Vol 3, No 2
Articles in this issue
- The standing department carrying the Club's official business, which this month consists of the Committee minutes for the meetings of 23rd February and 8th March 1880.
- On 23 February Charles Frederick Dawson was elected, the resignations of W. B. Bishop, E. H. Bentley and W. S. Buist accepted, and the President, Captain and Secretary authorised to sign a petition to H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge praying for the opening of Richmond Park to bicyclists; the Annual Race Meeting was moved to 19th June because Stamford Bridge was engaged for the 26th, Cambridge University B.C.'s suggestion of 29th May for the Inter-Club Race was agreed, and the L.B.C.'s representation on the Bicycle Club Union was made an annual appointment. On 8 March Alfred William Disney, Maitland Hamilton Dicker and John Henry Jahn were elected, J. Scott-Stokes's resignation of the Gazette editorship was accepted with the greatest regret and Mr. Ashley Barrett elected his successor, Meet Cards were ordered for April, May and June, and the opening runs fixed for 20th March.
- The opening runs in all Districts are fixed for the 20th inst.; although the Meet Cards cannot reach members in time, attendance prize competitors are reminded that the run is official and will "count", the roads are in capital order, and anyone touring at Easter would do well to get into working order that day.
- The subscribers' list stays open till March 20th and the testimonial will be presented to Mr. Rucker at about eight p.m. on Tuesday April 6th at "The Three Bucks", Old Jewry, preceded by a steak tea at 6.30 at 2s. a head, for which Mr. Ashley Barrett wants notice. £32 18s. 6d. has been received so far, and the whole list of subscribers - some two hundred names from J. Scott Stokes and the Godlees to the Hon. I. Keith-Falconer - is printed.
- Theo. Godlee's fixtures for March 20: N.E. 3.32 Lea Bridge Road and 3.45 Syborn's Corner for Epping; N.W. 3.30 "Jack Straw's Castle" for Watford; W. 3.15 for 3.30 "Royal Oak", Harlesden, for a circular run to Harrow via Kingsbury returning by Greenford; S.W. 4 o'clock the "Griffin", Kingston, for Staines via Chertsey Bridge and Laleham; and both S.E. divisions for Down (the "George"). There will be no run on the 27th.
- South-East District: five members met at Central Croydon Station and rode to Ewell for an excellent tea at the "Glynn Arms", the division narrowly escaping annihilation on Duppas Hill from a football that passed through the ranks. Present were Barker, Arthur Herbert, J. T. Johns, J. W. Potter and one visitor, reported by F. M. Williams, District Captain.
- The season's list from March 27th (Surbiton Recreation Grounds, 25 miles) to July 24th, taking in the Surrey B.C. meeting at Kennington Oval and the Alert B.C. at the Alexandra Palace on April 24th, the L.B.C. Evening Race Meeting at Stamford Bridge on May 5th, the 100-mile Bath Race on May 17th, C.U.Bi.C. v. L.B.C. over 1, 4 and 15 miles at Cambridge on May 29th, and the L.B.C. Annual Race Meeting at Stamford Bridge on June 19th.
- "Schiller", prompted by the proposal for a competitive examination for Club officers, offers specimen definitions from a hand-book he is preparing to be called "Geometry for Bicyclists": a lane is length without breadth, the extremities of lanes are "pubs", plain superficiality is the character of an article in which the writer is found to be wholly with regard to any two points taken, and men who have doubled up one machine will double up another - the views admittedly derived in part from a little brochure by a well-known Oxford mathematician.
- The full text of the bye-laws regulating the use of bicycles in Surrey, made at the General Quarter Sessions at St. Mary, Newington on 14th October 1879 under the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act 1878 and confirmed by the Local Government Board on 8th December: no riding on footways, a lamp between sunset and sunrise, audible warning by bell or whistle before overtaking, passing on the off side, and dismounting on request when a horse becomes restive, with a fine of two pounds for any offence. Supplied by the kindness of the Surrey Bicycle Club.
- Ernest C. Koch of 107, Philbeach Gardens asks members to settle at once for concert tickets sold, with P.O. orders payable to him at Lombard Street, and asks each of the Stewards to report and remit what they took for programmes.
- A review of the Society's second concert at St. George's Hall on Saturday 28th February, before a large audience seated over two-thirds of the hall with the rest kept for promenaders. An orchestra of over thirty opened with Gung'l's march "Gamerra"; C. Y. Lyne sang "Good-bye, Sweetheart", Miss E. T. Rucker "Ave Maria" with E. H. Carr's violin, and Miss Phillips of the R.A.M. played the "Polka de la Reine"; encores fell to the Gavotte "Mignon", W. A. Smith's "Anita", Macfarren's glee "The Cuckoo" and Miss Elmslie's "Il Segreto". The credit is given to Mr. Koch for the organisation, Mr. Rucker for the vocal arrangements and Mr. Jolly for the conducting.
- R. M. Gruggen rides on beside the Pyrenean chain past Muret, and finds near Martres that the heat has loosened the cement round the tyres and set it oozing out, so the pair prolong their halt while a local expert explains their machines' merits and defects to an appreciative crowd, mostly wrongly. Beyond Martres come hills, a bathe in a swift artificial stream, the waterfall at St. Martory and a rock-cut road through a wood, ending at the "Hotel de France" at St. Gaudens, 56 miles from Toulouse, on market day.
- Captain Theo. Godlee asks who means to ride up from Bath on Easter Monday so that he can warn the "White Lion" how many to expect, and suggests intending medallists first look over the route with a few of those who have painfully tried it before.
- "L'Homme qui Rit" on Martin D. Rucker's three years of unpaid but skilled work as captain; on the L.B.C. now commanding the sympathy of other clubs when once it was "not fragrant in the nostrils" of them; on the concert's three promoters recouping their outlay; on the hope that the Newbury authorities will learn to distinguish the Bath Trial from a road race; on a Scribner's Monthly article describing forty Americans touring near Boston on "the birotate chariot"; and on "Momus"'s suggestion that the District Race should go by challenge.
- Norman B. Morris, 25th-26th September: Buckler leaves the party at Agen to train to Bordeaux and sail home on the "Kestrel", and a maître d'armes shows them a home-made bicycle with a backbone built from an old scabbard, then gives advice that lands them in a head wind and a rutted, rock-strewn road beyond Marmande, so that they stop short of Bergerac at Miramont (50¼ miles). Next day brings the Dordogne, a ten-course déjeuner for three francs at the "Hotel des Voyageurs" in Bergerac, and a run by Mussidan and Ribérac to Verteillac (61¼ miles), where an English-speaking demoiselle warns them of wolves, one of which had swallowed a big dog all but the collar.
- Norman B. Morris, District Captain, reports an invitation from the captain of the Finchley B.C. - himself an L.B.C. man - for the N.W. men to join a paper chase with the Finchley Club and return to Barnet to tea; members at the meet can decide whether to join, but attendance will not count towards the medals and prizes.
- Six letters. "W. X. W." urges more General Meets and more joint meets between neighbouring districts to soften the district divisions, noting the clubroom at Kew where machines can be left; the S.W. District Captain writes from Feltham asking members whether they will support the Kingston meets and inviting suggestions on times, places and routes; "A N.W. Member" lists thirteen destinations for N.W. runs from Essendon to Hatfield; "Momus" proposes that the District Challenge Cup be held by challenge instead of three men from each division starting as a sine qua non; H. Revell Reynolds, Hon. Sec. D.B.B.C., encloses the O.U.A.C. and C.U.A.C. declaration of 10th March 1880 settling the amateur-versus-professional question in Cortis's favour; and W. J. F. Potts sends his diary total of 26,208 miles ridden since 1871 on machines from a 36-inch "Phantom" to a 48-inch "Timberlake".