The next club evening meeting is to be held on Monday 08 May 2017 at 8pm.   

The venue is The Trackside pub situated down the ramp at the side of Bolton Street East Lancs Railway station, Bury.  Lots of real ales to choose from.  Bikes can be chained to the rail outside the pub entrance. The pub has been 'improved' so we await a new photo of the new front entrance.

All members, interested potential new members and all cyclists are warmly invited to attend.  Come and enjoy a drink and a chat about cycling, and help us plan our runs list.  These meetings only happen once every three months so please come along - you will be made very welcome.

As in recent years, after a series of bleak January and February club runs, the cycling year commenced with the Charlie Westlake Sportive Bike Rides with all proceeds going to Bury Hospice and Cancer Research UK. Although fewer than in the last few years, there was a good turnout of 38 riders for the 50km route and 62 for the 100km route and a total of £727 was raised. The weather was dry at the start and although there was a tailwind for the final climb (Owd Betts) most riders arrived wet and bedraggled due to late rain and sleet. A full report and some photos can be viewed on our website.

This event is to be the last and will not be held in 2016 due to lack of enthusiasm and back up support from members. I think people have had enough of it. It was first held in 2002 as a 50km invitation ride and has grown in recent years to include the 100km route. Popularity as far as participants are concerned is such that it has become unmanageable with safety concerns arising. We may replace it with a scaled down charity reliability ride if interest is sufficient.

Our A and B Sunday club runs have been well supported with the regular group of riders turning out in most types of weather. There has been a tour to Scotland taking in the Isle of Mull and a few cycling weekends away to the Lake District and the Peak District. Mike Tattersall completed the Paris Brest Paris (again). Many members go on their own cycling holidays. For instance Alan Webb toured in France seeking out more cols to conquer.

With a few keen new members including a crew of bus drivers joining us last year (some now becoming 'A' riders), the prospects are good. 

The cycling year started with good weather which changed to bad on the day of our annual Charlie Westlake and Walter Pilkington Sportives on the first Sunday in March. However we still had a good entry of 122 riders - 75 in the 100km event and 47 in the 50km. Despite the modest minimum entry fee of £3 the total amount raised by riders and other contributions was £770 which was, as usual, split 50/50 between Bury Hospice and Cancer Research UK.

This year we had eight female riders taking part. Entries came from all over the region and beyond to participate including tandem pair Graham and Vicky Payne from Wales and riders from Barrow in Furness and Liverpool.Terry Hodges manned the control at the Duke of Buccleugh pub in Waterfoot just 10km from the finish. Terry, wanting to put something back into cycling having experienced the sterling work done by marshals at last year’s London-Edinburgh-London event and many others, provided refreshments in the way of drinks, Jaffa Cakes and many other goodies.

However we did have problems marshalling some other parts of the route and the event is under threat of cancellation as a result. However the 2015 event will go ahead, but it could be the last.

Terry Hodges successfully rode the major Edinburgh-London-Edinburgh Audax event. In the run up to the event he arrived one Sunday morning at the start of a club run direct from an overnight training ride to Shropshire.

Our Sunday club runs are generally well attended with a small hard core of riders ensuring there is always someone to ride with the ‘B’ group. ‘A’ group rides have been less well supported. Some good news is that we have had an influx of new members mainly from the Bury bus driving fraternity. Their enthusiasm has brought a new life to the ‘B’ section rides.

Our club meetings are held quarterly at the Trackside pub in Bury, but despite the real ales on offer the numbers attending are much lower than they should be.

It seems that the Easter tour is a thing of the past as there was no interest again this year, but many members have been away during the year on their own cycle tours. In April Alan Webb and John Butterworth crossed from Hull to Zeebrugge and rode to Oudenaarde to watch the Tour of Flanders race and stayed in Belgium for a few days of cycling. A third member Kevan Kirkman was already there staying with friends and we all had a great time – good cycling on welcoming roads and good beer in welcoming bars. The atmosphere at the Tour of Flanders bike race is wonderful.

Alan Webb also went on two organised Saddle Skedaddle rides in Spain. Closer to home John had a pleasant tour based in Acton near Lavenham in Suffolk enjoying the quiet lanes and pretty scenery of this ideal cycling area.

Some of our members take part in Audax rides on a regular basis with Mike Tattersall again the most prolific.

Our website continues to generate enquiries from potential new members but as ever those who do turn out for a ride often do not stay with us. 

As ever we are a small but dedicated group of riders who turn out every Sunday for our weekly “fix”. The “A” rides now seem to be the domain of a hardy few who are determined to get a prodigious amount of miles in come what may. However, numbers on “B” rides are steady or even up on previous years.

Once again we held the annual Charlie Westlake and Walter Pilkington Sportive rides with equal numbers starting both the 50km and 100km events. Numbers were down as the weather conditions were much worse than last year when we had a record turnout of 89 riders.

Notable among the entries was Jordan Cottrell who after setting off late due to helping out at the start still arrived home first in the 100km event with two other riders, Ben Gillespie and Simon Cullen, in a time of 4hours 25 minutes. First home in the 50km event was Terry Collier and Mike Cohen in 2hours 30minutes.

Entries from outside the region included Alexander Venables from Wiltshire (Phil and Vera’s visiting son-in-law) and more locally, apart from the Bury and Bolton region, riders came from Atherton, Worsley, Oldham, Flixton, Swinton, Stalybridge; and Peak Audax and Manchester & District CTC secretary himself, Mike Wigley, rode in from Delph to participate in and complete the 100km event. There were no lady entrants this year.

Quite a few CTC members had entered to earn points for the annual CTC Tourist Competition of which ours is a qualifying event. Most unfortunate rider of the day was Rochdale CTC’s David Trippier who suffered a broken stem which put a halt to his ride.

Marshalls Frank Jefferson and Donald Lever at Belmont and Phil Rigby at the Britannia roundabout above Blackburn had to check through the riders participating in both events until the routes separated at Phil’s control. Mark Cranshaw once again checked the 100km riders in at Downham (even after turning up at the start), and Dean Cunningham did a great job marshalling outside the Duke of Buccleugh pub at Waterfoot. John Butterworth checked all the riders in at the finish control in the warmth of the Owd Betts pub interior.

Our members tend to get around on foreign tours and this year was no different. Terry Hodges and Mark Cranshaw rode to Hull and took the ferry to Zeebrugge and had a tour around Belgium, John Butterworth toured the flatter parts of Piedmont, northern Italy, with his son Henry, Alan Webb went on an organised mountainous tour around the Italian lakes and Dolomites taking in the mighty Stelvio pass on the way, and Jim Bolger rode from Paris to the south of France. I'm sure there are more - not least of which is Nigel Blandford's tour across the USA. (He will be doing a talk on the ride in January 2013 - date and venue yet to be finalised.)

Alas, no Easter tour this year due to lack of support. We organised an Olympic Sportive event jointly with Bury Clarion. This was a 55 mile ride taking in Owd Betts, Blackstone Edge and Burnley Summit. The finish was at the Barista Café Bar on the The Rock which proved to be ideal. The ride took place as part of a national initiative to hold sporting events on the weekend in between the end of the Olympic Games and the start of the Paralympic Games. £300 was raised for the British Paralympic Association.

Our website continues to attract potential new members to come out and try a club run, including keen youngster Ryan Harrison. Quite a few of these have returned to ride with us again but not on a regular basis. This seems to the trend these days.

Whilst we are a relatively small section we continue to have two Sunday runs aimed at satisfying those who like to go for distance and those who prefer a more relaxed pace.

Our rides have taken us to the Forest of Bowland, Ribble Valley, the Fylde coast, Yorkshire Dales, High Pennines, Derbyshire and Cheshire.

As usual some of our members have taken touring holidays abroad including to the Semaine Federale in France; along the river Danube taking in Germany and the Czech Republic; a tour from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Kaiserslautern in Germany; a tour near the Atlantic coast of France; and nearer to home the Western Isles of Scotland and a tour in Northumberland. Unfortunately there was not enough support for a section Easter weekend tour this year.

A record 89 nine riders set out on the 10^th annual Charlie Westlake and Walter Pilkington Cycle Sportives on Sunday 6th March raising a grand total of £500 which was shared between Bury Hospice and Cancer Research UK. With 46 starting the 50km event and 43 the 100km event (named after the late Bury CTC Section Presidents Walter Pilkington and Charlie Westlake respectively) the day was considered a success by all who completed the rides and received their well earned certificates at the finish.

Nigel Hood completed the Paris-Brest-Paris Audax for the second time, finishing in 78 hours 36 minutes while lesser mortals completed Audax and Sportive events in the UK.

We now have a Bury CTC page on Facebook and our website continues to attract enquiries from potential new members. Distances, even on the ‘B’ rides, seem to be too much for many who try a ride with us and this seems to put them off continuing. We have now made it clear on the website that potential new members should be fit enough to have previously ridden 30 miles before coming on a club run.

BURY CTC SECRETARY'S REPORT 2010 (Read out at AGM November 2010)

As ever we have a small band of dedicated cyclists who turn out every Sunday whatever the weather to support our club runs.

Although we hold rides every Sunday, the cycling year really started on Sunday 7th March with the 9th edition of the Charlie Westlake Sportive rides. A cloudless, bright but very cold early Sunday morning attracted a good turnout of 71 riders. 43 opted for the 50km route and 28 for the 100km route. Compared to last year’s event the weather was ideal with very little wind and a gradual increase in the temperature. A full report can be read on the appropriate page on this website. Thanks to entry fees and contributions from the riders we managed to raise £403 for Bury Hospice.

During the year members visited Grinton Youth Hostel for the Easter tour (where the weather could have been kinder), Verdun in France for the Semaine Federale, York Rally and Mildenhall Rally.

Three members entered the Northern Dales 202k Audax starting at Arnside YH and going over Tan Hill but two had to abandon in bizarre circumstances leaving only Steve Willetts to successfully complete the event. An ambitious ‘coast to coast ride in one day’ also had to be abandoned due to injury. Mark and other members regularly ride Audax events.

A and B runs continue to be supported throughout the year and some of the A runs are adventurous to say the least with Hawes, Elton (Staffordshire), Beeston Castle, Lancaster and many other distant destinations appearing on the list. The B runs can still be a long distance in summer but tend to be run at a steady pace and to be more sociable.

The Christmas Lunch Ride to the Shepherd’s Rest at Lumbutts was abandoned due to heavy snow on the day but some members managed to celebrate by walking to local pubs.

Our member Adam Bentley completed a London to Paris sponsored bike ride in aid of the Bradford burns unit. He was a witness to the fire at Bradford City’s Valley Parade ground in 1985.

The Section got a mention in Cycling Weekly which referred to our very informative website which is maintained by Chairman John.

BURY CTC SECRETARY'S REPORT 2009 (Read out at AGM November 2009)

As in previous years numbers seem to be consistent with a small but hardy band of regular riders who keep A and B rides going throughout the year.

This is our first year of being an Informal Group of the CTC  with most bureaucracy now being dealt with by Manchester and District CTC whilst we get on with what we enjoy the most, CYCLING!

The first major event of the year was Charlie’s rides on 8^th March when a record entry was attracted, probably due to being included in the CTC Tourist competition. Unfortunately the elements conspired against us and there were many abandonments but some hardy souls did complete the events and £402 was raised for Bury Hospice.

Tours have taken our members to the Long Mynd YH in Shropshire for our Easter Tour; Dumfries for the Kirkpatrick Macmillan Rally; France for the Semaine Federale; York Rally, and Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. Mark Cranshaw toured the west Scotland highlands and islands. Alan Webb toured Corsica.

John Butterworth completed his research into club history with the production of the 80^th Anniversary book and CD.

In July our town twinning anniversary ride took place with one rider from Schorndorf and two from Angouleme taking part in a car assisted ride around the Forest of Bowland and Ribble Valley.

On August 27^th Walter Pilkington passed away at a care home in Edenfield after a long battle with cancer.  Although he had not been active with the Section for several years he was a stalwart from 1946 untill 1994, 48 years!  From his shops he always encouraged aspiring cyclists to join the CTC and ride with the Bury Section and he was a lynchpin in promoting our cause in Bury. Our condolences go to Norma, his wife of 36 years, and his daughter Susan.

Phil Rigby continues to be DA Chairman, Terry Hodges is now the DA Treasurer and John Butterworth in addition to being Section Chairman and website wizard also attends meetings of Bury Cycle Forum.  Many thanks to all Officers of the Section for their efforts over the last year in publicising the Section and ensuring it’s smooth running.

Steve Willetts, Secretary

BURY CTC SECRETARY'S REPORT 2008 (Read out at AGM November 2008)

As ever we have a small number of regular members who are dedicated cyclists and who support our clubruns and tours on a regular basis. Every weekend of the year sees scheduled “A” and “B” runs. Our members have attended the Semaine Federale at Saumur, France, the Tandem Club rally at Market Rasen, York Rally and the Mildenhall Rally. Our Easter tour was in North Wales and many members have taken cycling holidays throughout the year.

Charlie’s Challenge rides of 50 and 100 kilometres went ahead in March with a good turnout of 29 riders including a group from a club in Cheshire. However, we were disappointed that no members of Bury Clarion rode the event although Frank Jefferson marshalled at Belmont.  All entry fees were donated to the Bury Hospice charity amounting to £125.

In July John Butterworth and Alan Webb accompanied by Frank Jefferson rode from Bury to our twin towns of Angouleme and Tulle in France where they were received at the Hotels de Ville and feted by their French hosts. This event has been fully reported in the Bury Times and the Northern Wheel.

John Butterworth has continued to attend meetings of Bury Cycle Forum at the town hall where any items of interest or concern to local cyclists are discussed with local authority officers and councillors.

As discussed at last year’s AGM, we are cyclists, we go touring and we are in a club. We simply want to enjoy the pleasure of cycling as we always have done. In the face of increasing officialdom, form filling, report writing and committee meetings we are now seriously considering our position within the CTC as a national body and our DA may have made a premature assumption that we should become a subsidiary membership group.

Steve Willetts

Secretary

PS from the Chair:

At the November 2008 AGM where this report was read out we unanimously voted to become an ‘Informal Group’ within the CTC which should reduce bureaucracy significantly.  We are still a part of Manchester DA (now known as Manchester & District CTC). The change will not affect members and their benefits in any way but will make things much simpler for our few elected officers and organisers. Indeed we do not now have a need for elected officers as all meetings in future will be informal.

On the eve of our 80^th anniversary this can be seen as the start of a new era for the Section.  We look to the future with optimism.

BURY CTC SECRETARY'S REPORT 2007 (Read out at AGM November 2007)

As in previous years we continue to be a relatively small but active section. Whilst we struggle to attract new members those we do have tend to be keen and dedicated. This said, Terry Gilfoyle and Alan Hulbert have become regular riders this year, Nick Pickup and Tommy Handley have re-surfaced recently and we have suffered no losses.

The “A” and “B” Sections have a hard core who turn out come what may and we have had clubruns on every Sunday of the year in spite of the inclement weather in the early summer. These have varied from the foul weather standby of the Clarion Clubhouse at Roughlee  to as far afield as Littondale, Clapham and Hawes.

Club Tours have seen us visit Melrose at Easter (when Mike Tattersall rode all the way from Prestwich), the Kirkpatrick Macmillan Rally near Dumfries, Lake Garda in Italy, York Rally, Somerset, the FFCT Semaine Federale at Perigueux in the Dordogne Region of Acquitaine and the Mildenhall Rally.

This year a special mention must go to Mark Cranshaw and Mike Tattersall who put in some prodigious mileages in training, qualifying for and then completing a rather damp Audax Club Parisien Paris-Brest-Paris 1200km in 70 hrs 11mins and 86 hrs 19mins respectively. Their whole year seems to have revolved around preparation for and successfully completing this marathon event and they join Nigel Hood on the list of our PBP members.

Jim Holden and Roy Turner continue to do their own thing sometimes using Bromptons on public transport to extend their range. Roy has had a hip replacement operation this summer but is gradually getting back to normal now. Phil Rigby is also recovering from an operation and we hope he will be able to resume cycling by the end of the year.

Andy and Bev have visited us from Italy and also attended the Semaine Federale for a few days.

After a poor turnout in 2006 the cycling quiz was abandoned this year leaving Charlie’s Rides as our only event. This year there was a poor turnout in both the 50k and 100k rides, probably due to the bad weather on the morning of the rides. However, these rides in remembrance of Charlie Westlake will continue in 2008 but on a revised date of Sunday 9^th March.

Three of our members, John Butterworth, Steve Willetts and Pete Roscoe, attend the Bury Cycling Forum which this year has continued to move forward, albeit slowly within the constraints of local authority funding, with relatively minor improvements to cycling facilities within the Borough.

We continue to submit weekly reports of our activities to the Bury Times but, due to their own constraints on editorial space, these are not always published. After many years when there has been no problem things have now come to a head and we have decided to submit our main report to the Clubs and Societies page instead of Sports.

Our Section has been busy doing what it has always done, indeed what all Sections have always done, Touring, with a group who love the fresh air, exhilaration and camaraderie of being awheel and which we plan to do for many years to come. The name of our Section eloquently and simply describes exactly what we do and we embody the traditional values of The Cyclists' Touring Club.

Steve Willetts, Secretary

BURY CTC - SECRETARY’S REPORT 2004 (read out at AGM Nov 2004)

This has been quite an eventful year starting in February with the annual Cycling Quiz at the Pack Horse Hotel.  There were fewer teams this year but the evening was considered a success and enjoyed by all present.  Bury Cycle Speedway once again supported us by entering a team, but again Lancashire Road Club took the framed certificate and £10 cash prize. 

This year members toured in Sicily, the Pyrenees and Andorra, the Vosges Mountains, the Alps and at home attended York and Mildenhall Rallies.

Members also joined in the DA Youth Hostel Weekend at Dent at the May Bank Holiday.

A major event for the DA this year was the hosting of the successful CTC Birthday Rides in Derbyshire; a few Bury members attended and Phil in his role as DA chairman played a big part in the organisation.

A big event of the year was the purchasing of new section cycle clothing, and the design has given a more continental feel to the section name as CTC Bury. The section’s 75^th anniversary happened to coincide with the introduction of our new cycling clothing, but the event has not been marked in any other way.  It is hoped that the new clothing will help in our push for new members.

The Sunday club runs have been generally well attended with new members showing up and some sticking with it.. Work commitments and injuries have affected ‘A’ run attendances this year.  After a decent Spring, the weather gave us a mainly wet summer with some good days interspersed.

We had good weather for this years Charlie Westlake Bike Rides in June with our biggest turn out yet of 39 riders taking part with 33 finishers. The addition of the longer ride contributed to this and proved successful. After expenses, £55 was raised for Bury Hospice.  A letter of thanks was received from them.

Nigel Hood was involved in an accident with a car on Bury New Road which resulted in a broken pelvis and a stay in Fairfield Hospital.  Thankfully he is now back on his feet with the aid of crutches.  The section wish him a speedy recovery and hope that he is soon back on his bike.

The section continues to be represented at Bury Cycling Forum meetings, whilst Phil Rigby is still Manchester DA chairman.  Club members greeted cyclists from Schorndorf, Germany who had cycled to twin town Bury this summer.

Alan Webb continues to do a good job in writing interesting and readable club run reports for the Bury Times, but we still do not have a contributor for ‘B’ ride reports.

Generally it’s been a good year for the club – the only low being, as usual, poor attendance by members at club meetings.   And again it is worth remembering that it is the usual few club stalwarts who attend runs regularly holding this Section together.

BURY CTC - SECRETARY’S REPORT 2003 (read out at AGM Nov 2003)

This has been quite an eventful year starting in February with the annual Cycling Quiz at the Waterloo Hotel.  There were fewer teams this year but the evening was considered a success and enjoyed by all present.  We had a strong presence from Bury Clarion and Bury Cycle Speedway, but once again Lancashire Road Club took the shield and £10 cash prize. 

We had a joint ride with Bury Clarion riders to officially unveil the Charlie Westlake memorial seat at the Clarion clubhouse at Roughlee and we were blessed with sunny weather. Photos were taken and were included on Bury Clarion’s website, in a Bury Times article and in Northern Wheel. We also had good weather for this years Charlie Westlake Memorial Bike Ride in June in which 25 cyclists took part.

Members attended various meetings both on the road and off.  Off the bike, in July we had a DA meeting with CTC boss Kevin Mayne at the Velodrome with Bury members attending, and members continue to attend Bury Cycling Forum meetings, whilst Phil Rigby continues as Manchester DA chairman.  On the bike we had members present at the CTC 125^th Anniversary Hostel weekend at Maeshafn in North Wales last May with a special anniversary ride around Llangollen on the Sunday. 

Members also attended York Rally, Mildenhall Rally and the Birthday Rides, and there was the usual Bank Holiday Youth Hostelling and members touring abroad. This year a large group went on a tour of the Dolomites in August, and we had riders at the Semaine Federale in France.

The Sunday club runs have been generally well attended with new members showing up and some staying with it.. The weather has been kind to us this year so maybe that has something to do with it.  Early in the year we saw the return of old regular John Merritt to the ranks, but alas he has since disappeared again.

A major issue this year is that accountability arising mainly from today’s ‘compensation culture’ will probably mean that in future the club will have to formalise events with entry forms and the like, and members new and old will most likely have to be issued with details of rules and procedures. We have sent a list of regular club runs riders to Head Office so that in the event of a claim against us the chances are that at least one rider on any given club run will be officially registered at Head Office and therefore no one should be personally liable to a claim against them in the event of an accident.

Alan Webb is doing a great job in writing very interesting and readable club run reports for the Bury Times, but we still do not have a contributor for ‘B’ ride reports.

John Butterworth was presented with a framed ‘Certificate of Merit’ at the quiz night by Phil Rigby on behalf of the Section in thanks for services rendered in promoting cycling in Bury.

Generally it’s been a good year for the club – the only low being poor attendance by

members at club meetings.  And it is worth remembering that it is the usual few club stalwarts who attend runs regularly that are holding this Section together.

Finally, we have to report that John Crossthwaite has resigned as Section Secretary after fifteen years in the job.  John’s leisure activities are now focussed more on walking  rather than cycling and the Section thank him for his services over the years and we wish him well.  He will be missed by the club, but we hope not to lose contact altogether and hope that he will continue with his cycling.