Portsmouth CTC
Part of Cycling UK
This document was produced by the Railway Path Project based in Bristol - a precursor to Sustrans. It was commissioned by the Havant and District Safe Cycling Campaign - many of the activists were Portsmouth CTC members including current members Keith Wileman and Mike Edwards.
The document was aspirational but you can see much of what became the Billy Trail in the proposal.
All the pages of the proposal follow as scanned images. Click on sections of the document to zoom in to that section.
If you are considering becoming a ride leader, there is plenty of support and training available to you.
Hampshire County Council is conducting a survey of the views of visitors to their country parks. This is an opportunity for us to express likes and dislikes of aspects of the parks.
There are two - very similar surveys:
I've been sent a souvenir programme of the 1932 South of England Cyclists' rally organised by Portsmouth CTC (then the Portsmouth District Association) and the Portsmouth Centre of the National Association of Cycle and Motor Cycle Traders. It's a fascinating piece of history.
Portsmouth DA put up a prize of a years' CTC membership to "the cyclist not already in a cycling club, making what the Committee considers to be the most meritorious ride to the Rally".
"Our Message" on page 5 applies equally well today as it did in 1932!
Our thanks to Gwelda Swindells who found the programme while going through the belongings of a deceased relative and who took the trouble to get in touch and send it on to us.
These are the pages of the programme, click any page to see a larger image (if you have a big screen).
Last Monday I attended the launch meeting of the Portsmouth Cycling Forum cycling strategy for Portsmouth which was well attended by City Counsellors and senior Officers as well as Representatives of British Cycling and other interested parties. Jon Spencer as chairman of the PCF made the launch presentation and emphasised that it had been formulated by the PFC in response to a challenge by Donna Jones the leader of the Council and covered five key action areas: Safety; Transport; Equality; Leisure; and Planning.
You can see the strategy document here.
This is obviously a very important forward move for Cycling in Portsmouth and Donna Jones has responded very favourably and wishes to progress the city policies to incorporate the strategy and will be holing further meetings to this end with John in the near future.
The next meeting of the Portsmouth Cycling Forum, at which the Strategy will be presented, is on the same day as our AGM 13th November. Even so, it would be good if Portsmouth were well represented.
The new season starts on Thursday 9th October at 7:45pm. Everyone is welcome.
The attached Portsmouth Water Company newsletter touches on 2 or 3 cycling issues I have made in magazine items over the last year. In particular PWC have made improvements to the east and west sections of the cycle route around the proposed reservoir site.
A group of us went to Guildhall Square in Portsmouth to visit the 'Exchanging Places' event organised by John Gosling, Managing Director of TJ Transport Limited, working with Portsmouth Council and the Police.
It allowed us to see a driver's view of cyclists and to discuss safety issues directly with HGV drivers and operators.
The picture on the right was featured in the Portsmouth News and shows: me, Tony Light and John Gosling.
Our first barbecue event for some time is hailed a resounding success when three separate groups of cyclists, starting from The Spring Centre in Havant, converged at Benhams barbecue area in QE Park around 1pm on Saturday 16th August. Many others cycled direct or came by car.
The following short video clip captures the weather, the banter and the party atmosphere on the day.
Finally, many thanks to Alison and Geoff Newman, who made this terrific event so successful with their hard work feeding so many hungry mouths.
You can see Alison's photos from the day here.
Until I saw this video, I had no idea what a derailleur hanger was, or what it did. It turns out to be a useful part to know about and is easily replaced if necessary...
Checking/replacing a drailleur hanger