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Midland Cycling & Athletic Club

B

Bish Bong

Midlander
Hi All,
Just found this forum, so I plan to write up a history page of this famous club, that was Birmingham based.
Formed in 1890 by businessmen, several became leaders in industry, but the club was made famous mainly by the working class riders, plus a few athletes.
 
Hi I assume John Bishop?? John Crump been a lone time member of this forum. Remember the Three fast Johnnies Great news that you are doing this, crump-rem2.jpg
 

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Was Frank J Urry one of the founders he is mentioned in Roll Call. He wrote a book talks about the club in it "Salute to Cycling "
 

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oldbrit said:
Was Frank J Urry one of the founders he is mentioned in Roll Call. He wrote a book talks about the club in it "Salute to Cycling "
Click to expand...

First of all a nice painting on the cover of the book, just like one of Eric’s!

Looking on Ancestry in 1911 Frank Urry is 32 years old and living at 4 Bk 212 Clifton Road Aston. His has a son called Frank being 5 years old. His occupation is bricklayer. There are no middle names. This would put Frank Snr being born about 1879 and maybe too young to be a founder member of the Club.

The book is dated 1956 and so it may be Frank Jnr that was the author?
 
In 1903 there was a Frank Urry (MC and A.C) finishing 3rd in a 100 mile Road Race.
This could be Frank (Snr) at the age of 24?
 
Dear Pedrocut and oldbrit, I am thoroughly enjoying this thread, as I have a great interest in Frank J. Urry and his father, John Urry, despite my being a Yank. I have many old editions of Cycling, The Cyclist, and the CTC Gazette, with numerous cycling articles written by Frank and his father, John, from whom he inherited the monthly CTC Gazette column, "Notes of a Nomad," in 1928. See attachments of column heads by both John and Frank Urry. BTW, I believe Frank also won the Sir Alfred Bird Memorial Prize, awarded by the Cyclists' Touring Club for signal service to the organisation.
 

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Wrongway Pete said:
Dear Pedrocut and oldbrit, I am thoroughly enjoying this thread, as I have a great interest in Frank J. Urry and his father, John Urry, despite my being a Yank. I have many old editions of Cycling, The Cyclist, and the CTC Gazette, with numerous cycling articles written by Frank and his father, John, from whom he inherited the monthly CTC Gazette column, "Notes of a Nomad," in 1928. See attachments of column heads by both John and Frank Urry. BTW, I believe Frank also won the Sir Alfred Bird Memorial Prize, awarded by the Cyclists' Touring Club for signal service to the organisation.
Click to expand...

The Urry’s seem to have escaped any discussion on the Forum until Oldbrit gave a mention. The family look to be notable Brummies! In the 1911 census they were living at 4Bk 212 Clifton Road and this Road has a Thread of its own and maybe a picture?
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/clifton-road-aston.7559/page-15#post-630214
 
I think apologies are in order to Bish Bong as the thread has been taken over by the interesting story of the Urry family, of which I believe there is more to come. Maybe it deserves a thread of its own?
 
To continue with the history of the Midland Cycling & Athletic Club.
The club was officially formed on April 3rd 1890 at a meeting in the Holte Hotel, Aston.
On this date the faltering Midland Athletic Club was absorbed, hence the name ever since.
During the first year of the club, they organised several track meetings at the Aston Lower Grounds (now Villa Park) on the hard track around the football pitch, which was eventually removed to make more room for football spectators. An interesting aside, Aston Villa football Club formed a cycling club as they owned the track, but it was absorbed by the MC&AC after a year or two. Also in this first year as a cycling club, the first paced road race over 25 miles was contested by a mixture of ordinaries, safeties & trikes. The eventually winner being Tal Robson in 1-31-09 on a safety bike with cushion tyres.
By 1895 the club became nationally known when Fred Chinn broke several short distance track records, of which his mile in 1m 54sec 4/5 was a European best.
On the Athletic side in 1897, Alfred Trafford became the AAA 120 yards hurdles champion & in 1900 we had the British 100 yards champion in J W Morton, who defeated the American champion Duffy eight times over the distance & in 1902 Syd Holloway became the 1/4 mile British Empire Champion.
Back to cycling, Austin Appleby rode in the track mile for Great Britain in the 1898 World Championships in Vienna, while Fred Chinn won the professional mile & his brother Harry took the 50 mile amateur tittle.
In 1899 the Birmingham Centre N.C.U. '50' mile championship was won by David Noon.
The first un-paced Bath Road '100' was run in 1903 & was won by Albert Powell in 5-50-04.
1907 & Tom Peck attacked & broke the 'End to End' record in 3d 12h 53m & shortly afterwards another club member, Billy Welsh did the journey in 3d 8h 4m & then carried on to take the 1,000 mile record in 3d 15h 57m.
The following year, Tom re-gained the 'End to End' being the first inside 3 days, doing 2d 22h 44m, an average speed of just over 12mph. Remember all this was done on atrocious roads & the poor tyres of the period.
Another great distance rider Charles Moss, won the Bath Road '100' in 1907-8-9, his best time being 5-7-41 thereby making the Bath Road Cup his own property ( now said to be valued at £70,000 ).
Also in 1908, David Noon rode for Great Britain in the Olympic Games & in Athletics Reg Noakes became the British 2 miles British Steeplechase Champion, which he repeated in 1909-11.
Charles Moss again won the Bath Road '100' in 1911 in 4-51-20 and also won the prestigious Anfield '100' three times in 1910-11-12. He also rode for Great Britain in the 1912 Olympic road race around Lake Malar in Stockholm.
The Great War or as we now know as the First World War started in 1914 & racing ceased for five years. Over fifty of the young members joined the colours, six did not return. The Rev Anthony Pollen, our 'Flying Parson' was decorated for bravery whilst serving on H.M.S. Warspite at the battle of Jutland.
Frank Greenwood was made a Company Runner, on a bike of course, but became a P.O.W. to the detriment of his health, but he recovered to become an outstanding rider post war.
In 1919, competition resumed & Harry Genders won the Anfield '100' & the following year rode for Great Britain in the Olympics in Antwerp where he was the first British rider to finish, 5th overall & in 1921 he became the N.C.U. 25 miles National Champion.
Billy Burkill Won the Anfield '100' in 1922 & in the same year was 2nd In the World Championships losing by 1m 19s after changing a back tyre, he again represented his country in 1923 at the 'Worlds' in Switzerland.
The club provided the winning team in the Anfield '100' four times in 1914-21-22-23.
Frank Greenwood, who was a reserve for the 1921 'Worlds' won the Bath Road '100' in 1924, clocking the excellent time of 4-49-09. There followed a quite period at International level until Jack Middleton rode in the 1928 Olympics, winning a Silver Team Medal. J.K. as he was known, was also a prolific record breaker, having several R.R.A. & M.R.R.A. records to his credit.
Then in 1930 a rising star emerged, Charles Holland, one of three brothers, all champions in their own right. Charles won the Anfield '100' in 1932-34-36. An all round accomplished rider, he rode and won every thing from 1/4 mile on the track to 12 hours on the road & in massed start road racing he won the first Isle of Man race over the mountain course in 1936.
He rode for Great Britain in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1932, Berlin in 1936 where he finished fifth & was third in the World Championships in Leipzig in 1934.
Charles was third in the British Best All Rounder in 1933, second in 1934, second again in 1935, then won it in 1936. He then turned professional & was soon breaking several place to place records & in 1937 rode in the 'Tour de France' and only failed to finish after running out of tyres on the 15th stage after covering 2,000 miles. He was re-instated as an amateur in the sixties when just short of sixty years of age & went on to win the Veterans B.A.R. In 1936 Brother Jack won the N.C.U. 25 mile championship.
Another club member that should be mentioned is Bill Connolly Snr, who's expertise did much to aid the success of our riders & who also was selected eight times as trainer to the English National team.
1939 saw the start of the Second World War & again the unavoidable interruption to the sport. Over the next six years the bulk of our young men again joined the colours, as many as 78 it was said, five did not return with three becoming prisoners. Mention must be made of Harold 'Dutchy' Holland (no relation to the Holland brothers) who instituted the 'Comforts Fund' for those serving & he personally corresponded & sent out parcels of goodies for the entire period of the war to our boys.
The Roll-Call club monthly magazine, which had started in 1895, was produced throughout the war & circulated to every member, as it had been continually since its beginning to this day.
After the war things were quite on the national front, but an influx of youngsters under the leadership of Bill Gavin started to bear fruition, these lads provided the nucleus of our winning teams in the 50's.
In 1948 we were joined by Les Willmott who was destined to become one of the most outstanding riders of the decade. He burst into prominence by winning the 'Blue Ribbon of the Road' the Bath Road '100' in 4-12-22, he then went on to win the R.T.T.C. '100' miles Championship, the Isle of Man International Road Race, the M.R.R.A. 50 mile straight out record in 1-49-52.
At the same time John Pottier who had joined as a junior, developed as a road racer & eventually good enough to turn 'Independent' (semi-professional) & he held the yellow jersey several times in the 'Tour of Britain' & also rode in the 'Tour of Spain'.
Other riders such as John Chance, John Crump, John Bradbury, Dereck Gravestock, Brian Butterworth, Reg Topham, Fred Hopkins, Colin Davis, Rod Bates, Reg Price amongst others, were more than supporting riders, winning many races in there own right.
Jack Simpson, a short distance specialist, left Yorkshire to live in the Midlands & joined us, soon proving his worth by winning the Solihull Invitation '25', limited to the fastest '25' milers in the country in a time of 59.08. & also he was second in the Isle of Man race, winning the team award alongside Les Willmott & John Pottier.
Calls of National Service probably limited the amount of success for our lads during this period but riding for service teams they achieved some success.
As we entered the sixties, club riders were still achieving some success at local level in road races & time trials & we were promoting one of the premier road races in the country with the 'Spring Classic' road race.
Currently we are still an active club, with club time trials being organised, Sunday club runs, regular social events, including an Annual Dinner in April, Annual Prizegiving each Autumn, we also organise & run one or two Audax events each year.
We have also moved with the times & have been a sponsored club for quite a few years, being sponsored by Tudor Sports, a Midlands clothing manufacturer, currently we have very smart light & dark blue & white colours to ride in without advertising, as a pure amateur club.
Of course over all these years the club was fully backed up with many businessmen as members & with their expertise the club was organised along the bright lines to support the riders. Amongst these were names such as Grice Hutchinson MP (For Aston), Harry Butler, Charles Dawes, J K Starley, Harry Keys, Edgar Iliffe, P J Evans, Burmans, Austin, amongst many others who ran business's in & around Birmingham, some of the business's became large conglomerates, Austin Cars to name just one.
All of the above is just part of the activities that the club has taken part in, because we were very involved in motorcycling, motoring, cricket, football, ping pong (table tennis), billiards, whist drives & much more that those businessmen used as leisure time activities
Most of the above has been gleaned from records that we hold in yearly condensed books of the magazine Roll-Call, that have been put together in hard back form.
 
Pedrocut said:
The Urry’s seem to have escaped any discussion on the Forum until Oldbrit gave a mention. The family look to be notable Brummies! In the 1911 census they were living at 4Bk 212 Clifton Road and this Road has a Thread of its own and maybe a picture?
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/clifton-road-aston.7559/page-15#post-630214
Click to expand...
Hi there, John Urry was a founder member of the club, details of Frank are very sparce, but he was involved as an club official at some time. To find out more about the Urry's will require searching through the books.
 
Bish Bong said:
To continue with the history of the Midland Cycling & Athletic Club.
The club was officially formed on April 3rd 1890 at a meeting in the Holte Hotel, Aston.
On this date the faltering Midland Athletic Club was absorbed, hence the name ever since.
During the first year of the club, they organised several track meetings at the Aston Lower Grounds (now Villa Park) on the hard track around the football pitch, which was eventually removed to make more room for football spectators. An interesting aside, Aston Villa football Club formed a cycling club as they owned the track, but it was absorbed by the MC&AC after a year or two. Also in this first year as a cycling club, the first paced road race over 25 miles was contested by a mixture of ordinaries, safeties & trikes. The eventually winner being Tal Robson in 1-31-09 on a safety bike with cushion tyres.
By 1895 the club became nationally known when Fred Chinn broke several short distance track records, of which his mile in 1m 54sec 4/5 was a European best.
On the Athletic side in 1897, Alfred Trafford became the AAA 120 yards hurdles champion & in 1900 we had the British 100 yards champion in J W Morton, who defeated the American champion Duffy eight times over the distance & in 1902 Syd Holloway became the 1/4 mile British Empire Champion.
Back to cycling, Austin Appleby rode in the track mile for Great Britain in the 1898 World Championships in Vienna, while Fred Chinn won the professional mile & his brother Harry took the 50 mile amateur tittle.
In 1899 the Birmingham Centre N.C.U. '50' mile championship was won by David Noon.
The first un-paced Bath Road '100' was run in 1903 & was won by Albert Powell in 5-50-04.
1907 & Tom Peck attacked & broke the 'End to End' record in 3d 12h 53m & shortly afterwards another club member, Billy Welsh did the journey in 3d 8h 4m & then carried on to take the 1,000 mile record in 3d 15h 57m.
The following year, Tom re-gained the 'End to End' being the first inside 3 days, doing 2d 22h 44m, an average speed of just over 12mph. Remember all this was done on atrocious roads & the poor tyres of the period.
Another great distance rider Charles Moss, won the Bath Road '100' in 1907-8-9, his best time being 5-7-41 thereby making the Bath Road Cup his own property ( now said to be valued at £70,000 ).
Also in 1908, David Noon rode for Great Britain in the Olympic Games & in Athletics Reg Noakes became the British 2 miles British Steeplechase Champion, which he repeated in 1909-11.
Charles Moss again won the Bath Road '100' in 1911 in 4-51-20 and also won the prestigious Anfield '100' three times in 1910-11-12. He also rode for Great Britain in the 1912 Olympic road race around Lake Malar in Stockholm.
The Great War or as we now know as the First World War started in 1914 & racing ceased for five years. Over fifty of the young members joined the colours, six did not return. The Rev Anthony Pollen, our 'Flying Parson' was decorated for bravery whilst serving on H.M.S. Warspite at the battle of Jutland.
Frank Greenwood was made a Company Runner, on a bike of course, but became a P.O.W. to the detriment of his health, but he recovered to become an outstanding rider post war.
In 1919, competition resumed & Harry Genders won the Anfield '100' & the following year rode for Great Britain in the Olympics in Antwerp where he was the first British rider to finish, 5th overall & in 1921 he became the N.C.U. 25 miles National Champion.
Billy Burkill Won the Anfield '100' in 1922 & in the same year was 2nd In the World Championships losing by 1m 19s after changing a back tyre, he again represented his country in 1923 at the 'Worlds' in Switzerland.
The club provided the winning team in the Anfield '100' four times in 1914-21-22-23.
Frank Greenwood, who was a reserve for the 1921 'Worlds' won the Bath Road '100' in 1924, clocking the excellent time of 4-49-09. There followed a quite period at International level until Jack Middleton rode in the 1928 Olympics, winning a Silver Team Medal. J.K. as he was known, was also a prolific record breaker, having several R.R.A. & M.R.R.A. records to his credit.
Then in 1930 a rising star emerged, Charles Holland, one of three brothers, all champions in their own right. Charles won the Anfield '100' in 1932-34-36. An all round accomplished rider, he rode and won every thing from 1/4 mile on the track to 12 hours on the road & in massed start road racing he won the first Isle of Man race over the mountain course in 1936.
He rode for Great Britain in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1932, Berlin in 1936 where he finished fifth & was third in the World Championships in Leipzig in 1934.
Charles was third in the British Best All Rounder in 1933, second in 1934, second again in 1935, then won it in 1936. He then turned professional & was soon breaking several place to place records & in 1937 rode in the 'Tour de France' and only failed to finish after running out of tyres on the 15th stage after covering 2,000 miles. He was re-instated as an amateur in the sixties when just short of sixty years of age & went on to win the Veterans B.A.R. In 1936 Brother Jack won the N.C.U. 25 mile championship.
Another club member that should be mentioned is Bill Connolly Snr, who's expertise did much to aid the success of our riders & who also was selected eight times as trainer to the English National team.
1939 saw the start of the Second World War & again the unavoidable interruption to the sport. Over the next six years the bulk of our young men again joined the colours, as many as 78 it was said, five did not return with three becoming prisoners. Mention must be made of Harold 'Dutchy' Holland (no relation to the Holland brothers) who instituted the 'Comforts Fund' for those serving & he personally corresponded & sent out parcels of goodies for the entire period of the war to our boys.
The Roll-Call club monthly magazine, which had started in 1895, was produced throughout the war & circulated to every member, as it had been continually since its beginning to this day.
After the war things were quite on the national front, but an influx of youngsters under the leadership of Bill Gavin started to bear fruition, these lads provided the nucleus of our winning teams in the 50's.
In 1948 we were joined by Les Willmott who was destined to become one of the most outstanding riders of the decade. He burst into prominence by winning the 'Blue Ribbon of the Road' the Bath Road '100' in 4-12-22, he then went on to win the R.T.T.C. '100' miles Championship, the Isle of Man International Road Race, the M.R.R.A. 50 mile straight out record in 1-49-52.
At the same time John Pottier who had joined as a junior, developed as a road racer & eventually good enough to turn 'Independent' (semi-professional) & he held the yellow jersey several times in the 'Tour of Britain' & also rode in the 'Tour of Spain'.
Other riders such as John Chance, John Crump, John Bradbury, Dereck Gravestock, Brian Butterworth, Reg Topham, Fred Hopkins, Colin Davis, Rod Bates, Reg Price amongst others, were more than supporting riders, winning many races in there own right.
Jack Simpson, a short distance specialist, left Yorkshire to live in the Midlands & joined us, soon proving his worth by winning the Solihull Invitation '25', limited to the fastest '25' milers in the country in a time of 59.08. & also he was second in the Isle of Man race, winning the team award alongside Les Willmott & John Pottier.
Calls of National Service probably limited the amount of success for our lads during this period but riding for service teams they achieved some success.
As we entered the sixties, club riders were still achieving some success at local level in road races & time trials & we were promoting one of the premier road races in the country with the 'Spring Classic' road race.
Currently we are still an active club, with club time trials being organised, Sunday club runs, regular social events, including an Annual Dinner in April, Annual Prizegiving each Autumn, we also organise & run one or two Audax events each year.
We have also moved with the times & have been a sponsored club for quite a few years, being sponsored by Tudor Sports, a Midlands clothing manufacturer, currently we have very smart light & dark blue & white colours to ride in without advertising, as a pure amateur club.
Of course over all these years the club was fully backed up with many businessmen as members & with their expertise the club was organised along the bright lines to support the riders. Amongst these were names such as Grice Hutchinson MP (For Aston), Harry Butler, Charles Dawes, J K Starley, Harry Keys, Edgar Iliffe, P J Evans, Burmans, Austin, amongst many others who ran business's in & around Birmingham, some of the business's became large conglomerates, Austin Cars to name just one.
All of the above is just part of the activities that the club has taken part in, because we were very involved in motorcycling, motoring, cricket, football, ping pong (table tennis), billiards, whist drives & much more that those businessmen used as leisure time activities
Most of the above has been gleaned from records that we hold in yearly condensed books of the magazine Roll-Call, that have been put together in hard back form.
Click to expand...
John Do you have photos to share of the riders and members. John Crump
 
Pedrocut said:
Here is link to a few pages of Frank Urry’s “Wheeling Adventure” written 1951, with nice illustrations.
https://proteanpaper.com/scart_results.cgi?comp=howiebik&part=BookAntq-W-072

Also a little from “Notes of a Nomad” on the Goyt Valley...over the hills with a tandem.
https://goyt-valley.org.uk/over-the-hills-with-a-tandem-old-page/
Click to expand...

Pedrocut, thanks very much for these. Regarding the Goyt Valley piece, if you read the right-hand margin of the post you will see that it was I who contributed the scans to the website owner. Having become fascinated with the Goyt Valley and what had once been (before the creation of the reservoir) a most lovely cycling haunt, I stumbled upon David Stirling's Goyt Valley website and contacted him.

As to "Wheeling Adventure," it is one of three booklets (not really full books), sponsored by Birmingham's Phillips cycle manufacturer, "Renown the World Over." At one time Phillips sold more bicycles and bicycle parts globally than Raleigh. Each booklet contains an essay as much on the glories of cycling and on F.J. Urry's past cycling experiences as it does on selecting and caring for a bicycle. They are wonderful pieces, written in Urry's lovely style, and were handed out by cycle dealers as "soft sell" pieces. The complete list of titles is "Perfection in Cycling," (1949, the first and most rare), "Wheeling Adventure," (1951), and "Salute to Cycling," (1956), the last, issued just before Urry's death. One of my copies of "Salute to Cycling" had been handed out by the famous CTC-ite and cycle dealer/builder from Hull, Cliff Pratt.
 
oldbrit said:
Was Frank J Urry one of the founders he is mentioned in Roll Call. He wrote a book talks about the club in it "Salute to Cycling "
Click to expand...
John Urry was indeed one of the founder members of the Midland Cycling & Athletic Club.
He was President in 1901 and again in 1916. On February 22nd 1903 he celebrated his 50th birthday.
Frank J Urry was President in 1927 & 1928. Frank was also General Secretary from 1900 to 1921. (I have just completed 19 years as General Secretary).
Frank has also been Editor of the club magazine Roll-Call.
FRank was living in Shirley in 1903.
 
Wrongway Pete said:
Pedrocut, thanks very much for these. Regarding the Goyt Valley piece, if you read the right-hand margin of the post you will see that it was I who contributed the scans to the website owner. Having become fascinated with the Goyt Valley and what had once been (before the creation of the reservoir) a most lovely cycling haunt, I stumbled upon David Stirling's Goyt Valley website and contacted him.

As to "Wheeling Adventure," it is one of three booklets (not really full books), sponsored by Birmingham's Phillips cycle manufacturer, "Renown the World Over." At one time Phillips sold more bicycles and bicycle parts globally than Raleigh. Each booklet contains an essay as much on the glories of cycling and on F.J. Urry's past cycling experiences as it does on selecting and caring for a bicycle. They are wonderful pieces, written in Urry's lovely style, and were handed out by cycle dealers as "soft sell" pieces. The complete list of titles is "Perfection in Cycling," (1949, the first and most rare), "Wheeling Adventure," (1951), and "Salute to Cycling," (1956), the last, issued just before Urry's death. One of my copies of "Salute to Cycling" had been handed out by the famous CTC-ite and cycle dealer/builder from Hull, Cliff Pratt.
Click to expand...

In his description of the Goyt Valley Frank Urry mentions climbing to Axe Edge, heading towards Dane Head, and passing the Cat and Fiddle. The illustration shows a single track which from what is today Errwood Reservoir, up to Derbyshire Bridge.

Back in October 1990 with my late friend we had a 10 mile walk from Derbyshire Bridge, across Axe Edge Moor to Dane Head and on to Three Shire Heads. From there we headed to the Cat and Fiddle, on to Errwood Reservoir and back up the Goyt Valley. The last picture I took was from more or less the same spot as the artist’s drawing!

The series of scans can be seen here...
http://www.ipernity.com/doc/2254674/album/1018698
 
Pedrocut said:
In his description of the Goyt Valley Frank Urry mentions climbing to Axe Edge, heading towards Dane Head, and passing the Cat and Fiddle. The illustration shows a single track which from what is today Errwood Reservoir, up to Derbyshire Bridge.

Back in October 1990 with my late friend we had a 10 mile walk from Derbyshire Bridge, across Axe Edge Moor to Dane Head and on to Three Shire Heads. From there we headed to the Cat and Fiddle, on to Errwood Reservoir and back up the Goyt Valley. The last picture I took was from more or less the same spot as the artist’s drawing!

The series of scans can be seen here...
http://www.ipernity.com/doc/2254674/album/1018698
Click to expand...

Pedrocut, amazing photos of a magical landscape. Thanks so much. I'd previously seen images from another rambler of some of the area and Errwood Hall, but yours are simply stunning! Makes me want to move to Britain.
 
THE MAKERS TOUR
The Centenary Pilgrimage which Frank Urry organised for the manufacturers of bicycles and equipment, was a great event, and probably one of the most enjoyable week-ends in a cycling sense the trade has ever spent. In all there were twenty eight manufacturers, and the total party was thirty two including journalists and photographers. The jolly old tourists did not enjoy the best of weather conditions, for when they reached the ridge of the Berwyns under Cader Fronwen, a 60 mile an hour gale, charged with the icicles of the north, tried to tear their coats off; while all day on the Sunday it rained with a steady persistence which could not damp the ardour and boyish jollity of that somewhat aged company. For the average age of those pedallers numbered 47, and many of them have passed the half century mark. But we have never seen, and probably never may we see again so magnificent an array of new bicycles and new waterproof equipment; the sight of it was enough to make the various villagers who stood and stared at us sufficiently covetous to break the beneficence of a weather-sad Sabbath.
The little week-end culminated in the formation of the Centenary Club, which is to be a most select company, exclusive to the executives of the cycle trade who have been on this week-end or other week-ends that the Club intends to organise. It is satisfactory to note , from a Roll-Call point of view, that of the company out, eleven of them were members of the Midland Cycling & Athletic Club.

This little article was printed in the MC&AC Roll-Call magazine in May 1939 & also included a photo of Frank Urry, plus a Group photograph of those that attended this inaugural event.
 
I was a proud member of the Midland C&AC I joined I think around 1946 (Huh John Bishop) and now living in Parker, Colorado USA I fully remember many such rides in like weather, but we always just caped up and carried on. Racing in those conditions was a challenge but we did it as in the photo of John Bradbury the late and a long time member of the club. A good mate and friend001-SNOW.gif
 
Hi,

I just wanted to say I found this forum on a google search researching my family and it’s just been brilliant thank you! Frank Urry (Francis was his first name but known as Frank) was my great grandfathers brother and John Urry ( first name Albion) was my great great grandfather ) my father David was more into motorbikes however my son who is 14 is bike mad road bikes mountain bikes and bmx he has spent the whole of lockdown cycling and living his best life! How fantastic to find out that we had brilliant cyclists in the family
Thank you

Bish Bong said:
THE MAKERS TOUR
The Centenary Pilgrimage which Frank Urry organised for the manufacturers of bicycles and equipment, was a great event, and probably one of the most enjoyable week-ends in a cycling sense the trade has ever spent. In all there were twenty eight manufacturers, and the total party was thirty two including journalists and photographers. The jolly old tourists did not enjoy the best of weather conditions, for when they reached the ridge of the Berwyns under Cader Fronwen, a 60 mile an hour gale, charged with the icicles of the north, tried to tear their coats off; while all day on the Sunday it rained with a steady persistence which could not damp the ardour and boyish jollity of that somewhat aged company. For the average age of those pedallers numbered 47, and many of them have passed the half century mark. But we have never seen, and probably never may we see again so magnificent an array of new bicycles and new waterproof equipment; the sight of it was enough to make the various villagers who stood and stared at us sufficiently covetous to break the beneficence of a weather-sad Sabbath.
The little week-end culminated in the formation of the Centenary Club, which is to be a most select company, exclusive to the executives of the cycle trade who have been on this week-end or other week-ends that the Club intends to organise. It is satisfactory to note , from a Roll-Call point of view, that of the company out, eleven of them were members of the Midland Cycling & Athletic Club.

This little article was printed in the MC&AC Roll-Call magazine in May 1939 & also included a photo of Frank Urry, plus a Group photograph of those that attended this inaugural event.
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I want to say thank you to everyone contributing to this thread! I'm not sure what planet I have been on but completely missed it until now.
oldbrit is my cycling mentor & Pedro please keep posting those wonderful photos for me its a history lesson and understanding the magnificent beauty.
Thank you all......
 
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