Welcome to Great Yarmouth Cycling Club, a community cycling club

The History of Great Yarmouth Cycling Club

Pre 1924

Cycling clubs in the Gt. Yarmouth area appear to date back to at least 1879 & by 1891 there were at least three: the “Yarmouth Independent” of 7th February 1891 reported that the “re-organised” Gorleston Bicycle Club would meet at the Crown & Anchor Inn, Baker Street, Gorleston. The 28th February issue noted that the subscription was 2/- annually, & in the 21st March issue it was reported that the first ride would start at the Recreation Ground. Meanwhile the 28th March 1891 issue reported the second Annual General Meeting of the East Norfolk Cycling Club, whose headquarters were at Jubilee Works, Lancaster Road, & whose badge was a wheel & flying fish. It is also known that the Great Yarmouth Wheelers were formed in 1891.

Sadly very little else is known about these blubs, but presumably they had all ceased by the First World War.

Formation of the Yarmouth & Gorleston Wheelers

The Yarmouth Mercury of 29th March 1924 carried a proposal by G.H.L. Blake for a meeting to form a cycling club to be held 227 Northgate Street. The Mercury’s report in the 5th April 1924 issue states:-

Yarmouth & Gorleston Wheelers – This cycling club was formed on Friday at a meeting well supported by cycling enthusiasts. Mr. G.H.L. Blake, who presided, referred to the old Yarmouth Wheelers, dating back to 1879, & promised to give the club his best support. It was moved & carried that ladies be admitted. A committee was appointed to draw up rules which are to be submitted to a meeting in the near future. The club is open to all amateur cyclists. A general meeting will be held at the Alpha House, Northgate Street, next Wednesday, at 8 o’clock, for the election of officers etc. Mr. G.H.L. Blake will preside. All cyclists, ladies & gentleman, are invited to attend & join. The committee have drawn up some rules, which will be submitted to the meeting.

Some club letterheads etc. produced in the 1930’s suggest the club was founded in 1923, but this was later corrected.

The Following Years

The pre-war membership reached over 100, a figure virtually unimaginable today. During this time members took part in various activities, one of the more interesting of which was a week-long roller racing completion organised by the “Hercules Cycle Company” & held in the Regal Cinema. As a result of this, the club received the oldest (& the largest & much coveted!) trophy awarded continually until present day, the Hercules 25 mile Trophy.

The Post War Years

The Club was re-formed in Spring 1946, as described two years later by Freddie Ford, General Secretary, in his club newsletter of 28th May 1948:-

…..Shortly before Easter 19465 about 10 of us pre-war members met at Harold’s House & decided if there was sufficient interest amongst us to re-form the club – the feeling of the meeting left us in doubt…. & so at a General Meeting later we elected our Officers & off we went

This meeting was also described in the Yarmouth Mercury of 13th May 1946:-

Wheelers Coming Out Again – Revival Meeting of Yarmouth Club. Yarmouth & Gorleston Wheelers, whose pre-war membership was over 100, decided to recommence activities when a revival meeting was held at the Star & Garter, Hall Quay, on Thursday evening of last week. Mr. C.F. Boulton, the club’s pre-war chairman presided. The secretary, Mr. H.G. Clarke, in his report, said the club disbanded in 1940, & during the war the majority of members travelled to all parts of the globe. “They probably will again” said Mr. Clarke, “though next time it will be on a good old so-called push-bike”. Urging that new & young members should join the club, Mr. Clarke asked present members to “get into the sadlle” & show by their enthusiasm the spirit of the club. The club during the war lost three members…..

Freddie Ford’s May 1948 newsletter goes on to describe how the club quickly re-built its membership:-

We had a crowd turn up on the opening run & most of them have been with us ever since – the older members, having done their bit in getting the club going , gradually dropped out of the lead & allowed the newer members to hold the reins. After a reasonable Summer we plodded through that bad Winter with a ‘hard core’ of about 10 riders & then took advantage of the finer Summer last year (1947) & really built up the club in numbers. [There were 65 active members& 17 honorary members according to Freddie’s February 1948 Newsletter]

In early 1950, a number of members broke away to form the Yarmouth Road Club & this led to ‘quite a decrease’ in membership, according to M.G. Mills in his Secretary’s Report for the Quarterly General Meeting held on 20th April of that year. However he continues:-

……it appears to have made little difference to our new member intake, in fact they [Yarmouth Road Club] seem to cater for the purely racing man as against our tradition of the all-round type of person. There is a keen rivalry springing up between the two clubs which should be all to the good for the cycling game in the district.

Despite this, the Wheelers did gain a few members during 1950 & had 70 members (an increase of 7 on the year) by January 1951. The gains were to be short-lived though, with a decrease to 50 by January 1952 & a further drop to 26 a year later.

There was some collaboration between the two clubs – with joint clubroom meetings & other events being held - & in view of the fact that the Road Club’s membership exceeded that of the Wheelers, whilst the latter had many more trophies etc., the wheelers approached the Road Club in Summer 1953 to propose the amalgamation of the two clubs. At that time the Road Club would only agree to the formation of a new club rather than one club absorbing the other but remaining dominant. In the event a meeting of the Wheelers decided against amalgamation, but in late 1954 it was proposed again. Eleven members of the Wheelers attended an Extraordinary General Meeting on 3rd January 1955 to agree the following proposal:-

This meeting agrees to the amalgamation of the Yarmouth Road Club & the Yarmouth & Gorleston Wheelers under the name of the Yarmouth & Gorleston Wheelers C.C. [Y&GWCC] as from 23rd January 1955, that before this date the Yarmouth Road Club shall after payment of all liabilities dispose of any remaining assets as they so wish, & the Yarmouth & Gorleston Wheelers guarantee one year’s membership to all members of the Yarmouth Road Club on payment of the usual Yarmouth & Gorleston Wheelers subscription, & that the Rules & Standing Orders of the amalgamated clubs shall be those as used at present by the Yarmouth & Gorleston Wheelers with the exception of any amendments.

22 members attended the first AGM of the combined clubs on 24th January 1655.

The club continued reasonably successfully through the following years but membership began to decline in the early 1960’s until by 1965 there were just 7 full members, though boosted by the resident, Vice President & second claim members. Yet 60 attended the annual dinner that year. A year later there were just 2 full members & the dinner was held jointly with Lowestoft Wheelers.

For the next 6 years the club was kept existence by its 2 remaining members, John Parker & Jack Lingwood. They continued to pay their subscriptions of 7/6 per annum, with John even making a loan to the club to ensure it had sufficient funds to continue to insure the trophies.

In 1973, a number of of visitors to Lawford Cycles expressed an interest in forming a cycling club & Bill Ford approached Jack & John, who suggested reviving the Y&GWCC.

Eight people attended a meeting on20th June 1973 to establish the proposed rules & an inaugural meeting was arranged for the 5th July, to which all life members of the Y&GWCC were invited. At this meeting Jack Lingwood was elected Chairman, Bill Ford the secretary & John Parker the Treasurer. The annual subscription was set at Ł1.00 & the membership quickly reached 24.

The first club 10 mile time trial was held on 2nd September of that year & the first open events the following year.

In late 1979, Ray Lawler offered to sponsor the club & a Special General Meeting was held on 16th November of that year at which the membership voted to accept the offer. It was also agreed to change the name of the club to Great Yarmouth Cycling Club Lawford Cycles, which is how it remained for the next 18 years.

Racing

Racing has always been one of the club’s primary activities &, although the achievements & milestones through the years are too numerous for them all to be listed, here are a few of the more memorable:-

The earliest records still in existence date back to 1930 when the record for a 25 mile time trial stood at 1 hour 8 minutes 3 seconds. The first member to go “under the hour” for this distance was Terry Loveday who recorded 59 minutes 9 seconds in April 1961, (a year in which he also won 8 Trophies). Today the record is held by Norman Harlow with 54:36 set on the fast A14 course on 30th May 1991.
The 100 mile record has decreased from 5 hours 18 mins. 57 secs. In 1935 to 4:19:48 set on the 14th July 1991.
From 1991 to 1995, Norman Harlow held the club records at 10, 25, 30, 50 & 100 miles, & still holds the latter four today.
The club held its first ever circuit race, the East Coast “Kermesse” at the Seashore Holiday Camp on the 18th March 1962.
The club staged Cyclo-cross events for several years from 1977, initially at Bure Park & later at Seashore Holiday Camp.
In 1981 the club commenced holding road races over a circuit based on the Martham & from 1984 – 87, held criterium races in Great Yarmouth town centre.

Our Sponsors

Our sponsors are Pedal Revolution in Norwich and DAP UK in Great Yarmouth.

A bit about Pedal Revolution

great yarmouth cycling club

A bit about DAP UK

We are proud to be sponsoring Great Yarmouth Cycling Club. DAP is not just a provider of logistical services. We see our relationship with you, our clients, as a partnership.Companies have come to rely on us to continually provide a level of service which not only reflects both their own standards and ideals but also supports their strategy policies. By remaining an independent privately owned company, we have managed to maintain our flexibility ensuring we can provide tailor-made and innovative logistics solutions when required.We keep our business model as variable as possible to allow us to adapt to changing economic and industry conditions.

Great Yarmouth Cycling Club Committee

President: Bill Ford

great yarmouth cycling club

Treasurer: John Parker (Committee Member)

John entered club cycling when he joined Yarmouth Road Club in August 1952. He became secretary/treasurer of that club in Jan 1953, a position he held until amalgamation with Yarmouth and Gorleston Wheelers (Now GYCC) in 1955. He has been treasurer of GYCC from 1957 to date. He was also Secretary of Y&GW from 1974 until recently.
He rode his first time trial in August and his last in May 1998. His personal best's are (10 mile) 27.23, (25 mile) 1.09.16, (30 mile) 1.29.17, (50 mile) 2.33.40, and (100 mile) 5.31.15
He has toured in England, Scotland, Wales, France and Switzerland. He was awarded life membership of the club in 1996.

Secretary: Timothy Parker (Committee Member)

I joined the club in 1982 and became a regular on club runs, being one of a small number of members who stayed out all day. I also took part in club youth hostel weekends and rode a few club time trials. I joined the committee by becoming press secretary in 1984 and have been General Secretary from 1987 to date. Today I am also a regular on the “alternative” Sunday club run.

Chairman: Norman J. Harlow (Committee Member)

Norman has been a member for nearly 25 years & Chairman for about 15 of them. Last year saw him racing again with a couple of efforts against the watch, hopefully this year will see a few more. He is keen to encourage younger/newer riders to take up the sport, and espcially promotes the Club’s open 25 mile Time Trial, as well as being the timekeeper for all the evening Time Trials.

Web/Graphics: Luke Rumbelow (Committee Member)

Joined in August 09, Luke looks after all the promotional and website materials, loves a challenge and needs to lose weight.

Community Office: Neil Turner (Committee Member)

Neil was a member from 1980-1984 and raced sucessfully as a juvenile (U16) and junior (U18) during one of the clubs most prolific periods. Needing a lifestyle change, Neil returned to the club in 2009. Today, his energy is channelled into getting back into competition, driving forward the club development plan and gaining his British Cycling Coaching badge.

Sponsor: Gareth Edwards Pedal Reolution

great yarmouth cycling club

Sponsor: Clive Julian DAP UK Ltd

great yarmouth cycling club

Additional Committe Member: Tony Mitchell

great yarmouth cycling club

Additional Committe Member: Pat Smith

1954 Started cycling, 1955 Joined YHA cycling around Essex and Kent, 1957 Rode 1st 10TT for Southend & County Wheelers, 1957 to 1960 raced for above club with several wins, 1958 Won Essex Junior Road Championship, 1974 rode for GYCC for several years, 2008 started riding again for GYCC