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Sheffield don wheelers

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Is there anybody out there who remembers the sheffield don wheelers cycling club,and sid harmers bike shop on staniforth road,

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Hi jeffk,

Yes, I was a life member of SDW and was one of the members who wound up the club in 1975.

My Mum and Dad joined me in the club at 3 month old as they were active riders before and during the 2nd world war, they were also firm friends of Sid and Gladys Harmer. I started solo riding with the club in 1959 and was active right through the 1960s. Club members used Sid's shop as a meeting place and I spent many hours on a Saturday afternoon there. Sid and Gladys moved to Devon and wound up the cycle shop around 1965 and that created the need for a clubhouse but it was never as popular as our Saturday afternoons at the shop. as a consequence club activity went into a slow decline and by the early 70's nobody was turning wheels. Jack Holmes, the club president, finally decided he wanted to retire and so the club had its final meeting in 1975 in order to wind things up.

I have some very fond memories of that time of my life and still have my club badge and some photos spanning my riding days with the SDW.

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I won the club 10 mile championship on the todwick course with a time of 26 minutes and 1 second  in 1959 

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On 6/11/2018 at 4:17 PM, CESsheffor18 said:

Hi jeffk,

Yes, I was a life member of SDW and was one of the members who wound up the club in 1975.

My Mum and Dad joined me in the club at 3 month old as they were active riders before and during the 2nd world war, they were also firm friends of Sid and Gladys Harmer. I started solo riding with the club in 1959 and was active right through the 1960s. Club members used Sid's shop as a meeting place and I spent many hours on a Saturday afternoon there. Sid and Gladys moved to Devon and wound up the cycle shop around 1965 and that created the need for a clubhouse but it was never as popular as our Saturday afternoons at the shop. as a consequence club activity went into a slow decline and by the early 70's nobody was turning wheels. Jack Holmes, the club president, finally decided he wanted to retire and so the club had its final meeting in 1975 in order to wind things up.

I have some very fond memories of that time of my life and still have my club badge and some photos spanning my riding days with the SDW.

Was Jack Holmes any relation to Henry Holmes who had a bike shop on London Road.

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Jack and Henry were brothers, their sister Gladys was married to Sid Harmer.

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4 hours ago, CESsheffor18 said:

Jack and Henry were brothers, their sister Gladys was married to Sid Harmer.

I passed Henry's old bike shop on London road (on mi bike) just this last week and thought of all the Wonderfull bike frames he used to display in his front window , Mercian's, Briggs, Taylors, Freddie Grubs just to name a few .

Along with these wonders (to me being around 14 at time and not being able to afford them) were stronglight cranks and chain wheels as well as Campag, Benilux and Simplex gears and Fiamme sprint wheels.

Aladdins cave it was ,To me any way.

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A lad called Barry Pashley worked for Henry in the London Road shop, Barry used to train with Wes Mason.

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1 hour ago, Runningman said:

A lad called Barry Pashley worked for Henry in the London Road shop, Barry used to train with Wes Mason.

I rode with Wes Mason on a few Sunday club runs , the runs always turned into a "Devil take the hind most "coming back up Baslow  or Curber  often after a 90 mile round trip into the peaks. Then there was the sprint for the Pewit cafe and Mrs Thompsons  mug  of dark brown tea followed by  beans on toast .

Edited by Albert smith

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Sorting through some old family heirlooms recently & re-discovered a Don Wheelers award badge that belonged to my father, Thomas Quick (Tom / Tommy) . Engraved on the back " 1930  DARNALL - BIRCOATS - TINSLEY -RECORD   T. QUICK  1H 44M 50S".  Born in July 1911 he would have been 19 or 20 years old at the time & lived in the Attercliffe area.

I made a comment to my wife that it would probably take the same time or more in a car with todays traffic!

It was only after my father passed away that I found out that wife's father had been a member of Mexborough Wheelers in his younger days & may well have attended the same meets as both had talked about the meets at Blyth cafe. Wife's father, John (Jack) Hall, has a memorial seat on Blyth Church green, the area that all the cyclists used to congregate.

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I am hoping some of you might have memories of the Sheffield Central Club.

Any memories, especially names would be appreciated !

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4 of us from the 1950 intake to King Teds GS joined the Sheffield Sports CC in1954 .After a couple of years  Andy Middlemiss and Peter Booth joined the Central to further their road racing interest whilst I (Rod Goodfellow)and Pete Connelly stayed with the Sports.Eventually Andy returned to the Sports and is still there and lives in Dronfield. Up till Covid there has been an annual joint Sports and Central get together meal and ride.where Barry?Huckstep ex Central attended regularly.We also had a reunion visit to King Teds where we were entertained to coffee and biscuits by the Headmistress and toured the School

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I know it's a long shot, but I am interested to find any records relating to the Central club !

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