Vol 6, No 10
Articles in this issue
- The Editor states that the latest hour for reception of copy for the “Gazette” is 6.0 p.m. on Tuesdays.
- A burlesque leader on the confusion of Bath Trial forecasts, in which the Gazette engages a sporting prophet at vast expense; his despatches from Walthamstow treat the District Captains as trainers of their stables, he cannot find the West District except at Oxford, and his final article hedges so far as to provide for twenty-seven medals and nine enamelled medallists, so the Editor rejects it as “nobbled” by the S.E. and undertakes the prophecy himself, weighing the two enamellists, G. F. Beck and last year's dark horse Hindley, and breaking off just short of naming the winner.
- At the meeting of Monday 7th inst. Douglas McRae of Homefield, Mitcham Common, was elected; H. Ravenshaw was allowed to withdraw without entrance fee after a severe fall; Palmer Dalton resigned the N.W. District Captaincy through illness and E. S. Price was asked to act pro tem.; and the Tricycle Sub-Committee's clauses were agreed, its adoption and the date of the Special General Meeting being adjourned.
- E. S. Price announces that he has been asked to fill the District Captaincy pro tem. after Palmer Dalton's forced resignation, appeals to members to keep up the honour of the district during the interregnum, and urges every man to ride with his district to Dunstable.
- New addresses for J. F. Marchant at the “Castle Hotel,” East Molesey, and William Silk, jun., at 17, Church Row, Hampstead, N.W.
- T. E. Scrutton, Editor, will be away from London at Whitsuntide and asks that all Road Trial communications go to the Captain as early as possible so the Gazette can reach members by Saturday morning, the day of the Dunstable meet.
- Captain Ashley W. Barrett confirms the special bicycle van on the 2.30 train from Paddington on Sunday 13th and the meeting at the “White Lion” that evening to draw for places; he repeats the requirement of complete road-riding costume, the Whit-Monday timetable from the 5.30 call to tea at the “Milford Arms” at 2s. 6d. (baths sixpence), the 100-mile course from Bath to the ninth milestone at Hounslow, the four hazards between Bath and Melksham, and the vacant timing stations at Devizes, Hungerford, Reading and Slough.
- The list of 29 entrants for Whit-Monday, from W. K. Adam to W. Wyndham, with asterisks marking the former medallists G. F. Beck, L. B. and H. R. Reynolds, R. B. Hough, O. Thorn, E. A. Weeks and C. Wigan.
- Captain Barrett wants timers for Hungerford, Reading and Slough, asking volunteers to write before 11.30 a.m. on Saturday 12th May so he can telegraph them before leaving town, with reports due by 5 p.m. on Tuesday the 15th.
- Captain Barrett's marching orders for the meet with the C.U.Bi.C. and O.U.Bi.C.: all districts rendezvous at the “Pea Hen,” St. Albans, at 5.45, the N.E. from Lea Bridge Road at 3.0 and the N.W. from “Jack Straw's Castle” joining at Tally Ho! Corner, the S.E. training from East Croydon, the S.W. from Kew Bridge and the W. from Savernake Cottage; tea for the three clubs at 2s. 6d. in the Town Hall at 7.0 by the landlord of the “Old Sugar Loaf,” the Universities leaving at 8.15, and the Club asked to ride the last 13 miles in a compact body between its leaders and rear-men.
- E. S. Price, Hon. Sec., announces that one free ticket will now be sent to each member with the next Gazette along with the handbill and entry form, tickets otherwise costing 1s. 6d. and admitting to the Palace and grounds all day; unused tickets must be returned as the Club accounts to the Palace for every one. The five events and their 2s. 6d. entrance fees are restated.
- District Captains' reports for 5th May. The N.E. rode by Higham Hill, Chingford and Waltham Cross to the “Salisbury Arms,” Hoddesdon, twelve at tea, with a diversion to the Rye House dungeon at Rucker's expense and Baldwin falling repeatedly on the dark return. The W. mustered only Leeds and the D.C., dodging the tram lines behind the Kew Road and going by Petersham and Ham Common to the “Swan” at Ditton, where thirty-eight sat down at 2s. 9d. a head. The N.W. lost its D.C. to his “Catapult” experiments and raced through the Northern Guide's lanes to Colney Heath, where an old story was told of the sub-committee that produced blue, black and red football stockings as the Club pattern. The S.W. gathered at Kingston Station and rode by Surbiton and Long Ditton, the Brothers Buckler arriving on the “Sociable,” and the S.E. sent nineteen men, the “Bath maniacs” scudding away from the slower division, The O'Reilly again riding up from Brighton.
- R. G. Francis's S.E. arrangements for the 19th: Stephen Smith will breakfast any man at 9.30 and ride via Woolwich, another party leaves Croydon Central at 10.0 by Kingston, and the main body books through from East Croydon at 3.50 to St. Albans, with alternative trains from Broad Street to High Barnet and returns from St. Albans at 9.5 and 10.0 p.m.
- The table for the coming Saturdays: no official run on 12th May, the Dunstable General Meet with the O.U.Bi.C. and C.U.Bi.C. on the 19th, and thereafter the N.E. and Croydon and Blackheath divisions for Erith while the N.W., W. and S.W. meet at Iver.
- With the Captain's consent the tournament will be held again; entries close on Thursday 17th, arrears of shillings from last season must accompany them, the draw will be published in the Gazette, competitors are to arrange their own ties within about ten days, and all communications go to H. N. Sharp, Elms Lea, Sutton, Surrey.
- “N. H.” on the misery of being a Road Trial competitor: the useless advice, the men who swear they will not start and then enter, the gloomy 2.30 train from Paddington filling with victims and the awe-inspiring Oxford contingent, the jealous inspection at Bath, the sweepstake and the sleepless night; then a breathless stream-of-consciousness ride, Box Hill, Devizes, Marlboro' Hill, a fly in the eye in Savernake Forest, the L.B.C. men with milk at Reading, parish boundaries mistaken for milestones, ending at the ninth milestone and going out of training at once.
- The sanctioned meetings for May: the Lincoln C. and F.C. Sports on the 12th, the Scottish Games at Stamford Bridge on the 14th, and on the 26th the C.U.Bi.C. University Trials at Cambridge, the L.A.C. at Stamford Bridge and the West Kent races at the Crystal Palace.
- “Porcupine” notes the C.U.Bi.C.'s improved path, its new double tricycle driven seventy-five miles with the club run, and its 1000th member; Goy's athletic list running to perambulators and Bath chairs; two L.B.C. marriages; the ex-D.C.s of the S.E. touting for attendance scores at Ditton; Dunstable en fête with the local band; the President's appointment as an examiner for the Tyrrwhitt Hebrew Scholarship; fifty yards of loose gravel at a level crossing near Colnbrook; and a forecast giving the enamelled medal to H. R. Reynolds at the milestone soon after three, with Beck pressing him hard and Brown, R. G. Francis and Walter Meyer suited by wet.
- J. S. Whatton asks members to suggest a place for a small summer reading party, mountain scenery with sea air if possible, roads not altogether impassable, and plain accommodation for five or six, Wales or North Devon preferred.
- All contributions must be addressed to the Editor, L.B.C. Gazette, 35, Eastcheap, E.C., bear the author's name though not necessarily for insertion, be written on one side of the paper only, and reach the Editor by Tuesday evening if immediate insertion is desired.