History

THE HISTORY OF EVESHAM & DISTRICT WHEELERS CYCLING CLUB.
> PART 1: 1947-1960

The Club was founded in April 1947 following a meeting held in a flat above a watchmaker’s shop, Bert Godfrey’s, at Bridge Street, Evesham, premises now occupied by a gentlemen’s hairdresser. Two of the gentlemen who attended the meeting were past members of the defunct pre-war North Cotswold Road Club, which had been based at Broadway. These were Arthur (Dickie) Hemm and Austin Heeks, the latter and Gordon Taylor still being members of the Club.

The founders were:
Bernard Green, Arthur Hemm, Austin Heeks, Raymond Morris, Geoffrey Moule, Michael Moule, John Taylor, Gordon Taylor, Ronald Walker, William Wingfield, Denis Wood,

EVESHAM & DISTRICT WHEELERS CYCLING CLUB.
> HISTORY

The following attempt at recording a brief history of the Club on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of its foundation has been well-meaning but inadequate. Founder Members, Bernard Green and Austin Heeks, together with a couple of other members identified as being instrumental in the Club’s history, have put a lot of time and effort into making the Club the success it is today.

We earnestly hope that all those who come within this description will understand the problem that we would have had if we endeavoured to identify everyone historically. We also hope that our intentions were well-meaning and that no one will take offense. Please forgive us!

E. Warmington, R. Heming, W. Wingfield, J. Palmer, R. Harris, J. Atkins, B. Sandels, D. Wood, M. Moule, G. Taylor, A. Harris, R. Lambert, R. Walker, A. Heeks, M. Kyte.

A programme of weekly Sunday runs was initiated, with all-day rides supplemented by afternoon runs, both runs converging on a common destination for Tea, there being plenty of café tea rooms catering for the many cycling clubs of that era.

The very first run was to Malvern and soon a regular pattern emerged, runs starting at 9 a.m. and returning home between 7 and 8 p.m. mileage between 70 and 120 in all weathers for the day long runs. Very soon after the formation of the club, the promotion of Club time-trials commenced while members also enjoyed a good amount of cycle touring, most holidays being spent in this way.

Shortly after the formation of the Club, the Club colours of green, gold, and black were established.

The first chairman was Edward (Ted) Warmington, and it is thought that he was probably a member of the original Evesham cycling club in the 1920s, of which nothing is currently known.

He was a member also of the Speedwell Bicycle Club, one of the oldest in the country and his name lives on today as one of the Club’s principal racing trophies is named in his memory.

The first president was Bert Godwin, who remained in this post for many years.

The Club soon found premises for a club room, these taking the form of a redundant slaughterhouse in Cowl Street where the rear of Curry Digital is currently situated. With the help of Gordon Taylor’s father, who did the plastering, and Bernard Green’s father who was the tenant of the property and who did the decorating, three rooms materialised, a games room, a meetings room and a small serving area where snacks and non-alcoholic drinks were sold. Regular club nights ensued so the Club became very much a social cycling club in common with many sports clubs of the day.

The Club’s time trial programme encompassed 10-, 25- and 50-mile events, the 10-mile course starting and finishing at the south side of Sedgeberrow hill on what is now the A435 with the turn near to the junction with the lane to Teddington village. The 25-mile course started at the end of Cheltenham Road (roughly where the roundabout at the end of Evesham bypass is now situated) and continued through Tewkesbury to turn opposite the Gupshill Manor on the A38, finishing near to the start. The 50 mile course also started and finished at Sedgeberrow but took the riders through Tewkesbury, along the A38 to the Gloucester ring road to turn at Cheltenham.

Later years saw a new 25 mile course which was used for many years and was based at Teddington Hands at a transport café on the Toddington side. This course used the roads to Evesham, Cheltenham and Toddington, having three “dead” turns in the middle of the road. This was possible in those days because of the virtual absence of any traffic in the early mornings when the races took place. (6 a.m. starts!!)

Names listed: R. Lynn, J. Morris, D. Jenkins, S. Steven, B. Brown, T. Walker, P. Rose, J. Altham, A. Hicks, S. Woodings, G. Taylor, R. Boardley, C. Morris, J. Perrott, O. Masters, S. Stanall

The Club’s first Open 25 mile event took place in 1951 and was won in 1 hr. 1 sec. A second Open, held three years later, had the winning time as 58.54. A 50 mile entry trial was held in conjunction with the “25” for several years.

In 1949, the Three Counties Cycling Association was formed for clubs based in Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire, the objects being to further members and promote the interests of cycling. The Evesham Club undertook the project to organize a 25-mile event on one event every season and to provide events marshals and helpers. In others, especially in long-distance events such as the Bath Road 100 miles, it can be seen that the average club member had a pretty busy life. In addition to the Three Counties Association, members of the Worcestershire and Midland Counties Associations.

Members who joined in the early years of the Club and who are still active are John Percival (1950) and Tony Grove (1953), are fairly led by March 1954, and an example here is the runs list for January to March 1954:

Runs List for January to March 1954:

January

1. 10th – Upton-on-Severn
2. 17th – Worcestershire lanes
3. 24th – Woodmancote-Edge
4. 31st – Badminton

February

1. 7th – Ashby F. Ledgers
2. 14th – Troddle House
3. 21st – Hampton
4. 28th – Castle Eaton

March

1. 7th – Stratford
2. 14th – Wythall
3. 21st – Shipston
4. 28th – Castle Eaton

Members of the cycling section of the Evesham Amateur Athletic Club, formerly Evesham Wheelers, who have just completed their most successful season. On the cycle is D. Taylor, the section’s racing secretary.

Names listed:
J. Percival, G. Morris, B. Sandels, A. Hecks, R. Broadley, J. Aulton, P. Haynes, G. Taylor, R. Brown, R. Seaman

For several years in the 1950s, annual “pilgrimages” took place in October to Stroud Moors (usually Jorsey) and Easter when a Good Friday spend Saturday and Sunday rides around the hilly island watching road races etc and furniture on Easter Monday.

As the 1950s progressed, members began to compete in what were then called semi-enclosed and then as mainly enclosed circuit open road races. The Wheelers had many good results at this form of road racing, excelling at the hillier types of courses, winning and being placed in several races.

At the end of the decade, the Club was asked to join an umbrella association in Evesham, based at Wallace House in Oat Street, the property funded being provided by Wallace Stoddart whose tenants. The Wheelers were represented in the old set of racing rollers, which are still owned by the Club, and had full showers and a canteen. It soon became apparent that things were far from ideal. Firstly, however, as the Club name did not represent what was by now had become a quiet, large, and popular sports junction, which did not wholly reflect the Club’s image and representation.

It was thought by the managing committee that the Wheelers should continue to use these large energies and, when the time came, opt out of the organization and revert to their old dominant open club and their present name.

This somewhat sad episode in the Club’s history coincided with other unrelated changes in the pattern of life generally as the 1950s drew to a close. Many of the key personnel within the Club had reached the age when marriage and family responsibilities were taking over; the population generally was becoming more affluent with the result that a motor cycle and scooter ownership was more popular and car ownership was increasing, leading to a period of steady decline. The Wheelers probably suffered more than most, being relatively young due to their active racing and wide age led personnel. It later became difficult to reinforce its activities and make long-established racers’ re-bound, unlike some clubs such as Cheltenham and Worcester St. John’s; it succumbed to the inevitable and ceased to operate in 1960.

THE HISTORY OF EVESHAM & DISTRICT WHEELERS CYCLING CLUB
PART 2 1966–PRESENT DAY

Following the demise of the Club in 1960 there was no cycling organisation in the Evesham area for several years. By 1965, however, two of the original members, John Percival and Gordon Taylor, had started riding again whenever the constraints of family and work permitted. They were soon joined by a newcomer to the area, a youngish solicitor from the London area, Tony Newell, who was already a member of the Redmon C.C., and the trio, after riding together for some time, decided to see if it were possible to resurrect the old Club. Several of the old members and some likely new ones were contacted and thus it was at a meeting held in offices at 49 High Street, Evesham later that year that it was decided there was enough interest to reform the Club.

There followed a lot of hard work to inaugurate a runs and racing programme as well as re-establishing the Club with the various authorities and compiling a set of rules for the future workings of the Wheelers. Because a lot of the new members were in early middle age and married, the decision was made to have morning-only Sunday runs with the occasional all-day special run. The headquarters of the Club in these times was the Talbot Inn in Port Street where weekly social events were organised.

The time-trial racing scene was re-enacted, although several of the associations such as the Three Counties Cycling Association were about to cease to exist or had become defunct due to the recession in cycling in the 1960s. The Club’s open “25” was promoted again and was quickly joined by an open “10”, also named as a memorial to a past member, and these have continued to be promoted by the Club until the present day, although their future seems uncertain due to various reasons. An inter-club “25” mile time-trial was started with the Cheltenham & County C.C., and that still continues. The Club were particularly involved with Veterans racing, especially in the ’70s when the backbone of the racing members were those in their early 40s. Road racing became more popular and the Club’s junior riders and one or two of the veterans took part in this sphere with some success.

Mention should be made of the Annual Dinner and Prize Presentation which, from fairly humble beginnings in the Parkview Hotel, grew to be one of the Midland’s premier social cycling events, attracting guests from many clubs as well as principal guests such as the Government’s Minister for Sport, the ex-Tour de France winner Joop Zoetemelk, David Duffield, and the editor of Cycling Weekly. The venues progressed in size from the Gupshill Manor at Tewkesbury to the Cheltenham Racecourse, such was the demand on numbers brought about by the Wheelers’ brand of humour largely expressed through their version of the Edwardian idea of cross-toasting.

The 1970s saw the start of an annual early season (March) training tour, usually to Wales or the West Country, and this, from memory, usually took place in snow or rain! About this time, the annual, usually also in March, 50 miles in 4 hours and 100 miles in 8 hours reliability trials were started, the former taking place over a horrendous course involving the Malvern’s and the Lenches at the end. Many members thought the 100 in 8 was the easier option!

In 1977 Tony Newell joined a party of Evesham residents who travelled to Dreux in France with a view to establishing a twinning link. While there, he met a representative of the Velo Club Dreux and from this and a subsequent trip when a number of the Club members cycled to Dreux before the official twinning took place, friendly links with the French club were forged which continued through to the 1980s, visits to each other’s country taking place on a regular basis. During these visits, inter-club races were organised, the Wheelers always coming out on top. When the presidency of the V.C. Dreux changed in the early 1980s, the official links unfortunately died although many members continued to meet, ride, or correspond with their particular friends.

The 1980s saw another successful promotional feat when the Wheelers staged the Evesham Town Centre Criteriums in early September. In the wake of the then-current vogue for these city and town centre races, which were often televised, the Club managed to persuade Evesham Town Council and the Police Authorities to close off Swan Lane, Mill Bank, Bridge Street (before it was pedestrianised) and part of High Street so that a clockwise course resulted. These events took place for a few years before changes in the road system and other alterations made their continuation impossible.

In 1982, the Club promoted its most ambitious event to date, that being the National Hill Climb Championships on Dover’s Hill. The organisation was in the hands of basically one member, Alan Colburn, and was adjudged to be an unqualified success, the winner being J. Williams of Manchester Wheelers whose record time of 3mins 36.2 secs still stands.

The 40th Anniversary of the formation of the Club also took place in this decade when a celebratory dinner was organised at the Vale Golf Club at which many of the early members attended. The Club also began to organise an annual Audax endurance event open to all cyclists, which took place over a 200 km course in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and Gloucestershire.

A. Grove, J. Bond, R. Hartiss, C. Chestnutt, ?, V. Brookes, J. Franks, ?, ?, W. Gray, P. White, D. Chestnutt, J. Percival, G. Heeks, M. Hall, R. Freeman, G. Taylor, M. Shephard, M. Freeman, ?, ?, D. Cundall

The Club was, of course, still continuing with its usual fare of racing and Sunday club runs during these years and had as its headquarters the M.E.B. Club in Worcester Road where a weekly social evening was organised. During the 1990s, however, it became obvious that the social side of the club was becoming less attractive, especially to the newer members, possibly due to the growing popularity of television and ordinary pressures on people’s leisure time. As a result, the weekly meetings were discontinued, and the post of Social Secretary has remained unfilled to the present day. The M.E.B. Club had also closed during the 1990s due to redevelopment, with the result that the Wheelers transferred their headquarters to Wickhamford Sports Club. A growing concern during the 90s was the relative absence of young members, the average age of those participating in the sport locally being in the 40s. Despite attempts to overcome this deficiency by such measures as the offering of free membership to youngsters, little headway was achieved, and although membership levels remained constant at approximately 70, an increasing proportion of these were relatively non-active. This trend was not confined to the Wheelers, as other cycling clubs experienced the same problem with an ageing membership.

The onset of the new century has, happily, seen a welcome change in the Club’s makeup, with an influx of school children due in no small measure to the efforts of a handful of parents who have also become involved in the running of the Club. The situation now is that two Sunday runs take place all year round: the “A” run for those interested in racing and a faster pace, while the “B” run caters for newcomers and the less fit (or should we say older?) fraternity. As of old, the two runs convene at a common coffee stop, so the social side of the Club continues. The youngsters, and a few of the older members, now take part in road races throughout the country and in Eire, and the Wheelers have been represented in the British National Junior team, which has been a source of much pride within the Club. Although time-trialling is still possibly the mainstay of the Club’s racing activities, it is becoming obvious that it enjoys less popularity as a result of increased motor traffic levels and the difficulties being experienced in the organisation of events.

Mention must be made of an initiative by the Club in promoting “Go-Ride,” a fun cycling club for young children, with weekly events taking place on Saturdays on the Crown Meadow so that these children can develop a love of the sport and progress to the main club in time. As a result of these efforts, the children were asked to perform their newly acquired skills at the finish of the 2006 Tour of Britain stage in Birmingham, and the Club has been awarded £5000 in lottery funding to further promote this aspect of its activities.

An unofficial activity which could become an official one at some time in the future concerns the older element, and this is a mid-week Wednesday run, which has been taking place since the early 1990s and is aptly called “The Antiques’ Road Show.” No further comment is required.

Membership levels have increased to around the 90 mark, and the Club is looking forward to the future with renewed confidence. For the first time in its history, it can now boast that it caters for cyclists of all ages, from 5 to nearly 80—something that few other cycling clubs in the area can claim. And although, as always, its members hail from all parts of the Vale and North Cotswolds, the Club is a long-established part of Evesham’s sporting scene.

ARE you fed up with your children screaming, “I’m bored!” at the weekends? Have you run out of ideas to keep them entertained? Well look no further! You can now breathe a huge sigh of relief that cycling-crazy Andy Dolphin is around.

Andy, 31, has been mad about bikes ever since a young age. Over the years he has competed in major cycling events nationwide and around seven years ago, joined the Evesham Wheelers Cycling Club to share his love of the sport. One day he decided something must be done to get youngsters involved in the activity.

“About two years ago myself and a couple of friends in the Wheelers became aware that we were the youngest people in the club. We decided something had to be done to get younger people in, particularly children,” said Andy.

He was keen to pursue his dream of establishing a fun cycling club for children so completed a course to become a qualified club cycling coach. Since then, Andy has been involved in promoting the national initiative, ‘Go-ride’, which was set up two years ago to get children actively involved in cycling.

“So far I have encouraged a small group of children to come on board. Back in August, the Wheelers had an open day in Wickhamford, where I took the chance to promote Go-ride,” said Andy.

“Children came along to ride bikes and complete fun tasks. We were lucky to have a coach visit us from British Cycling, who supplied bikes and helmets for the children to use all day.”

After the success of the open day came even more good news for Andy. The Tour of Britain cycled from Wolverhampton to Birmingham and they wanted the children in Andy’s team to perform tasks on the finish line of the course!

“It was a fantastic day,” said Andy, “only eight teams from the West Midlands were picked and we were one of them. We did demonstrations where the kids were using skills such as weight transfer, picking up a bottle off a gate and putting it onto another whilst still on the bike and riding through a slalom course.”

Surely, it couldn’t have got any better for Andy and the initiative but earlier this year, Andy and his team, The Wheelers, were awarded £5000 from the Lottery Awards for All to put towards youth development for the initiative. By getting more children to join the initiative, Evesham Wheelers hope to be able to provide helmets and eventually bikes for them to use.

Andy now plans to hold a cycling activities club for children aged from five to 16, every Saturday afternoon for one hour on Evesham’s Crown Meadow. Children must be able to ride bikes and it is compulsory that they wear a helmet.

No helmet, no ride!

Children up until the age of 16 can join but also won’t cost you a penny! “Children up until the age of 16 can join for free,” said Andy. “Otherwise you may have to fork out money every Saturday!” Tracks either on or off the kids will be well-advised, making sure activities to choose, we did a Birmingham safe environment. Joining the Go-ride initiative is getting kids out on bikes in a safe environment.

Joining the Go-ride initiative and they will receive all the benefits, right down to insurance for the children. Hopefully, it may encourage some to get more involved in the Evesham Wheelers and maybe progress to the more serious side of the sport. “I’m really excited. The more kids I can get involved the better. When I had children performing at the Birmingham demonstrations, it put a smile on my face knowing the award to get his own child involved. Andy, thrilled by the initiative and network, gets his own child involved, “The more we can get kids as soon as they are old enough to get on a bike and join, the better. Just don’t tell the wife!”

A WHEEELY SPECIAL YEAR

The 60 years hold some fond memories for the Evesham Wheelers, but 2007 won’t just be remembered for being the club’s 60th anniversary!

The club was established back in 1947 in a flat above the shop Ponting’s, in Bridge Street, and interest soon grew. Membership didn’t just come from Evesham though; it also attracted people from Stow, Stroud, and Malvern. The bike has remained the love of enthusiasts like John Walton. This has continued into the future, with the club awarded ‘Club of the Year.’

The timeline links back to the early 1980s when the president of the Dreux Cycling Club in Normandy contacted Evesham Wheelers. The club has developed financially and manually, and the membership numbers have continued to rise. The social element is a strong and important sleeve, but it’s usually handled in a well-balanced manner.

Nowadays, between 40 and 60 people every week, both members and non-members take part in time trials and inter-club competitions. The club’s women’s audience has also risen. The Wheelers encourage more young riders, which is why we started the ‘Go-Ride’ initiative. People of all ages are getting involved with the club today. The club’s Sunday activities include rides for all abilities, with a steady ride averaging 45-55 miles. We’ve looked back at the original founding members coming together and we’re really pleased because many past and present members continue to ride. We’re also incorporating the Wheelers’ annual prize-giving event to make it extra special.

So, congratulations Evesham Wheelers and a Happy 60th Birthday!