Vol 6, No 16
Articles in this issue
- Standing editorial notice that the latest hour for reception of copy for the Gazette is 6.0 p.m. on Tuesdays.
- Full report of the club's first Annual Race Meeting held at the Crystal Palace track, run off in gusty wind and one sharp thunderstorm, with heat-by-heat details of the Two Miles Scratch for the Ladies' Challenge Cup (won by W. K. Adam from G. F. Beck), the One Mile Handicap (W. C. Oswald off 200 yards), the Two Miles Open Handicap (H. R. Reynolds), the Ten Miles District Challenge Cup (W. K. Adam in 31min. 54 1/2sec.) and the Five Miles Open Scratch (H. W. Gaskell of Ranelagh Harriers). The editor complains of seven starters in a final heat and of bystanders announcing results before the judge, and lists the officials, with Mrs. F. M. Williams presenting the prizes.
- The meeting called at the "City Arms Tavern" lapsed for want of the quorum of thirty: only twenty-four members attended, thirteen of them officials and committeemen, so the Captain dissolved it and held the agenda over to the Ordinary General Meeting in January. Those present are listed by name.
- Hon. Sec. E. S. Price announces, belatedly and by his own admission through an omission on his part, that Mr. A. H. Lown is now the district's Captain.
- E. S. Price asks members who did not use the Annual Race Meeting ticket circulated with the Gazette to return it at once, as the Club must pay the Crystal Palace for every ticket not returned.
- W. J. Williams, deputising for the new District Captain for two Saturdays, rebukes the district for the worst average attendance in its history and blames lawn tennis and the river. The run meets at "Jack Straw's" at 4, Hendon Station 4.30, joins the West District at the "Green Man," Kingsbury, and rides to Stanmore.
- District Captain R. G. Francis sets the Croydon Division off from the Fire Station at 4 for Lewisham Church, where Stephen Smith will lead on to the Woolwich ferry, while the Blackheath Division musters at the "Hare & Billet" at 4.45; tea at the "King's Head," Chigwell, and a plea to redeem the failure of the last meet with the N.E.
- District Captain Harold C. Pigott expects a large muster at Stanmore to meet the N.W., halting a quarter of an hour at the "Green Man," Kingsbury, at 4.45 before taking the lanes to tea at the "Abercorn Arms." He warns members off the rival S.W. run to the Silent Pool as far too long for what it offers.
- Stephen P. Smith, having found twenty-five members willing to accept a contingent liability of 10s. each against the 12l. 12s. due to the L.A.C. for the rent of Stamford Bridge on June 30th, expects to have to call in the guarantees and asks for twenty-five more names so that each man need pay only 5s.
- Report of the inter-club match with the Oxford University Bicycle Club at the Crystal Palace on the 13th, missing Buckley, who had been hurt on the Oxford track the night before. The One Mile heats went to Wyndham, F. L. Adam and W. K. Adam (whose heat opened with a walked first lap of 73 seconds), G. F. Beck took the Four Miles and H. R. Reynolds the Fifteen; twenty-two men dined afterwards.
- Tabulated meeting places and times for the N.E., N.W., W., S.W. and the two S.E. divisions, including Lea Bridge Road for Chigwell, "Jack Straw's Castle" for Stanmore, and Kingston Station for Newland's Corner and the Silent Pool.
- The concluding instalment of Gerard F. Cobb's Swiss itinerary, on things in general: Swiss road metal that does not go to pieces in a drought, the smooth clean sidings, the deceptive apparent gradients of long hills, deaf natives who make a shrill whistle essential, and a toothed brake bar as indispensable. He then details Baedeker and the Swiss Ordnance maps, gives a rule for converting kilometres and stunden into miles, explains how to cut and mount the sheets for a breast pocket, and appends the sheet numbers needed for each route described.
- A comic first-person account, signed N. H., Jun., of entering the Club Mile on a heavy roadster: the label pasted on the machine's only bright part, a disastrous attempt to wheel it upstairs at the Palace, a lost competitor's ticket, a borrowed racer with no step, and being beaten by half a lap while a jeering little brother and a certain lady look on.
- The list of meetings the Captain sanctions members riding at under Rule 40, from the L.A.C. and Clapham B.C. on June 23 to the Rovers' evening meeting, the Speedwell Sports at Aston Lower Grounds, the A.A.A. Championships at Lillie Bridge and the Brixton Ramblers on June 30.
- Porcupine's paragraphs of club gossip under a Sir Thomas Browne epigraph: George Oxx of the Surrey has ridden at all nine L.B.C. Annual Race Meetings, the Treasurer chuckles at giving away two medals instead of last year's ten, the N.E. District Captain writes from the Hotel Tegetthoff in Vienna, and the club mashers appeared in white hats, ties and waistcoats.
- R. Cooper Willis asks any member with personal experience to tell him the best route to the Lakes.
- C. Y. Lyne's new address is 70, Albion Road, Stoke Newington, N.
- For sale, Gilbert F. Beck of Lloyd’s, E.C. offers a 58-in. "Humber Racer" built this spring and a "Rucker Roadster" built last summer.
- Contributions must be addressed to the Editor, L.B.C. Gazette, 85, 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.