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DE LAUNE CYCLING CLUB

FOUNDED 1889

Sponsored by EVANS CYCLES (UK) Ltd. & SPECIALIZED CYCLES

THE DE LAUNE SKI PARTY

 April 2004
No. 861 -75th Year

www.delaunecc.org

THE PRESIDENTS REPORTS

Not a lot to report this month. I went down with the flu for a few days and this after I took Henry Coopers advice and had the jab. I think the lads have started racing but I have not seen any results as yet. Perhaps Mark will have a few in this DLN.

We had a good committee meeting last month. A lot of jollity and nothing really decided but you get the odd meetings like that. It was good to see Mike Peel attending again. As you all know Mike was our last President and the President of the Blackheath Harriers and he was good at it. He likes the tees crossed and the eyes doted. I hope he keeps attending.

At the meeting I informed the committee of a special at meeting at Betteshanger in Kent with regards to using a closed cycling circuit for racing. I know Val and Tony Peachey, Malcolm Adams and Alan Rowe attended. Thanks guys.

From the information received it is a closed park or nature area, with a 3km circuit. It can also cater for BMX bikes and cyclo cross. It was estimated that over 200 cyclists and triathletes turned up for the meeting.

We hope to have more news later in the year when the project is completed.

Come in Harry Coulson your number is up! Harry, I read your article in the last DLN and I know we have a problem with club runs Nick Butler, Harry Corbett and Cliff Steel are all helping out but they also like to race at week ends. I do not know what the answer is. Let me tell you about the late Jack Young. Jack had many positions in the club. He was President, club treasure, and jack-of-all-trades but one thing he was good at was being the club run leader. With attendees of about 50 to 60 each Sunday morning.

How did Jack make it work? Well he had a club run list in the DLN to places of interest. The crafty old sod would also take you to events like the Bagshot scramble. Club events, big road races, so if you were riding the event or marshalling you could not but get involved in the club run!

To be fair to Jack, he did not race in his later years but loved nothing better than riding his bike. So the answer is we need another Jack Young who will make out a club run list showing time and venue of start. The lunch stops, in case you wanted to meet for the afternoon. Not a list for one month but for 6 months (summer and winter) and stick to it.

Harry do you fancy it?

While on the subject, I read an article in one of the Kent papers saying that the San Fairy Ann CC would be running club runs for newcomers covering 20 miles with refreshment breaks. They will be easy paced. A contact telephone number was given. Food for thought. We hope in the near future to be sending you a form with the DLN, asking what you, as a member would like out of our club? (And do not say the money!) Nigel Scales designed the form and he has put a lot of work into it. He asks questions like are you interested in track racing? What disciplines? Do you require a coach? Etc. The form also asks what social events you would like to see organised? Fill it in and let us have it back. We will see what we can do.

While on the subject, we are in need of guys to be put forward for coaching schemes as most of our coaches have moved to other parts of the country. Please contact Bill Wright.

That is all for this month

Kav.

	DE LAUNE SKI TEAM 2004 See all the photos at www.mikepeel.co.uk/skiing/

Surrey League Beginners races

The second of 3 Surrey League Beginners races held on behalf of the Surrey League by London Dynamo at Hillingdon on February 28

1        Tom Hemmat          London Dynamo
2        Simon Jackson        High Wycombe
3        Stuart Grimes         Beyond MTB
4        Chris Haddock        London Dynamo
5        P Mallin-Jones      De Laune CC

The 3rd of 3 Surrey League Beginners races held on behalf of the Surrey League by London Dynamo at Hillingdon on March 6.

The event saw the largest turn-out so far with 74 riders signing up for a blustery 15 laps of the Hillingdon Circuit.

1.       Simon Jackson        High Wycombe
2.       Mike Debney           London Dynamo
3.       Brian Evans            Herts Wheelers
4.       Pete Mallin-Jones De Laune
5.       Daniel James           Sotonia CC

PAST WINNERS of the FRED PEACHEY MEMORIAL TROPHY

This year will be the 34^th edition of this Club Open event being promoted and, as you would expect, it has produced some truly worthy winners over those years.  The only blip in proceedings was in 1986 when, for lack of a promoter, no event was organised. 

I have spent some time reviewing the past trophy holders and interestingly quite a few people have been at the top of the list more than once.  The individual holding most wins is Derek Cottington, 4 in total over an 11 year period.  His first recorded win was in a time of 58.16 and his last 56.59 – clearly consistent.  The rider with multiple wins with the longest time scale in between is son-in-law Ian Silvester with his first win in 1983 and his second in 2002 – 19 years apart, will he wait a further 19 years for a repeat performance I ask? 

The most famous multiple winner, I suppose must be Sean Yates his first in 1996 whilst a professional rider for the Motorola team and recording the fastest time on the trophy of 48.48.  Sean lifted the trophy again in 2001 some five minutes slower.  The second fastest time on the trophy belongs to another ‘fast’ man Michael Hutchingson who recorded 51.15 in 1999.  Sadly he has only found time to ride to ride our event just once, perhaps he will be an entrant this year, might even rival the fastest time of Yates. 

The year that the club saved money on dinner tickets was in 1981 when John Wright from Addiscombe CC won both this cup and the Johnson cup awarded to the fastest junior on the day, recording a creditable 56.57.  Certainly a strong rider but unfortunately does not appear to have stayed within the sport. 

In total six other riders have won the event more than once, though I am sure many hearts were cheering when in 1973, Tony came in first with 59.12, one of his best career rides, certainly one that he cherishes.

Val the

MY FIRST BIKE
A Ted Lees photo 22 March 1959, Kentish Wheelers Novices, 12th o/a 1:07:49 on the old G9 (Cherry Tree) course.

 AND MY FIRST BIKE

Bike. Informal, short for bicycle. A vehicle with tubular metal frame Bike. Informal, short for bicycle. A vehicle with tubular metal frame mounted on two wheels, one behind the other, (Collins English Dictionary). 

Taken circa 1936, in the grounds of a Dockyard worker’s home, picture shows number 2 son of family. This garden is situated 10 miles from the ‘Windmill’ public house, one time starting place for the De Laune Cycling Club Sunday club runs.

Vehicle used in order to collect errands for the lady of the house. 

MEMBERSHIP

We welcome Nathan Palmer, who is also a member of Herne Hill Youth CC and lives in Herne Hill; Giovanni Rodolfi, who lives in Champion Hill SE5 and David Burfoot, who has rejoined us having previously been a member in the 1950s. Dave was a member of the group that included John Geoghegan, Brian Shambrook, Len Brown and myself who did most of our training miles in the 50s between different pubs throughout Kent, Surrey and sometimes into Sussex. Happy days! Dave now lives in Shirley, Surrey.

Out of 130 members we still have 26 who have not yet paid their 2004 subscription. Among those who have paid and made donations are Tom Bewsey, Pat Burns, Steve Carter-Smith, Harry Corbett, Len Double, Michael Moore, Clif Pendleton, Les Pyne, Mike Rice, Alan Rowe, Roy Savery, Brian Shambrook, Bryan Tidbury, Dave Tweddell, Brian Waller, Monty Watkins, Don White (who would like his donation to go to the production of the DLN) and George Wood. We have also received donations from David Dulake and Harry James. David was secretary of the Delta Road Club, which sadly is no longer in existence, although ex-members do have an annual get-together and, of course, the Delta was involved with the De Laune when we held the Crystal Palace promotions. Our Ken Hill was a great friend of Eric Caspall, also a member of Delta and Ken used to pass copies of the DLN to Eric and Eric in turn passed them on to David. As both Ken and Eric are now sadly dead, David mentioned that he would miss receiving the second-hand copy, thus we decided to carry on sending the DLN to him. David has made regular generous donations to our club funds; in fact; with his most recent cheque he mentioned that he joined the Delta 51 years ago, becoming General Secretary two years later. Harry, of course, is Tony James’ father (another very good rider a few years back) and although no longer a member likes to receive a copy of the DLN to keep in touch.

We lost a number of members at the end of 2003, amongst who was Alec Bedford who joined the club in 1964. Although President Kav wrote to Alec to try and persuade him to withdraw his resignation, he would not still his change his mind. John Double has also resigned. John has been a second-claim member for several years as he is first-claim for Crawley Wheelers, having moved into that area some time ago. John joined the De Laune in 1958. Andrew Harding, Jeremy Till and Peter Wood have also resigned but Paul Bowen, Richard Clinker, Ben Curley, Richard Hill, Dermon Kealey, Nick Kinsey, John Mackenzie, John McConville, Jeremy Moore, Mark Nye, Jim Phelan, Michael Phipson, Stuart Shand, John Simpson and Nicholas Sutcliffe have all been struck off the membership for non-payment of subscriptions. This is not all as bad as it seems as some of those now being struck off have not paid their subscriptions for several years; it’s only because I have had a “tidy-up” that all their names appear on the same list.

Several interesting letters and notes have been received with subscription forms; one from Tony Purser, one of our first-class riders from the 1950s, who mentioned that the DLN keeps one interested in the club and without it he would probably have lost touch years ago. He also mentioned that he sends his copy on to Terry Owen, another 50s rider who emigrated to New Zealand some years ago. (Incidentally, John Geoghegan, who is in New Zealand at the present time, is planning to visit Terry). Tony goes on to say that he now has two metal knees which function better than most other parts of his body and he is still riding his bike around Richmond Park, albeit somewhat slower now – even the dogs don’t have to rush out of his way! (Tony, you will have to buy yourself a club vest so that you can be recognised by club members who do their training in the park!) Sailing is passion and, hopefully, he will be able to do another Around Great Britain in 2006! He might well be the oldest competitor. Tony hopes to attend one of the OMA occasions this year and wishes members all the best for 2004. Also we have received a letter from Monty Watkins, who, of course, lives in Australia, in which he mentions (and I quote): “I had a phone call from Florrie Tooke (nee Fletcher). She gave me the sad news that Les, her husband of some 60 plus years had died. Les was active on the track in the era of Monty Banks and Fred Hooper – your really old timers will remember his ready smile. He had a great war record as a Sergeant Tank Commander and saw action throughout the war on many fronts.” Monty also went on to say how interested he was in the item in January’s DLN about the DeLaune Faunces. He said that we might recall that he contacted Group Captain Faunce DeLaune of the RAAF when he was serving in Canberra. The occasion was his decoration by the Australian government. Monty said he had a good conversation but he was not sure whether to call him sir as he greatly outranked his RAF rank anyway. He didn’t call him mate, which is the standard Oz salutation! Monty wishes good luck to the club in 2004.

The above information will not mean much to most of the newer members of the club. The Old Members’ Association used to contribute a couple of “pink pages” to the DLN for the provision of just such information but somewhere along the line this practice seems to have died a death; however, if you have read this far then you will understand the sort of news that used to appear in these pink pages. (Is this what you meant Brian Ed).

Brian Saxton

“DE LAUNE GREATS”            

CYCLING

September 11^th 1952

Frank Wynne, 44year-old De Laune rider who on Sunday broke the S.R.R.A. 24-hour record, is also a national champion, although not in the cycling world. He recently won the National Championship of Fish Craftsmen organised by the National Federation of Fishmongers. 

Mike,

Thanks for your message; I have now read the News. I still like to have the hard copy as my CTC friends like to circulate amongst our Section Mags. from other Clubs which we all find of interest. I belong to the South Bucks. DA of the CTC and ride on their Wednesday mid-week Section rides. Their Monthly Mag. is the Beech Leaf on www.southbuckscycling.org.uk  

Enjoyed reading your thoughts on the way forward for the Club in its new situation. I feel that we should contribute financially towards the maintenance of our relationship with the Church at Newnham from the Memorial aspect. The Funds came from the sale of the Memorial Club room and Newnham Church is the site of our Memorial and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. The Church Congregation make a big effort to arrange a Memorial Service for us each year and provide a very friendly social opportunity for Club members after the ceremony. As an old member who first visited Newnham in the Forties it would be nice to think that this association would continue through future generations.

Regards
PETER

I have just been in contact with an old member from the late fifties who some of you may remember. (The following is mail sent to Alan Rowe. Ed).

Hi Alan
It’s really great to hear from you after all this time. I’ve recently been browsing the De Laune website and I saw that you were featuring quite a bit. It was quite moving to see the photos and recognise people and be able to put names to the faces. You don’t seem to have changed much at all – you still have a good head of hair despite the grey! I just wish I had a few more grey hairs!

It’s good to see that you are racing again – and doing some good times as well. I read in the DLN also that Brian Dacey has done well on the track – pass on my congratulations (although he may not remember me). The De Laune seems to be surviving as the social and racing club I remember – that’s great to see. A few years ago, I worked with a chap who was a member of the San Fairy Ann and he gave me a book called ‘A Century Awheel’ – a history of the club – it was very interesting. I was devastated to read, though, that Alan Jackson died quite young.

I’ve always regretted losing touch with everybody at the club: I met my wife when I was 21 and I had already begun to lose my enthusiasm for racing. The one year suspension I got for going passed a halt sign in a road race near Tunbridge Wells obviously didn’t help. I got married when I was 23 (in 1963) and we lived in a 2 room flat in Brixton – there was no room for a bike, so I had to leave it at my parents’ house. A year later I was diagnosed as having diabetes and was put on insulin (I’m still on it), and suffered some traumatising experiences with low blood-sugar, so this would have probably been the end of my cycling days anyway.

I got into IT a couple of years later, working for American Express, we were relocated to Brighton and we moved to Burgess Hill. I retired last year after a lifetime in IT – although it’s changed vastly from when I first started. My wife (Sophia) and I are still together – we celebrated our Ruby wedding anniversary (40 years) last year. We have one son (Lee) who moved out a couple of years ago – he’s still single (he’s 28) and there’s no sign of wedding bells yet. Sophia would love to have a grandchild – but you don’t need wedding bells for that nowadays, do you?

We live just outside Maidstone – I noticed that Kav (your chairman) lives the other side of town – it’s a small world, isn’t it. I think Tony Peachy lives in this area also – I used to see him on his bike a few years ago (I was in a car!). I’ve lost touch with Bill Smith and Martin Ferris, but it would be great to see them again. I was always friends with Bob Green – we used to live close to each other and we went to the same school. When we got married we used to go out with him and his wife and the ladies became good friends. We’ve lost touch recently, though – we’ve not even had a Christmas card for a couple of years. He did have some tough luck, though: he had for a long time worked in the Stock Exchange for a stockbroker – I never knew exactly what he did. He was made redundant in his early fifties and ended up driving a mini-cab.

Please pass on my regards to anybody that might remember me.

I will continue to follow all the activities in the DLN and would welcome any form of re-union that might occur.

Regards

Alan

mail@alanconstable.co.uk

The 2nd of two promotions held at Eastway Cycle Circuit, London on

March 6 and hosted by San Fairy Ann CC.

Cats E/1/2/3
1        Glen Stanford         ERV             Cat 1           1.18.39.6
2        Justin Hoy              Evans RT      Cat E           1.18.47.5
3        Shaun Aldous         ERV             Cat 1           1.18.47.6

7        Danny Rudd                    Edwardes    Cat 2           1.19.56.5

South East Cycling is the South East Division

 of British Cycling the internationally

recognised Governing Body in Britain for all cycle racing.

SEE NEW WEB SITE

www.southeastcycling.org.uk

Bumper demo day – Gatwick 3rd April

As well as having a fantastic course for you to ride we have invited along some of the leading bicycle manufacturers to show off their bikes and let you take them out for a spin on the Trail Ride course!

Bikes will be available from Specialized, Cannondale, Scott USA and Kona.

Have you paid your subs this year?

PRODUCED by MARK & JASON BALLAMY
DISTRIBUTED BY BRIAN SAXTON

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