Vol 2, No 37
Articles in this issue
- A full report of the Annual Dinner of 26 November 1879, attended by about a hundred and twenty members and guests, at which Mr. Tho. Godlee proposed the health of the L.B.C. coupled with that of the captain, M. D. Rucker jun., who in reply announced he was giving up the captaincy after three years. The report runs on to print Rucker's topical song "I'll bet you a dollar I don't" and a plan of the table naming every diner, from Dr. Owen Coleman to H. L. Cortis, the Amateur Champion.
- Hon. Sec. Ernest C. Koch calls a meeting at 47, Finsbury Circus on Tuesday 2 December to decide whether the Society should carry on at all: members have stopped attending practice nights, several have resigned, the first violins are missing, and Mr. Jolly has given up conducting and suggests paying a professional.
- District Captain Palmer Dalton gives notice that the first "social evening" of the winter will be held at "Jack Straw's Castle" on Saturday 13 December, with tea at six o'clock and members asked to come early.
- At the Committee meeting of 17 November, T. E. Scrutton of Trinity College and J. F. Darrell of Caius College, Cambridge (both proposed by M. D. Rucker jun. and seconded by W. T. Thorn) and Frank Kinder, solicitor, of Foots Cray, Kent were elected members; the resignation of Mr. H. O'N. Neale was accepted.
- "Pendragon" confesses to a road-rage pursuit on a high road north of London, where the driver of a wagonette, beaten in an impromptu race, thrust the butt of his whip into the wheel of his companion C., gashing his calf and wrecking the machine. After a mounted policeman let the men go on a false address, the writer filled his pockets with stones, pelted the horses until they bolted, and saw the carriage overturn into a pond.
- R. M. Gruggen continues his tour: the steep descent beyond Tetes into the Seine valley with its deceptive tunnel head, the tramway rails that force constant dismounts on the run into Rouen, the cathedral and the church of St. Ouen, and a wrong turning at Gouy that left the party walking three miles in the dark before reaching the "Hotel de Normandie" at Pont de l'Arche.
- Norman B. Morris's diary for 12-13 September: the ride from Louvie-Juzon up the Val d'Ossau through Laruns to Eaux Chaudes, then the unrideable grind on to Gabas, the last town in France, under the Pic du Midi d'Ossau among Spanish muleteers. Next day the party walk up to the great stalactite grotto above Eaux Chaudes and finish at the "Hotel de la Paix" at Eaux Bonnes, where J. Scott Stokes's recommended Chartreuse-verte proved too fiery.
- Captain M. D. Rucker jun. proposes to get up skating races among L.B.C. members should there be enough frost, and asks interested members to write to him at once rather than circularise the whole Club; one prize has already been offered.
- "Eavesdropper" gossips about the Annual Dinner: he lost his notes and the toast to the Chairman was never proposed because the other speakers talked too long; members came from Cambridge, Oxford, Brighton, Bournemouth, Tewkesbury and Exeter for it; and the Club has been charged 10s. 6d. for glass broken during the cheering for Rucker.
- "Irish Challenge", writing from the Cunard s.s. "Scythia" off Queenstown on 16 November, promises a further account of Yankee progress in cycling on his return. "Nyle" of Stoke Newington answers "Telegraphesa" of the last number with a limerick on the young 'cyclist of Hitchin who kept his bicycle in the kitchen until the fire melted the tyre.