Vol 3, No 24
Articles in this issue
- Theo. Godlee explains the conflict over the definition of "an amateur": the new association's 300-member rule excluded almost every bicycle club from its founding meeting, yet it then published a definition that refused any future exception for "Union Amateurs", and voted down a proposal to accept riders the Bicycle Union counts as amateurs. He points out that the Union's own resolution barring prizes in amateur-professional matches makes its rule the stricter of the two, since a man who has forfeited his bicycling status by racing a professional unsanctioned may still enter under A.A.A. rules.
- A reply signed Goethe to the previous week's article, complaining that it never mentions bicycling although cycling is plainly a branch of athletics. He argues the road is a formidable rival to the river as a school for endurance, that the club's Bath Trials demand months of training, and that the bicycle's great advantage is the fineness of the gradation between a jog-trot ramble and a hundred-mile spin, so that men over thirty and lads of fifteen alike appear at the meets.
- Twenty-eight men sat down to tea on the lawn behind the "King's Head" after a perfect Saturday and a splendid view from the churchyard. Three N.E. men rode to "Jack Straw's", the first time in nearly two years, while sixteen riders left the "Coach and Horses", Kew, at 4.50 and piled up four or five machines near Baron Rothschild's when a deaf coachman and a bell-less cyclist met on a stone-strewn road; a full list of those present by district closes the report, signed Theo. Godlee, Captain.
- Captain Theo. Godlee warns that he will be out of town for a short time and replies to letters may be delayed by two or three posts, but hopes this will not deter any member from sending in his subscription.
- Geo. R. Harding, Hon. Sec. of the Reigate Hill Trial Committee, asks competitors and others travelling with their machines by rail to notify him by the 25th so that special terms and a train can be arranged, suggesting the 2.17 p.m. from London Bridge, due at Reigate at 3.20. He regrets he cannot answer inquiries until entries have closed, owing to the number of competitors.
- Meets for the next two Saturdays, including 4th September at Kew Green and the "Griffin", Kingston, for Ockham and the foot of West Wickham Hill for the paperchase, and the following week Syborn's Corner for Abridge, "Jack Straw's Castle" for Iver, Hammersmith Bridge for Walton-on-the-Hill and the "Hare & Billet" for Farningham.
- F. M. Williams tells both divisions of the district to meet at the foot of West Wickham Hill at 4.45 p.m. on Saturday for the paper chase instead of the usual places. Wyndham and Barker are the hares, and tea will probably be at the "Clayton Arms", Godstone, where there is a piano and Willie Johns will be present.
- The Connaught Rangers B.C.'s meeting was a shambles, no handicap, no programmes and no band, until H. L. Cortis and G. P. Coleman framed a Mile and Five Miles Handicap on the spot, won by J. H. Wike and G. S. Phillips. Cortis then took the Ten Miles Scratch, announcing beforehand that he meant to beat both East's 30 min. 45 sec. and Cooper's 30 min. 6.75 sec.; timed independently by G. W. Atkinson of the Sporting Life and Coleman of the Bicycle Union at exactly 29 min. 54.5 sec., with mile-by-mile times tabulated against the old record.
- Robert J. Wolmott of Westcott writes that a gentleman passing through Dorking on his bicycle on Monday 16th August was seen to drop a bunch of keys from his pocket while taking out his handkerchief. They can be had by applying to Mrs. Daversa, 2, High Street, Dorking, who tried to stop him but he was soon in the far distance.
- Signed L'Homme qui Rit: the Whip's Cross "Sparrow" that cost £14 14s. realised 16s. at auction, the proceeds invested in a lawn-tennis racquet, and the Editor's fag is blamed for putting O. Thorn in place of his brother. Other paragraphs praise The Graphic's front-page artist for tracing the wheel from hobby larva through boneshaker pupa to the modern butterfly, and note that the Alexandra Palace's dozen advertised meetings have bustled the Crystal Palace into actually beginning its race track.
- Extract from the Birmingham Daily Post: Henry D. Crompton, Clerk to the King's Norton Board of Surveyors, corrects an earlier answer to correspondents by pointing out that although the borough requires no lamps, all bicycles in the county of Worcester must carry them between sunset and sunrise. He adds that after complaints of reckless driving the county police have instructions to look out for offenders, particularly in the Moseley Wake Green district.
- An appreciation of John Taylor the Water-poet, a Thames waterman of King James's day whose fares ran from silken courtiers following the royal barge to the Powder-plotters, and who once rowed to Sheerness in a paper boat kept afloat by eight bullocks' bladders. The bulk is a quotation-studded retelling of his wherry cruise from London to York, the squall off Harwich, arrest at Cromer by four constables who took him for a pirate, the tidal Hyger in the Wash, nine hours dragging the boat eight miles down Forcedike, and the hospitality of Hull with its King's Head, its water-works by Mr. William Maultby and its "cantle of Hull cheese".
- A single letter from A. Koch, who lost a valuable pencil-case on the day of the Ewell Meet and thinks he may have lent it to someone who has forgotten whose it was; it was a present to him twelve years ago and he would much like it back.
- The Editor apologises for errors in "A Chapter of Accidents" caused by an accidental delay in revising proof the week before last, "living cabin" for "little cabin", "a fine parcel of chick" for "a fine parcel of duck", and promises the article will be reprinted at the end of the year so that a correct version can be substituted when the 1880 Gazettes are bound up.
- C. R. H. is told the Gazette hopes to obtain a continuation of "Kukladia", whose author has promised something as soon as he has leisure; Soupsquares, Junior, is thanked, and Isis is told his communication cannot be inserted.
- Standing notice that contributions must be addressed to the Editor at 35, Eastcheap, E.C., bear the author's name, be written on one side of the paper only, and arrive by Wednesday morning. Darling's badge-stamped portfolios cost 2s., a few 1878 covers remain, and back numbers are 1d. each.