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.
