Lostwithiel to Falmouth, concluding that the Bicycle Annual is wrong and the Bodmin road local riders use is the better one.
- Routes 7 to 11: Winchfield to Fareham by Odiham, Alton and Filmer Hill, whose descent replaced an accident-strewn coach road and should never be flown without a good brake; Droxford to Wickham by the old coach road over Barfoot's and Sheer Hill, which the writer rode but bent both treadles doing so; Wickham to Bishop's Waltham via Mislingford; the cross roads to Portsmouth over Horn's Hill, Shoot Hill and Portsdown; and East Tisted to Petersfield by the hanging road down Stonor Hill.
- The N.W. run to Hertford through a day's rain and a road between Essendon and Hertford that had lately been the bed of the Lea, McCullum coming over from his own district and the party scattering home by G.E. and G.N. trains; the Western Captain's 2 hr. 12 min. dismountless ride from Acton to Hertford; a blank S.W. day whose lone rider silenced an abusive wagoner by threatening a summons for driving without reins; the Croydon Division's 6.45 start to Kingston with Bacon the only member present; and a Wednesday run from Gunnersbury Lane driven to shelter at Hanwell.
- District meeting places and times for 17, 24 and 31 August, including Waltham Abbey, St. Albans via Radlett, Walton, Byfleet and Ripley, Hampton Court, Ingatestone, Essendon, Aldenham Abbey, Reigate, Abridge, Ridge, East Grinstead and Sevenoaks.
- Machines offered by members, including H. C. Visick's 52-inch all-bright Goddard at £12, J. F. Marchant's 58-in. Stassen, Gilbert F. Beck's new 57-inch racing “Humber” at £12 and 56-inch semi-racer at £10, and H. V. Cleaver's 54-inch “Stassen” with all the latest improvements at £11.
- Tower Hamlets B.C. at Alexandra Palace, Kingston B.C. at Hampton Wick, the London Athletic Club at Stamford Bridge, Windsor B.C., the Civil Service B.C. at Stamford Bridge and Beckenham B.C.'s two-mile open handicap on the Beckenham grass, with a note that the Stanley Bicycle Club's races were indefinitely postponed on account of rain.
- Seven sentences, on Mithridates king of Pontus, Lord Raglan at Sebastopol, a villa covered with roses and others, each concealing the surname of a celebrated L.B.C. man, with initials supplied where a surname is shared.
- The solution to the previous week's eight-light acrostic, whose initials spell Horatius and whose finals spell Macaulay; correct answers were received from M. D. Rücker and G. F. Beck.
- “Cactus” objects that the Committee has quietly added to Rule 6 a requirement that some committee-man present must know something of a candidate, leaving one proposed member ignored for six weeks, and calls such unpublished rules unconstitutional. The Editor replies at length, defending the extra precaution as the way to keep the Club select and keep out “black sheep.”