History
Wally Newman and the old Brighton section
Dave Gravett in a 25 mile time trial in Surrey in 1952. Dave who has been to the last two of our Christmas get-togethers, was a member of the old Brighton section - and still has his membership card!
New! Helen Mogford's Brighton Clarion photos from she thinks, a camp at Amberley. Can anyone identify any of the people in the photos?
The Origins of the Clarion Cycling Club and cycling in the 1890s
1. The very beginning 'ADVANCE BIRMINGHAM' – the report of the Clarion Cycling Club's first tour
2. A national link-up is proposed
3. Clarion badges, 'lady cyclists' and 'rationals'
4. The Clarion CC to the rescue?
5. The picnic idea gains support, Clarion Scouts, and 'Bewicke' writes from Newcastle
6. Potteries No 2 Branch, 'Cyclo- Phobia' and 'cycling camps'
7. The Trumpet Badge and Dangle's Parisian cycling activities
8. Tours of Jersey and of Wales by Clarion CCs
9. Birmingham CCC's Tour of North Wales
10. The rules of the Potteries CCC and and advert for the Clarion cycle
11. Sage advice from Swiftsure and the Clarion CC continues to spread
13. End of season report from Birmingham CCC – more light on the origins of the Easter Meet.
15. More 'Lady cyclists' and report from Liverpool
16. More from Bradford and the Potteries – reports from TANDEM, the Bradford Clarion Scouts and CLINCHER
17. 'Swiftsure' anticipates an event in Manchester – and the beginning of his report
18. The Manchester cyclists' parade. Swiftsure's report continued from 13 October 1894
19. Liverpool CCC and 'Swiftsure' on Sunday cycling
20. More Liverpool activities and 'The Bounder on Tour' near Stratford upon Avon
21. Reports from Bradford and Liverpool plus a recommendation from Swiftsure
22. 'The Bounder in Brum' including the B'ham CCC's dinner
23. Cycling parades again – and Swiftsure takes steps to create a Manchester CCC
24. More support for a Manchester Clarion CC
25. 'the following' - the Birmingham CC's 'Smoker' and the first Easter Meet begins to take shape
26. An Australian woman's remarkable feat and news of the Liverpool CCC
28. The Manchester Clarion CC is formed
29. The Bradford Clarion CC emerging from 'winter's blight'
31. Manchester CCC organises a '25' and Clarion CCs continue to spread
32. Manchester Cycle Show and a cycling club for MPs – with Clarion comments
33. The first Easter Meet gets nearer as Clarion C.Cs continue to get organised
34. The first ride of the Manchester CCC and the coming first Easter Meet
35. Clarion cycling continues to spread as the first Meet approaches
36. Arrangements for the first Easter Meet – and more Manchester runs
37. Clarion cycling continues to spread as the first Meet approaches
38. An encounter with 'Lady Cyclists' and Swiftsure urges NCU affiliation
39. 'Unattached cyclists' and accommodation at the first Easter Meet
40. The Bounder and Dangle discuss the imminent first 'meet' at Ashbourne
41. Who's for Ashbourne this weekend?
42. Reports from Clarion in Nottingham, Manchester and Blackburn
43. The Clarion Board and the Ashbourne Meet – and a plea for 'lady' members in Liverpool
44. The Ashbourne Meet (at last!)
45. Alex Thompson (aka Dangle) on the Ashbourne Meet (continued)
47. More from Swiftsure on the Ashbourne Meet
48. Blatchford prepares for the Meet - Wednesday 3 April
49. Blatchford prepares for the Meet - continued - Thursday to Monday
50. The Clarion staff at the first Easter Meet 'The Evolution of the Cycle' The Clarion, 20 April 1895
55. Easter Sunday at the Meet (and the 'Beery Person' re-emerges)
56. Cycling accidents and some rather alarming advice on bike management from Swiftsure
57. More on accidents and how to avoid them
58. Manchester CCC's Knutsford ride and Swiftsure on cyclists and pedestrians
59. More Clarion CCs
60. The Scout and astonishment created at the Manchester Labour Demo.
61. A "testimonial" from John Trevor
62. More from the "Clarion Post Bag" 11 May 1895 Blatchford on The Scout
63. 11 May 1895 "Post-Bag" concluded - A Clarion call from Blatchford.
64. "The Philosophy of the Bicycle"
65. "The Philosophy of the Bicycle" concluded
66. An editorial response… and another Clarion CC is formed.
67. Swiftsure returns to the treatment of pedestrians - and other bits and pieces
68. Blatchford in 'sticking labels on things'
69. Some of the dangers of cycling - according to Swiftsure
1) overheating
70. Some of the dangers of cycling - according to Swiftsure
2) overtaking on the inside.
71. A Clarion CC for SW London?…
72. A report in the daily press inspires (?) some verse (??)
73. "Random Scrip on a Tandem Trip"
74. "Random Scrip on a Tandem Trip" continued
75. "Random Scrip on a Tandem Trip" concluded
The Glory Days of Sussex Track Cycling
by Brian Hutton
The old Brighton section
by Brian Hutton and Ken Wells
The old Brighton section as it appeared in the 1937 Clarion Handbook
from Michael Walker
The old Brighton section as it appeared in the 1936 Clarion Handbook
(from TJ)
'Robbed!' Brian's Isle of Wight tale
Golden Jubilee
A 19-page pamphlet published in 1962 to mark the half centenary of the 'Clarion House' in the Pendle Hill area of the Pennines just north of Burnley and Lancashire – a survivor from the Clarion cafés and hostels that were once dotted about.
Among the messages of support is one from Sydney Silverman, MP, while an ad from the Nelson and District Clothlookers and Warehouseman's Association ends 'On to the hundred'. This seems likely to be achieved. Still owned by the ILP Land Society the building was recently redecorated and still serves refreshments at weekends (Clarion tea – 40p a pint!). The national Secretary organised a ride to it in June 2004. The ILP ad urged all readers to 'give maximum support to the nurses in their wage claims' (Quite right too!).
Gustav Holst and the Clarion
Some brief notes on the composer's connection with the Clarion and his cycling activities.
National Clarion Cycling Club: 1962-63 handbook
Some extracts from the handbook discovered by Ed Furey, the first Chair of Brighton&Hove CC.
'Why Boots and Spurs'?
This is explains the origin of the Clarion greeting – and gives an account of how Ian Bullock stumbled on the Club having previously thought that it had died out years ago.
Clarion chairs
Acquisition by the Working Class Movement Library in Salford of 11 chairs originally from the Clarion Cafe Rooms in Manchester before the 1914 War. From Shelf Life, the Library's newsletter.
Walter Southgate and the Clarion
From Peter Roscoe, our National Treasurer
How racing became part of Clarion activities
More Clarion material from Michael Walker of Unison
An interesting illustrated piece on Clarion clubhouses by Michael Walker. [But was the Club 'founded' in 1895 or in 1894 as the logo at the head of the article says? - IB]".
[To avoid reinventing the wheel, this external link will take you to the article and photos - Fred the webmaster]
A piece on the London Clarion Club House Nazeing, Essex can be found at
http://country-standard.blogspot.com/search/label/London%20Clarion%20Club%20House
Liverpool Clarion March 1914 Club meet
Brighton Clarion Cycling & Athletic Club 1936
British Workers Sports Association 1946
1939 Southern Counties Secretaries
National Clarion Cycling Club National Committee 1951
With the Clarion Cycling Club In Paris & Brussels, June 1922
Extracts from Bolton Clarion magazine, 1937
The National Clarion Cycling and Athletic Association 1950
1939 rule book and London badge
A short history of the Clarion Vocal Union
For more on the history of the Clarion see the national website www.clarioncc.org or better still read Denis Pye's book which is an excellent account of the Cycling Club in the context of the wider Clarion movement.
If you're interested in the Clarion generally, Sussex University Library has quite a lot of relevant material including the Clarion newspaper on microfilm (up to 1914) and quite a few Clarion pamphlets such as Robert Blatchford's What is this Socialism (1908), P. J. King's Federation in a nutshell (1898) which relates to the well-intentioned but ill-fated attempt to found an ultra-democratic and anti-bureaucratic federation of trade unions (aka the 'Clarion Federation'), two of Alex Thompson's (Blatchford's partner on the Clarion, aka Dangle) pamphlets promoting 'direct democracy' – The referendum and initiative in practice (1899) and The only way to democracy (1900) and the well-known radical Labour MP, Fred Jowett's What's the Use of Parliament? (1909). The Library also has Robert Blatchford; Portrait of an Englishman by Laurence Thompson – son of Alex – as well as more than 30 books and other works by Blatchford ranging from his 'best selling' advocacy of socialism Merrie England, through some of his army stories (see 'Boots and Spurs') such as Tommy Atkins of the Ramchunders to his autobiography – which sadly has relatively little about the Clarion and his activities associated with it – My Eighty Years.
As far as I know, there are only three academic studies of the Clarion movement. They are:
Judith A Fincher 'The Clarion Movement; a Study of a Socialist Attempt to Implement the Co-operative Commonwealth in England, 1891-1914', University of Manchester, MA thesis, 1971.
L. J. W. Barrow 'The Socialism of Robert Blatchford and the "Clarion" Newspaper. 1889-1918', University of London, PhD thesis, 1975.
And
Chris Goode 'Clarion Cycling and Nascent Socialism'. Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University), BA thesis, 1990.
Chapters on 'Clarion democracy' and the 'rise and fall of the Clarion Federation' can be found in Logie Barrow and Ian Bullock Democratic Ideas and the British Labour Movement, 1880- 1914, CUP, 1996.
Other Clarion history
One or two of you know John Lowerson. At the moment he's doing a book on Alan Bush, the Communist composer, and he mentioned to me the other day that the Birmingham Clarion Singers is still going strong. Bush was their president for many years (and Paul Robeson later on). Google them and have a look at their website. 'Singing songs for Peace and Justice since 1940' it says. Which is very late for the original Clarion choir movement. It says that it was founded by Dr Colin Bradsworth 'on his return from the Spanish Civil War', so there is probably an interesting story here.
Clarion artwork website
From Donald Taylor: The Clarion Artwork website which I've set up is both
downloadable from and uploadable to, either by the web browser or by email, so that others may add pertinent artwork to it to it
http://tinyurl.com/2bm5on
Much of this concerns Walter Crane, who designed the Clarion logo. Worth Abbey, near Crawley, is the site of his 'Transport Frieze' in Lord Cowdray's Dining Room.
The Pilgrims 1910
Read the exploits of The Pilgrims cycling club and of their great enjoyment riding the country lanes on the outskirts of London, during the Edwardian 'Golden Age' just before the Great War.