Tyneside Vagabonds Cycling Club – the early years
The club was founded as Vagabonds CC in April 1937, in Gateshead. There were eight founder members and membership had grown to 35 by the date of the first AGM in February 1938. This meeting took place at the Central Hotel, Half Moon Lane, a pub which exists to this day, at the southern end of the High Level Bridge. The driving force behind the formation of the club was R N (Bob) Johnston, who became the first Club Secretary.
The club’s oldest trophy was presented by Bob Johnston. First awarded in 1937, it is now awarded to the winner of the Long Distance Best All Rounder competition.
AGMs took place until January 1941, when the club was forced to disband as all active members were in His Majesty’s Forces. The club revived after the war, with the first post-war AGM being held on 21 January 1947. It was agreed at that meeting to amalgamate with Fenham and Tyneside Wheelers, which had formed as two separate clubs in 1935 and 1936 respectively. The new name for the club was put to a vote with Tyneside Vagabonds CC being preferred to Vagabond Wheelers CC by 13 votes to 8. The date of amalgamation was 4 February 1947.
By the start of the 1947/48 season the Clubroom was a hut at the Bensham Grove Settlement, Sydney Grove, Gateshead. At a Financial General Meeting on 5 June 1950, it was reported that the club hut was due to be pulled down, and the club began to look for alternatives.
By 1951 when current President, Hugh Harrison, joined the club, the clubroom was at 9 Catherine Terrace, Gateshead, where there was a set-up with rollers which enabled racing with mechanically controlled rotating arrows to show who was ahead.
By 1955 the club had bought a snooker hall in North Walbottle for £100. It was very successful. Hugh recalls that in 1961 when he stopped riding for a period, the hut was still owned by the club. At this time North Walbottle was an isolated pit village beyond the edge of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne. The area is now the major suburban housing estate of Chapel Park. Very few of the old terraced houses that were associated with the pit village remain today. The hut is long gone.
One thing which catches the eye in the 1951 Club Handbook (‘Introduced for the 1951 Season’) are the Club Place to Place Records. Five challenges are listed; Alnwick, Alston, Darlington, Otterburn and Edinburgh – each starting and returning to Newcastle GPO (General Post Office). The distance given for Edinburgh suggests the route was via Carter Bar. There is no record of any of these challenges being completed.
The 1950’s saw the high point of both recreational and competitive cycling nationally before a decline in that decade and into the 1960’s. The Vagabonds’ membership declined so that by the early 1960’s the club was effectively moribund. A chance meeting between Hugh Harrison and Jack Elder, who became Chairman, led to the reforming of the club in September 1973. Bob Johnson became President and Peter Quince Secretary.
The Vagabonds have organised the Mountain Time Trial since 1947.
With thanks to Hugh Harrison and Janet Longstaff.