SMRCC - South Manchester Racing Cycling club (1970`s)

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OP
OP
BK Rolling on

BK Rolling on

Active Member
Location
Rhoose
Thank you Crofted crest,
I think all the more interesting as the club fell defunct. Overshadowed by Manchester Wheelers and Macclesfield, the SRMCC seemed small in my time, but none the less enjoyable and a part of my youth.
I am interested in seeing any photos from the period of the club members ( I have a few) and Fallowfield track events.
Let’s see what happens
Cheers Bruce
 

TeeShot

Veteran
The link below is to Stockport community cycling club. I believe Jim Court is the main man there. He may be able to help you with some historical information

http://www.sccc.co.uk/
 

K Stand Ken

Regular
Location
Manchester
Hi Guys,
My name is Ken Workman and I started "proper" cycling with the Abbotsford Park RC in 1964, but moved on to the Manchester Wheelers after 20 years. Along with John Archer who was mentioned above (I think he lived in Denton or Reddish) I was with a group of five or six similarly aged Abbotsford lads from Ashton, Oldham etc. some of who moved to Australia in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Alan Goodall was someone you might recall from then, he was 3 or 4 years younger than us but he went on to have a lot of success in road racing. In 1965 I beat Alan by some minutes in our first ever '25' - how good would it have been to continue with that advanced level when we got to adults.
The Abbotsford also held their club night at the 'club-house' at Fallowfield stadium on Thursdays. Hands up those who remember the oil painting on the wall of a rider pulling a track-suit top off over their head. Years later I discovered this was none other than Valerie Rushworth, who lived near Wakefield, but was an Abbotsford member and a multi champion on the track. A couple of years ago I was privileged to meet this famous lady when we both attended the funeral of another Abbotsford and Wheelers man, Len Myatt. Val also brought her daughter, Clare, who was no slouch on two wheels either!
I certainly remember the name Steve Duerden. If I recall correctly, didn't he give up the sport in disgust after being suspended by the RTTC (now CTT) for wearing advertising in an event? If it was him, his "offence" was riding an evening 'club' 10 wearing one of the very popular 'Adidas' T-shirts with their name on the chest about 2" wide. And some busybody reported him!
I also wanted to comment on some of the other nostalgic names mentioned, starting with Jim Patterson. I didn't know he was involved with SMRCC as he was an Abbotsford official when I joined. Jim was famous for his Austin A35 van, the colour of which seemed to be unknown as he never gave it a wash, it was jokingly referred to as the only matt-finish A35 van on the road! He was also an overly enthusiastic commissaire for both Fallowfield and road racing. Jim was also a track motor-pace rider, pacing Prestwich's John Hall, he later paced Manchester Wheelers' Peter Gordon to national records and championships.
The race-wear company, Gibbsport, which was mentioned, was run by Stan Hughes from premises in Salford. Stan was an established Manchester Wheelers official when I joined them in 1985.
Arthur Pickburn and Jim Court were two SMRCC gentlemen who were heavily involved in organising the Tour of the Peak road race held every September. In the 1980s I started helped out in this by marshalling at the right turn at Chinley railway bridge, but then later progressed to the motorised race convoy. Eventually I became the lead car driver, including the occasion when it was the national championship. I think this was 1992 when the 'winner' was disqualified for allegedly 'switching' the 2nd placed man so he couldn't overtake him in the 2-up sprint through Buxton town centre!
Sadly, Neil King, a SMRCC member from the early 1970s passed away in October last year. aged 72. Neil was climbing a slight hill with a group of other vets near Goostrey when he began to struggle and dropped off the back. When they went back for him they found he had died while still on his bike, but leaning against the roadside hedge. He had joked that he would have liked to go while on his bike.
Given time to think, I could probably dredge up more memories of people known to both SMRCC and Abbotsford members.
 

Jimcourt

Regular
Hi Jim Court here. I am still very alive and kicking and run the Stockport Community Cycling Club in Stockport. Over the years the Club membership declined until we virtually existed to run the Tour of the Peak. Sponsorship became very hard to find and BC egulations made it more difficult to balance the budget. I had joined the SMRCC in 1970 when I moved from Wolverhampton and for a while we had some good road riders as mentioned in various posts. In the latter days, some of the newer members who joined were more interested in mountain biking. Arthut PIckburn could never understand the interest in this branch of the sport and was astounded that these lads could ride quite quickly. As these lads got older they left the sport and the Club was forced to close as effectively there was no-one left except Arthur and I. Ironically, in the last few months, Mike Holt has set up a SMRCC reunion page on Facebook to bring together some of the former members such as Andy Williams. Andy Cheshire, Ian Wilmshurst and Matt Yarwood and myself for a reunion ride which has had to be put on the backburner due to the Pandemic. I also re-met Neil King when we were both working on the Tameside Circuit Series about 4 years ago and was sorry to lose him last year when he seemed to be recovering well. The jersey wa originally orange with a green centre band but the newer riders wanted a more up to date look so we eventuall went with a white jersey with vertical orange and green strip. IO used to write a weekly piece for the Stockport Express with some imaginative text sometimes such as "xxx would have been in with a chance of winning but punctured with 20 miles to go.
 

Jimcourt

Regular
One of the "reunion riders" posted this picture on Facebook showing the group in its latter days along with me wearing the last version of the Club Jersey. Hope you find this interesting.
528879
 

bbrich

Active Member
Location
Stockport
Wow. I'd forgotten about joining this thread three years ago. Good to see some photographic evidence. Don't like what they did with the jersey though... ^_^

I've looked on FB and I can't find any SMRCC page. Is it under a different name?

You probably don't remember me Jim, but I remember you. My name is Brian Birch and I was at South Manchester in the early seventies, at the same time as Rob Miehe. He and I were the same age, grew up together and raced together. Road, track, CC, TT. I think Rob left SMRCC and joined the Abbotsford or the Chesh Roads but got lured by four wheels a couple of years later. Just for the record I finished second in one of your Woodbank Park CCs and I still remember you shouting encouragement to me as I rear-wheel drifted into the Devil's Drop - twice (or was it three laps)? You may have even presented me with the GibbSport Arm Warmers... Outside of cycling circles, in those days at least, nobody knew what arm warmers were. Did I get the mickey taken from my mates or what?

I've been working in the Middle East since 1981 but have recently retired and am now back in the UK for good, Woodsmoor to be exact. I never really stopped cycling even though I wound up playing football. On my first holiday home after going overseas I bought a road bike and carried it back to Saudi with me and took up riding in the desert. Yes, it is hot. I've been riding ever since but never been a member of a club as there weren't any in Saudi Arabia. I came home last November (2019) and finally unpacked my bike a couple of months back. I have fairly advanced arthritis these days but have managed a few local miles just to get used to riding in traffic and on the left side of the road. In the flat Middle East I was riding a 12-23 cassette (block?). That got ditched the first time I road up the hill from Bramhall roundabout. I made it but it can't have looked good! Got to get some wet-weather gear as well.

It would be great to catch up some time. Brian Birch.
 

Prestwich Gaz

New Member
Hi Guys,
My name is Ken Workman and I started "proper" cycling with the Abbotsford Park RC in 1964, but moved on to the Manchester Wheelers after 20 years. Along with John Archer who was mentioned above (I think he lived in Denton or Reddish) I was with a group of five or six similarly aged Abbotsford lads from Ashton, Oldham etc. some of who moved to Australia in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Alan Goodall was someone you might recall from then, he was 3 or 4 years younger than us but he went on to have a lot of success in road racing. In 1965 I beat Alan by some minutes in our first ever '25' - how good would it have been to continue with that advanced level when we got to adults.
The Abbotsford also held their club night at the 'club-house' at Fallowfield stadium on Thursdays. Hands up those who remember the oil painting on the wall of a rider pulling a track-suit top off over their head. Years later I discovered this was none other than Valerie Rushworth, who lived near Wakefield, but was an Abbotsford member and a multi champion on the track. A couple of years ago I was privileged to meet this famous lady when we both attended the funeral of another Abbotsford and Wheelers man, Len Myatt. Val also brought her daughter, Clare, who was no slouch on two wheels either!
I certainly remember the name Steve Duerden. If I recall correctly, didn't he give up the sport in disgust after being suspended by the RTTC (now CTT) for wearing advertising in an event? If it was him, his "offence" was riding an evening 'club' 10 wearing one of the very popular 'Adidas' T-shirts with their name on the chest about 2" wide. And some busybody reported him!
I also wanted to comment on some of the other nostalgic names mentioned, starting with Jim Patterson. I didn't know he was involved with SMRCC as he was an Abbotsford official when I joined. Jim was famous for his Austin A35 van, the colour of which seemed to be unknown as he never gave it a wash, it was jokingly referred to as the only matt-finish A35 van on the road! He was also an overly enthusiastic commissaire for both Fallowfield and road racing. Jim was also a track motor-pace rider, pacing Prestwich's John Hall, he later paced Manchester Wheelers' Peter Gordon to national records and championships.
The race-wear company, Gibbsport, which was mentioned, was run by Stan Hughes from premises in Salford. Stan was an established Manchester Wheelers official when I joined them in 1985.
Arthur Pickburn and Jim Court were two SMRCC gentlemen who were heavily involved in organising the Tour of the Peak road race held every September. In the 1980s I started helped out in this by marshalling at the right turn at Chinley railway bridge, but then later progressed to the motorised race convoy. Eventually I became the lead car driver, including the occasion when it was the national championship. I think this was 1992 when the 'winner' was disqualified for allegedly 'switching' the 2nd placed man so he couldn't overtake him in the 2-up sprint through Buxton town centre!
Sadly, Neil King, a SMRCC member from the early 1970s passed away in October last year. aged 72. Neil was climbing a slight hill with a group of other vets near Goostrey when he began to struggle and dropped off the back. When they went back for him they found he had died while still on his bike, but leaning against the roadside hedge. He had joked that he would have liked to go while on his bike.
Given time to think, I could probably dredge up more memories of people known to both SMRCC and Abbotsford members.

Hi Ken, a north Manchester boy here. Your post really took me back. I joined Prestwich Wheelers as a 13/14-year-old in '65/'66. John Hall ran the club and the clubhouse was the Liberal club on Prestwich village. Shortly after joining, we moved to a new clubhouse above Timsons also on Prestwich village and 're-branded' as Prestwich Phoenix - Steak Canadian. I believe we were one of the first sponsored clubs in the country. John Hall was a butcher I believe so I guess that's where the sponsorship came from. My best buddy at the time was George Channon. He was a few years older than me and was really good ( I was hopeless! ) he went on to ride for the division at the tour of Ireland. Every Tuesday we'd cycle over to Fallowfield to watch John motor pacing and Trevor Harris from our club sprinting. When I started junior racing Alan Goodall and Kevin Apter from Liverpool (Mercury I think) were the guys to beat....Hardly anyone could. I remember Alan robe a beautiful black Cyril Bardsley with a gold script name logo. I still lust after that bike. At some point, Prestwich merged with the lads from Salford and had some really good riders, Phil Jones, Alan Ferguson,( who did a great TT on the Isle of Man), 2nd I think. Due to work, I moved around quite a bit but settled near to Coventry, joined Mick Ives' Coventry Olympic......still never won anything, but loved it all the same. I have now retired and just bought myself a new bike so just as soon as the snow clears I'll be out for a ride. Thanks for the memory jolt.
 

jwil

New Member
Hi again,
Please do if you have any pictures.
I agree the strip was fairly dire in colour and quite expensive ( don’t crash!).
Many thanks Bruce

Hi I have just found this site.. you requested any pictures of SMRcc . I have a some of the names mentioned in this thread of a club dinner in the 70's collecting trophies and a group one. Arthur Pickburn was my Dad. Sadly he died in 1994. I have been in possession of all his photos all these years and have decided they need to be sorted out. Going all the way back to the 1940's!!! Before many more of their subjects are no longer with us. !

As mention in this thread all the organisers of the club have passed away including (as I am lead to believe ) last year Jim Court. My Dad was one of the founding members of the club and though what you remember was a very small club back in the day when it was established in the 40s and 50s it had some top Manchester riders. So I have been informed. He wasn't one of them lol

John Negus is a name I remember for your era and Zebs real name is Edward. He was given the name Zeb short for Zebedee by my Dad because foolishly he let slip one club night that he watched the magic rounderbout!
 
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