Paddington Cycling Club?

If anyone is interested some of the founder members of the Paddington Cycling Club are having a reunion social ride on Saturday 6th October. It will be a gentle 30 mile round trip with a stop for coffee, the people planning to come so far are, Barry Ford, Paul Robilliard, Paul Dodd, Richard Seymour, Tommy Cooper, Simon Holden, Guy Lipscomb, Carlo Bordi, Ray George and Martin Hull. We will be meeting outside the Nurseries on the A40 at Denham and leaving at 10:00.

I'd love to join you but seeing as I now live in Carlisle, it's not On :-(
Say hello to everyone there from me.

Hi folks what a trip down memory lane :D. I'm Richard Girdler and Bob was pretty accurate. I currently reside in Dorset where I install and fix gas heating systems following a period of retraining over 20yrs ago. Don't ride anymore, tried water polo for a bit then discovered scuba diving my current obsession. I'd be we'll up for a reunion meet so long as it doesn't involve cycling (don't own a bike lol). Glad to hear Johns still going.

Hi everyone,
I've followed this thread for a while. Am still in touch with a few of the old Paddington/Sport&Publicity members, certainly Steve W and Spen K, not to mention Bob Davis, who's spot on with his assessment of me as the "ultimate technoweenie" (that's me 2nd from left in the S&P publicity picture, in (clear) specs - on my right is Oren Peleg, who I don't think has been mentioned yet in the club list? He still rides north out of London, involved in high finance, not racing any more).
I believe I did hold the club record for a 10TT with a 20.45 on the A1001/A414 one summer evening in the early '90s. Think that was on my Merlin, with aero bars, possibly a rear wheel cover too..
Had pretty much retired from competitive racing by the end of the 1990s, but remained a cyclist interested in bicycle technology. Rekindled an interest in competing in triathlons while based in Cyprus for a few years, now back in Hackney and hoping to start getting sportive-fit later in 2013..
My ongoing project bike, a steel-framed Roberts racing bike, can be seen down at Chas Roberts' showroom in Croydon - it weighs under 4.7kgs (10.5lbs) and can be split in two to fit in a suitcase.
Keep the reminiscences coming - a reunion in N. Wales would be a good thing..
j.

Oren rides reasonably regularly with a group, mainly of London Phoenix riders who meet early every Sunday morning outside the Bald Faced Stag in East Finchley. I believe he had started racing again last year.

I wouldn't be surprised if a few ex paddington riders turn up at the Finsbury Park Reliability trial next Sunday, 17 February.

Apologies for crashing this forum but if anyone has any old b&w photos of the paddy rec velodrome I would dearly love to get a copy for a good friend (and very keen cyclist) who lives directly opposite. Any help would be much appreciated!

My email is

Thanks,
Jamie

I posted a picture of racing at the track in the 70's earlier in this thread. Feel free to copy it.

Thanks Yoav, I don't suppose you still have the negative?!

I don't have the negative because I didn't take the picture (that's me in the middle of the shot - the spotty teenager). The photo appeared in the Kilburn Times*, presumably taken by a professional photographer, and I bought a copy of it.

• or it may have been the Paddington Mercury, I forget.
  

Many thanks Yoav

For all of you heading to the Lee Valley Velopark I am doing some coaching sessions at the Velodrome.
If your about come and say hi.
TTFN

There are some photos further up this thread of people wearing PCC tops.
Very simple: blue body with white band across the middle, red sleeves. Mine had white trim on the cuffs and collar but looking at the pics, some didn't.

diable,,
i was thinking of starting up "The Paddington" again and gettting our old shirts made, i have some to copy too,
regards
No.12

Its coming back.. !
Im starting it up again..

Could some of the contributors to this thread email me contacts of the old Paddington members, the shirts have been designed and we need people to wear them with pride.

thepaddington@gmx.co.uk

Does anyone still keep in touch with John Austin, or know how he's keeping?

4candles, I've forwarded your e-mail address to Bob Davis (not on here). He might be in touch.

He did.. thank you.

I'm a bit late to this party, I stumbled across this thread while looking to see what was out there about John Austin. Its been great reading through the thread which has bought back lots of memories. I hope someone out there is still listening!
I rode at Paddington when I was at school and became a founding member of the Paddington Schoolboys Cycling Club, which was the forerunner of the Paddington Cycling Club.
I started cycling when I got my first 'racing bike', a Falcon bought from Grattans Catalogue. Two friends of mine from school got bikes at the same time and we quickly found our local bike shop, Stan Perry in Sudbury Town. Stan directed us to Frank (can't remember his second name) who ran Dragon Road Club in Wembley. I well remember the shock of my first club night, discovering my Falcon was a pile of crap!
The Dragons introduced us to club cycling and in time to the track at Paddington, which is how I met John and got involved in the club. This would have been around 1970.
At that time the local schools were run by the ILEA and they paid for John to teach cycling at the track. I think you could choose to do cycling instead of PE. Although we were out of the area (Alperton) I managed to swing it with with my PE teacher, so we'd ride down and join the sessions (Tuesday and Thursday afternoons I think), then as I got more involved started doing the Saturday morning training sessions and Sunday runs.
There was a core of schoolboys on those sessions, the ones I most recall being Barry Ford, Paul Robilliard, Tommy Cooper and Ray George. I met Carlo Bordi on the way to Stan Perry's one day and introduced him to the club. We both lived in Alperton so we were training partners for a while, before he started to leave me for dead! Other names that spring to mind are Bill Farrow and Steve Heffernan.
My two initial friends dropped out but another friend, Kim Williams got involved. He was phenomenally talented and fit as a flee and John was very interested in him, but because he was good at lots of other sports he didn't stay involved that long (although we stayed friends and started mountain biking together many years later).
I've got many fond memories of riding at the track, the Sunday runs, time trials, long weekends in Wales, the New Forest, Calshot and Hearne Hill tracks, other places I can barely remember.
But although I loved cycling, I wasn't that good or dedicated, so when I started work and started to meet girls my interest soon wained and my bike got put away in the shed. That would have been around 1974.
I stopped completely for many years but started mountain biking in the mid 90's and these days do a bit of both.
I restored my Geoff Butler road bike several years ago and last year re-kitted it out with period Campag gear so I could do the Eroica Britannia, which I've done for the last 2 years.

A few side notes:

Who designed the original classic paddington CC racing jersey?

@bigsteve - I came up with dozens of designs but in the end none of mine wasn't chosen... but I can't remember who's was.

i was thinking of starting up "The Paddington" again and gettting our old shirts made, i have some to copy too,

@4candles - Love to hear if the idea of reforming the club or getting some shirts made up got of the ground?

If anyone is interested some of the founder members of the Paddington Cycling Club are having a reunion social ride on Saturday 6th October.

@Lance - If theres another one of these taking place do let me know, would love to meet up with the gang again!

lots on the hatred of repairing tubs,
grrr, so many nights wasted sticking poxy needle through my thumb!

For a while I used to repair all the Tubs for John to supplement my paper round money, in the end I could do one in about 1o mins.

I think I might have some club newsletter from the very early days - they'd make very fun reading, next time I'm in the loft I'll see what I can find.

A bit of an update on John Austin, I met him and some of the old PCC members on Wednesday and I had under estimated his age, John is now 81.

@Lance - Glad to hear John is alive and well. He was an inspiration in many ways and taught me a lot about self reliance, organisation, perseverance, enthusiasm, enjoyment of the countryside, etc. Above all he devoted a huge amount of his own time to a bunch of spotty kids and probably got very little thanks for it. Can't imaging there are many around like him now!

Geoff Bolam

Interesting read, thanks.

Paddington would be vastly improved with the (re)addition of a velodrome.

I propose you wipe out the Praed St station ramp, taking out all the crappy fast food shops, all the Italian restaurants aimed at tourists any left over smokers and any shisha bars in the area. Boom, Paddington Station Velodrome.

Get to it.

This looks like a potential deluxe spiralling vertical velodrome to me:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/1bn-shard-of-west-london-to-transform-lifeless-paddington-a3094776.html

Really hope this total crap doesn't happen.

/thread derail

The pub next to the Paddington Rec was called the Carlton Tavern
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-36754349

I remember the track from 1971 onwards as a 5 year old, when I got older I was too shy to try and join, I'm 51 now and have started cycling again (1st time since childhood) and have joined a local club where I live now. I used to watch a lot of cycling on the track there

yes, that was the pub to the entrance

Hi there.
This is Ian Isern, Paddington CC 1976-1978.
I would love to buy the old kit.