Pickwick Bicycle Club
The Pickwick Bicycle Club is a cycling club in Great Britain founded in 1870. By his own admission, it is the oldest cycling club in the world still in existence, as well as the oldest club related to Charles Dickens .
The Pickwick Bicycle Club was founded on June 22nd, 1870 in East London by six high-cyclists , which is now a reminder of a plaque at the Downs Hotel in Hackney . Since Charles Dickens had died a few weeks earlier, the name Pickwick was chosen after a novel by Dickens (original title The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club ). The association is a member of the Dickens Fellowship .
The approximately 200 members - all men - are named after characters from the Dickens Pickwick Papers , with whom they address each other at meetings. The club president is named Samuel Pickwick Esq during his tenure . Since there are only a limited number of characters, you can only become a member if another one has left (usually through death). You have to be nominated and bring members to act as guarantors. The waiting period for admission averages seven years.
The former German cyclist Klaus-Peter Thaler is a member and bears the name Tom Smart , after the traveling salesman from Dickens Pickwick Papers . Further members are the four-time track world champion Hugh Porter (Jonas Mudge) and the two-time world champion Tony Doyle (George Nupkins) . Well-known members are or were the entrepreneur William Richard Morris (Joseph Smiggers) , founder of the Morris Motor Company , Howard Knight (Wilkins the Gardener) , managing director of Raleigh , the sports journalist David Duffield (Mr Ayresleigh) , Peter Hargroves (The Chancery Prisoner) , former cyclist and owner of a chain of bicycle shops, Ron Webb , designer of cycle tracks , and the four-time track world champion Reg Harris (Gabriel Grub) . Harris was a member from 1957 until his death in 1992, when he was president in 1971. "[...] as a bon viveur and raconteur, he was truly representative of our Club."
According to the self-portrayal, membership in the club is understood as a privilege, but also as an obligation to good manners and good camaraderie. Public is not wanted and is not welcome either. It is a goal of the association to "create a Dickensian atmosphere" and to uphold traditions of the past.
Initially, members were expected to be knowledgeable about Dickens's work, but today the focus is on social gatherings, such as the biannual luncheon at the Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden . Excursions are also organized - if possible on historical bikes. Only a few members take part in the weekly trips, but there is an annual trip to Hampton Court : “There is less actual cycling going on these days; it is more about meeting up to eat, drink and be merry […]. ”Since 1920 there has also been a golf department.
The club members wear a straw hat with a hat band in the club colors gold and black, a gold and black striped jacket and tie as well as a sign with the club name. In addition, each member receives a clay pipe in a cardboard box that reads: "Gentlemen - you must smoke".
Web links
- Official website
- Michael Hutchinson: Re: Cyclists. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017, ISBN 978-1-472-92561-9 , p. 60 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hackney London October 20 2015 259 Downs Road (3) Pickwick Bicycle Club. In: flickr.com. October 20, 2015, accessed August 4, 2017 .
- ^ Pickwick Bicycle Club. In: The Dickens Fellowship. Accessed August 4, 2017 .
- ^ The Pickwick Bicycle Club - Sobriquets. In: pickwickbc.org.uk. Retrieved August 4, 2017 .
- ^ Anonymous: Death of Joseph Atto. In: Official Bulletin and Scrap Book of the League of American Wheelmen, 1918, Volume 16, No. 9, pp. 138-139, digitized .
- ^ A b c Ellis Bacon: Great British Cycling. Random House, 2014, ISBN 978-1-448-17112-5 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ^ A b c Carlton Reid: Roads Were Not Built For Cars - Pickwick Bicycle Club, 1870. In: roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com. February 7, 2012, accessed August 4, 2017 .
- ^ The Pickwick Bicycle Club - Club Champions. In: pickwickbc.org.uk. Retrieved August 5, 2017 .
- ^ The Pickwick Bicycle Club - Garden Party. In: pickwickbc.org.uk. December 10, 2015, accessed August 4, 2017 .
- ^ The Pickwick Bicycle Club - Home. In: pickwickbc.org.uk. December 1, 2016, accessed August 4, 2017 .
- ^ The Pickwick Bicycle Club - Golf. In: pickwickbc.org.uk. June 9, 2011, accessed August 4, 2017 .
- ^ The Pickwick Bicycle Club - Uniform. In: pickwickbc.org.uk. Retrieved August 4, 2017 .