www.ecolocal.org.uk

Memories of cycling andtransport in Sutton

Memories of cycling andtransport in Sutton

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Published by: EcoLocalThe Old School HouseMill laneCarshaltonSurrey, SM5 2JYCopyright (c) 2009 EcoLocalAll rights reserved. No part of the contents of this bookmay be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by anymeans without the written permission of the PublisherThe comments in this book are the views and recollections of the participants and not those of the publisher, who cannot guarantee their factual accuracy.Designed by Simon HoneyPrinted on recycled paper by: Mitcham Junction PressKelham WorksCarshalton GroveSuttonSurrey, SM1 4LY

IntroductionThis book is an outcome of a cycle reminiscenceproject run by EcoLocal through funding from TheBig Lottery Fund and the Safer Sutton Partnership.We worked with young people and older people toexplore issues about cycling and transport. Througha series of reminiscence sessions and workshops,young people interviewed older people about theirmemories of cycling and transport in the past. Allmemories were recorded. A selection has beenincluded in this book as a local resource.. Through the BikeStreet project EcoLocal has delivered over 100 workshops to over 100 youngpeople who interviewed 260 older people. 170young people have gained qualifications in cyclemaintenance through EcoLocal training sessions. Sofar we have also made over 50 restored bicyclesavailable to the community and worked with over 30refugees.To find out more about EcoLocal’s Cycling Services,see page 30.

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ContentsAcknowledgements.........................4My first bike and other bikes..............5Getting around as a child..................8Trips and excursions......................11Cycling to work............................15Cycling as sport............................16Repairing bikes.............................19Buses.........................................20Trams.........................................22Railways and other transport............24Cycling now.................................26Transport now..............................28EcoLocal cycle services .................30Quiz .........................................31

Picture acknowledgements Sutton Local Studies Centre, Mr J Gready, G A Pott, O J Morris Collection, Lens of Sutton, CyclingMagazine, Derek Mason, Lily and Fred Godsell, Clive Oxx, Jack and Margaret Hamilton, S J Woolley,George Shepherd, Ron Penfold, Sutton Cycling Club, Tony Pattison, Gareth Howell.

Front Cover, main image; Derek Mason in cyclingclub 1951, left; Bandon Hill Methodists, centre;Carshalton Girls High School, right; members of theSutton Refugee Network learning to ride.Page 2, top; Carshalton Boys High School at SevenAcres Sheltered Housing Scheme, middle; BandonHill Methodists, bottom; BikeStreet trip to CalshotVelodrome.Page 3, top; Duke of Edinburgh Scheme participantsat Thomas Wall Close Sheltered Housing Scheme,middle; learning to edit video as part of the FusionBike week, bottom; half term cycle maintenancecourse at the Quad Youth Centre.

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AcknowledgementsOur thanks to the following local organisations who have made this reminiscence project possible.All Saints Centre Hackbridge, Bandon Hill Methodist Centre, Carshalton Boys Sports College,Carshalton High School for Girls, Cloverdale Court Day Centre, Cooper Crescent Sheltered HousingScheme, Euroasian group, Glenthorne High School, Granfers Community Centre, Greenshaw HighSchool, Seven Acres Sheltered Housing Scheme, Shearing Drive Sheltered Housing Scheme, SmarterTravel Sutton, South West London Irish Welfare Association, Sutton Museum and Heritage Service Sutton Senior Forum, The Quad Youth Centre (Duke of Edinburgh Scheme), Thomas Wall CommunityCentre, Westcroft Leisure Centre

IntervieweesA A Willmott, A J Bradshaw, Ada, Alan Wenham-Prosser, Alan Jardine, Alfie, Alma Edwards, Amy Wicker, Angela Darlene, AnnHill, Ann Johnson, Ann Murrells, Anne Thornton, Anthea Hare, Anthony Roberts, Audrey Sweeney, Avril Wenbridge, BarbaraWinslet, Barry Redman, Barry Todman, Bernie, Beryl, Betty Besnard, Betty Chivers,Betty Worby, Bill Squirrell, Brenda DombeyC.H Light, Carol Berstead, Carole Blackmore, Catherine green, Christine, Christine Dodge, Christine Fletcher, ChristineWaters, Christine Windsor, Clive Spearman Oxx, Denise Norman, Dennis, Derek, Derek Mason, Derick, Mr Douglas, E.Ogden, Ellen Scanlon, Elsie Woolterton, Frances Tingey-Smith, Francis, Frank Anderson, Fred Godsell, G Lewington, GThwaites, G. Lewington, G. Smith, G.M Butcher, George Rocky, Ken Grundy, H. A. New, H. Jeoffrey, Hazel Gurr, Helen Ellis,Helene Steggals, Maureen Henman, Hilda Reynolds, Ivy Gomulak, J. Merrit, J. Lupton, J. Seaman, Jack Hamilton, JackMorris, Jade Hamilton, Janet M. Hanks, Jean Hall, Jean Orten, Jean Smith, Jean Sutherland, Jean Wicks, Jessie Waldon, Jim.Jim Machlin, Jo, Joe, Joan Bean, Joan Carver, Joan Francis, Joanna Shrimpton, John Burroughs, John, John Clarke,Josephine Halsey, Joyce Greaves, Joyce Miller, Julia Tubbs, K. Chiswell, Kamala Pillay, Keith Marsh, Keith Vaughan, KhudaMalik, L.B. Mosley, Les Johnston, Les Murrells, Lil Jones, Lily Godsell, Lily Miller, Linda Mulvihill, Mr London, Lorna, LynneShirley, M J Bradshaw, M Micklewright, Manuel da Cruz Izmelda, Margaret Alderdice, Margaret Bloomfield, Margaret Hamillon,Margaret Price, Margaret Rietz, Margaret Treasurer, Margaret Worsfold, Marion Southwick, Marjorie Wright, Martin, MartinSteggals, Mary, Maureen Peglar, Miss Adametz, Miss Ann Hardwick, Miss Thelma Jones, Molly, Mr J Seaman, Mr J Seaman,Mr Picco, Mr S J woolley, Mr W J Bartlett, Mr. George Shephard, Mrs A Hope, Mrs B Briggs, Mr and Mrs Bell, Mrs Champion,Mrs Cullip, Mrs E Button, Mrs Emily Skilton, Frances, Mrs Frenzel, Mrs Ines Wiggins, Mrs Jean Benson, Mrs Jennifer Catley,Mrs K Chiswell, Mrs L J Loughran, Mrs Lewington, Mrs M Wake, Mrs M. Moollen, Mrs M.A. Cavell, Mrs Mary Wake, MrsMewett, Mrs Patience, Mrs Rushton, Mrs Rosemary Brown, Mrs S. Reeves, Mrs Shirley Quemby, Mrs Sqirrell, Mrs Tingey-Smith, Mrs Y Herrow, Mrs. Bertrand, Mrs. M. Rice, Ms L A Newble, Ms. L.M.Lorry, Olive Baxendale, Oscar Van Spall, P PEdwards, Pam Lee, Pamela Miles, Pat Armitage, Patricia Maynard, Paul, Pauline, Pauline, Pauline Lake, Peggy, PeterHolmes, Peter Walker, Patricia Philpott, PK Maynard, Poague William, R. Harvey, Ram, Richard Wilkins, Robert Mann, RonKneep, Ron Penfold, Ron Phillips, Rosalind Kinght, Rose, Roy Buchanan, Ruby Thacker, Sally Pike, Sheila Abbott, StanHagan, Stephen, Steve Noblett, Steve Wright, Sue, Sylvia Collyer, Tatlin, Tony Winslet, Valerie Large, Vera Colburn, VeraSimpson, W. Rochford.

InterviewersAbigail Bowen, Albi Nela, Alex Dawson, Alex Day, Alex Smithers, Alexander Dennehy, Ali Mirhashem, Alice Bothamley, AllanLee, Amy Bailey, Amy Rumbold, Andrew Bragg, Andrew Lewis, Andrew Stears, Ashley Measures, Ben Harvey, Ben Hersey,Ben Storey, Berivan Naz, Billy Crabb, Bobbie Murray, Bradley Wright, Brooke Tidman, Caroline Danielle Sturgess, CarolineJackson, Charlie Cooper, Charlie Luigi, Charlie Roberts, Chris Baker, Chris Manning, Christina Sturgess, Christopher Amor,Daniel Cassar, Daniel James, Daniel Moore, Daniel Morris, Darien Moore, Daryl webster, David Nodine, Dean Belton, EdwardVitoria, Emily Cheeseman, Emily Guest, Emily Wymer, Emma Eaton, Emma Marriott, Erdal Goksal, Faisal Riasat, Francis DeLima, Gabrielle Roachford, Gary Sharpes, George May, George Monahan, Graeme Reader, Guy Mannion, Ishtar Ali, JaahidAhmad, James Dye, James Hobbs, James Williams, Jamie Hall, Jason Dunbar, Jemma, Jessica Line, Jessica Pattenden, JoeDillon, Joe Matthews, John Sullivan, Jordan, Joseph Hooper, Josh Clinkscales, Joshua Purcell, Justin Phimister,Kay-leighSmith, Kyle Palmer, Laurence Basusi, Lewis Barnard, Lewis Thompson, Lisa Rowen, Louis Macklin, Luke Fuller, Luke Tingley,Marcus Eales, Mark Jolly, Marriott Harris, Michael Alloway, Michael Lyons, Michael Walker, Michelle Little, Mitchell Lomath,Mitchell Potter, Nathan Ball, Nico Yanwekaze, Nigel Raven, Patrick Crosthwaite, Reece Bowers, Reece Colvin, RichardMootien, Ross Taylor, Ryan Cross, Ryan Daly, Ryan Fordham. Ryan Worby, Sam Heard, Sam Millory, Sarah Dunne,Savannah Gilfoyle, Serena Collins, Shaquille Plunkett, Shawny Mae O'Donoghue, Siobhan Drewett, Stacey Noble, StephenWalker, Stuart Watson, Syed Ali-Shah, Timothy Eales, Tom Hill, William Humphreys, William Scanlon, Yassin Yassin

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"I inherited mine from my sister. I think it was a Raleigh. It didn't have any gears or anything. When I didbuy a new one it was about £18. £18 was quite a lot of money in those days." Ann Murrells"It was an old Rudge and my father had it for work. He used to cycle every day over to London. When hepassed away I inherited his bike. It was as heavy as a tank. My bikes were all second-hand but the most expensive one was a Claud Butler. The most expensiveone at the time cost about £25 to £30." Les Murrells"It was a tricycle. They were mostly black in those days.I've had three or four racing bikes. There were fixedwheel bikes but there's not many fixed wheel bikes now."

Bill Squirrell"It was 1952. It was very difficult to get new bicycles thenso it was all hand painted black all over, everythingexcept the tyres. I think that one my father bought menew when I was 14 cost just under £20. £19 19s 6d orsomething like that." John Clarke"My very first bicycle was given to me by a lady that owned a shop. It was a little three wheel pedal cycle.The second bicycle, my mother bought it. She took me down to Tooting Junction market and a man hada red girl’s bike, a Raleigh bike, and she bought this bicycle, I thought, for me but when we got home Ihad to share it with my sister. It was the start of the war and my sister got evacuated to Bath in Somerset.My Aunt down there phoned my mother up and said: 'I understand Pearl's got a bicycle at home, can shehave it sent down?' and I was a little bit annoyed because it was bought for me. We took the bicycle overto St Helier station, put it on the train, and it went all the way to Bath. Well about a year later, the Germansbombed Bath, they bombed all the cathedral cities. And their house was smashed to the ground and thebicycle got smashed to the ground and I was very upset. They told me that, after the war, they would claimthe money for the bicycle. But, to this day, I never saw any money for that bicycle." Derek Mason"I saw an advertisement in the Croydon Advertiser and we went on the trolley bus to Norwood. Then Iscooted it home because I was too scared to ride it." Olive Baxendale "My sisters both had tandems. I went on one once but I didn't want to be on the back, I wanted to be infront. You had to be co-ordinated. You couldn't be going one way whilst they were going another. I wentas far as the river Thames. That was enough for me. My dad had a bike. The old fashioned ones withthe big lamps, with the wick. A green light on one side and the red one on the other. That was my job ona Friday night, to clean my dad's lights. I'd have to put it on the kitchen table and get the newspaper outand take all the bits out and clean them, and polish all the inside out. I hated it. Then we had to put it all

back together again and we used to light the wick tomake sure it was burning at the right level and thatwould last from one Friday to the next Friday."

Lil Jones"We were so poor because my father had left us manyyears ago. My first bike was standing in the gutter outside an old shop, so I went inside and asked theshopkeeper if I could buy the bike and he said: ‘It's aladie’s bike, it’s the one I use,’ but he said: ‘Oh all right.’I can't remember how much it was but it was lovely"

Margaret Bloomfield

My first bike and other bikes

Fred Godsell of Carshalton on his tandem

Lily Godsell of Carshalton

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"It was second hand and my mum beautifully painted it blackfor me but it was pretty basic. I passed my 11+ and then Igot a Triumph. It was a very smart one. It was blue with 3gears and a saddlebag." Jennifer Catley"I had my first bike when I was nearly 14. It was a BBASports and it cost £5 7d 6p. It had two brakes and a LucasChalice bell. The other bike I had was a GA - Golden Arrowand it was a handbuilt bicycle. Before the war there werelots of small bicycle manufacturers." George Shephard"My first bike was second hand. Drop handlebars. I thoughtI was the bee’s knees. I used to cycle all round London. I'dmeet my friends at Hyde Park Corner." Christine Dodge"My first bike cost £16 and it was brand new. I think it was aDawes bicycle. I was probably about 16. I was very proudof it because I was encouraged to save up for it myself. Ithink it was black, white and yellow. I cycled around duringthe war on tricycles." Margaret Hamilton"My first bike was a 3 wheeler. I've had about 15 bikes altogether. A Hobsey Barbican, which I've still got and hadwhen I went in the air force when I was 18.” Jack Hamilton"I was about 4 or 5 years old when I was presented with a tricycle. From that I went to a two wheeled cycle which my sister taught me to ride when I was about 6. My first full sizelightweight bike, just a frame, hand built, cost about £35 in1946. Then we used to build up the bikes ourselves. Wewould buy all the components separately: the wheels, chain

ring, brakes, etc, and, being an engineer, it was interesting putting it together. A complete lightweight bikein those days could run into hundreds of pounds. Nowadays though it would cost you a few thousand tobuy a lightweight bike because they're made out of titanium or carbon fibre."Keith Vaughan"I had a little tricycle when I was small. I always had a bike since I was a little girl, whether it be a trike,fairy cycle or a 2 wheeler. My favourite was a Raleigh Sports bike which I got when I was 14. I went toschool on it. I went everywhere on it, the cinema, to meet friends and then, when I started work, I rodeto work on it." Lynne Shirley"The first bike I remember was a black Raleigh and that got stolen. I used to go to Croydon Polytechnicand I put it in the bike store there. I came out one day and it was gone. So I had to buy another bike. Itwas £21 which is nothing now but was a lot of money then. In those days when you were earning about£1.50 a week that was a lot of money. It broke my heart having to buy a new one. The police got it backeventually but by that time I'd got a new one so I sold it and got £4 for it." Peter Edwards"The first bike that I rode belonged to my older sister. That was in 1949 when I was 7. I decided that I would try and ride it but I couldn't balance it up until then. Suddenly I found that I could balance it and that was it, I've never looked back. I've cycled ever since." Roy Buchanan"I used to have a tandem. My first bike didn't cost anything. We got a frame and found the wheels andbuilt it ourselves. One of the bikes had a back pedal brake." Peter Walker

Clive Oxx riding his first tricycle

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"My first bicycle was a little red tricycle which Irecall pedalling around the 'roadway' bordering the thirties geometric design of theshining linoleum in our front room. At the start ofthe second World War I was given a smart royalblue Triang Tricycle. It may have been one of thelast manufactured before factories switched towartime production. In my mind the tricyclebecame a delivery van taking food to the hutchesin which my grandfather kept his many rabbits, oran army vehicle carrying me with my homemaderifle and tin hat to an imaginary battlefield at thebottom of the long garden. My first new bike wasbought by my parents for me to ride to my new school in Ewell. I proudly chose it at the Burgon’s shopnext to the Granada Cinema in North Cheam. It was on display in the cycles section next to the Electricaland Radios. The red and gold lining on glossy black enamel looked very smart and it had a SturmeyArcher AW Hub Gear of 3 speeds with Roller Lever Rod operated Brakes and wheels with WestwoodRims. It was a 'roadster' bicycle, made by Hercules, one of the popular mass produced makes of the post-war period including Raleigh, BSA, Phillips, Norman, Wearwell, etc. We looked at bikes longingly inthe many independent cycle shops which opened up. When the shopkeeper was not looking we took hismanufacturer's catalogues to pore over, to read and re-read the specifications for the models. The coloursof their frames were no longer the universal black! The Lenton Green of the Raleigh Lenton Clubmancould be the reason for the popularity of a model. Later we were able to actually see and touch thesenew bicycles at the annual Cycle Show held at Earls Court. After the drabness of the war years, the brightlighting, the sight of the colour and glittering chrome as we entered the exhibition hall, and so many bicycles, just stunned us." Clive Oxx“We rode through the frame. If you weren’t big enough to get on the bike you had one foot on the pedaland one through the frame. We were all experts at it because very few had bikes. We had an old couple that used to rent them out for sixpence a day. A penny then was a lot of money so six of us usedto club together and have it for a day and take it in turns. We raided scrap yards and got bits of old bikesand gradually assembled our own, proudly making up one that worked. It might have been a bit awkwardand might have been a bit cranky but it worked.” Stan Hagan"I rode a trike before I got a bike. It was blue with an open frame and only had 1 gear. Everyone up ourroad rode it too, but it was mine. I've had 9 bikes and have still got 5 of them as I'm a club cyclist. I enjoyedmy first Holdsworth which was the first bike I had handmade for me and I used to race 20, 30, 50 and 100mile races on it. It was the best bike I ever had." Hilda Reynolds“I had this bike specially made and it was very expensive, it cost me £6 10s, a bare frame and bare forks,

no finish or nothing. It had to go to the finishing shop andI had it black with white lined tubes and chrome ends. Butthat used to do me at work as well. I used to take it to work,carry bundles, a barrel and everything.” S J Woolley“Where we lived in Kennington, there was a chap who hadbikes and for fivepence you could have an hour bike ride.But we couldn’t afford bikes.” Lily Godsell“It was an old bike. I remember it because it was astraight handlebar, fairly heavy bike, whereas all myfriends had racing bikes. I used to cycle from Kingston Hillto New Malden and it was a pain in the neck because ithad Sturmy Archer gears.” Derek Mason

Mr R C Warner’s tandem included a child’ssidecar and eventually a 98cc Villiers two-strokeengine. The bike was featured in the November4th edition of The Motor Cycle in 1937.

More than 50 per centof car journeys in

outer London are under2km, a distance that

can easily be walked orcycled (Source: Transport For London)

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"We used to walk and cycle because there were veryfew cars. We just used to put on our shoes and‘away we go’." Lil Jones"The furthest I cycled was probably to school andback. From Blakes Hill in New Malden to KingstonHill. I had to cross the private road and across thetram lanes. Of course in those days there wasn't anunderpass so I had to cross the roundabout whichwasn't fun in those days. My brother cycled a lotmore than me. He was 15 years older than me andhe used to cycle down to Devon and up to London."

Derek Mason"We used to walk everywhere. I had to go toMalmesbury Road School at first as Tweedale wasn'tthere. Then I went to Green Wrythe Lane School,which was called number 9. All the schools had numbers then. Then I went to school no 10, whichwas Tweedale Road, then at 11 years old I went toWinchcombe Road, which is now Carshalton Boys.They were all in walking distance though we thoughtnothing of walking down to the Wandle or to theDowns or Croydon Airport. We'd go up to MollinsonDrive and watch the planes. If you were half sensible in those days, you were considered grownup at about 7 so you could go where you liked. Weused to walk to Epsom on Derby Day. We'd leavehome in the morning and stop in Belmont to havesomething to eat and some lemonade and then we'dcarry onto Epsom, stay for the day and then walkhome. The mums would have the babies in theirprams and some of the kids had scooters. Most of theboys had bikes or skates. My mum said it was unladylike but an uncle bought me some skates so shecouldn't say no. I used to go shopping in them. I put a bag on my back to hold the shopping and wouldskate off. Occasionally a boy would take me on his cycle bar but my mum didn't know that. Bikes usedto have a little bit on the back that you could sit on. You had to be careful you didn't fall off though andyou couldn't be too heavy." Elsie Woolterton"It was during the war and when I came back you could go to the end of the road and look left and rightand rarely see one car. So it was pretty good" Margaret Bloomfield"I used to live in Milton Road and go to Chatsworth Road school, which was for girls only. I used to cycleto school down the cycle path down St Dunstans Hill. I was born down Milton Road and I used to go therec. a lot. We'd walk everywhere and I used to take my two younger sisters up to Belmont Downs to eatour picnic and then walk all the way home again. Public transport was dreadful. We used to have onebus to Morden. We walked everywhere, though we could get the 213 to Kingston." Mrs M Rice"After the war not many people had cars. Maybe a bank manager would, but not many others. Of course,if you had a car, you needed petrol too and that was money. My mum would give me a list and I'd go andget her shopping or she'd meet me there, do all her shopping and then she would walk back and I'd ride

Getting around as a child

Clive Oxx at home as a child, bicycle never far awayready to transport him to his imaginary battlefield..

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back with her shopping on the bike so she wouldn'thave to carry it. " John Burroughs"As a youngster I mostly rode my bike or walked andoccasionally took the bus. It was never a problem asthere was very little traffic." Steve Noblett"I quite enjoyed cycling but it was mainly to get me toand from school or wherever I was going. As a teenager I would have biked or bussed but by that timewe had a family car so I would have got lifts too."

Jennifer Catley"I used to go to school on the bus. I would walk to theshops and cycle to friends. I used all of them reallyexcept for probably the trains. We'd have a special tripin the car at weekends. I mostly used my bike as ateenager or walked." Margaret Hamilton"As a child I would cycle and walk. As a teenager, similar and again as a young adult, plus buses. NowI use my car, buses, trains. I use my bike for exercisenot for transport." Peter Edwards"It was easy to get around because there was so littletraffic. You did have to be very careful when you cycledas you could get stuck in the tram tracks. I used toroller skate too in the main road. It was quite safe."

Brenda Dombey"In the war petrol was rationed and you couldn't buy

any unless you had a special permit. They were only for vets and doctors and grocery deliveries.Everyone who went to work had to go by bus or train. Small kids had to walk to school. No-one drove.The streets were very empty so we could play in the roads because there weren't any cars to run us over.We had no film for cameras either. It was all given to the services and that's why there are so few photos of those years and the traffic to show how little traffic there was." Thelma Jones"My mother had grown up in a family accustomed towalking and cycling, as most had during the earlypart of the 20th century, so we as children were todo a lot of walking and cycling. As we lived at thetop of a steep hill in Worcester Park our mother hadto do a lot of pushing when we walked. She had topush the large 'Victorian perambulator' to carry thetwin babies, plus, she had to push a small boylearning to ride a bicycle. In later years she had theburden of helping her disabled husband to getabout. The family walked considerable distances onmany journeys. I recall walks to visit the clinics atNorth Cheam and Ewell Court House and Tolworth,to lunches at the 'British Restaurant' in Maldenwhen coupons in our Ration Books were low, to goto Nonsuch Park to collect wood for fires when winter coal stocks were low. I grew strong enough

Derek Mason in Carshalton

The average cost perannum of owning a

car is around £2,750.Walking is free andthe average yearlyrunning cost of a

commuting bike is lessthan £100!

(Source: The Automobile Association)

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on my tricycle to be able to cycle 17 miles, accompanied by mygrandmother, from Addlestone back to my home to see my par-ents in Worcester Park. This was a good all day ride for a sevenyear old. I can still visualise our route along the new by-pass roadwhere I remember stopping at Hinchley Wood and seeing bridgesunder construction on the major new A3 road at Tolworth."

Clive Oxx"I had a tricycle when I was 3. They used to be quite common inthose days. There were no cars then so the road was our playground. I know my parents weren't very rich so they had to save up for a long time to get my bike forme. I used to cycle all over the place. I'd go up to Wimbledon Common with my friends all day. One dayI was playing and I forgot and left my bike at Canonhill Common. When I got home, my mum asked wheremy bike was and I had to rush back and get it. It was 4 miles away but it was still there." Jack Hamilton"We used to walk into Croydon when we lived in Beddington. There wasn't the transport then. When I was12 and I moved into Wallington there wasn't a car in our road " Ruby Thacker“The A217 was one of the first roads to have cycle paths. It was there before the war because Sutton wasone of the first places to have by-passes.” Stan Hagan“You could go out and you could ride two abreast no problem. The only time I ever had an accident waswith the social section of the Carlton Road Club when we were going down to Guildford. The lights started to change and half of them decided to carry on and half of them decided to stop and I’m confrontedwith all these bikes piling up and I think I did half of Guildford High Street on my side. I had a scar on myside for years. I thought if that’s the social section I’ll stick to the hard riders.” Ron Penfold"I didn't cycle because it was only a short distance to walk. In those days they didn't really encourage youto ride a bike to school." Mrs Squirrell"I lived quite a long way from school. I had to get a bus ride and then a train ride. In 1958 there was abus strike and I couldn't get to the station to catch the train so I was allowed to ride to the station andleave my bike there. It costs about a shilling a day to leave your bicycle at the station. It was under lockand key. It was about a month I think, while the buses were on strike." John Clarke"I went onto St Michaels Girl’s School in Croydon. Where we lived it was either a bus ride or a bike ride.It was quite a walk so we had to get used to going on the bike. We used to have to take our berets offunless you had a piece of elastic so they didn't blow off. We used to have straw hats in the summer. Andyou had to be properly dressed, always proper uniform. We used to go home midday and dinner wouldalways be ready. We'd come home for lunch and it would always be ready and then we'd go back toschool for the afternoon. We needed the bike." Olive Baxendale"I used my bike to go to school. Lots of boys went to school on their bikes in those days. We would leavethem in the basement and it used to be hard to get them out because there were so many bikes downthere, they'd all get tangled up." George Shephard“We didn’t have bicycles to go to school on. We used to walk from Kennington to the Elephant and Castle.There was a destitute men’s home in this little park we used to pass and nobody ever took any notice.”

Lily Godsell"My second bike needed repairs. I was travelling down a very steep hill and a lorry was coming up onthe wrong side so I switched to the wrong side. He suddenly decided to switch to the right side and I hadto swerve and ended up going through a fence. Fortunately, I didn't suffer any damage, except for a sorebottom, but my bike wheels were damaged beyond repair." Keith Marsh

Over 33% of kidswould like to

cycle to schoolbut only 2% do. (source Transport For London)

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"We used to go on cycling holidays and tried staying inyouth hostels. I went to Devon one year and anotheryear the Isle of Wight. I’d do twenty miles each day andthen stay in a youth hostel." Ann Murrells"I did go youth hostelling and cycling when I was 16 witha friend, we rode around Sussex and Hampshire. Myfather mapped out a route and we stayed at a couple ofyouth hostels. My dad belonged to cycling clubs in the20's and 30's and he was a very keen cyclist and heused to take a group down to the coast every Sundayand they used to ride down there." Mrs Cavell"We cycled to the coast, in those days there weren't carslike nowadays so it was much easier to cycle. I was inthe Cyclist union so it would be Brighton and back again in a day and places like Hastings. It used to bea big club, we'd go with a group of people. It used to cycle round together. You used to have a senior cyclist at the front and a senior cyclist at the back and we all stayed in the middle. " Mr Seaman"I cycled about 12 miles but it wasn't my legs that gave way, it was my undercarriage. I had a sore bottom." June Lupton"I met my husband at a cycling club, the Sutton and Cheam YHA. We've had lots of cycling holidays. Weused to cycle to a youth hostel near Polesdon Lacey. Its got a log fire and toilets in the grounds. We'd

buy a turkey and cycle back on Christmas morning. I'vecycled to Bournemouth and places like that but we stopped at Winchester for an overnight to break the journey. Our children didn't have the opportunities we did.We used to cycle down country lanes and stay out late inthe evening because there was very little traffic. Life's notquite as relaxing now.“ Margaret Hamilton"When I was young I belonged to Sutton and Cheam YHAgroup and went cycling every weekend about 100-150miles. Once I went with a friend to Wales and back in aweekend. In those days cycling was a pleasure. Youcould cycle along country lanes without any worries abouttraffic. Now traffic is so fast. I used to have a tandem.When I met my wife we belonged to the Youth HostellingAssociation. In those days you weren't allowed to drive tothe hostels. You had to walk, or cycle or canoe to getthere. In about 1953 we used to go out nearly every weekend. One of our favourite places was a youth hostelat Tanners Hatch near Polesdon Lacey. We used to goout on a Saturday and stay at a hostel over night and thencycle back on a Sunday. We cycled all over the place. Atweekends we'd regularly cycle 200 miles. We'd thinknothing of going to Brighton and back in a day. Or we'dcycle to a hostel in Winchester for the night."

Jack Hamilton

Trips and excursions

Lily and Fred Godsell on the road with their tandem

Clive Oxx pictured in Worcester Park

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“We used to fly to Majorca, about 100 of us, and would take our bikeswith us. You can pack your bikes up by taking the wheels off, clamping them to the frame and putting them in a bike bag. Now wehire bikes out there." Keith Vaughan"No-one used to have a car and we couldn't afford buses so we usedto cycle everywhere. When I was stationed down in Plymouth we’d goall over South Devon. We used to put some miles in. Then I was ina group, not a club, and we used to cycle down to Brighton and backbut if anyone had a puncture someone would stay with them and helpthem repair. Then we'd all meet up in a café and have a cup of tea sothere was never anyone left behind. We had some good fun."

Peter Walker"We decided to cycle to Brighton once and I got as far as Crawleybefore the front tyre went bang. I had to get into the cycle shop. I hadno money with me and the man repaired it free of charge and then Ihad to come straight home." Mr Bradshaw“At school an enterprising pupil had followed the guidance from theeditor of the Newnes Practical Mechanics Magazines on 'How to setup your own cycling Club', so he had started to hold meetings of theEwell Cycling Club in his garage which I attended. Sixty years laterPeter Mitchell and I continue to be inveterate club cyclists today.

Clubs were opening up in all areas of the country. They provided many, living in the grey, bombed townswith entry into an exciting new world of exercise and social activity with access to rambles and cycle ridesin the green countryside. For many it was to dominate their lives. Their incomes were small so they hitch-hiked or cycled to new regions, towns and villages at weekends or on holiday. Many of us used thebicycle to commute to work on weekday and Saturday mornings andat the weekend they were back onearly Sunday morning for an all dayride. They often travelled along theroads in large groups numbering up toforty. This was before hazards of themotor car so they chatted happily, riding two abreast carrying a Sundaylunch or picnic in their saddlebag by Midland, or the strong saddle bagmade locally in Epsom from printingplates and branded the 'Chossy' bag.We were proud to be known as CycleClubmen, or Club women. We cycledthroughout the year and the keenestamassed high mileages of 10,000miles or so each year. Our Club 'Runs'or Rides would frequently exceed 100miles per day, sometimes incorporating competitions such asMap Reading Contests, Free WheelingContests or challenges such as the'One Hundred Miles in 7 or 8 hours'.The exercise gave us voraciousappetites so food was an important

Jack Hamilton’s YHA cardsstamped with the names of thehostels visited.

Jack and Margaret Hamilton with their tandem

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feature during our rides. Anetwork of special cyclists’ tearooms opened in the countryside to cater forsnacks, drinks and meals.Unlike the old establishedcountry pubs, Tea Rooms or'Caffs' were often to be foundin wooden buildings which didnot bear a name but were wellknown to the cycling fraternitywho flocked to such places as'The Forge' at Headley or 'TheRio' at Ripley. At these venueshungry cyclists were servedthick slices of bread and butterand jam and homemadecakes such as the 'TrafficLights Biscuit' and Fruit Cake,piled high, with endless refills

from giant teapots to satisfy appetites and thirst at elevenses, lunch and afternoon tea. Special Interestsections were popular for enthusiasts with an interest in photography, cycle camping, natural history.These were combined with cycle tours. So I joined the CTC, the National Cyclists' Touring Club whichoffered many sections catering for cyclists with different interests and capabilities. I became a member ofthe Cheam and Morden Section of the S.W. London District of the CTC and cycled with sections withdescriptive titles such as the Wanderers and the Wayfarers. These cycling clubs offered a full programmeof rides, social activities such as weekly club evenings, annual dances, competitions, and a club magazine titled the Sou'Wester which is still current. Contacts made whilst enjoying these activities couldoften lead to marriage.” Clive Oxx“When we got together we got this Tandem which was £4.99 from Gross Brothers. We used to travel toBrighton. My brother was evacuated to Brighton so we used to cycle there and back to see him. We usedto cycle to Ipswich in Suffolk, we’d cycle there and back. Sowe did a lot of cycling because it was the only way to getabout really. And we used to cycle to Esher was a wood andthere were beautiful blackberries and bluebells in the season and we used to just go down and pick them. Theywere little pleasures but they suited us. We used to go withthe tandem to Burgh heath where there was a cafe and weused to sit there and have tea outside. We used to cyclealong and we used to pass some cars. These days youwouldn’t get near a car. Then if we were going downhill Iused to put my feet on the bar and my husband used to seemy shadow and he’d say: ‘you’re not cycling!’. We used togo up to King George V park in Wandsworth, go swimmingin the open pool, came back and have our breakfast and goout and meet the club at Burgh Heath. We had couderoytrousers and in the winter we had argyll socks and a cour-deroy jacket.” Lily Godsell“We used to cycle right out to Epping forest and there wasa little shack that sold teas and cakes. I used to cycle 30miles, 15 miles there and 15 miles back for my piece ofcake and a mug of tea. Other times we’d go out to

A Club outing, Sutton resident.S J Woolley pictured third from the left on theback row.

George Shepherd on a day out

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Southend. In the summer we used to wearshorts, socks and cycling shoes and in the winter we went to plus fours to keep your legswarm, otherwise in the summer we had anAlpaca jacket and corderoy shorts. We had saddle bags for sandwiches and a bottle ofwater and off you went. The main problem wasdodging the horse and carts, pre war. Thehorse would leave its remains in the road andyou got splattered from the bloke in front of youif you didn’t see it.” Stan Hagan“I used to organise about four of us to go youthhostelling for a fortnight. Invariably it was down Hampshire, Devon, Cornwall and so forth. Oneyear one of the lads took over and said: ‘Don’tworry I’ll do it this year’, well you’d havethought we were in the Tour de France, wewere doing 100 miles a day. We’d entered fora trial at the end of the fortnight, 100 miles inseven hours. Well, we were that fit we did it insix. It was good fun, especially if you had thefeeding bottles full of cider. I’ve done tandem,that was a laugh. I had a friend whose girlfriendwas up at Clacton so, brainy fellow that he is,he said: ‘How about going up to Clacton?’ Isaid: ‘Not solo’ so we hired a bike from ErnieChambers of Mitcham. Ernie Chambers, in hisyouth, was a very good cyclist and he took uprepairing bikes, selling bikes and so forth.Anyway, we borrowed this bike on a Sundayand we put our own wheels on it, racingwheels, and we went up to Clacton. Well wewere motoring at about 30mph and it wasalright until we got to the Mile End road whichwas all cobbles and he was steering so I justwent to sleep on it. So he saw his girlfriend and made his day, made my day I was really jiggered. I said‘don’t come up with any more bright ideas like that’. Youth Hostelling was a very cheap way of having aholiday. I think it was about 30p to join and you booked up your hostels all the way round. If you wanteda sheet that was extra, you had to pay about 6p or something like that. We used to take our own sheetand fold it all up. The ruling was, you had to get to the hostel by your own steam. Nowadays they usecars and everything. We’ve stayed in some wonderful places. And you had to dig in of a night.”

Ron Penfold“One of the chaps in the club had a tandem and he said would you like to go to Bath after work Saturday?Well we got as far as Marlborough on the Saturday evening and there was a big fair in the main road. Weboth got well sloshed. I ended up sleeping in the bath upstairs in a pub and I don’t know where he finished. Anyway, the following day, we carried on through Castle Coombe, and all that way, and then wecame to this view and you could see the river Severn running through looking into Wales. And he put hisbrakes on and, bang, the cable went on the brakes. Well we went down this hill at about 90 mph and atthe bottom we got to the second hairpin bend and being a fixed wheel tandem, as we leaned over sideways it shot us into this field. An old woman came out and made us a cup of tea and I borrowed herold Hercules bike and cycled back to London but he had to go by train, and he went back the followingweek to pick it up. That was quite an expedition that was. So we never did see Bath.” S J Woolley

Novelty bike advertisiing W J Robins cycle shop - in theSutton Carnival

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"I was a lollipop lady at Bandon Hill so I used to get thereon my bike. We came here in 1961 and I started on thecrossing in 1962 and I used to cycle there and leave it onthe verge. I remember once there'd been a snowstormand when I went to get my bike, it had been mangledsomething awful. Something must have ridden over it. Ithink it was a van. I couldn't go because the wheel was allgone. One of the policemen from the local station saidhave you got trouble, so I showed him. I said I never sawwho did it and he said get in, so I got in the black mariahand he gave me a lift home. See I was affiliated to thepolice being a lollipop lady." Olive Baxendale "I used to cycle to Farnborough to go to work and that wassix miles." Ann Murrells"I started work about 14. I used to use a bike they used tocall a Daisy bike because of the wheels" Pat Maynord"I lived in Kennington and I used to cycle to the other sideof Tulse Hill. I used to work for Tannoy Products at WestNorwood for about two years. Then I got another job nearthe Clerkenwell Road. I used to cycle over BlackfriarsBridge. In those days there were trams and to go over thebridge and along the Embankment they would cross fromthe middle of the road to the edge of the pavement andone had to cross the tram tracks at an angle so that one'swheels didn't skid or go down the slot and get stuck. Inthose days lots of people went to work by bike and Iremember coming off my bike the other side of Blackfriars Bridge. They used to have asphalt and it wasvery slippery in the rain. There were lots of men going to work and one of them skidded and someoneelse went into him and there was about five of us in a heap on the road. I think I tore my trousers."

George Shephard“I used to travel from Brixton to St James’s Park station. There were trams about and everything. Caughtmy bike in the tram lines once. Didn’t come off it luckily.” Lily Godsell"When I was a teenager, I was a trainee engineer and at five o'clock when the factory hooter went, theroad would be packed with bikes. Now that doesn't happen. In my day nearly everybody came by bike.Even bosses and directors cycled to work." Roy Buchanan“I started work at 14 as a telegraph boy and I used to cycle up to work and cycle back again. We used tohave to parade every morning to be inspected. One day I had a Sunday duty and I couldn’t get rid of it toanyone and I had a time trial in the morning. So I’ve already done a 25 mile time trial and cycled fromCrawley and I’m nodding off. The guy in charge of the messenger boys, he thinks I’ve been out on asoiree, ‘You want to get to bed early son if you do these duties.’“ Ron Penfold“I started work at the west end, I lived in Shoredich at the time, and I bought a Hercules cycle. I was on8s 6d for a five and a half day week which was the equivalent of 45p so it wasn’t much money. 2s 6dwhich I gave to my mother, 2s 6d to pay for the bike and the other 2s 6d was all mine. I used to get themoney from the fares that we used to get from the shop to the job.” S J Woolley

Cycling to work

Ron Penfold rode a Post Office bicycle to deliver telegrams - emails delivered by hand.

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"The cycle speedway bike you hadto make up yourself from parts.You weren't allowed brakes, lights, mudguards or gears. Only onegear was allowed. After the wareveryone was hungry for sport andspeedway caught on. They builttracks on old sites that had beendemolished or bombed by theGermans. Some kids were luckyenough to get a bike for Christmasbut I certainly never did. I neverhad a new bike. As time went onsomeone brought out a specialspeedway bike and so many kidswere doing it. The best teamaround were the Tolworth Tudors.They were a very good team. I didit for 2 or 3 years and then went towork." John Burroughs"I used to race so I had 3 or 4 bicycles. I had bicycles with

mudguards for riding in the winter with the club and, when we were racing, we didn't have mud guards.For grass track racing we'd have a similar bike and would have different tyres. The bikes you ride on thetrack have a fixed wheel but they don't have brakes. On the grass tracks we rode under the same rulesas on normal hard surface tracks. You have a few punctures on the road but the tyres nowadays haveKevlar built into them which makes them more puncture resistant. I used to do time trials where you wouldrace for 12 hours and see how far you could go. I did 235 miles in a 12 hour race and we won the SussexTeam Championship one year and I got some nice medals." Keith Vaughan"We didn't use to have any brakes. We did cycle speedway then and you weren't allowed to have brakeson the track so we just used to go out and when we needed to stop, we'd put our foot on the ground andhoped we stopped in time. We made our bikes from scrap. Anything we found we made a bike out of. Idid cycle speedway and dirt track riding. Oneof our tricks would be to cycle throughNonsuch Park at night. The first one of uswould have a torch and the rest of us wouldhave to try and keep up." Mr Bradshaw"I used a bike for touring and racing. I changedfrom a 3 speed to a 6 speed when it was veryunusual and because of that I managed to beatthe club cyclist by 5 minutes in a 100 mile race.It cost me 66 guineas." Hilda Reynolds"Many of the stronger riders joined a racingClub to compete in time trials on the roads orracing on Tracks such as the Herne Hill track,or they 'thrashed' themselves inside the clubroom racing on stationary rollers

Cycling as sport

At the end of a race - S J Woolley in the middle

Clive Oxx on a time trial

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connected to a giant clock with hands whichrotated to compare the m.p.h. of the competitors. My racing club was the KingstonPhoenix Road Club, a club which continues tobe successful today. Members in the goldenage of cycling in the fifties were often remarkably fit. A racing cyclist could often rideout on Friday evening or on Saturday morningto stay at Bed and Breakfast accommodation,or even camp in a barn or in the open underthe stars, in order to get up at say 5am on aSunday morning, enter a time trial of 50 milesand then cycle back Sunday afternoon, toreturn home tired but content at 6 pm havingcompleted say 250 miles of cycling in the 2 or3 days." Clive Oxx“We occasionally used to race around theroads in Hyde Park.” Fred Godsell“My father took pity on me and bought me abike from Dan Jenner for the princely sum of£21 when my wages then were £2 per week.The bike was the best gear that you could get,the war was still on. The metal part of it waswhat they called 531 tubing, which was a lighttubing. The saddle was Brooks B17 which

was a very swish saddle. I had 27” wheels and the rear end was what they called a track release. Youcould have it open ended at the end with adjusters on it. The reason for this is because I eventually dida lot of track work as well as road work. It was fabulous really because he measured you up like havinga suit, Colliers Wood it came from. So having got this bike I’m Jack the lad then and I join the CarltonRoad Club which was at Hill House, we used to go out training and the training was Kingston Road to theScilly Isles and back, that was the long distance job on a Tuesday. On a Thursday we used to go up toHerne Hill and we used to do speed work at Herne Hill. Sunday was invariably a time trial. There weretwo courses down here. One at Crawley and one at Kempton Park and you had to be there invariably at7 o’clock in the morning. You had to have a bell which made an audible sound, one brake, you could havetwo if you liked but at least one brake, and you had to be inconspicuous in your dress. You had to wearblack tights and a black Alpaca lightweight jacket with your club colours on, our’s were yellow and black.My fastest time was one hour four for a 25. The funniest thing I ever saw in a race, a mass start race atCrystal Palace, they were all bunched up going along with their umpteen gears and someone just leanedover and put the cyclist next to him in a lower gear and went off. I thought, that’s clever, I’d never thoughtof that. Mind you, I think he got a bad namefor himself. Time trials were at their peak inthe summer, in the winter we used to do hillclimbs. There was a group of people and theyall wanted mass start on English roads, calledthe British League of Racing Cyclists. Nowtheir first big run was to come from Brightonto London, we knew that it was going to takeplace so we said we’d go down and watch.We stood at the end and when they’d all goneoff there were a couple of stragglers and wesaid: ‘Jump in amongst us and we’ll pull youback to the top’. So we managed to drag this

S J Woolley on the Newmarket Road on an Eastern CountiesCycling Association 50 mile time trial along with aluminiumwater bottle, wooden front wheel with ringed wheel nuts andthe standard ‘inconspicuous’ clothing of black tights andAlpaca.

S J Woolley’s second place in the Albion Road club 25 miletime trial printed in a 1936 edition of Cycling .

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poor old soul back to the beginning with hismates and he was happy. I used to train upat Herne Hill* and one day I was doing lapsand Reg Harris, who was our Olympichope was following a tandem at Herne Hill,that’s how good he was he could follow atandem no problem. I’m on the inside andthis bloke shouts: ‘Get out of the way!’ So Iturned away and thought: ‘Who’s he? He’sa bit cocky isn’t he?’ and as I pulled up tothe outside and gave way I said to mymate ‘he’s a cocky devil, who’s he?’ and hesaid: ‘Oh, that’s Reg Harris’. In a two up orfour up, one lap race, it’s all tactics, you’retrying to get behind the bloke so you cantake advantage of surprise and peopleoften look and they wonder why are theystill standing still? He’s fired the gun andthey’re still standing looking at each otherand of course it was to force the otherbloke into the lead. Well, we were at HerneHill and we were watching one bloke, theyhad a low picket fence right round it, andthis chap’s looking round at his oppositionand, bang, he hits the picket fence andgoes over and the other bloke thinks:‘Yippee I’ve got an easy ride.’ There was achap called Downs and he was renownedfor, when they fire the gun he used to golike a rocket. He’d probably blow up halfway round but it was entertaining. The regular cyclists knew this and they put Downs with Reg Harris, this was the England team, and they hadtwo French blokes and the French blokes hadn’t done their homework, they didn’t realise Downs alwayswent from the gun, so he thought he’d chance it, because Reg Harris is going to get in second anyway.And they fired the gun and Downs, he goes his own way, straight out. And these French blokes are looking at Reg Harris thinking why hasn’t he moved?” Ron Penfold“They never had 10 mile races, it was 25, 50, 100, 12 hour and 24. I got as far as 12 hour. I had a 531with cutaway lugs and Etchings was the master. He had a place near where I lived in Seven Sisters road.There was Merlin’s in Goswell road, Macleans at the Angel who were renowned for the finish of theirbikes. After a race, providing it wasn’t too long a race, you used to go out and cycle the Surrey lanes, orsomething like that, and then go for what they called a full tea for 1s 3d, where all the club gathered andyou all chattered on all matters. It was a real social little do. I raced at Brooklands. You couldn’t have amass start on the roads, you had to ride on an enclosed track for mass starts. Brooklands, Donnington,Isle of Man, places like that. I had two races, a 60km and 100km at Brooklands, which was quite common. My final trip was an attempt on the London to Cambridge and back tandem record for which Igot a gold from the club but we missed the record by about a minutre or so.The start for the EasternCounties was usually at the 32nd milestone, just the other side of Bishops Stortford. We used to cycle 32miles, do whatever we had to do, a 25, 50, 100 trial or whatever, and then go out and have an afternoon’stea with the rest of the club. Everybody had a bike then, competition was very fierce. We used to pay anentrance fee and if it was a 12h you had to pay extra for food - a great big dollop of rice pudding. I wasquite good at hill climbing because it’s a power to weight ratio and I was fairly light.” S J Woolley

Ron Penfold’s certificate from the 100mile reliability trial whichhe completed in six hours

*Herne Hill is the last remaining venue that was used in the 1908 and 1948 London Olymics

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"During the war the cycle shops did a roaring trade. If your tyre ranout, you had to take the old one back, otherwise you wouldn't get anew one. You'd have to beg, borrow and steal another old tyre toget one and you couldn't even get a tube. You had to fix your bikeyourself. You couldn't afford to take it to a cycle shop. Or, if it waschanging a gear or something, I used to ask my neighbour. You'dhear about spare bits from your friends. I even got old bits of tyreto patch up my wheels." John Burroughs"We'd try and repair our bikes ourselves but if it was too difficult,we'd go to Pearsons on the High Street, or there used to be a littlebike shop on the Broadway in Sutton's New Town. We used to do what we called rough stuff, which wascycling on bridle ways or country paths or over the downs, so we'd often get punctures. Bikes didn't havethe thick wheels they have now." Jack Hamilton"A broken frame would have to go back to the manufacturers but with punctures I would try to get someone else to do it for me. I can do them myself though. I can take off my wheels and adjust thegears." Hilda Reynolds"At the end of the War in 1945/6 new bicycles were not available or were not affordable. So at 12 or 13years of age I joined in the movement for rebuilding old pre-war machines which we recovered from garden sheds or garages. We stripped them down, swapped parts around and painted the frames bybrush with gloss paints, varnishes or lacqueurs such as those sold under the brand 'Robbialac'. I did thiswhen I found a Freddie Grubb, handbuilt at Haydons Road in the 1920's and a Claud Butler built in ManorStreet, Clapham in the '30s and for £4.10 shillings I bought a machine built locally in the '40s by AWCycles in Merton. They were described as Bitsa bikes, ie. Bits of this and bits of that! We were generally proud of these bikes and proud of the mechanical knowledge we had gathered in renovatingthem. The bikes which we were renovating so painstakingly in the 1940's gave us very good service however. We cycled to the shops, we cycled to Cubs and Scouts meetings, we cycled to Church Choirservices, we cycled to our school, we were to be seen cycling everywhere on the saddles of these rebuiltbikes." Clive Oxx“I was cycling up to Angel once and a car stopped suddenly in front of me and I went into the back of him

and bent my forks but they were OK at thetime. But later on I was cycling over inHammersmith and suddenly the forks went. Ijust went over the top, I was concussed, andI came back by underground with the bikeover my shoulder.” S J Woolley“I find fixing my bike a bit more tedious nowI’m older. I’ve always fixed my own bike,though I might have consulted other peoplesometimes. People in the trade are mostlymore experienced. I’ve never bought a newbike because my old one has broken. If youhit a pot hole or someone falls in front of you,you can buckle the wheels or bend the frontforks - these are easily replaced.”

Keith Vaughan

Repairing bikes

Repairing the tandem and side caron the side of the road.

George Shepherd repairs a puncture at the roadside

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The trolley buses were terrific. They were likea bus but ran on overheadwires. They werevery fast, quiet and without fumes"

Keith Vaughan"They're not so frequent now. Trolley buseswere very good. They were quieter."

Mrs Squirrells"Where I lived there weren't any buses at all. Ifyou wanted to go to Kingston, Tolworth orSurbiton you had to walk. There was only onebus and everyone wanted to get on it so theywere pretty packed. There's more buses nowbut hardly any then." John Burroughs

"I used to get the trolley bus from Mitcham to Tooting Broadway and then I would get on the tube, changeat Charing Cross and then go to Northampton. I used to be under the seats sometimes in the morningon the trolley bus because of the doodlebugs coming over." Olive Baxendale"It was a lot more friendly. You could nearly always have a chat with the conductor.” Les Murrells"Buses have changed. You can talk to the drivers now - they're human. Some of them are horriblethough. One driver went right past the stop. There were people coming down the stairs to get off and hejust went right past. And there were people at the stop waiting to get on. They take pushchairs on now.I would never have dreamed of going on the bus when my kids were young. We walked everywhere."

Margaret Hamilton"When I was young we had trolley buses. There was a lot less diesel fumes then. Trolley buses werevery good - I don't know why they stopped them. I used to go to Croydon from Sutton and I used to cyclebehind the trolley buses because they dragged me along. It was dangerous but there were no fumes.When I was courting my girlfriend who lived in Wallington, I used to get behind the trolley bus. They hadvery fast acceleration and they'd pull you along. It was very dangerous." Jack Hamilton"We had a good bus service. If you missed one another would comein 10 minutes. I think Sutton will be gridlocked in a few years. I like thehoppa buses, but we need more of them. Every 20 minutes is notenough. That's too long for an elderly person to be out in the cold.They're an excellent idea but we need more. I'd like more buses andto have conductors back again." Brenda Dombey"Buses were not like the ones we have now. They were much smaller and staffed by both driver and a conductor who was the person in charge, keeping an eye on passengers, signalling the stopand start of the bus by a bell situated in the driver’s cab and operated by a cord that ran the length of the bus. Once the bus leftthe stop, the conductor would go round the bus calling out ‘faresplease’ and you would have to state your destination. He wouldaccept your money, issue both change then a ticket from a ticketmachine he wore round his waist. If you were not certain of your stop,

Buses

654 Trolley bus at the bottom ofRingstead Road, Carshalton, 1959

DL Class bus at Sutton traffic lights, Autumn 1937

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if asked, he would inform you when it came up.The upper deck was sometimes open top, theseats were wooden, as they were exposed toall weathers. Hanging from the seat in front ofyou was a water proofed canvas sheet fittedwith a leather eyelet at two free corners.Should it start to rain, you lifted the sheet upand hooked the two leather eyelets onto twopegs on the back of your own seat. You werenow kept reasonably dry bodily, but your headwas still in the open. If you had an umbrellayou used it or your head got wet. If there wasno room inside you had no option."

Cyril ‘Joe’ Light "In Worcester Park when I was a child the railway bridge was very low and the buses had

to be single deckers. Then we had a 127 which wasn't as high as a double decker. The roof was lowdownstairs and you all banged your head on it. Then they raised the railway bridge and made it higherand there was a big ceremony with the Mayor and then we could have proper double deckers"

Thelma Jones"In Sutton bus garage there used to be a bus called Old Ben and that was used during World War One.It used to take the troops upto the front line and you used to be able to go in there and have a look round."

Mr Bradshaw"The trolley buses used to run on wires and they were more of a route. I used to like them because theywere nice and quiet. They used to hum along the road." Hilda Reynolds"When we travelled as a family we used public transport. The Nos. 93 and 213 bus services were frequently used and I still hold samples of tickets in different colour tints showing ticket prices such as apenny ha'penny with the edge clipped by the bus conductor at the stage we had boarded, in order thatthe Ticket Inspector could check that we were not travelling unlawfully. Fogs caused by pollution from coalfires in the homes and factories were described as 'thick' and had a sulphurous yellow tinge making it difficult to breathe and to see ahead of you. Headlights could not penetrate these fogs known as 'pea-soupers'. If you had to waitat a bus stop you often did notknow the bus had arrived until itwas only a couple of feet awayfrom you. Cycling was very dangerous in these conditions.The Ever-ready battery lampsand Miller and PhilidyneDynamo Lights of those dayswere not very bright anyway."

Clive Oxx"For me it's much better nowcause I've got a free pass. Youused to get on the bus as achild and you could go a coupleof miles for a penny or something like that. An oldfashioned penny.“ John Clarke

Trolley bus near Sutton Green opposite the Cricketers, 1959

Trolley buses at Sutton Green turnaround, circa 1960. Trolley buses superseded trams in 1936 and were themselves superseded in 1961.

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"The trams then were different to the trams down in Croydon.They were much more basic." Derek Mason"There were trams in Croydon when I was a child and I remember them taking them up and now of course they're backagain now. But there was a big gap between 1953 and 2000and whenever. They used to be double deckers and they usedto go right down the middle of the main high street."

John Clarke"The trams were different when I was young to how they arenow. The old rattlers used to go through Croydon."

Peter Edwards"Well, I was 15, the war broke out in 1939. I went to work 3 daysbefore the war broke out and I went to Freemans, the wholesalemerchants. I used to have to go on the tram to Croydon, to just past Brixton, to the Oval, Kennington. Iwas called up at 17 ½ and I wanted to go in the land army but they wouldn't have me so I had to go intothe ammunitions and I hated it. It was awful. I was used to clerical work because I'd done the accountsat Freemans. But I had to go to a training centre in Waddon and I was there 6 months. I came out as asemi-skilled instrument maker. My husband says it's a wonder we ever won the war."

Olive Baxendale

Trams

Tram near the Windsor Castle,Carshalton

Tram terminus, Sutton 21 August 1936, 8pm. Showing a 4 L.V.T. bogie car no. 2401 and a 4 S. Met. Co, 4 wheeler LPTB Class J.

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“I can remember the oldfashioned trams but I'mnearly 70 so it’s not surprising. We used tohave awful smog in thosedays. We didn't have a carso wherever we went wehad to use trams or buses."

Christine Dodge"At the time the tramsstopped we thought it was agood thing because whenwe were riding our bikesthe wheels would getcaught in the tracks. Now Ithink it was a mistake.”

Keith Vaughan"Trams used to be on rails in the road that you used to get your cycle wheels stuck in. Trams didn't turnround, they just went from one end of the other and the driver would change ends." Hilda Reynolds"The only difficulty with the trams was that they used to stop in the middle of the road, so when you gotoff of them you had to walk a distance to the pavements and, if you'd got cyclists or anyone else comingaround you on other transport, you'd have to be very careful getting off the trams." Joyce Miller“The trams in those days were very shaky. Not like the trams going to Croydon now.” Lily Godsell“For sixpence you could go on all day, so you could go all round London. On some of the routes they hadwhat they called a plough which used to slot in the middle of the road to collect the current and if yourbike wheel went down there...” Stan Hagan

"It was cheap on the train. Thebus I used to go to Kennington ona tram for 4p. That wasn't cheapreally in those days. You think; mydad had four of us to keep and, inold money, he used to bring home£2.50 a week. That wasn't much.You can't compare really. Theywould have to find everything outof that money. The rent, the insurance, the coal, the gas, thelight, clothes, food. The majorityof the men, my dad and the othermen in our road, had to do privatejobs as well as the jobs they wereemployed to do." Olive Baxendale "It used to cost about an old pennyfor a child and 3 old pennies for anadult to go on the bus, now it’s £2for an adult." Keith Marsh

Trams in Park Lane, Carshalton/Wallington. The Hoop Luke structures on upperdecks indicate that the photograph could not have been taken before 1916.

Trams and trolley buses, Benhill Avenue, junction with Sutton High Street

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"Our dads were on the railways. We used toget cheaper, not free, but cheaper rail travel. Ihad a granny on the Isle of Wight so we werealways on holiday, Easter, summer. Therewas always cheap rail so we could always geta train or a boat to the island so we were verylucky." Lil jones"At one time there were railway tracks linkingall the towns in the UK, but because there aremore cars now, railways were being underused. The government probably wishesnow that they'd kept railways." Jack Hamilton"In 1935 we went to see a house in

Carshalton. It was on the St Helier Estate and was just being built. To get the bricks to the estate, theyhad a small steam train that brought the bricks from the depot to the road where the houses were beingbuilt. When the estate was finished, the railway was pulled up." Elsie Woolterton

Railways and other transport

Sutton Station - last horse-drawn taxi next to a modern day(for that date!) taxi, June 1928

Children on the back of a steam engine at Sutton Station in the early 1930s

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"My Gran lived by the canal at Camberwell and barges usedto go up the river with coal and wood and sometimes you'dsee the horses pulling them. Some were pulled by horsesand some worked by a motor of some sort." When my husband to be came out of the army, he swapped his bikefor a motorbike. The first one was a Couthorp, a Germanmake. The front lights kept falling off so we had to keepstopping and putting them back on. The second one was a

BSA and then we got a sidecar. We even had a sidecar when we got married. We never used to wearhelmets or protective gear on motorbikes. It wasn't like it is now. We used to go down to Camber Sandsa lot. You would go there and buy a bottle of water for a penny because they only had one tap on thebeach. I'd never been on the underground until we came to Carshalton. At first I was frightened but it wasOK. We got off at Morden station and walked down St Helier Avenue. I think the Morden side was alreadyfinished. Where the Co-operative is now, used to be the Rose Public House and we stopped there for ameal and a pint of beer for my dad." Elsie Woolterton"When I was 16 I got a motorbike. My mate had a motorbike and a sidecar. People used to get a motorbike and then, when a wife and kids came along, they'd get a sidecar. I brought my mate's motorbike and paid him off 10 shillings a week. I couldn't afford a proper motorbike suit. Lots of peopleused to use the old army coats, especially dispatch riders with their tight trousers." John Burroughs"There was no bypass for Sutton then, so all traffic to and from the Derby races had to use Sutton HighStreet. When the race goers returned in the evening, people would turn out to watch the fun. We wouldgo and watch at Angel bridge, my parents would come because they felt responsible for the safety of theirkids. Children would run beside the mixture of what would now be called vintage cars, horse drawn trapsand even some horse drawn coaches, calling out: ‘throw out your mouldy coppers.’ I didn’t call outbecause my father thought it degrading." Cyril ‘Joe’ Light

Traffic on UK roadshas nearly doubled

since 1980 (Source: Department for Transport)

Robins Cycle shop, circa 1952, Carshalton Road, Sutton. Mr Robins on the left was the original founder. MrCullingham on the right took over from Mr Robins. Note: hand operated petrol pump, Humber motor bike on theleft which was ridden in the Brighton Run several times.

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"I use mine to go shopping and I cycle to goswimming at Westcroft. We just live down thebottom of Sutton so just local really now."

Ann Murrells"I've cycled in London for probably 30-oddyears, different places going to work, It's muchmore traffic, but also many more cyclists."

Ron Kneep"In the house at the moment we've got fourcycles. We've sold two of them. We've had upto ten at one time, my son and I. Most of thebikes I have at the moment have been builtfrom parts - car boot parts and some very inexpensive parts. I haven't bought one bicycle for myself, in one piece, ever I don'tthink. Now I cycle to work and very occasionally go out for some leisure riding. I'menjoying the new facilities the council has putin. The cycle paths, they make a big differenceand it would be nice to have some more."

John Clarke"I don't cycle now because I had an operation on my leg and I couldn't get my leg over. That was 13 yearsago, sad wasn't it after all I've cycled all my life" Alma Edwards"There's just too much traffic on the road and let’s face it, some of those people don't care about cyclistsanymore. If you watch a bus driver now, they don't put out their hand or anything. They just pull out. I'veseen it outside Sainsburys or whatever. They wait for people to get off, they could blink to let you know

they’re pulling out but they don't. How that young man missedthat bus a fortnight ago I don't know. He had to swerve out andnearly hit a car and how he didn't get killed I don't know. In theend he just shook his fist at the bus driver. It was just horrendous to see what he did. I think that you younger people are going to miss out if it’s not going to be safe enoughto cycle. If they put these new cycle lanes in its going to helpisn't it. Well I do hope so because I think it’s lovely, aa way ofbeing out in the air." Lil Jones "Because of the traffic. I wouldn't like to cycle now. My husband uses his bike just to go down the allotment. It's anightmare really. I think children are brought up in cars nowadays. They take them to school, and everywhere. Somany cars nowadays." Marjorie Wright"You've got to be brave to cycle nowadays but I cycle to workfrom Banstead to London as much as I can. But it's very dangerous. I've cycled in London for 30 years and there'smuch more traffic now but there are also more cyclists."

Ron Kneep

Cycling now

Sutton Cycling Club regularly organises various events,which have included the Sutton Town Centre Races, CircuitRaces for the National Youth series, London League Cyclo-cross Races and the Sutton Primary School CyclingChampionships. Email secretary@suttoncycling.co.uk

Clive Oxx on the London Freewheel in 2008

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"I'm not a cyclist but I see all these cycle pathsmarked on the road and they suddenly seem tostop. The overall impression is that they don'twork. I think it would be better to have cycle pathsas I think motorists today are too unthinking."

Margaret Hamilton"I nearly got killed 3 days ago. I was going alongand nothing was coming. I put my hand outtowards the centre and a car came along at60mph in a 30mph speed limit. I think that's thereason many parents won’t let their kids cycle,because of people breaking the speed limit. Themain thing is the multiplication of the number ofcars. When I was young it was fairly safe to cycle.Now the majority of motorists, 70%, regularlybreak the speed limit. That's why parents won't lettheir kids cycle. Unfortunately politicians are frightened of losing votes so they don't prosecute peoplefor speeding as much as they should. A lot of middle class people wouldn't dream of breaking the law

except for speeding. My current bike comes from Holland. I found itin my road chained to a lamp post without a saddle and it was therefor 3 months. I went to the police station and told them about it andthey said help yourself, so I did and I'm very pleased with it. I've got5/6 bikes at the moment. We've got 3 folding ones which we put inour camper van. I've got a Hobsey Barbican which is a racing bikewhich I bought when I was in the airforce. I don't use it much now.The one I use now mainly is quite lightweight but it hasn't got the drophandlebars so I can sit up quite easily." Jack Hamilton“I have suffered two attacks of Deep Vein Thrombosis and am lessambitious cycling on my Brompton Folding bike. I am concentrating on voluntary work with local area projects. These arecurrently the programme to educate the young members of theSutton Cycling Club, leading short rides for members of the CentralLondon CTC, creating andleading rides as a Directoron the Wandle RiverFestival Committee."

Clive Oxx“People don’t realise that on Saturdays and Sundays there’shundreds of cyclists racing still now. There’s sponsorship nowwhich we didn’t have before the war.” S J Woolley"When the weather is good I use my bike now for leisure ridesinto the countryside and I sometimes hire a bike when I’m onholiday.” Keith Vaughan"When I first started cycling I had to get a new tyre and a newinner tube and that cost me 10s 6d (nearly 53p) and I couldn'tafford that so I got it on tick (hire purchase). I had to pay it off ata shilling a week. Now, I've just bought two new tyres for my bikeand they cost £40." Roy Buchanan

In traffic jams the airquality can be poorerinside the car than

out. Car users breathein up to three timesmore pollution than

pedestrians.(Source: Environmental Transport Association)

An EcoLocal cycle trainer helping amember of the Refugee Networkride for the first time

BMX is very popular around Sutton

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"Where they used to use their bikes, nowthey're more inclined to use the bus ratherthan get the exercise, it's too easy."

Derek Mason"There's more buses now and we have cabs- radio cabs. We had to be members for thatso that we can get a radio car cheaper thangetting a normal taxi." Mrs L A Newbell"The lady who taught me to drive was alovely person but her car smelt of catsbecause she had lots of them. One dayshe said to me: ‘Sometimes our furry

friends will get stuck under our wheels. Don't leave them in agony, despatch them painlessly.’ She thenproduced a large spanner. ‘I always keep this handy in case we run over one of our furry friends!”

Keith Vaughan"My children used to play out the front with a go kart. You couldn't let them out there now. WhenRoundshaw was built we'd get all the traffic through here, and mums taking their children to school by car.Most families now have got 2cars. My son and his wife havegot a car each." Elsie Woolterton"The road I lived in was quitelong but there weren't manycars. Now you can't move forthem." John Burroughs"I think the whole infrastructurehas impacted on how we livetoday, with supermarkets nowbeing out of town. It's very hardnot to have a car today.”

Ron Kneep"You see more from a bike thanyou can in a car. You can't smellthe flowers from a car and youcan't get to as many places in acar, like bridleways. We had anold ice cream van which weturned into a camper van and weused to take the children on holiday in it down to Cornwall.After the war there was petrolrationing so there weren't manycars about and people weren't insuch a rush so roads were saferand there were more bikesaround. The buses were more

Transport now

The opening ceremony for the Therapia Lane tram stop in Sutton in 2000

The free bus service to the Carshalton Environmental Fair everyAugust Bank Holiday Monday.

frequent and people used them. I think it's a pity nowadaysthat cars have no regard to cyclists and walkers. When I wasyounger there were no motorways." Jack Hamilton"I think you felt safer on the roads then than you do now.When I was very young some families didn't have cars at all.Now most families have two. I wouldn't say it's more difficultnow to get around but it's definitely more dangerous.Because everyone relies so much on a car and everyone isin such a hurry. If I had to go back to cycling now I wouldn'tenjoy it like I used to." Steve Noblett

"I would like to see some of the buses drive a bit more responsibly and less erratically. Some of the drivers drive too fast and then they brake. Not all of them, but some.” George Shephard"Not everyone had carsthen. Years ago, youwere lucky to have onecar per family, now youhave three or four."

Joyce Miller"I think it has alteredthings completely. I thinkcars in a lot of ways havespoilt things. I knowwe're all glad of them butI think that they havespoilt the ambience oflife. When we had ourbikes we didn't have toworry about what wasbehind us. You knowthere wasn't much trafficand you had more familytime. Because you didn'thave the car, you'd take the kids to the park or something. Mitcham Common was good. We used towalk everywhere." Lil Jones"The view from the top of the hill in Worcester Park and down the hill to the gasometers at Motspur Parkand beyond to London was an uninterrupted and pleasant view. Today, the continuous line of cars downthe full length of the hill makes this impossible." Clive Oxx"The growth in private cars is the thing that I've noticed most. I used to live in a road of 182 houses and

out of 182 houses only three of them had cars. I now live in a different road of 182 houses and there are between 1 to 5 cars toevery house. If you go to Germany, Denmark or Holland you'll seea tremendous provision for cyclists that we don't have in this country." Roy Buchanan"There's lots more cars. You only need to look down the side roadsand see that most houses have at least 2 cars. Most front gardenshave now been paved over to park their cars. Our house was builtin 1929 and we didn't have cars in those days." Christine Dodge

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Regular Cyclingadds 2.5 yearsto your life.

(Source: BUPA)

Using an oystercard can cut 50%off the cash priceof a bus journey(Source: Transport For London)

Sutton Community Transport provides a service to the local community by hiring out accesible and non-accessible minibuses, transit vans and cars

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The BikeStreet project has helpedEcoLocal establish a range of projects and social enterpriseswhich encourage cycling in theborough and beyond. Incomegenerated through these serviceswill be used to support the work ofthe charity. The Cycle Serviceswhich EcoLocal now offer include:Cycle Maintenance TrainingCoursesDesigned for people who wouldlike to gain an understanding ofhow to look after their bicycles andcarry out basic and intermediate standard repairs. Learn how torepair a puncture, adjust your brakes, adjust yourgears and chain and perform basic maintenance.Bikestreet Courses are also available for local youth clubs and schools. Renovated Cycles for SaleWe have quality renovated cycles for sale. Cyclesare serviced, cleaned, fitted with new parts whererequired and adjusted, and are 'sold as seen' in good working condition. Inclusive Cycling SessionsWhy not try our inclusive cycle sessions? We havea range of adapted bikes and trikes which are idealfor people who would like to enjoy the thrill of ridingbut who need that bit of extra help. We run sessions for schools, people with disabilities, family groups and older people.Cycle Roadshows and Dr Bike - at your event!EcoLocal can provide a range of cycles includingtrikes and adapted cycles plus a Dr Bike service for your event.Cycle Training. We offer National Standards Cycle Training forchildren and family groups as well as individuals

EcoLocal DeliveriesEcoLocal deliveries is a localcycle based delivery service, carrying parcels and other goodsfor a range of local businessesand statutory agencies. Why nottry us. Also, we are always interested to hear from potentialcycle delivery riders who aremotivated by cycling - please call to find out more.Mobile Cycle MechanicWe'll come and fix your bike atyour home or local workplace.Our service is friendly andresponsive, meets your needs

and is flexible. Includes servicing, punctures, wheel truing and general repairs.Call Us

Dial 07948 316 581 or 020 8770 6611 oremail cyclemechanic@ecolocal.org.ukto find out more about any of these services. For up to date information on these services see

www.ecolocal.org.uk/bikesThis section of our website includes pictures of renovated bikes for sale, mobile cycle maintenance service, inclusive cycling sessions and forthcoming cycle maintenance courses.

EcoLocal cycle services

Gear-up inclusive cycling sessions

EcoLocal Deliveries local cycle based delivery service

QuestionsMy first bikeWhat were the features of a BBA sports bike?How much would a full size lightweight bike costin 1946?

Getting around as a childWhat was Green Wrythe Lane School originallycalled?In the war what did you need to buy petrol?

Trips and excursionsWhich magazine printed guidance on 'How to setup your own cycling Club’?Where was the ‘chossy’ bag made and what wasit made from?

Cycling as sportWhat weren’t you allowed in cycle speedway?What is a Brooks B17?

Buses and tramsWhat did they have on the top deck of buses forthe rain?Why could trams sometimes be a hazard forcyclists?

Railways and other transportWhat was a Couthorp?What was ridden in the Brighton Run severaltimes?

Cycling nowIn traffic jams, is the air quality poorer inside thecar or outside?

Answers

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Quiz Name:

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