Page 6 - DLNdec2017-1025

If you read my article on Doddington Post Office in last month's DLN you
may like to know that the postcard was one of a series of six, all displaying
places of interest in the Newnham/Doddington area. They were sent by
William Condy (who was on holiday in Newnham) to his mother. William is
centre in the photograph and is with his brothers, Charles (pipe in hand) and
Waiter. The photograph was taken in 1906 in the back garden of the Duke of
Edinburgh pub in Merton, Surrey.

I first had contact with the Condy family when I was the club archivist in
2006. A Mrs Joan McConachie, William's eldest daughter, had requested a
copy of the Club History. I had a series of letters from Joan who informed
me that her father had died in 1974 at the age of 92. A short time
afterwards a member of the De Laune (she couldn't remember who) had
visited her and she had handed over most of her father's records (he
evidently catalogued every race, time, date, course, distance, etc). One item
she kept was a book about his holiday with his brothers and Waiter Niblett,
also a club member, to Brittany and Normandy in July 1909.

One particular day they cycled 65 miles (I assume this would have been
quite an achievement considering their very basic bikes and the poor state
of the roads), meeting up with Frenchmen who had never set eyes on an
Englishman.

As the brothers' days in the saddle faded with the years, Joan would take
her father and Uncle Charlie in her car every weekend to the various pubs in
Kent, Surrey and Sussex to meet up with the club runs -regardless of the
fact that her father did not drink!

Joan was happy to hear that the club was still in existence. For these three
brothers - great pals - the De Laune was their entire youth. The last
correspondence I had with Joan was in 2013 when she was 96 years of age.
In her letter she offered to provide a further trophy to be awarded to an
older rider - maybe cyclist of the year, or cyclist with most attendances at
meetings, or perhaps something suggested by the club. She had already
donated the Condy Cup in 1979 to commemorate the club's 90 th year, and
6