December 2003

Get It Right!

So how many of you spotted the deliberate mistake in last month’s edition of The North End? One member rang me, leaving a message on my answerphone, to point out that it was labelled November 2004!

(Those of you reading the website version will have been spared this monstrous gaffe! This error appeared on the paper copy!)

I shall, however, spare him the embarrassment of naming him, as he said that he’d "missed a century" of newsletters, instead of just a year! He did, at least, realise what he’d said, as he immediately left another message correcting himself! It’ll stay our secret, OK?!

More Corrections!

Virtually everything you read about the Freewheel Competition and Christmas Tea last month was incorrect!

The November copies were still warm off the photocopier† when the club were informed that the original venue for the Christmas Tea - The Oak Room in Tattenhall - will be closed for the foreseeable future! So, a quick lookaround produced a booking for midday at The Bickerton Poacher, which will follow the downhill competition at Harthill, not The Goshawk as I had mistakenly assumed it would be. The date is the same, however - Sunday 21st December. And the price is still £10.

†80 sheets straight off the copier do leave your hands nice and toasty - pity it’s not an option on a cold December morning!

LTTCA Prize Presentation

To say that the North End was "well represented" at the recent Liverpool Time Trials presentation would be like saying that this year’s Tour de France was "exciting"!

Where do I start? Well, Ian Hawkins was runner-up in the Senior Championship (over 25, 50, 100 miles and 12 hours), with an average speed of 21.073mph.

The Middle Distance Championship, for average speeds over 10, 25 and 50 miles saw 18 riders classified, of whom 6 were wearing the red, yellow and black: Andy Walsh (who was ranked 4th), Ian Hawkins (5th), Steve Gauller (6th), John Lyth (9th), Andy Peden (13th) and Bill Hanson (14th).

And it didn’t stop there - Andy Walsh won the John Plumbley Memorial Trophy for the West Cheshire ‘25’ in September, for his time of 58-40.

But when it came to the team awards we came into our own, winning 3 of the 4 on offer. We won the Nanson Cup for the Shropshire ‘100’ in August - Jeff Vernon, Ian Hawkins and Mike Daly were our three counting riders. Then we won The Express Shield, for the Chester RC ‘50’ in September, when Jeff, Andy Walsh and Ian were our counters. And we also won the Vice-President’s Shield for the West Cheshire ‘25’: this time Keith Boardman joined Andy and Ian in the winning trio.

Club Dinner

The Club Dinner and Prize Presentation was held at The Grange in Thornton Hough last month, and I believe I can say that everyone who attended had a good time. Les West was the chief guest, and gave us a speech detailing his racing career, as well as some interesting insights into the continental professional scene that probably shouldn’t be written down and distributed unless I had a good lawyer - which I don’t, so I won’t! Post-meal entertainment was provided by The Four Originals (although I’m sure I counted more than 4 people on the stage!).

The evening also saw the presentation by Dave Quinn of the sponsorship cheque to the club for the current year. It was a very fancy large cheque (about 3 feet long!) that had been drawn up - so he told us - by Dave Parry. Rather interestingly, it was made out to the "Birkenhead North End Cyling Club"! Questions in the House Mr Speaker!…

If there was a disappointment, it was that numbers were significantly lower than in previous years: there were at least 20 fewer people than last time. It was believed that many people were put off by the price going over £20 compared to the previous year. I have got on my high horse in the past about us cyclists being willing to pay large sums for material equipment but reluctant to fork out comparatively small amounts for intangibles like annual subscriptions (as anyone who witnessed the debate about the £7 increase for insurance can testify!).

The dinner is a unique social occasion in the club calendar, and is truly a case of ‘the more the merrier’. Let’s hope that next year’s event sees more of us there (bet I end up not going now after that!).

And before I receive a deluge of protests that would make Tony Bell look popular, I know that there were many people whose non-attendance had nothing to do with the ticket price! Please don’t think that I am automatically assuming that anyone who didn’t go was being a tightwad!

For Sale

Mark Gibson has several items of club kit that he would like to sell:

Please contact Mark on 07745 435385 or email mark.gibson@wcoh.ac.uk.

Mike Daly

Mike Daly announced recently that he and Sheila will be emigrating (again!) to New Zealand at some point during the coming year. Consequently he will be resigning his position as Club President at the AGM this month after serving just one year.

Sheila and Mike (or ‘Nixon’ as he will now be called!) say they will extend a warm welcome to all North Enders who are passing through New Zealand in the future! I’ll make sure I get their address so someone can take them up on the offer ("Yeah, I was just in the Southern Hemisphere so I thought I’d drop in!").

From The Archive…

I now present the second half of the newsletter from March 1944. Many thanks to John Dalton, who has sent me a whole collection of circulars from the 40’s and 50’s: it looks like this nostalgia feature could become a regular item!

While all these times were being trotted out the rest of the Club were meandering over North Wales on the Bala - Ruthin run. This section had the support of Ronnie Langley who, home on leave for a week, had been out with the Wirral Harriers the day before and still put up a better show than most - so maybe there is something in this Army food after all.

At our recent Dance which, after a slowish start, developed very well and was a complete success no less than three Service members were home on leave together. There was Neville Cash - rolling (nautically) Ken Harland - still laughing and Ken Douglas who has been away from the fold so long that we all had to introduce ourselves. All three looked remarkably well and fit for anything except cycle racing.

First news has turned up of Andy Kelly who is now the first sea-going butcher the Club has ever had. Andy seems to have settled down and has already started pining for his "iron" - his new friends call him "Shorty" - I wonder why we never thought of that, maybe it was so obvious.

From India Ted Hills airgraphs home to give his best wishes to all Northenders everywhere. Ted says that he is going to race all the winter when he returns home to make up for lost time.

George Jones also airgraphs from Ceylon asking to see some team awards for the Northend in Opens this year - so we just missed presenting him with a "new year" gift at the Preston Wheelers Event last week.

The Combine race also opened up the handicap championship for the Cullompton Cup and Jim Roberts has already taken the lead - it is quite time that these handicappers were warned about him.

The letter goes on to detail the upcoming club fixtures, and it would be awkward to lay them out here as shown originally. However, one item which catches the eye is a club Easter weekend away (no ‘Hilly 22’ in those days!). On Good Friday the club was to leave Two Mills at 8:30am "prompt" (8:30?!!) for Mickleton (which, for those of us who don’t know Gloucestershire like the backs of our hand, is about ten miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon, and Autoroute tells me it’s over 100 miles from the Mills). On the Saturday the run would head to Pangbourne, (about 5 miles west of Reading and about 60 miles from the previous night’s stop), "for the Charlotteville ‘50’" (and I presume they weren’t going to spectate!). The Sunday would take them to Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, another 80 miles, before returning on Monday, with "tea at Prees Heath", another 115 miles. In all, some 360 miles, plus 50 in the time trial, and this is assuming they took the shortest route between these towns (and we all know that a clubrun would never do that!). All during wartime, with food rationed! Truly, we don’t know we’re born, us young ’uns!

Seasons Greetings

And finally, I wish you all a very merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous New Year. May all your times be quick!

Previous Newsletters:
2003 January February March April May June July August September October November
2002 January February March April May June July August September October November December
2001 January February March April May June July August September October November December
2000 January February March April May June July August September October November December
1999 January February March April May June July August September October November December
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