Club Meetings, venues and membership.

The Accounts for April 1936 show the ‘Rent for Scouts club (Gym) 12/-’ and, in 1936 and 1937, ‘Hire of hall (meetings) £1.10.0.’ for each year. From March to August 1939, a room in the Town Hall (Ferryhill ?) was hired for 1/6 per meeting. The Nov/Dec. 1942 Minutes record meetings at Jones’ Garage in Ferryhill Village but in 1943 the Club moved to 16 Dene Bridge Row and the Wheatsheaf (2/6 for each meeting), both in Chilton. For the next twelve years, December 1943 to January 1955, meetings settled down to Thursday evenings in the Scouts hut at Windlestone, the annual rent starting at 18/- and rising to £8 in 1948. From March 1955 to 1961, evening meetings changed to Mondays when Jack Pickering offered his barbers hut in Windlestone. For the next few years until September 1969, meeting places moved around between Dalton; the Heather Lad, Quarrington Hill; Ingleton; the Fox & Hounds,Kirk Merrington; Leasingthorne School; Tudor Cafe, Catterick; S.A.B. Factory, Newton Aycliffe; 70 Arthur Street, Windlestone; Blue Bells Inn, Low Etherley and one or two long spells in Mr. Pickering’s barbers hut. Between 1969 and 1975, there were 6 settled years in the Ferryhill Adult Youth Centre, Dean Bank, however, 1976 saw meetings moving around between Brian Excell’s cafe,Tow Law; the Kings Arms, Great Stainton and 23 High Street, Bishop Middleham. Aycliffe Village Hall provided a roof over the Club’s head until 1982 and from 1983 meetings were once again held in Ferryhill, this time at the Leisure Centre on Monday evenings at 8 pm.

In 1933, the Rule Book stated that ‘The Annual General Meeting be held the first week in December.......’. For 70 years, the A.G.M.s have been faithfully organised, the first recorded one being held in the I.O.G.T. Hall, Ferryhill. Details of the officers and prizewinners were reported by the Northern Echo 30 Dec.1929 (press cutting page22).

Matters dealt with at meetings were much the same as today. Dates of racing events, entry fees, appeals for marshals and timekeepers, election of new members, affiliations, annual dinner dates and organisation, menus, presentation of trophies and club purchases. In the 1950s and 1960s, dances, Y.H.A. trips, Sunday runs and a racing points system were important items appearing in the Minutes. Notices about times and places for meetings were sent to members by postcard, but to save on high postage costs the 1951 A.G.M. decided to meet on Thursday evenings.

Because of War Service and wartime regulations the number of persons allowed to attend meetings was restricted, which may explain why only 5 - 8 members met together at meetings between 1942 and 1944. By 1945, men were returning home and the Committee succeeded in raising the membership to 34. In 1973 numbers had dropped alarmingly to 8 members, so Bob Douglas and Mel Littlefair undertook the task of regenerating interest in the Club and they gradually raised the membership to over 100. In 1993 there were 93 fully paid-up members and the years 2000 and 2001 also have seen an encouraging number of new members.

Club Indoor Activities

To keep members fit during the long winter months, the Club bought 2 sets of home trainers or rollers for £7.16.0 and in 1947 Mr. C.E. Jones offered his 2 sets of rollers complete with dials. The Club tried to organise roller contests with other clubs but only two (Spartan Wheelers and Thornaby Paragon) responded and the idea was dropped. However, there was a standing invitation to these clubs to come along and use the F.W.C.C. equipment. In 1950, to gain publicity, Mr. W. Crawford made a notice board which was placed in Jones Brothers’ shop window in Ferryhill and advertised Club meetings, runs news and displayed members’ medals.

Other means of keeping up morale were the purchase of a photograph album (17/-) for members and their racing photographs, to be kept in order by Mr. W. Robson (1948), a dartboard was given by Mr. H. Sutton (1952) and a map library was created by Mr..

R.Fawcett ( 1955). Mr. Jack Pickering tabled a motion that a Keep Fit class be held every Thursday evening - ‘An appeal is made to members to support this motion to keep the social life of the Club going during the winter months’. When the Club moved its premises to Mr. Pickering’s barbers hut in 1955, 2 sets of rollers were sold and 2 sets returned to Mr. Jones.

Finances, Affiliations, Fees and Fundraising 

As in all clubs funding can be a big problem, reliant as it is on membership numbers. Road racing meant that riders needed to be affiliated to national cycling associations for insurance purposes, so fees to these national bodies were included in Club subscriptions.The first recorded affiliation to the N.C.U. was in 1928. By 1933, the Club Rules show that the Club also had representatives on the ‘C.C.’ and the Teesside Cycling Association. 1939 saw affiliation to the R.T.T.C. followed by the B.L.R.C. in 1954. In this 75th year, the Club is affiliated to the B.C.F.,R.T.T.C, T.C.A., C.T.C. and the B.C.C.A.

Subscriptions

The first documentary evidence about members’ subscriptions appears in the 1933 Rules, the mens’ contributions being 3/6, the ladies and youths under 16 were 3/- .By 1956 fees had more than trebled to 12/6 and in 2001 they are £5.

Club racing events. In 1936 they raised £3.16.0. for the Club 25, in 1937 the same race raised £5 for 50 entries, with entries for the ‘105 in 7’ totalling 6/-.

Fees & Fundraising

Another source of income, right from the early days of the Club, has been the charging of fees for Club racing events. In 1936 they raised £3.16.0. for the Club 25, in 1937 the same race raised £5 for 50 entries, with entries for the ‘105 in 7’ totalling 6/-.

However, subscriptions and racing fees were not enough to keep the Club’s head above water and it had to resort to other ideas. The first money spinner was in 1949 with the Grand National draw. By of unwanted bicycle components with 20% of the profits going to the Club. According to the 1950 accounts, badges bought from Greens of Coventry for 2/3d each were then sold for 2/9d. A football buster competition proved popular, while the Milk Race draw in 1971 totalled £22 with 50% for Club funds. By 1974, however, financial disaster was imminent, with an entry appearing in the Minutes ‘A finance report revealed that the Club had a total of only 95p in the bank’. Steve Davies suggested a fundraising idea to the committee, which would take the form of a news sheet, with advertising space being offered to businesses in the region of distribution.The meeting accepted this as an excellent idea. In 1975 Steve estimated the cost of the news-sheet at £200 and ‘members were asked to approach business people who could be interested’. Presumably the printing costs were an obstacle, since nothing happened until January 1983 when the first issue of the ‘Ferryhill Half-Wheeler’ appeared as a single typed sheet, with the editorial written by Howard R. Jones and no advertising. Included in this first number were dates for meeting at the new venue in Ferryhill Leisure Centre, names of elected officials for 1983, sponsorships, 1982 prizewinners and a subscription reminder. In 1983, with the 3rd issue, the name had changed to ‘The Half-Wheeler’ and the typed information covered four pages. The Autumn (Issue No.4) and Winter (Issue No.1) 1984 returned to the original title of ‘Ferryhill Half -Wheeler’ with photographs of Tom Easter and Alan Palmer on the front covers. Information had expanded to include Treasure Hunts, Club runs, maps of routes,1983 Club records, 1984 officials, Club trophies, 1983 prizewinners, diary events, members’ activities, information for new members and sponsorship rules for 1984. Sadly the news sheet survived for only two years. In September 2001, however, Howard Jones has produced a newsletter which hopefully, will be a lasting source of information.