LETTER

dear Sirs,        
  I visited the Nationel Cycle Museum   at  Llandrindod Wells on Friday and came upon this little corner dedicated to Bill Bradley, I have attached a photo of one of his Harry quinn bikes, which was on display there.   Bill was one of my schoolboy heroes when I started racing in 1961.
                      Best Regards           Terry Harradine    C.C.Topp (Ross on Wye)

The above pic is possibly the first Gala road race on Sunday, September 19th 1954. The winner was Jack Fryer and Bill Bradley was 3rd. The Southport team was B.Bradley, J. Lowe, H. Wright, R. Robson. The race started outside the town hall - Mere Brow - Rufford - Parbold - Newburgh - Stanley Gate Lydiate finishing in Ainsdale. Two events were held Southport Gala road race 90-mile & The Southport Gran prix 50 miles. A photocopy of the original programme is available on request.

With the general election coming up, now is the time to make sure that the next government does as much as it can for cycling.

Before you cast your vote, CTC's Vote Bike campaign is your chance to press your local candidates on their commitment to cycling. Please write to your prospective MPs and ask them to respond to CTC's Vote Bike Manifesto, which sets out the developments needed to make cycling for transport, health and leisure mainstream. You can send emails to those standing for parliament via CTC's Vote Bike webpage and view their responses.

As CTC President, I encourage you to visit the Vote Bike webpage at

www.ctc.org.uk/votebike

to find out more and to get involved.

It's with deep sadness that we report the death of George Darlington. George passed away at 09.30am Thursday 21st January 2010 after a long battle with cancer. Just like the great Geoff Bewley ,George was a stalwart of the Liverpool Century club and the values that he brought to many youngsters over the years is imeasurable. People like George are irreplaceable. Even in his final months the strength of character, fighting spirit and absolute love and passion for cycling kept him going . George you were a great man and will be missed by us all but never forgotten. R.IP.George. Our thoughts go to his wife Wendy, children Peter and Caron.
Funeral arrangements will be posted when known.

Letter

You may have heard on the “grapevine” that at a meeting held at the
Litherland Sports Park on the 30th September 2009 with

representatives from Liverpool Century RC, Liverpool Mercury (Dolan) CC,
Merseyside Cycling Development Group, Merseyside Wheelers, Prescot Eagle RC and the Southport CC that the Litherland Circuit League was set up to run theWednesday night events being held at the Litherland Sports Park as a League
and one complete series for each season. The Mersey Roads Club representative was not able to attend the meeting because
of a prior engagement but has since come onboard, as you will observe from the attached calendar of events.

By agreement with the Sports Centre Management in 2010 the Wednesday nights
events has been increased to eighteen continuous weeks of racing which will
commence on the 14th April 2010. All categories of Youth for both girls and
boys will be eligible for league points as well the usual BC Licence points.
There is a change in the senior/junior races in 2010 in that they will be
restricted to 2nd/3rd and 4th category Junior and Senior male entries plus
Senior and Junior female riders of all categories.

The reason for this change was because the Merseyside Go Ride clubs are now having members
coming into racing and it was felt it did not want it to be a disincentive
for these competitors which was likely if, the Elites and Firsts were still
allowed to ride whilst these new comers were experiencing their first taste
of circuit racing. Besides the BC Licence Points for these events which
will be classified as Regional A league points will be available for each
category riding including separate points for the Junior Ladies and Women.
The points structure will be available from me by mid January 2010.

One of the advantages of the League is that if, riders’ clubs join the
League then their riders will also, have the benefit of reduced subscription
fees to join the League. A £50.00 Club affiliation fee might seem a
little high but with clubs such as yours the junior and senior as well as
the youth members would soon see the benefit of their Club being affiliated
to the Litherland Circuit League.

The membership forms and where they are to be sent are shown on the
Merseyside Cycling Development website:

http://www.merseysidecyclingdevelopment.org/WhatsonCalendar/LitherlandCircui
tLeague/Forms.aspx

Letter posted to the site by a member of  SC

The SouthportC AGM will be held on 14th December . If you have any proposals or issues you would like to be raised such as.

1. The school persons races, with such turnover of money going into the series there should be a separate balance sheet being produced, and if not there has to be the question WHY. If there is nothing to hide then produce one.

2.Why is all expenditure not documented on the clubs balance sheet (e.g. last years £200 plus miscellaneous expenditure), a lot of money to go on balance sheet as miscellaneous expenditure with out it being itemised.  With grants coming from the public purse the general public as well as its members has a right to know and to question.

3. Why are officials elected on block on occasions, not very democratic? It’s not Zimbabwi.  Is it time for new blood to be brought in, talk is that they want a change but nobody dare say as the sympathy card keeps getting used year after year, the organisation cant move forward and grow like the other clubs in Lancs. and Merseyside, it will end up like the Kirby unless the Neanderthals of the organisation give  the younger people a position of authority.

Say NO to Portland St. Proposals
(the way the Council are proposing to implement it.) 

Even cyclists are against the plans for East/west cycle route (the way the Council are proposing to implement it.),
yet again jobsworths Councillor Weavers and the councils david marian have shown they have no idea what cyclists really want .
You Just look at the cycle lanes they put on the coastal road on the other side of the wall, most of the time its covered in sand or full of holiday makers walking on it, or the proposal of a route down Selworthy road, what is the use of having a cycle route down there.

Doesnt Weaver realise he is turning motorists more againsts cyclists with his idiotic proposals. Councillor Weaver Last year claimed more for car milage than any other Councillor (FACT) what a hypocrite who just likes to dress up as a cyclist and looking after his expences !!!!!!!!.  Click here for more on this story

Southport's cycling clubs Robbie Hurst was hit by a car that pulled out of a side street in Liverpool.
Robs injuries where unfortunately worse than originally thought, and had to be operateted on lasting longer than 7 hours the surgeons had to do the operation from a number of different positions which made it even more complicated than originally expected. Rob is expexted to be out of action for quite a while .

THE TOUR SERIES: 2009 Southport hosts the event on 11th June, For Southport it’s the first time a top event has been held in Southport for 20 years!!!!!!!!!?? The last time in Southport centre was the Gala crits known as the Bladon Races, on the Kings Gardens. By luck it was the same person (brian Bladon) that wrote to the tour of Britain organisers and persuading them and a local councillor to bringing the race down lord Street and the success of that led to the Tour series being held here

32 years not 20 years since the club room was opened in Victoria park

20th anniversary of the opening of the SouthportCC clubroom in Victoria Park takes place this week The clubroom was opened by Ronnie Fearn on 14th April 1989.
On Monday 20th April their will be a small party at the clubroom to celebrate the occasion from 8.pm all members are invited to attend.   Yet again  the admin of Southport Cycling club have forgotten to mention that it was Brian Bladon who acquired the club room in Victoria park , then a wooden building enabling the club to have a building as it is today .

We are sad to report the death of Teg Lloyd
Teg passed away this morning, Tuesday 5th May. Teg was a great supporter of the Southport cycling club, and Merseyside cycling events and was very well liked and respected amongst the Racing lads.
The funeral is at Southport Crematorium at 11-00am on Wednesday 13th May.

It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of Tom Marsden a former member of the Southport cycling club . Tom was an active member in the
1960's and early 70's
Funeral arrangments: St Helens
Crematorium Friday 13th March 11-00am

The Southport Cycling Club, Sunday club run on 8th March to the Eureka Cafe  which was the first time since the 90's the club had ventured in that direction, had a turn out of 3. The rest probably went to scorton via the fylde lanes as it seem thats the only route they know  - to go north . Hardly a way to encourage cyclists from all areas of the town  to join the club

Southport based racing team announce new roster

BOOSTING their roster from six to eight riders for 2009, Team Kinesis UK officially unveiled their exciting new line-up in front of supporters and sponsors alike at the Core Bike Show near Silverstone in Northamptonshire. Following on from an extremely successful season in 2008, focus has been switched from youth and instead firmly fixed on strength and depth in order to win as many podium places as possible at various races abroad andin the UK.

Steve Lampier, James Stewart, Rab Wardell, James Moss and Jack Pullar, plus new additions Alex Bhogal, from Toronto, and Vincent Veilleux, from Quebec, turned out in style at the Core Bike Show .

Former British National Champion dies

Mark Bell, died on Friday, January 30, at the age of 49.

Mark was by far one of the best cyclists this country has produced. Our Condolences go out to Tony , mike and the rest of Bell family

Here is what his brother Tony said about Mark in a
tribute to the great cyclist:

“I think it’s safe to say that Mark was one of the best bike riders of his generation, and when you consider who his contemporaries were, that is quite an achievement. His list of victories includes two national championships, three Milk Race stages, the GP of Essex and the Archer GP, the Lincoln GP and the eight-day Etoile de Sud stage race in Belgium.

Mark showed promise from an early age - his first race, a 10 mile time trial in 1970 when he was ten years old, riding in his football kit and school shoes - saw him finishing with a time of 33 minutes, but the signs that he had something special were there even before that.

In 1968, Mark and I went on a cycling/camping holiday with our dad, and despite the fact that he was just eight years old, he loved that two weeks when we rode all over North and mid Wales. The route included the Bwlch-y-Groes. If you don’t know it, the Bwlch is a fearsome climb, but Mark was determined it wasn’t going to beat him.

He rode as far as he could until the gradient became too much and he had to get off and walk with his bike. Eight years old, and already the signs were there that he was different, that there was a natural talent just waiting to come out. Fourteen years later, he would ride over the same road in the Milk Race, on the stage which finished in Llandudno.

Mark started winning races in 1975 as a schoolboy, but it was in 1977 that his class really began to show. He seemed to win races every week, and at this time there was a song in the charts called ‘So you win again’, by Hot Chocolate. I remember singing it to him when he came home one Sunday after winning yet another race. If you knew Mark, you can imagine the look he gave me.

After winning the Peter Buckley junior road race series in 1978, Mark joined the senior ranks and the successes continued, and in September of that year he went to New York to ride a series of races including ‘The Apple Lap’ with the Liverpool Mercury team. Terry Dolan was still racing then and was with the team, and Mark told me just the other week how Terry looked after him during that trip, something he still appreciated all these years later.

The highlights of Mark’s 1979 season were his win in the Benedictine GP at Leyland, Lancashire, and his third place in the national amateur RR title, behind Robert Millar and Joe Waugh. A couple of months later, at the age of 19 he rode and finished the World amateur RR championship in Valkenburg, Holland where Robert Millar finished in 4th place.

1980 was, in his words ‘a bad year’ but he still managed to win something like twenty races. Mark seemed to be drifting a bit that year, but he regained his focus during the following winter, and went on to win the national amateur RR championship in 1981, after taking two stages in the Milk Race, including the final stage in Blackpool.

The early eighties also saw Mark winning the Archer GP, the Essex GP, the eight day Etoile de Sud in Belgium (he was the first non-Belgian rider to win this) and another Milk Race stage in 1982. Mark turned pro with Falcon in 1985 and won the Delyn GP in his first season, and in 1986 he won the national pro RR title at Newport, Shropshire.

This was his proudest moment. He said to me later that he knew he was going to win this race. It wasn't arrogance, he just knew that when he was on form, it would take a lot to beat him. When George Shaw signed him for the Raleigh team at the end of 1985, Mark told him he would win the national championship. When he set himself a target, he would invariably hit it. And he did that year.

Mark had a reputation as a Hard Man, but to us, his family, we knew that he was a big softy underneath that exterior. He was always there for us if there was a problem, and he'd do anything to help sort it out. Mark battled with a lot of his own problems in his last years, but, when he was on top of things and doing well, he was a lovely man, and despite everything that was going on in his life, he was still there for us. I'm just so glad that I spent a lot of time with him over the last couple of months. We're all going to miss him so much.”

Mark winning the final stage of the eight day Etoile de Sud in Belgium, May 1983. He won the race overall as well. (He was the first non-Belgian rider to win this)(Above)

Mark Winning the last stage of the 1981 milk Race in Blackpool
R.I.P. Mark

Mark Bell, who died on Friday, January 30,
at the age of 49. RIP

Letter From Australia

My name is Dawn Carr and I am married to Michael Carr whose grandfather was THOMAS HENRY CARR who was a cyclist at the
Southport Cycling Club.
 
We have in our possession which has been passed down from Thomas Henry CARR to his son Frank CARR, to his son Frank Michael
CARR (my husband.) a huge trophy in the shape of a shield.
 
At the top of the shield  reads   SALUS POPULI
 
Then in the middle is solid silver with a man on a bike. Engraved on the side is RD 65479
 
Engraved in the middle of the silver bit reads
TH CARR For Track       1st October, 1892  Southport C
 
The shield was name                         

CHALLENGE SHIELD
PRESENTED BY W TIMBERLAKE ESQ
 
 ONE MILE BICYLCE RACE
  IN SIX CONTESTS
 FIRST PRIZE
 
1st competition winner          LC RILEY     157yds      2M 46S
2nd competition winner         H B BIRD      340yds     2M 47S
3rd competition winner          TH CARR     Scratch     2M 42S
4th competition winner          TH CARR      Scratch     2M 46S
5th competition winner           TH CARR     Scratch     2M 33S
6th competition winner          TH CARR      Scratch     2M 35S

As soon I receive more information and pic I will post it on here

Following on from the successful launch of The Tour Series at Earls Court last week, SweetSpot, the organisers of the series they have announced Southport as the latest venue to sign up for a round of the dynamic new series.  Southport, scene of huge crowds for a Sprint on the final stage of this year’s Tour of Britain, joins Woking as one of the first venues to become part of The Tour Series for 2009.

The event will not just be anElite Criterium but also a whole afternoon of music and cycling related activities including youth and amateur races, demonstrations and skills sessions, The Tour Series will help build a cycling-themed carnival atmosphere in the centre of Southport next summer.

“Thousands of people turned out to see the Tour of Britain pass through Lord Street in September which was brought by Southport's Brian Bladon after his  meeting with a Southport cllr. and a letter to the race organisers promting them to changethe  route from the coast road to bringing the race down Lord street.