This issue lists upcoming winter rides and trips, including Wheelers classics such as Cleeve Hill and the Winslow bash; Part one of the Cheddar Gorge story; track results.

Page 1

This issue follows on from No.6 and is another sizable effort - six pages - and is kicked off by a report on the Club Dinner of the previous month. Alan Stratman got most of the gongs. This seems to me to often be the case for a club presentation, but unfortunately it only happened to me once, when I was with the Dundee Wheelers! Colin Turner was congratulated on the arrangements. From the viewpoint of reading these newsletters 60-odd years on, the dinner certainly seems to have kickstarted something of a club identity.

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And back to business. The Annual Cross-Country Run arrangements are in place, and it’s hoped that around 30 clubs will be represented. The date is set for 8th Feburary.

Page 2

Apart from a brief appeal for member to renew their membership, this page is a report from the Touring Secretary, outlining a variety of winter rides and trips. Of particular note is the runs which are becoming ‘classics’ the Cleeve Hill run, and the Winslow bash. I know the author of this piece did do some ‘real’ touring (see the Open Roads section of the website), and he makes an interesting comment about the club being primarily a racing club! How true this is of most cycling clubs I encounter!

Page 3-5

Pages 3-5 comprise the first part of the mad cycling expedition I’ve already transcribed in this site as The Famous Trip to Cheddar Gorge. This is the first part of the tale, excellently told by Tom Simpson. For reasons that will become obvious once you’ve read it, the second part was written by another participant in the ride. Part two appears in the following issue.

Also on page 5 is a summary of the club’s first season of track racing. Brian Huggins is congratulated on his performance, but (possibly unfairly, given this is a cycling club newsletter) is painted as ‘the most unmusical member of the club’. I would love to know what gave rise to that comment!.

Page 6

The ‘Back Room Boy’ offers the claim that Alan Stratman’s racing success is down to prodigious consumption of Eccles cakes, mostly at Nell’s Cafe in the High Street. The club memebrs are exhorted to consume more cakes and buns, as these are obviously the dietary route to cycling success.

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The newsletter concludes with a few social notes: a new member; an announcement of the date for the Hardriders run to Winslow; a call for submissions for the Magazine.

Apologies for the scan quality - I was being careful with the original hard copies, and the old paper doesn't lie flat on the scanner bed.