National Clarion Cycling Club 1895 ~ an association of Clarion Cycling Clubs
December 2023
On a recent visit to Venice’s Guggenheim Museum, London Clarion member Ian Moyler spotted ‘Au Velodrome’, a modernist painting by the French artist Jean Metzinger. The work illustrates the final few metres of the 1912 Paris–Roubaix one day race, and portrays the winner Frenchman Charles Crupelandt. The race is one of the ‘Five Monuments’, held annually in early April, it is also known as the ‘Hell of the North’ due to its length, difficulty, and dangers of racing over the narrow, treacherous cobblestone roads of northern France.
Clarion Sunday The largest annual gathering of Clarion cyclists took place on 11th June and once again over 300 comrades enjoyed a day of good fellowship, choral singing by two Clarion choirs and free sandwiches and cakes curtesy of Barnoldswick and Bolton Clarion Cycling Clubs. The event raised £500 for the Nelson ILP Clarion House.
Meet ribbons provided by London Clarion
Bikes and the Club’s marching banner.
Nelson ILP Clarion House, opened 1912
The word Clarion means to proclaim loudly. For the early Clarion pioneers, it was the call of freedom, the call of fellowship, the call for a socialist commonwealth. They envisaged the Clarion House as their instrument, proclaiming their message in a literal sense. They built it in a place of natural beauty in the fervent hope that the rest of the world would come to resemble it and become a place of beauty too. 2024 CLARION SUNDAY will be on
22nd SEPTEMBER 10am to 4pm
Praise indeed. During a recent committee meeting of the On-bike Social Networking Club, one member referred to the National Clarion 1895 (NLU) gazebo at the York Cycle Rally as ‘The Black Tent of Death’.
One suspects he was perplexed that we were causing confusion to campers and day visitors by advocating ‘combining the pleasures of cycling with support for the Principles of Socialism’, the very aims on which the Club was founded in 1895.
Hometown Hero Colin Copeland of Oldham Clarion CC was born at Delph, close to Oldham in 1903. He learned to ride a bike to get to work and having joined the Clarion cycling club soon became a keen and successful racing cyclist. In 1931 he was chosen to be a part of a sixman Clarion team to represent Great Britain at the 2nd Workers International Olympiad in Vienna. There he won the 20k road race, came second in the 3k hill climb, and was second in the 1k sprint final.
Colin Copeland, seen left of the banner
The 2nd Workers’ Olympiad in ‘Red Vienna’, was an inspiring example of massscale sports, free of corporate influence. The event, held in July 1931, was organised by the Socialist Workers’ Sports International (SASI). It brought together athletes from eighteen countries to take part in competitions and demonstrations in disciplines such as track and field, football, military sports, cycling and even chess. The mass gymnastics exercises, parades, and other events brought together a total of around eighty thousand participants. The second Workers’ Olympiad constituted a high point of Red Vienna’s selfrepresentation as an international capital of the workers’ movement. At the Workers Olympiads only red flags were used, rather than national flags. Colin Copeland also rode in the third Olympiad in Antwerp, Belgium in 1937, but by now fascism was sweeping across Europe banning many of the Socialist Workers Sports Movements.
Colin Copeland, in the centre wearing black
The Workers’ Olympiad combined elements of collective sport and public celebration. The events in Vienna included, among other things, a mass festival with four thousand athletes in the city’s renowned Prater Stadium recounting the heroic history of the international proletariat.
The Workers' Olympiads opposed all kinds of chauvinism, sexism, racism, and social exclusiveness. The Olympic Games were based in rivalry between nations, but the Workers’ Olympiads stressed internationalism, friendship, solidarity and peace.
Cyclists’ Memorial Services
At the outbreak of the Great Imperialist War, in 1914, the British Army attempted to recruit men who were already cyclists. The Gloucester based 48th Division issued a poster asking: ‘Are you fond of cycling? Why not cycle for the King?’ it went on to add ‘Bad teeth, no bar’. By the end of the year, some 14 Divisions had a battalion of Cycle Corps. The primary roles for these cycling soldiers was to be reconnaissance and communication. As infantry men they were armed and could provide mobile firepower, if needed.
The first British soldier to die in action was Private John Parr, a 17-year-old, reconnaissance cyclist serving in the 4th Middlesex Regiment. Killed at Obourg, close to Mons in August 1914, Parr had been underage when he enlisted.
The Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres in Belgium records 30 of the 200 Army Cyclist Corps who lost their lives in the war.
In May 1921, two years after the end of the Great War, well over ten thousand cyclists, gathered on a summer’s evening in Meriden, a village close to Coventry, for the unveiling of a Cyclists War Memorial. This 30ft tall granite obelisk honours all the cyclists who died during the war. Meriden, at the time a popular destination for cyclists, was chosen as it was reputed to be the geographical centre of England and because of its proximity to the large bicycle manufacturing region of the West Midlands. The memorial, funded by public subscription, is inscribed "TO THE LASTING MEMORY OF THOSE CYCLISTS WHO DIED IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1919". Each year, in early May, several hundred cyclists gather by the memorial in Meriden to pay tribute to those cyclists who made the ultimate sacrifice.
In the years immediately following the First World War more than 200 similar services were established across the country by various cycling groups wishing to honour their fallen comrades and give thanks for the safe return of others. One of the few that remains take place in the North Yorkshire village of Coxwold.
The idea of holding an annual Thanksgiving Service for cyclist was the brainchild of Canon Gibson-Black, who became Vicar of St. Michael’s Parish Church in 1927. ‘Coxwold Sunday’ is held on the second Sunday in May and has become an annual pilgrimage for many cyclists. A similar event was established in 1928 at Wells in Somerset, but this has since been moved and is now held at Castle Coombe.
The Christchurch Bicycle Club started with four members in 1877. By March 1878 its membership had grown to over two dozen. For the Club’s Dinner that year, a member wrote and dedicated the “Bicycle Riding Song” to the Club. The following year, for the now Annual Club Dinner, the same member J.W.White adapted Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S.Pinafore and wrote “The Captain’s Song” Captain I am Captain of the C.B.C Chrous And a right good Captain too Captain You are very, very good, and be it understood, I command a good club too. Chorus We are a very,very good club too. Captain Though racing’s not my style, I keep on mile after mile; However bad the roads may be, I’m never known to quail and come back home by rail. And I never get a spill you see. Chorus What, never? Captain No, never. Chorus What, never? Captain Well, hardly ever. I hardy ever get a spill you see. Chrus So give three cheers, with three times three. For the jolly Captain of the C.B.C. ‘England Arise’ is the traditional song of Clarion Cycling Clubs. It says it all.
Bikes on trains? In your dreams
Back in the 1950’s, during what can be termed the Golden Age of Cycling, there was a push by the government to get more people riding bikes. However, this entailed more than just an attempt to improve urban transportation, rather the goal was to provide cyclists with experience of cycling the far reaches of Great Britain. To do so, the government had to make trains more accessible for cyclists to transport their bikes. As a result, trains were modified specifically to accommodate bikes, allowing adventure seeking cyclists the opportunity to reach areas of the country otherwise too far to travel by two wheels alone.
A series of shorts by British Transport Films highlights the rail service that was instrumental in making these excursions possible. One film titled Cyclists Special, documents what it was like for cyclists to travel with their bikes by train to the Midlands in 1955. The film shows how bikes were neatly stored on hooks inside a “bicycle carriage” and marked for each rider to recognize. Download this film, it’s well worth watching and shows what could be achieved if cyclists were to unite and demand that the government does something to reverse today’s disgraceful provision for getting your solo bike on a train even if it’s been booked in advance. It has now become impossible to get a tandem or trike onto a train. Turn up at a station with a tandem trike or recumbent and they’d call for the police. I seriously doubt waving a Cycling UK membership card in their face would cause them to quake and tremble.
The Magnificent Seven
An article on a recent ride by London Clarion submitted by James Houston.
One impact of London’s rapidly expanding population in the early 1800s was that churchyards ran out of space to bury the dead. To alleviate the problem, seven private cemeteries were built outside of central London, which are now referred to as the Magnificent Seven. Twelve members of London Clarion Cycling Club met on a cool, bright late-August Sunday to visit them.
Our starting point was a cafe in Bermondsey. It seemed appropriate, as not only had it originally been built as a watch house to protect the adjacent churchyard from body snatchers, but it also serves excellent coffee and pastries. From here we took a 45-mile clockwise loop around London.
Although the cemeteries were all built between 1833 and 1841, they are each unique and this is very much felt in person. They have different sizes and topographies and have varied histories. The ride was bookended by the overgrown wilds of Nunhead and Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, and we stopped by tranquil West Norwood, tidy Brompton, expansive Kensal Green, touristy gothic Highgate, and locals’ favourite, Abney Park.
At each cemetery we chose one or two graves to visit, to discover some of the lives associated with them. We learned about John Wade ‘good Samaritan of Deptford’, Henry Tate, Isabella Beeton, Chief Long Wolf, William and Catherine Booth, Frank Bostock, Will Crooks, and Harry Orwell.
In addition to visiting the cemeteries, we also stopped by other sites of interest along the route. This included the Brixton Windmill, the Hyde Park Pet Cemetery, a historic pub which had recently been rebuilt ‘brick-by-brick’ after developers demolished it without permission, and the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which until its closure in 2017 had been in business for 450 years and had cast Big Ben and the Liberty Bell.
We are privileged in London to have so much history at our doorstep and in London Clarion we make the most of this by having some rides in our calendar each year which focus on this aspect. I really enjoyed the good fellowship on this ride, and as we compared notes afterwards in the Anchor Tap, I thought to myself, ‘it’s good to be alive’.
Thanks James. I sincerely hope they asked permission from the On-bike Social Networking Club before using ‘their’ Winged Angel image (ed)
Necropolis
In November 1854, a train made its maiden journey from the Necropolis station, an annex of London Waterloo station, to the Surrey countryside. There were no holiday makers, suitcases or trunks. The freight consisted of coffins containing corpses. The train was destined for Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking, some 23 miles outside of London.
The reason mourners faced a 46-mile (74km) round trip to bury their dead was because London's rapid growth had pushed the population to 2.5 million and the capital’s churchyards, were running out of room to bury the dead. In 1851 parliament passed "An Act to Amend the Laws Concerning the Burial of the Dead in the Metropolis". The following year, the London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Company was formed with the ambition to create London's one and only burial ground forever. The company went to great efforts to make the new cemetery on the former Woking Common so attractive that Londoners would not even consider burying their loved ones elsewhere. The Brookwood prospectus promised eternal peace.
The 23-mile (37km) distance between London and Brookwood meant that the traditional horse-drawn funeral cart (plodding at an appropriately funereal pace) could take up to 12 hours. Brookwood was the answer to the overcrowding, and the Southwestern railway provided transport needed for the deceased and the mourners. Trains ran every day and would be met at Brookwood by a team of black horses to haul the carriages down the slope into the cemetery.
The train was divided according to social class and religious affinity. The Bishop of London, Charles Blomfield, was concerned about the remains of those who had led "decent and wholesome lives travelling alongside those whose lifestyles had been morally lax". Blomfield did not think the "hurry and bustle" worked in combination with religious solemnity. The solution was to make the Necropolis train an entirely separate service, with their own carriages and timetable, and six separate categories of ticket for the living and the dead. The coffins were segregated so that the bodies of Anglican worshippers travelled behind the carriages for Anglican mourners, and the same for those of all other religions. The London Necropolis Railway came to an end during the night of 16 April 1941, in one of the last major air raids on London, the station was hit by high explosive and incendiary bombs. Post-war, funeral train services did not restart as motor cars and hearses were becoming more popular and were more convenient.
A ‘drum-up’
‘On a desolated moor overlooking the Firth of Clyde just a few miles outside of Glasgow, there is said to be a ‘cyclists’ cave’, where the ancient, mysterious art of the ‘drum-up’ is still practised to this day’. To the uninitiated, the skill of ‘drumming up’ a pot of tea over an improvised campfire has been a tradition of Scottish cycling for almost a century. Graeme Obree, in his autobiography, The Flying Scotsman, tells how in the 1980’s older members of the Loudoun Road Club would still carry a ‘tinny’ strapped to their saddlebags. This consisted of a smokedblackened bean can with an old spoke that could be handled with a stick onto a carefully built fire.
Obree continues: ‘There were known ‘drumming-up’ spots in various places, and on long journeys the drum-up spot would be the rallying area for tea, food and a chat. Today many cyclists choose to reject tea in favour of a frothy latte (and a mobile signal) but in truth what could be better and more welcoming on a long ride to hear some stranger call out ‘fancy a brew’. It is written the Sagas of the Norse: “with half a share loaf and half a shared cup I oft’ won me a friend”.
Know your gears
Modern multi-speed bikes are marvels of technology and allow a cyclist to select the gear ratio that will make the most efficient use of their energy to give them the maximum possible speed/distance for the minimum effort. Yet many very experienced cyclists are not entirely sure about the gears they use. The term ‘gear’ simply denotes the difference between the turning of the pedals and the rotation of the wheel. A penny farthing bicycle had a ‘direct drive’ which is the simplest gear system in that for one revolution of the pedal, the wheel revolves once. However, the size of the wheel makes a difference to the ‘gear’ For example a machine with a 48-inch wheel would travel 150 inches, this distance is worked out by multiplying the wheel diameter (48) by 3.14. A taller rider with longer legs would however be able to ride a bike with a larger diameter front wheel say 60 inches. Therefore, for one rotation of the pedals the bike would travel a fraction over 188 inches, thus riding a larger front wheel gave you a higher top speed.
It is due to this arrangement that we owe the present-day method of measuring gears. When a rider claims to have a 106-inch top gear he is indicating how large the diameter of the front wheel would be if he were riding a penny farthing, not how far he would be travelling for one revolution of the pedals. By using a rotary chain drive system that allows you to turn your pedals round once while your rear wheel turns four times, i.e. increasing your gear, it becomes possible to use a bicycle with smaller wheels yet still have a high gear inch. Thus, the design of the bicycle changed from the large wheeled, quite dangerous, penny farthing to the smaller wheeled ‘safety’ bicycles we ride today.
Flint catchers
These little gadgets, which were widely used by time-trialists in the 1950’s and 60’s, have long since fallen out of fashion though one must question why since they weigh next to nothing. They hang from the brake bridges on your front forks and rear seat stays. They are designed to brush off bits of flints, shards of glass and thorns that your wheel has picked up before the wheel makes a full rotation which is when the offending particle gets embedded into the tyre and then, with each further turn of the wheel, work their way through the rubber until the tube is punctured.
They can be found at cycle jumbles, or you can make your own using an old spoke and a piece of flexible tubing. They are not guaranteed to stop punctures, but they will reduce them. If they only stop ten percent, it must be worth fitting a pair.
eBikes Electric bikes are good and should be welcomed as they enable many people to get out cycling the lanes who, perhaps through old age or ill-health, would not be able to do so. I am never sure why fit looking young and middle-aged cyclists need a batterypowered race bike to climb Sa Calobra or similar cols but sadly today far too many do.
There are however some disadvantages to buying an eBike: its weight, the high purchase cost, a potential fire risk when recharging, the constantly improving technology and the unfathomable roadside repair when it breaks down. So before embracing China’s latest import consider a cheaper alternative, the Cyclemaster. These petrol engine powdered autocycles from a bygone age can still be found for less than £1,000 and are easy to maintain. Even if you are not an ‘engine whisperer’, any good mechanic at a roadside garage will be able to get you back on the road..
‘The magic wheel that wings your heel’ The ‘clip-on’ engine design originated in Germany pre-WW2 as the DKW ‘RadMeister’. Bernard Neumann, the engineer involved, stole the blueprints when he fled to the Netherlands. The basic idea was to have a small, relatively light petrol engine that could be fitted to ‘any bicycle’. The drawings were sent to England where they were adapted by Cyclemaster Ltd who manufactured the engines we see today at vintage rallies for £25 (including fitting). In use, the Cyclemaster, with its 32cc twostroke petrol engine, provided easy-going, almost pedalling free transport for people commuting, going to the shops and for postmen and district nurses with rural rounds. Production ceased in 1961.
Bedford Autumn Meet At Easter 1895 a gathering of independent Clarion Cycling Clubs at Ashbourne agreed to form the National Clarion Cycling Club. The newly formed Club’s object was to be “the association of the various Clarion Cycling Clubs for the purpose of Socialist propaganda and for the promoting interclub runs between the Clubs of different town”. It was from this first Easter Meet that the Clarion tradition of holding annual inter-Club Meets at Easter, occasionally Whitsuntide and Autumn sprang. It is pleasing to report that 128 years later the founder’s aims remain alive and well within the many Clarion Clubs. “Know your Club’s history, study it, understand it, but most important of all never ever forget your Club’s history”.
Over the weekend of October 19th-22nd members from: Barnoldwick Clarion, Bolton Clarion, London Clarion, North Lancs Clarion C&AC and Yorkshire Coast Clarion, gathered at the Meet HQ, Bedford’s Riverside Premier Inn for the Club’s annual Autumn Meet. On arrival every member received a Meet ribbon donated by London Clarion, a tradition too valuable to be lost. Saturday. The group assembled at 10.30. outside the H.Q. for a photoshoot before departing along a cycle path, following the River Great Ouse out of the city. The day’s ride was to be a circular 40-mile route following quiet lanes northwest of Bedford.
After 16 miles, having passed through the villages of Oakley, Stevington, Harrold and Hinwick we stopped for coffee in the New Inn at Wymington.
“When you said we were stopping for elevenses I
thought we’d be going to a café” (J.Helms)
Refreshed, but somewhat behind schedule, it was decided to split the party with one group sticking to the original route through the hamlets of Yelden, Swineshead, Thurleigh to Ravensden where the groups would reunite at The Horse & Jockey for lunch. Sadly, whilst the pub had a good range of beers, the kitchen had closed so we headed back to Bedford and HQ for a quick change of clothes before enjoying an early meal in The Higgins Italian restaurant.
Sunday’s ride, on a most beautiful Autumn Day, was to be a clockwise ride southeast from the city, initially following designated cycle paths to Cardington, famous for its airship hangers. After only 6 miles, between the hamlets of Cople and Northill, we made an early coffee stop at the Cowshed Café. What was once an old, dilapidated cattle shed has only recently been converted by two cycle enthusiast, Rob and Sarah, into a wonderful cycle café, it even has a cat handling customer relations. Worth a visit if you are ever cycling or walking in the area, it’s not 5 Star its better.
Then back on our bikes we cycled along some quiet and pleasant country lanes to Old Warden and Ireland then on to the small market town Ampthill which, after 25 miles, Ride Captain Alex had chosen for the lunch stop. To everyone’s surprise rather than leading us to a pub for some traditional Clarion ‘bounderising’ he led us down a back alley to ‘Cakestand and Crumbs’, a tea shop for old ladies.
Where we feasted on cakes and cups of TEA!
Then with the help of Garmin we were led safely back via Marston Moretaine, Millbrook, Wooton and Kempston to Bedford and The Rose Public House for a well-earned farewell drink or two or better still three. Everyone agreed that the Meet had been a great success: excellent Hotel H.Q., not a drop of rain, two relatively easy rides through beautiful villages on virtually traffic free country lanes. No accidents, mechanicals, or punctures, just lots of fun and Good Fellowship ~ The Clarion at its best. EASTER MEET 2024 will be held in the city of Gloucester - be sure to be there and bring your cycling comrades.
Manchester Wheelers
Manchester Wheelers is not the oldest cycle club in the country, Peterborough CC (1873) claim that honour. The Wheelers was formed in 1883 by five young lads meeting at the Albert pub in Moss Side, which was then a middle class district of Manchester. Their idea to start the Manchester Athletic Bicycle Club had been inspired by their attendance at an enomous gathering of cyclists in nearby Alexandra Park. An event, reported in full by the Manchester Guardian on 4 June 1883. The article noted the huge number of spectators in the park (possibly 10,000) and counted 293 cyclists attached to clubs, 220 unattached and 65 tricyclics, all of whom ‘saluted his worship the mayor, by raising a hand to their caps’ as they cycled past. The newly formed MABC appointed a Captain, sub-Captain, Secretary and Bugler and agreed an annual subscription of half a crown (about 12 new pence). As any serious bicycle club needed a uniform, an olivegreen military style suit with black hose and a huntsman’s cap with a two-inch silver badge was agreed. The club racing colours were, until 1895, cardinal red and navy blue, then myrtle and gold until 1919 when a white jersey with a broad black vertical strip took over. At the Club’s 1947 AGM the champion racing cyclist Reg Harris proposed that the club adopt the present-day colours of red, white, and blue as a reflection of the patriotic fervour gripping the country following the defeat of fascism.
In 1890 the club changed its name to Manchester Wheelers to avoid confusion with two similarly name sports clubs; the now long defunct Manchester Bicycle Club and the Manchester Athletic Club (now Manchester Harriers and Athletic Club). Unlike the National Clarion Cycling Club, which allowed women members from its inception in 1895, the ‘Wheelers’ did not admit women until 1969, though in all fairness, in 1956 they did permit ladies to attend the annual Prize Presentation!
New Clarion sew-on patches.
The Club has just taken delivery of these 3inch diameter sew-on patches. The image was copied from a badge worn by the National Clarion football team for their visit to Paris and Brussels in 1922. Alex Southern discovered the badge in a box at Manchester Central Library whilst doing further research for our Club’s history. Cost: £2.50 plus postage from London Clarion, Charles Jepson or collect one post free from Nelson ILP Clarion House.
Dates for 2024: Easter Meet in Gloucester: 29th March-2nd April. Coxwold Annual Memorial Ride: Meet at Easingwold at 10am on Sun. 12th May York Cycle Rally at Knavesmire Racecourse: 21st-23rd June Dieppe Cycle Raid: 27th Jun-1st July. Clarion Sunday Meet: 22nd Sept (NOTE the event has moved from June) contact: national.clarion1895@gmail.com