© Wessex District Association of the Cyclists’ Touring Club
CTC Office: Parklands, Railton Rd, Guildford, Surrey GU2 9JX
Company Limited by Guarantee - Registered in England No. 25185
WESSEX CTC
History and Administration
History and Administration
Having “lost” Southampton section, by 1976 the Wessex DA consisted of only two active sections. Here too there are hints of long standing rifts based on clashes of personality or philosophy. The Bournemouth and Poole section was seen as a city-based bunch of young tearaways and not “real” tourists at all. Many of the elder stalwarts of the club lived in Poole, notably Ruth and Jack Merchant, “Chis” Chisnell and some others regarded themselves as West Dorset Section and met at Fleets Bridge to join up with their runs while the Bournemouth section met at Bear Cross. “Chis” Chisnell was Chairman of the West Dorset section but lived in Poole Park! This was the culture in Wessex CTC when I joined it. The Bournemouth section did in fact have a tearaway element at that time and tried to burn me off on my first club run, which was not really good for further recruitment! Those other stalwarts of the DA, Jean & Ron Trill didn’t ride with either section at that time.
A marked renaissance in the DA started in 1977. Jean and Ron Trill joined forces with Ruth and Jack Merchant for Wessex to host the 99th CTC Birthday Rides based on Salisbury. Shortly after that they formed the “Thursday Potterers” section to continue the camaraderie. The “Potterers” continue today. Their formation marked a significant shift in DA activities segmenting for the first time into groups with specific styles rather than geographic area.
SECTIONS: Wessex DA was reduced to two active ones by the 1970s but in 1978 new members moved into Salisbury and it was possible to re-form the Salisbury section under the guidance of Richard Nicholl and Alan Clarke. The Yeo-Valley section which had largely been run by G. Priddle folded in 1966. It was rekindled in 1981 under Chris Dury and Jim Gobert and contributed a lot to the fabric of the club for two years, but was not to prove hardy at this time. Cycling in this area had to wait until Richard and Margaret Nicholl left Salisbury for Yorkshire only to return at the turn of the new century to reform the group, renaming it the Blackmore Vale section.
The Bournemouth section had been very active from the mid-70s through to 1982 with riders travelling far and wide and participating in the Paris-Brest-Paris in 1979. However two younger stalwarts, John Burrows and Roy Wadey, started their working careers and I, as chairman, decided to get married. The section needed reviving and a new influx of active riders was forthcoming in 1984. Eric Watson and Shawn Shaw revived the “General Section” aided by Bob & Joan Courtney, Frank & Kathy Moorhouse, John & Joyce Foot, and Jason & Trish Clarke known collectively as the “icebreakers”. Frank Moorhouse ran the General section and Bob & Joan formed the “Intermediates”.
The number of active cyclists in the DA has increased throughout the last 25 years and aside from geographical areas have also split into groups with different styles. The Thursday Potterers have already been mentioned, but they were joined by the Jeanette King’s “Dawdlers” and Ron Lewis’ “Easy Riders” in the Bournemouth area. The “General” section became a hard riding group interested in travelling to Audax events and disappeared as a separate entity, although stalwarts Frank Moorhouse and Annemarie Manley continued to play an active part in the DA generally. The “Inters” effectively became the General section as they became fitter and more experienced. At around the turn of the century, a new group formed in Christchurch calling themselves the Riversiders. Although they did not continue, they did mark a new focus for cycling to the east of our region. Terry Walsh’s incredibly popular informal Saturday ride from Christchurch to Burley followed, as did the formation of the independent Christchurch Bicycle Club. The Saturday ride now runs without any organisation and is known to almost everybody that owns a bike in our region. Regular congregations of over 60 cyclists gather at Burley Tea Rooms every week. The CBC has a very large overlap of members with the Wessex DA such that the boundaries are often blurred.
In West Dorset, with Brian Archer as Chairman and Peter Loakes as secretary, George Fox founded the “Wednesday Wanderers” mid-week group aided by Johnny Read; always a stalwart of the “West Dorsets”. Now with Malcolm Howell as Chairman and Mike Durham as secretary there are Saturday rides too with the “Saturday Sauntereers” as well as a special group, the “Thursday Folders” who make use of folding bicycles travelling on buses and trains to extend their range.
