Vol 6, No 8
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.
- W. R. Sewell recalls the luggage fads of the days before M.D.R.'s and Clytie bags, a stuffed mackintosh sleeve, a friend's brown-paper parcels shed one by one off the curly spring of his “Coventry,” trousers strapped to the bar of an Ariel, along with the dog whip carried to chastise cap-throwing small boys, the N.W. District's arguments over the correct curl of a backbone (the Hampstead men being Philistines who rode “Stassens”), and the stout elderly rider who cured his habit of landing over the handles by winding 4lbs of lead piping round the backbone under the step.
- At the meeting of Monday 23rd April, Edward Mayo Halliday, Richard Jas. Paull and Fredk. H. Williams were elected members; the Hon. Sec. was directed to write Mr. Shipton about the word “London” appearing after Mr. Volckman's name in the April C.T.C. Gazette; and T. E. Scrutton's motion to substitute a two-mile open handicap for the one-mile was carried against H. G. A. Brown's amendment, while the Tricycle Sub-Committee's report was held over.
- Captain Ashley W. Barrett's instructions for the Whit Monday 100-mile trial from Bath to the ninth milestone at Hounslow: entries close 30th April, rooms are secured at the “White Lion” at Bath and tea taken at the “Milford Arms,” Hounslow, with stage distances by Devizes, Marlboro', Hungerford, Newbury and Reading, four route hazards between Bath and Melksham, and a call for volunteer timers at Devizes, Hungerford, Reading and Slough carrying flat bottles and mustardless sandwiches.
- E. S. Price announces the Club's annual meeting at the Crystal Palace on Saturday 16th June, a half-crown day on which members can obtain tickets at 1s. 6d.; the programme now runs to five events, a Two Miles Open Handicap having replaced the One Mile.
- W. K. Adam's address is given as Stapenhill, Crescent Wood Road, Sydenham Hill, with his and F. L. Adam's district corrected to S.E., M. H. Jephson's to W. and M. D. Rucker's to N.E.
- E. S. Price of “Homelea,” Greenhill, Hampstead, gives final notice that entries close on Monday 30th instant and that none can be received after that date.
- The Committee presses members to sell tickets among their friends, since a small profit accrues to the Club on each; a comparative statement shows that a ticket bought from the Hon. Sec. at 1s. 6d. rather than at the Palace at 2s. 6d. saves a shilling and admits to the Palace and grounds as well as the races.
- Reports from the S.W., S.E., N.W. and W. District Captains on the ride to the “Ship” at Halliford, where fifty-four men sat down to tea: the Bros. Buckler appeared on a new “Social” tricycle, The O'Reilly rode up from Brighton against a north-easterly wind, the S.E. mustered twenty-one under R. G. Francis by cross-country lanes from Croydon via Ewell and Esher, and the N.W. covered 42 miles from “Jack Straw's Castle” by Willesden, Acton and Kew, with a full list of those present appended by Captain Ashley W. Barrett.
- A table of the next two Saturdays' meets for the N.E., N.W., W., S.W. and the two S.E. divisions, Havering and Rickmansworth, then Thames Ditton, with no official run on 12th May and a general meet at Dunstable with the O.U.Bi.C. and C.U.Bi.C. on 19th May.
- Gerard F. Cobb's route notes for §15, Lucerne to Engelberg by Stanz, Wolfenschiessen and Grafenort: a narrow hedged road that dries slowly, an hour's walk up the zigzags through the pine forest, and a descent needing great caution on unprotected banks; he recommends the “Pension Müller” by the church, warns against ordering trout at the “Titlis,” and adds the Joch Pass walk to the Engstlen Alp and the excellent Sunday music at the Benedictine church.
- W. A. Smith of Savernake Cottage, Acton, offers a special 52-in. Humber built to his specification for touring at £15 with ball treadles or £14 without; E. D. Sewell of Upper Clapton offers a 54-in. “Royal Challenge” at £5 10s.
- J. S. Wharton, writing from Trinity College, Cambridge, answers “Districtus” seriatim on the West District question, arguing that three districts west of the dividing line against two east of it is indefensible, that the Thames meanders too much to serve as a boundary in the west, and that the West should be fused with its neighbours; he ends by denying he fears tram-lines, having ridden thirteen thousand miles in five years without a fall from one.
- Notes on the Army adopting the same useful grey as the L.B.C. uniform and the C.T.C., the Tricycle Union adopting the Bicycle Union's “objects” wholesale, recent performances including 106 miles in 12h. 28m. on a 40-in. “Facile” and A. Nixon's 100 miles in 9h. 22m. on a “Premier Roadster” tricycle from Upper Norwood to Brighton and back, Howell's twenty-mile professional championship at Leicester in 1h. 5m. 03s., the entries for the Surrey Ten Miles and Mile Handicap, and the opening of the new Alexandra Palace track to N.W. members.
- “Porcupine” urges every member to ride to Dunstable on 19th May to meet the Universities, recalling the bands, the “Sugar Loaf” and the return via Chenies; complains that time was wasted crossing and re-crossing Kew Bridge on the Halliford run while the official arrangements were ignored; notes W. C. Oswald's sprained knee, the Barretts in the La Crosse team, and Norman Morris's wedding at Chislehurst; and looks forward to Whit-Monday with O. Thorn riding his fourth Bath Trial as “Bath Oliver.”
- Under Rule 40 no member may represent the Club at a race meeting without the Captain's permission; the sanctioned list runs from the L.A.C. at Stamford Bridge and Surrey B.C. at Kennington Oval on 28th April through the C.U.Bi.C. and O.U.Bi.C. matches in June to the London B.C. races at the Crystal Palace on 16th June.
- Harold C. Pigott, District Captain, asks members to turn out in force for the run to Rickmansworth on Saturday 28th April, starting from Savernake Cottage at 3.45, as Captain Ashley Barrett intends to be present; the District Visitor adds his thanks to W. A. Smith and promises support once his strained tendon allows.
- 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.