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@clubman
I’m sorry to have left this for so long but I’ve been short of the ‘quality time’ needed to do this subject justice. Even now I can only give you a nutshell version.
The Pedal Club
Was founded in 1941. Its objects were (and still are):
To provide a forum for leading members of the sport and pastime so that they could meet and discuss cycling topics. The leading members were considered to be: officials, journalists, members of the trade and ‘competitors of standing’.
To invite prominent non cyclists (e.g. The Minister of Transport) to address the club on topics which come within their sphere of interest.
To promote all forms of cycling to non cyclists.
To further the interests of the sport and pastime in all possible ways.
I believe the club has remained true to the task it set itself at the beginning, and still carries out much valuable work.
In 1941 the list of the founder members names read like a Who’s Who of cycledom (as it was called then), but most of these have slipped into obscurity in the past seventy five years and will probably be unknown to forum users. However some of you will possibly be familiar with G.H. Stancer (GHS 10 Championship?) who was secretary of the CTC, an influential Cycling columnist and a prime mover in the club’s foundation. Another recognisable name is H.H. England, editor of Cycling at that time and up to 1960.
As all longstanding cyclists will tell you, ‘Cycling Weekly’ is a very different animal from the magazine we knew in the past. When almost everyone in the bike game read each issue from cover to cover and both the editor and principal columnist were Pedal Club members, it’s not hard to understand why the Pedal Club was very well known. Today, as we have seen in this thread, the club has a lower profile than it did in the past.
The Golden Book
I hope you have read the VeloUK article referred to in the link above. I’m still surprised that Cycling did not feel it was worth carrying on with the Golden Book; surely putting together the names of the great and the good of cycling can only enhance the status of our game, but I’m not privy to whatever commercial considerations they may have had forty years ago. Just to give you some idea, here are some of the signatories since the Pedal Club took over – the names in the original book would perhaps need quite a lot of historical notes here. Some of these names need no further comment, but I have given a brief explanation where I think it may be helpful.
Chris Boardman
Beryl Burton
Gethin Butler (BBAR Champion)
Ian Cammish ( Multiple TT Champion)
Roy Cromack ( First 24 hour over 500 miles)
Tony Doyle
Alf Engers
Eileen Gray (Leading Official)
Johnnie Helms (Cartoonist – ‘Baz’)
Mandy Jones (Word Road Champion 1982)
Chas Messenger (Long term official and race promoter)
Alex Moulton
Graeme Obree
Dick Poole (End to End recordman)
Ian Steel (Peace Race and Tour of Britain Winner)
Ron Webb (responsible for most of the world’s indoor tracks)
Les West
John Woodburn
Sean Yates
Phil Liggett
Need I say more?