Club Dinner 2007 - Reply to the Toast to the Club

By Eddie Jones

I have recently had a significant birthday which, qualifies me as a North Roader codger. In the past North Road codgers expected at the annual dinner to making a speech, that was total rubbish, but had to last at least one hour. Equally, tradition expects of me to give a review of the past years activities, but so much has gone on during the year and has been fully reported in the Gazette and on the web site, that it would take me at least two hours to do it justice.
Newer members of the club regularly ask me about events in the past history of the club. I therefore propose to give a quick potted history of significant events in the clubs history during my time. These events have had a material influence in the success of the club as it is today.
At the age of 15, I was very interested in cycling and wished to join a club. At that time there were getting on for 50 clubs in the greater North London area, with most of them being male only, including North Road. Having had a sheltered up bringing attending a boys only school, I was beginning to take an interest in girls, so a mixed club seemed very attractive.
In due course, I found a club by the name of the Elsynge RC, which was a family club, with the added advantage that it was the chosen club to look after the cycling girl friends of members of men only clubs. One notable pin-up at the time was Mary, the girl friend of a North Road member by the name of Roy Cook. Not only was Roy in the North Road, but also he was away doing national service at the time, which gave us all plenty of opportunity to enjoy Mary’s company. She will kill me for this.
In my early 20s, I realised that I would not make sufficient money being a cyclist to finance a mortgage, a wife and children, therefore, for the next 15 years I did other things.
In the mid-80s, I returned to cycling, this time with a wife and daughter. Following reading in Cycling Weekly that the North Road Hardriders was on the following weekend, we rode out to the start, and immediately met friends from the past, who suggested that we join the North Road. My reply was not on your life, I would be murdered. We need a mixed club – but we are now a mixed club came the reply.
Inviting families to join was the most important event in the clubs recent history. During the last 60s and 70s, 40% of cycling clubs either disbanded or merged. This I am sure would have been the fate of the North Road had this decision not been made. As a matter of interest, the man who promoted this change against some strong opposition and pushed it through the AGM was Arthur Lancaster, the father of Andy, our president.
A falling membership was stabilised by the new family members, but it was still not growing.
The then perceived image of the club was one of an old club steeped in tradition, whose members only rode time trials up and down the Great North Road on Sunday mornings. Not true and had never been true, but that was the image. As a matter of interest four North Roader’s, Mills, Holbine, Edge and Twentyman travelled to France in 1891 and rode the first Bordeaux to Paris road race and came in first Mills, second Holbine and third Edge. They were accused of cheating by the French riders because they refused to stop for sit down meals.
To add to the image problem, it had become the time of sponsored clubs that attracted young riders with a free jersey with a sponsors name on it.
A number of marketing initiatives were introduced to overcome this image problem. Firstly the North Road Racing Team was formed with six riders financially supported by a group of individual club members. During their four years existence among many successes, they provided the winner of The Essex GP, a premier calendar event. The North Road Centenary “50”, at the time a key event in the BAR calendar. The team in the North Road Hardriders and won the Divisional Road Race Championship two years running. The second time they were first, second and third, 100 or so years after the clubs success at Bordeaux.
The club introduced an exciting range of clothing which has recently been up-dated to make sure we keep up with the current trends. These measures began to work and new members were being attracted slowly at first, then in increasing numbers especially over the last five years.
It is interesting to note that seven to eight years ago, we were attracting six to eight members per annum, recently that number has been achieved in one month.
Seven to eight years ago the Tuesday evening 10s attracted typically eight North Road members with four or five visiting riders. The time keeper had time to send the riders off, go back to the headquarters for a cup of tea and a chat, before timing the riders in.
Today, if we don’t get 30 riders of which 25 are North Roaders it is a disappointing evening.
Six years ago attendance at this dinner had dropped to around 60, and there was a view that we should not continue. Tonight, we have an attendance of 86.
It is good to read about members taking part in all aspects of the sport, and recently in triathlons. But nothing is new, in 1899 Mr Holbine, yes that man again, as well as holding a number of national records on a tricycle, also swam 43 miles from Blackwall on the Thames to Gravesend in 12 hours 27 minutes. He also attempted the Channel nine times and on one attempt got within 500 yards of the coast when the tide changed.
If the clubs history interests you contact Mary, yes the same Mary, who is custodian of the clubs comprehensive library – it’s good winter reading.
Let us all enjoy the continuing success of the club and look forward to the future.