Vol 5, No 8
Articles in this issue
- Standing note that the latest hour for reception of copy for the Gazette is 5.30 p.m. on Tuesdays.
- With summer tours in prospect, the leader argues that short sketches and anecdotes might be had from many members who would never write a full tour account, and offers a specimen of its own signed Dr. Rufus: riding from Lyndhurst towards Salisbury, the writer asked a crowd of New Forest cottagers for “Rufus' Stone” and found not one had heard of it until a brighter woman asked whether he meant the place where the poor gentleman was killed, a quarter of a mile away.
- T. E. Scrutton, Captain, of Copsefield, Buckhurst Hill, repeats his request that members wishing to represent the Club in the Oxford match on May 20th let him know at once, having more quality than quantity at present.
- Members are reminded that entries for the event must be made in writing to the Hon. Sec. at “Homelea,” Greenhill, Hampstead, on or before Monday, 15th May.
- At the meeting of 24th April, Arthur Day, Ernest Alexander McBean, Ernest Richard Shipton, Clement Tulloch and the two Whattons of Trinity College, Cambridge were elected members and A. C. Adamson's resignation accepted. Difficulties over the Inter-Clubs' Meet at St. Albans on 3rd June led to a decision to ask the Universities' B.C.'s about holding it at Dunstable again, and Messrs. Platt and Son of St. Martin's Lane were appointed to sell the Club cloth.
- Revised and improved arrangements from Theo. Godlee for the General Meet at Halliford on the 29th: the N.E. from Lea Bridge Road at 3.0 to “Jack Straw's,” the N.W. joining there at 4.0, the W. at the “Coach and Horses,” Kew, at 5.0, the S.E. Blackheath Division at Lewisham Church at 3.15 to meet the Croydon Division, and all Districts leaving Kingston Station at 5.30 for “The Ship” at Halliford.
- E. S. Price, Hon. Sec., answers Theo. Godlee's complaint of the previous issue: the members with no particulars against them were elected after the revised proof went back to the printer, and it is thanks to Messrs. Darling putting them in afterwards that there are any particulars at all.
- Report by Wm. Pes-English, Hon. Rep. Sec., of the Executive held at 17, Ironmonger Lane on 18th April: the Cardiff, Marmion, Waverley and Birchfield B.C.'s have joined; inquiries from Australia about forming an Australian Bicycle Union were read; the Bicycle and Tricycle Championships and handicapping were gone into; and the question of police in a tricycle case was considered.
- Arthur E. Buckler and G. P. Coleman propose a small meeting at Surbiton Grounds on the evening of Thursday 8th June, confined to L.B.C. members, with a Novices' Race and a Mile Handicap with long starts and extra allowance for roadsters at 2s. 6d. an event. District Captains may use it as a trial run for selecting competitors for the District Challenge Cup; members and friends admitted free, racing at 6.45.
- Theo. Godlee, N.E. District Captain, offers spare Meet Cards to any member who applies to him.
- Under the royal cipher V.R., Theo. Godlee announces that because of the Queen's visit to Epping Forest on Saturday 6th May the N.E. Paperchase is postponed sine die; the District will meet at the usual times and places and run instead to the “Bell” at Upminster, so as not to interfere with Her Majesty's arrangements.
- Tabulated meets for the N.E., N.W., W., S.W. and the two S.E. divisions, Upminster (“The Bell”), Little Berkhampstead, Newland's Corner, Knockholt, Ickenham, Leatherhead, Cheshunt, Watford and a Sanderstead paperchase, headed by the General Meet for Halliford on April 29 and noting no official run on April 27 because of the Bank Holiday.
- Rain thinned every District on 22nd April. Theo. Godlee's N.E. found only Lloyd at Syborn's Corner and reached Epping by Chigwell and Abridge, growing to nine with four Barretts; W. J. Williams's N.W. mustered four to Shenley by Barnet and Arkley (26¾ miles); in the W. only a “Sociable Meteor” appeared until the ex-ex-D.C. persuaded a lady tricyclist to take the off seat and rode to Castlenau with O. Thorn as chaperone; Arthur E. Buckler rode the S.W. run to the “Glyn Arms” at Ewell alone but for his dog; and H. G. A. Brown's S.E. sixteen were entertained at Mr. Payne's “Railway Hotel,” East Grinstead, with The O'Reilly riding over from Brighton.
- Arthur E. Buckler tells the S.W. District to meet at the usual place at 5.30 on the 29th and to join the main body from Kew for the General Meet at Halliford, hoping the prospect of meeting the other districts will bring members out.
- H. G. A. Brown appeals to the whole S.E. District to make a great effort to attend the General Meet at Halliford on the 29th, noting that the hotel is only a few yards from the river and that trains leave Sunbury for Clapham Junction and Waterloo at 8.15, 9.25, 10.11 and 10.51, with another from Walton at 10.4.
- Signed Preceptor, endorsing “Dodo's” April 13th question about how many riders understand their machines. It condemns both the rider who boasts of never touching a screw and the meddler who strips threads with a long spanner, urges riders to have a maker of standing explain the adjustment of wearing parts and where to oil, warns against gummy oil from oil-and-colour shops and against flooding a bearing, and gives rough-and-ready field repairs for a bent handle-bar, a crank come off (the “Birmingham touch” on the key), a bent crank, a buckled wheel and a loose tyre. The O'Reilly is held up as the model of a careful owner.
- Signed Rambler. The S.E. turned out well despite eleven men dancing at a member's house till 3 a.m.; Griffith is congratulated on his ride at the Oval before the run-off of the dead heat in the Ten Miles Scratch Race; the two Whattons elected on the 24th rode well at the Surrey meeting; G. F. Beck is said to be training for the Bath Trial; E. R. Shipton, Editor of the B.T.C. Gazette, has joined; and photographs of “Boulder Mere” and the “Anchor” at Ripley are a shilling each from S. Withers & Co., 42, Cheapside.
- H. Jennings' address is now Lystonville, Lushington Road, Eastbourne.
- By the Gazette's special reporter: the Surrey Bicycle Club's spring meeting at Kennington Oval on the 22nd, run in a tremendous gale, with G. P. Coleman of the B.U. handicapping. J. S. Whatton of C.U.Bi.C. won all eight heats' final of the One Mile Open Handicap easily by six yards in 3 min. 17⅘ sec. with Cortis fourth, while the Ten Miles Scratch Race for the Fifty Guineas Challenge Cup ended in a dead heat between the holder, J. F. Griffith of the L.B.C., and C. A. Palmer of Speedwell B.C. in 33 min. 52½ sec., the run-off to be at Leicester on a date not yet fixed.
- Season list running from the April 29 fixtures (Kilmarnock F.C. Sports, Burnley C.C. handicap, L.A.C. Second Spring Meeting) through L.B.C. v. O.U.Bi.C. and the L.B.C. One Hundred Miles Trial in May and on, continued overleaf, to the Fifty Miles Amateur Championship at Crystal Palace on July 29.
- Two letters on dress follow the errata letter: one writer sympathises with “B. A.” over walking knickerbockers but finds they flap dangerously among the spokes and pick up mud, proposing instead a blue cap peaked fore and aft like the O.U.Bi.C.'s; “Conservative” recommends buying a cap too large and packing the lining with blotting paper, and warns that any change of cap or suit will be for the worse.
- “Your Captious Critic” asks what “a live Antipluvium” is and whether it is a safe animal to carry on a bicycle, and gives up on “Rambler's” Echo about identifying editorials from styles of caligraphy in a printed article. The Editor replies that the word was completely illegible and remains undecipherable by the skilled compositors.
- Replies to “Conservative” (send your name per the regulation), E. P. (his tour will appear now that Sherriff's, Williams's and Jennings's are finished, and the proof may be seen at 35, Eastcheap), “Paraclete” (the correspondence had better not be continued), and L. Shepperd and D. D. S. (next week).
- 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.