Letter - 'The post-war period when motorcycle clubs flourished'

These events were quite popular from the post-war period up to the early 1960s when motorcycle clubs flourished, as did car clubs (and not the Hells Angels sort). These gymkhanas were usually held in conjunction with local fundraising events and part of town carnivals; the photos are probably of the Winchester club who also run motorcycle scrambles at Morestead.

My own local club was Petersfield, which also held similar events. One quite big event in 1959 was fundraising for the open-air swimming pool, and was joined by the Waterlooville club to get more riders and a bit of competition. Another was to help raise funds for a local village recreation ground at Liss Forest.

(Image: Hampshire Chronicle/Hampshire Cultural Trust) That was back in 1962 and the last the club-run events were to provide some harmless fun – egg and spoon races, pram races and sledge races, where the sledge or pram was occupied by one man and towed behind the bike with a length of rope.

Obstacle races had a rider and a pillion passenger. One had to get off the bike to overcome/endure various obstacles. In one circuit of the oval circuits, climbing through tyres in your photos was a  favourite (for the organiser).

Another obstacle was removing apples from tubs of water using only your teeth, followed by removing boiled sweets or fruit from trays full of flowers, then drinking a pint of beer quickly and then some cream crackers laid out on dishes, getting off the bike after each obstacle made it more difficult – getting wet and dipping your head in the flour did get one in a mess – then it was the pillion passengers turn for another lap.

It was good fun and hilarious for the numerous spectators when there was not much entertainment in those post-war years. Just after the war, bikes were very often pre-war and quite rugged. It was a case of removing the headlight and silencer and go.

There were also some races around the circuit but nobody ever seemed to get hurt with a few straw bales on the corners to stop riders from hitting the crowd. Looking back to one year, the local motorcycle shop advertised for old prams for the race which that year was on Petersfield Heath supporting the town carnival, the prams that were donated included a lot of wickerwork. They were large-wheeled Victorian and Edwardian prams and they all got wrecked. Nobody worried, but nowadays they no doubt would be worth a lot of cash on Antiques Roadshow.

Nigel McBurney,
Petersfield Road,
Monkwood,
Alresford

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