Vol 5, No 7
Articles in this issue
- Standing note that the latest hour for reception of copy for the Gazette is 5.30 p.m. on Tuesdays.
- Taking up “Galley Bell's” scrap-book of cycling cuttings, the leader argues the idea is now superannuated: it would be selfish for a member to keep a good item for his own behoof when the Gazette itself should be the club's scrap-book. Members are asked to send in their runs, adventures and opinions until the man who does not write for his Gazette is as rare in the Club as the black swan among birds.
- T. E. Scrutton, Captain, of Copsefield, Buckhurst Hill, asks members wishing to represent the Club in the match against the Oxford University Bicycle Club at Oxford on May 20th to let him know at once, having at present more quality than quantity.
- Theo. Godlee sets out the District Captains' arrangements for the General Meet at Halliford on the 29th: the N.E. leave Lea Bridge Road at 3.0 (no Syborn's Corner meet) for “Jack Straw's” to join the N.W. at 4.0, the W. meet at the “Coach and Horses,” Kew, at 5.0, the S.W. at Kingston Station at 5.30, and the S.E. Blackheath Division at Lewisham Church at 3.15 to join the Croydon Division. No District waits more than ten minutes for another.
- Theo. Godlee corrects errors in the Club's Blue Book which he himself passed in proof, W. K. Adam should be W. not N.E., John Scott S.E. not N.E., W. G. Turpin N.W. not N.E., and asks the Hon. Sec. to explain four or five gentlemen elected at no particular date and belonging to no particular district.
- Report of Executive meetings at 17, Ironmonger Lane: the Saturn, Incognito, and Bermondsey clubs have joined; H. M. Oliver of Birmingham and W. Platt of Manchester appointed official handicappers for the Midlands and Northern Counties; the Universal Bye-Laws petition forwarded to the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain for the Local Government Board; a Newcastle-on-Tyne Local Centre ratified; and Council meetings called for the 27th at the Manchester Hotel, Aldersgate Street.
- A curtain lecture on “Lamps,” reprinted from the Tricycling Journal, in which Mrs. Caudle threatens to give up riding with her husband until he owns lamps that will burn and knows where to carry them, the oil having ruined the kitchen flooring and the back-parlour carpet, and a lamp hooked under the seat having set her tenpenny riding skirt alight. She demands a candle lamp instead.
- Signed “Norfolk Dumpling.” An old “Live Antipluvium” waterproof cape, folded from the sides into a band four or five inches wide and held down the back by a strap round the waist, keeps the jacket clean over wet gravel or sandy roads; it comes off crusted with red gravel and a wet sponge cleans it in two minutes.
- F. W. Harrold's address is now 12, Hereford Gardens, Park Lane, W.
- Tabulated meets for the N.E., N.W., W., S.W. and the Croydon and Blackheath S.E. divisions, Lea Bridge Road and Syborn's Corner for Epping, “Jack Straw's Castle” and Gerrard's Cross, Kingston Station for the Circular Run, Central Croydon for East Grinstead and the “Hare & Billet” for Farningham, with the General Meet for Halliford on April 29.
- District reports for April 15: Theo. Godlee's N.E. musters a poor six for the run to Sidcup, crossing at Woolwich to be escorted over roads the writer pointedly declines to describe, with Lloyd's crank smashed on the way back; the N.W., W. and S.W. gather at the “De Burgh Hotel,” West Drayton, after the “Northern Guide” loses them in the lanes at Greenford and Smith's new “Humber” tricycle and Koch's “Rucker” are admired at the stable; and H. G. A. Brown's S.E. entertains the N.E. at the “Black Horse,” Halfway Street, with the sociables and old English songs.
- Arthur E. Buckler gives the route of the Circular Run on the 22nd: leave Kingston Station at the usual time, take the Leatherhead road to Hook, then lanes to Epsom and over the downs to Ewell, with tea at the “Glyn Arms.” He hopes the shortness of the run will tempt members not yet seen this season.
- Douglas Smith addresses bona fide potterers rather than Bath-race maniacs with an exploring expedition into a district almost unknown to bicyclists, Stone church between Dartford and Gravesend, the tea and watercress gardens at Springhead, the ancient almshouse called “the college” behind Cobham church, and the finely preserved Cooling Castle, before returning by Cliffe to Gravesend, eager to follow the road on to the Isle of Grain.
- From the Sportsman: a preliminary meeting of eleven delegates at the Wicklow Hotel, Dublin, provisionally passed rules for an association to arrange the annual race meetings deciding the Irish Amateur Championships, hold the annual general meet of Irish bicyclists and promote 'cycling in Ireland; J. H. Craig of 41, Dame Street is hon. sec. and R. Johnson of 28, T.C.D. hon. treasurer.
- One advertisement: a 56-inch “D. H. F.” bicycle, nickel plated with double ball bearings, new last summer and ridden only a hundred miles, cost £23 and offered at £11 by A. Barker of Chepstow Road, Croydon.
- By W. J. Williams, continued. From Matlock Bath the “birdlime” roads drive Hindley to put his tricycle on a train to Rowsley while the writer rides; the pair then walk to Chatsworth, are shown the “Weepin' Willer” fountain and the conservatory from which Paxton designed the Crystal Palace, see Haddon Hall, and sleep at the “Rutland Arms,” Bakewell. Next day brings Taddington, the “Waterloo Inn,” a walk up Chee Dale beneath blasting operations, and Buxton's “Leewood Hotel,” where they find “Lewtnong” (H. Jennings) waiting; the writer concludes that 'cycling in Derbyshire does not pay except in very fine weather.
- R. G. Francis answers the question Owen Roe left open in vol. ii., page 171 (“More Hants Roads”) about the road onward from Fullerton Bridge: after crossing the river it turns sharp right and runs with a capital surface to Hurstbourne Priors, joining the main road about a mile Salisbury-side of Whitchurch, eleven miles from Stockbridge, a varied and interesting waterside alternative to the chalky downs.
- Season list from the Surrey B.C. Spring Meeting on April 22 to the Fifty Miles Amateur Championship at Crystal Palace on July 29, including L.B.C. v. O.U.Bi.C. and the L.B.C. One Hundred Miles Trial in May, the London B.C. races at Stamford Bridge, and the One and Twenty-five Miles Amateur Championships at Birmingham.
- Signed Rambler. The twenty-seven N.E. and S.E. men were fed chops, steaks, eggs and marmalade for two shillings each at the “Black Horse,” Halfway Street; Parker rescued the S.E.'s musical honour with a thirteen-verse song; the West “'bus” covered Reading to Maidenhead in 1h. 10m.; Lees won the One Hundred Miles Professional Championship at Leicester in 6 hrs. 49 min.; the B.T.C. has deputed Mr. Eaton, M.P., to ask the Prince of Wales for his patronage; and the New York Courier reports Edison experimenting with a 60-inch bicycle, storing electricity in the backbone for both driving power and light.
- Five letters. “K. F.” and H. G. A. Brown both round on “Paraclete” over the Promenade Concert, Brown noting that many members paid for tickets they never used and asking whether the subject has not been exhausted; “Lost Sheep” describes circling West Drayton Green in search of a tea whose inn was never named in the Gazette, and begs District Captains always to print the house; “B. A.” proposes full walking knickerbockers and a soft felt hat for the uniform; and W. Six, Jun., of 8, Long Acre suggests ruling one or two pages of each number as a log-book for daily runs.
- Contributions must be addressed to the Editor, L.B.C. Gazette, 35, Eastcheap, E.C., bear the author's name, be written on one side of the paper only, and reach the office by Tuesday evening for immediate insertion.