London Clarion 1894 members...

And talking of shows it is the HBFS October show tonight https://www.lfgss.com/thread94338.html

Saturday was a good crowd. Not enough at the last one Sunday.
The Shay Elliot film was quite something. Amazing man, amazing rider. Such an unlucky life with the added misfortune of being in the same team as the bastard Stablinski....

Brilliant short on the Halloween Cross event in Bend Oregon. Loved that too.

Wen Jian has msgd me about a short ride tomorrow from jubilee gardens to the Venezuelan Embassy to mark the death of Hugo Chavez.

Anyone want to come? Not sure what time we're doing it yet.

I thought of proposing something along these line myself, but unfortunately I am out of the country until Thursday. Have a good one

In Devon so can't make it.
There in spirit.

Sorry I was not about for this some of you may be interested in the Bicycle Film Society show tonight http://www.lfgss.com/thread102177.html

All

I am about to return a jersey to Charles Jepson. It's a small (some idiot who was way too big for it here asked me to order this size for them). I've had it for a year, keep meaning to send back. Is anyone small interested in having it? They're bloody lovely IMO. Only £35.

Let me check the size I ordered, when I get home tonight. Am a small for some shirts, medium for others.

Oh Noes, actually I got it wrong. It's a Medium. They do come up small, I think JaRyder wanted it in Med but it was too small. I think it would fit you well sir, at a guess. Want me to hold onto it for you?

I need to pay subs (three months late) and for my jersey (a year late). I want to get this sorted as I'm so slack! I can pay for this now, in the hope that if it doesn't fit you will a buyer can be found. But I think it will.

Just come across this thread. What a bloody good idea. Will investigate further.

hmm. The National Clarion 1895 website doesn't appear to be there any more. This is a different faction right? http://www.clarioncc.org/

Thinking about it, Ben, I already have a jersey and I don't wear it very often. Somebody else want it?

hmm. The National Clarion 1895 website doesn't appear to be there any more. This is a different faction right? http://www.clarioncc.org/

Yes, Clarion and Clarion 1895 are separate. Some here, and plenty nationally, are members of both.

@ Bruce OK thanks. I will return the medium today.

Cheers Skully. Clarion 1895 is the more politicised faction, Is that right?

Any idea if they have a current website etc. Seems like a great thing to be involved in....

Boo!

Fellow Clarionites and socialists/communists/anarchists, how many of you can I interest in a cycling trip to La Fête de l'Humanité? I have been to this two years running and I can tell you that it is an awesome experience. It is run by the various local communist chapters in France. It is awesome for many reasons:

• There are still active, healthy local communist chapters all over France. Britain doesn't even have healthy socialist parties.
  
• Amazing food. Each region has several tents providing regional specialities and there are also tents from countries across the world.
  
• Amazing booze. Well, naturally. If you are a cider fanatic, the Breton tents are particularly recommended.
  
• Great music. In 2012 Patti Smith headlined. In 2013 it was Asian Dub Foundation. Many other bands worth seeing.
  
• Cultural events. Book fair and library, craft workshops, too many different things to mention.
  
• Atmosphere. Awesome.
  
• Solidarity and hope. You are all British socialists (or something close). You know how lonely that feels in this forsaken country. In France, particularly at this festival, you find yourself surrounded by tens of thousands of like-minded people. It's an amazing feeling.
  
• Paris. I love Paris.
  
• France is great to cycle through.
  
  
  
  

There are more awesome reasons, but those are plenty of awesome reasons. It runs from September 12th to 14th this year; who is with me? I would ideally ride all the way from London to Paris, but I'm up for compromises which involve some trains.

Hoi, hoi, halloo!

Well, this thread and club have been dead for some time. Yet...

In about 6 weeks time comes the anniversary of the birth of a very interesting comrade... Captain Tom Wintringham. A complex character with enough links to the last century of British history to make the typical UKipper die of a conniption. Anybody up for celebrating his birthday?

Bruce,

What sort of celebration are you thinking of?
Was he in the Clarion?

Adam

Nice little tribute in this week's comic:

The National Clarion
You may have noticed a few cycling clubs with ‘Clarion’ in their names, like the Fenland Clarion CC, or the Bolton Clarion CC. The names are a hangover from a strange combination of cycling and political activism dating from the early 1900s.

The National Clarion, the parent club of all the other Clarions, was formed in 1895, to spread the word of socialism, and named after a socialist newspaper. They combined the pleasures of a bike ride with the joys of handing out socialist literature to innocent bystanders. They provided a sort of flying speaker service — if you needed a socialist orator at short notice, a Clarion member would drop everything, jump on his bike and ride through whatever the weather might throw at him for anything up to 100 miles, day or night, to deliver a rousing speech.

The Clarion was important enough to play a significant role in the origins of the modern Labour Party, but as an actual organisation it was a delightful shambles. Having concluded that creating a clear manifesto or even a clear management structure would just result in lots of arguments, they didn’t bother with either. This meant such pleasures as a national annual meeting for over 1,000 people, for which no one remembered to book a hall or any accommodation. The meeting was held in a churchyard, and the attendees spent the night under a hedge. This was pretty typical.

The Clarion started to decline in the 1930s. While it has survived as an affiliation of clubs, the remaining Clarion organisations take almost no interest in politics.

You can join the Clarion in London here: http://www.nationalclarioncc1895.co.uk/

This seems a good place to ask....
I have an old 'sports' type bicycle with 'clarion' decals. The headtube badge is a cockerel, and the word 'clarion' sits within a broad tipped arrow. The only conclusions I can make is that it could be an early Adam Hill bike. Anyone shed any light light on it?

It sounds like a Hill special, what size frame is it and does it have a number on the bottom of the frame?

It's buried at the moment, but I think it's about 21"-22"....it's got some better than average components on though. I will check the serial number when I can, but if it is a Hill special, it predates any that I've seen. Here's the headbadge

Pop the photos on the classic lightweights thread and I'm sure one of us vintage nuts will come up with something.

We love a mystery bike