B Group Ride Report 23rd August - Annual Picnic & CTC SWL 75th Birthday Celebration

Wednesday's ride was indeed a special one. Not only for our enjoyable annual picnic but this year's  celebration of our 75th birthday of CTC SW London, marking our separation from the former South London CTC. A huge turn-out of members past and present made the day a huge success.

Colin Quemby cut the enormous birthday cake, baked by Maggie Gladwyn, and then gave us a first-hand recollection of that eventful day 75 years ago and the voting that took place to approve the separation from CTC SW London. Colin received, on the club's behalf, a Certificate of Achievement from Tom Page, our principal contact at CTC HQ. 

Peter Cornish, CTC's official photographer, was on hand to capture the ride groups arriving in Brockham as well as the official cake-cutting ceremony and of course, the group photographs. 

 Above, our illustrious group of "over eighty" riders with Brian Bent (insert) who unfortunately was unable to attend but was spotted riding through Denbies that day.

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A special thank you to Jennie, Gina and Francis for their sterling work all day, looking after all of us.

As I was unable to ride, my co-leaders Mick, Tim G and Tim C led the 27 riders from our Leatherhead Elevenses to the Brockham Recreation Ground. I am most grateful to them. Here are their reports;

Mick writes....

The 75th birthday celebration picnic attracted more riders than usual for a Wednesday so Leatherhead Fairfield Centre was buzzing with people chatting to old friends. Our group was Sue B, Dave C, Diane, Bernard, Sabina, Tony H, Grant led by myself (Mick) and back-marked by Steph.

The ride out of Leatherhead down to Dorking was very familiar, luckily the brambles and nettles by the path had died back a little. Less familiar was the quiet but steep backstreets of Dorking, Cotmandene and onto St. Paul’s Road East. We turned onto a busier Flint Hill but were soon in North Holmwood and back onto pleasant quiet Surrey lanes. All went well until I missed the turning into Wellhouse Lane causing us to meet a group of ‘A’ riders coming the opposite way. We quickly corrected and carried on regrouping once so that we could pass the expected photographer as a unified grinning group.

Once in the cricket ground in Brockham we were reunited with our lunches, transported by Francis. Lunch was enjoyed sitting in the sun with hot or cold drinks organised by Jennie, Gina and Francis. We had plenty of chance to chat with riders from all the Sou’Westers groups and listened with interest to the speeches about the history of the club then watched the magnificent cake being cut.

After lunch we made our way home through glorious sunshine.

Tim G notes....

The sun shone on the assembled company at Leatherhead Fairfield Centre and continued to shine for the rest of the day. The first B subgroup left on time and made their way along a familiar route towards Dorking.

Crossing the High Street we climbed up to Cotmandene and onto North Holmwood. The rest of our ride followed a scenic route along country lanes via Leigh to Betchworth where the parish church provided a suitable backdrop for a group photo. Onto Brockham we were the first group to arrive at the cricket ground and were captured en route by our visiting Cycling UK photographer.

The rest of the day could not have been better as a large number of club members arrived for their picnic lunch and to mark the 75th anniversary of CTC South West London. The celebratory atmosphere included conversations of shared experiences, group photos and a birthday cake.

Many thanks to all those involved in organising such a successful event and marking a milestone in the Sou’Wester’s history. We can now all look forward to the next seventy five years.

Tim C finishes with his report....

There were more than usual of us at Leatherhead for Elevenses and we couldn’t believe our luck that so much sunshine was beaming down upon us for the day of our Picnic.

We cruised down to Dorking and were soon romping up the little slope onto the pastures of Cotmandene and stopped for a sip of water and a photo. To avoid riding on the A24 we took the well-established cyclists’ shortcut of St Paul’s Road through to the Horsham Road before heading South again. 

We made our way Eastward through Dawesgreen and looped around Flanchford Road and Trumpets Hill Road to Betchworth then soon to the Cricket Pavilion in Brockham to find that everyone else was already there, munching on their sandwiches in the intense sunshine. Later, Colin made the preliminary incisions in the giant 75th Birthday Cake and received a certificate to mark the occasion from Tom Page of Cycling UK.

After lolling around chatting and eating cake our B Group reformed to be led by Paul to Betchworth Castle where he explained the strange history of the place. We then made our way up to Amici in Leatherhead where the woman running the café made us an assortment of hot beverages and smoothies. We lingered for quite a while, probably delaying her from closing the café up for the day. But apart from C&G, it is one of our favourite places to stop in Leatherhead.

On the way up to Leatherhead, we had come across Brian Bent who was riding towards Denbies. It was a little sad that he hadn’t joined us for the picnic, and in particular to be included in the group photo with our illustrious group of ‘over eighty’ riders. However, he later joined us at Tea while we were looking at all his sketched portraits, checking that we could identify everyone and marvelling at his talent.

We were very pleased to welcome Anna and Roger Parsley on our ride. They are seasoned veterans of the Saturday Beginners rides but this was their first time out with us and I hope that their other commitments will permit them to ride with us from time to time.

Brenda came back to us after what has been an entire Summer of being away, touring the length and breadth of Ireland with her campervan and trusty bike.

Thank you to Terry for being back marker, to Francis for planning the route and to the team for your cheerful participation in the ride. And we are massively grateful to Jennie, Gina and Francis for organizing and running the show yesterday.

P.S. For a few years now Tom Page has been our primary point of contact with CUK and has been very good at communicating with us and responding to numerous queries and requests from the committee, not to mention his involvement in CUK publicity. I had a conversation with him yesterday, partly to thank him for everything he does for us, but reading the Volunteers’ newsletter which was delivered yesterday I came across this:

“After recovering from an horrific collision whilst taking part in an Ironman in the summer, Cycling UK's groups engagement officer Tom Page and his partner Julia will be embarking on a year-long round the world cycling adventure at the end of October 2023. We wish Tom and Julia the best of luck on their amazing travels and look forward to hearing about it on their return next autumn. “

We do indeed wish him and Julia the very best for their round the world cycling adventure.