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GEORGE ROBERT WOOD cont.
1921 - 2015

7th July 1938, having been proposed by Ron Hoare and seconded by Ken Hill.

On their first Sunday club run, George and his friend Reg Howard, who had
joined the club on the same day, rode to the Windmill pub on Clapham
Common; they set off at 9.00 am sharp for their first stop, which was Mrs
Curd’s at Godstone. By lunch time they had arrived at their destination
where they had sandwiches and lemonade (the older members were allowed
a pint of beer). Off they set again until it was time for tea, which was bread
and jam, and as much tea as they could drink, all for 1/6d! This was to be
the forerunner of many excursions into the countryside around London with
occasionally an overnight stop at a youth hostel. On one of these stopovers
near Brighton, George and Reg met up with a large party of De Laune
members, 26 in all, who had cycled from London on a training ride. Whilst
having tea together Reg regaled the group about the happenings at the
hostel the previous night explaining the full details, with the aid of lumps of
sugar, of exactly how George had broken his collar bone! Interspersed with
the club runs, George also tried his hand at racing, mainly ‘25s’ and ‘30s’
with the occasional ‘50’ time trial. Although not the fastest on the road,
he picked up numerous handicap prizes.

All these good times were about to end as war loomed on the horizon and
George, together with so many other club members, was to have his world
changed. In March 1941 he was required to register for military service and
in June 1943 had joined the Royal Naval Air Service. In November of that
year he was off to Canada to train as a navigator. In a letter dated 27th
December 1943 which was published in the DLN, George wrote:

“Many thanks for the DLN which I have just received from home. We have
spent a nice white Christmas. Some people in the town invited us out for
the day with big eats and plenty of fun, but I missed the usual mild and bitter.
The people seem to be TT but they have given us a good time.

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