LONDON CLARION CYCLE CLUB
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London Clarion Cycle Club members have a proud history of social campaigning. In 1960, the Hounslow Clarion cycled from London to Brighton to draw attention to the world refugee crisis.
In what subsequently became known as the ‘Tricycle Marathon’, they undertook the journey on children’s Raleigh tricycles and distributed leaflets on the front at Brighton.  In a bid to get some publicity, they wrote to Pathé a few days before the planned cycle to ask whether the news organisation wanted to cover it. Needless to say, there was insufficient time to receive a reply and the original trip took place. Pathé subsequently replied and a re-run was organised for the following Saturday.

Colin McDonald recalls that “the tricycles were lent to us by the Raleigh Cycle Company which had a main depot on the Great West Road, Brentford. As the news item says the wheels had specially fitted spokes. There were no breakdowns, as I recall, only my Morris 10 (the support vehicle) which blew a spark plug. It was the intention initially to make charitable collections en-route but there was some legal reason why they could not. I do know that on the downhill runs they did get up to some pretty impressive speeds.”

Colin remembers that from the line up at the beginning of the film are, from left to right 3. (all in black) Jim Knight (Jim died some years ago), 5. (brown shorts, green shirt & pullover) Peter Shepherdly (Peter died in 2009) 6. (Clarion jumper- red with yellow stripe) Terry Davidson (fate unknown).
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become a member of london clarion CYCLE CLUB  

​The London Clarion Cycle Club is one of London's oldest cycling institutions, founded in 1895. Our members enjoy social cycling, time trials and Audaxes.  
In 2019 Membership of London Clarion Cycle Club & National Clarion Cycling Club with Accident Assistance, legal support and 3rd Party Liability insurance costs £14. 

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  • Home
  • About
  • Join
  • Shop
  • Diary
  • MORE...
    • Articles of Collectivisation
    • Clarion Easter Meet 2019
    • Clarion Sunday 2019
    • The Tricycle Marathon
    • Clarion Cyclng Club Publications
    • Clarion Club Houses
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • GDPR