ABOUT US
London Clarion Cycle Club is a cycling club located in London. We are one London's oldest cycling institutions, founded in 1895. The Clarion cycling movement was itself established in 1894 by staff and readers of the Clarion newspaper, a socialist journal of the day started by Robert Blatchford. The Clarion motto, borrowed from William Morris, is “Fellowship is Life”, thus the aim of the club is to promote goodwill and fellowship through cycling. Our cycling club promotes socialist, anti-fascist, and feminist values while maintaining a collective and politically minded approach.
A friendly and inclusive Cycling Club
Our calendar includes many unique club rides throughout the year, spanning distances from a leisurely 20 miles to a more challenging 100 miles, encompassing both themed excursions and training sessions. Our club calendar also has weekends away including a trip to Dieppe in France each June.
Club Membership
Welcoming riders of all backgrounds and skill levels, our doors are open to those who share our passion for cycling and our values of inclusivity and solidarity. A baseline speed of 12mph or 20kph is recommended. Membership of London Clarion Cycle Club is available for £25, which includes third-party liability insurance and exclusive discounts at bike shops across London.
CLUB HISTORY
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The London Clarion Cycle Club was first mentioned in the Clarion newspaper on 11th May 1895 by W H Crisp, who was looking for members to join the club. W H Crisp resided at 45 Wirtemberg Street in Clapham SW4, which was later renamed Stonhouse Street. The inaugural ride of the London Clarion Cycle Club took place on 25th May 1895 from Sydenham Station to Farnborough.
On 4th July 1896, the Clarion reported the formation of a North London Clarion Cycling Club, with a ride to Hatfield. By July 1898, the HQ for the North London club had moved to the North London Socialist Club on 30 Durham Road, Finsbury Park. Later that year, a Bohemian Concert was organized by South London members at the Albion Hotel, Ludgate Circus. In 1899, a club ride from Balham to Banstead Corner for an annual picnic at Otford was held on 18th June.
FELLOWSHIP IS LIFE
Fellowship is Life - The Story of the National Clarion Cycling Club by the late Denis Pye - (3rd Updated Edition 2022)
"Fellowship is Life" wrote Tom Groom, who, with six other Labour Church timbers, formed the first Clarion Cycling Club in Birmingham over a century ago, and lived long enough to celebrate the 50-Year Jubilee of The National Clarion.
In the cycle-crazy 1890s, Tom and his comrades linked the coming of the Safety Bicycle with the founding of the popular Socialist weekly The Clarion, starting a movement which swept the country in the years before the First World War.
Cycling offered ordinary men and women an escape from the world of long working hours and poor living conditions. The 'magic wheel' also gave them an enjoyable way of spreading the message that Socialism could change that world.
As well as the weekend rides, holiday tours, concerts and dances, Clarionettes supported the horse-drawn caravans which carried Socialist ideas and ideas and organisation all over Britain. There were Clarion Cyclists' Clubhouses (holiday-homes in the country), Clarion Choirs and Dramatic Societies, Handicraft and Photographic Guilds, Field and Rambling Clubs - all with a Socialist purpose, and together providing a whole way of life.
Between the wars, many members took up cycle-racing. Clarion teams travelled abroad to compete in Workers' Olympiads under the slogan 'Peace Through Sport'. The paper, the Vans, and most of the rest (apart from a number of Choirs) have long since faded away - but the Clarion Cycling Club has survived to celebrate its centenary and move into the 21st century.
Fellowship is Life is the story of a Cycling Club unlike any other, told by a writer who believes with Ivan Ilich that "Socialism will only come riding on a bicycle".
Denis Pye retired early from teaching in schools and colleges. He was a member of the Clarion Cycling Club's National Committee for more than twenty years.
This is a newly updated edition of this classic Club history.
