Club History

The documents below represent a complete transcription of the book "A History of Manchester Wheelers' Club 1883-1983". The book was first published in 1983 on the occasion of the Centenary Dinner, marking the 100^th Anniversary of the founding of the Club. It is a valuable piece of local history and a fascinating read, which we hope you will enjoy.

In addition to the acknowledgements at the beginning of the book, I would personally like to thank those members who helped facilitate this project and especially John Fletcher, whose kind permission has allowed his father's work to be published on the web.

Although these pdf documents contain no pictures, a complete set of pictures from the book can be seen in the Gallery. The full text is searchable using the search function at the top right hand corner of the screen.

If you have any comments about the book or its contents, please feel free to sign our Guestbook, or report any errors to .

Please note that copies of the complete book are still available from the General Secretary - see the Notices section for details.

Regards

Simon Goodwin

You will need Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® software to open these documents, which you can download from Adobe®.

Foreword

Jubilee '50', 1943. Nine Past Presidents. Left to right (back row): Monty Brierley, Harold Crye, Tom MacDonald, Jimmy Taylor.
Left to right (front row): Bill Hodgins, Fred Leeming, Fred Currie, Tommy Barlow, Freddie Harrison.

T. M. BARLOW (1891 - 1981)

With the passing of Tommy Barlow the Club lost one of its greatest and longest serving members.

T.M.B. joined the Club in 1913 and was elected to Committee in 1915. That Committee included some outstanding administrators and officials who had guided the Club from its infancy and there is little doubt that Tommy learned much from them and he in turn as Racing Secretary and Editor set standards for many other of our officials to follow. He was small in stature but a giant in ability and certainly, during the later years of his life, was a cartoonist's dream, with his slight stooping figure, usually garbed in "plusses", and with a hand-rolled cigarette somehow affixed to his upper lip. "Cycling" described him as a human chronometer, but this description sadly underrated the man. He was a member of a number of Cycling Clubs and indeed a founder member of several.

His vision was bounded by the cycling scene, otherwise he would have achieved greater eminence on a wider stage. Highly efficient as a Road Racing Secretary, he was the innovator of the Midnight '12' (starting at 9.30 p.m. on Saturday evening to avoid the traffic problems of the late 1930's) and was the first to use stationary time-keepers on the finishing circuits of 12 hours and 24 hour events. Although somewhat aloof by nature he nevertheless attracted a warm affection and respect from others.

He was one of nature's gentlemen of the old school and was probably against any form of commercialism. He nevertheless derived genuine satisfaction in the standing and success of the Manchester Wheelers' Club.

The "History of the Manchester Wheelers' Club 1883-1933" was compiled and produced by Tommy and will remain as a permanent testimonial to his ability and contribution to this Club.

His duties as Competitions Secretary to the R.T.T.C. from 1945 to 1977, which involved all the B.B.A.R. Tables and Competition Records required a tremendous amount of time and work and were worthy of national recognition.

He was a raconteur with a dry sense of humour, time-keeper for all types of cycling competition, time trials, track racing, road records and cycling historian.

J.F.

A History of Manchester Wheelers' Club 1883-1983


	Contents (29Kb).
	Chapter 1 - 1883-1933 (161Kb).
	Chapter 2 - 1934-1940 (75Kb).
	Chapter 3 - The War Years (25Kb).
	Chapter 4 - A New beginning - The Harris Era (315Kb).
	Chapter 5 - The End of an Era (235Kb).
	Chapter 6 - Sponsorship (235Kb).
	Achievements by Members (34Kb).

Reg Harris (1920 - 1992)

Reg Harris, World Professional Sprint Champion, 1950, held up by Tom MacDonald, Rocourt Track, Liege, Belgium.


	Reg Harris - by Jack Fletcher (18Kb).
	Reg Harris - The Times (21Kb).