TA EAST E-NEWS 15TH OCTOBER 2013 
To TA East members and friends
From Ferg Muir
As advertised in the TA Gazette we have a TA East Meet THIS SATURDAY OCTOBER 19TH starting with coffee at THE OSIERS TEAROOM at the Museum of East Anglian Life at Stowmarket.

The Gazette doesn’t give the lunchplace however – as, hearing that there had yet again been changes in Debenham, I decided to wait & see. However I can now tell you that lunch will be at THE ANGEL in DEBENHAM, a pub which has -through many ownerships – always looked after us very well.
The landlady – who was formerly in charge at the Woolpack, up the hill – has come out of retirement to take on a reduced-size Angel. She sounded very welcoming. There is no need to book. Further details at the end of this newsletter.

Should you, by any chance, fancy owning a traditional Indian tricycle rickshaw, there is one for sale in the window Aladdin’s Antiques Market in Magdalen Street, Norwich, very close to the where the flyover goes over the top. Front end is by Indian Manufacturer NEELAM and very like an old fashioned policeman’s bike with two parallel top tubes. Back end is battered but looks genuine – decorated almost gypsy-style and with markings indicating it was once registered No 140 by The Rickshaw Co. in Jallandur, Punjab.

Enthusiasm to purchase may be dampened by the price tag of £1050.

But, having inspected it, you could recover with a strong coffee in the cyclists cafe/workshop THE DANDY HORSE, which is on the opposite side of Magdalen St rather nearer the city centre – at No 27 – and which is proving to have a definite bias towards classic machines – and a place where you can read back copies of Rouleur the stylish (that’s an understatement ) £10 a copy cycling magazine.

Incidentally whilst on holiday in BRISTOL, I was taken to the ROCK FOR THE SOUL
community cyclist’s cafe in Quay Street, Bristol city centre. High, spacious, voluntary-run, but quite busy on a Sunday afternoon – as indeed is the whole of Bristol centre. Seemed a long way from any water to be called Quay Street, but I guess there must be some history in the name.

Riding though COMBE DOWN TUNNEL – over a mile long and just opened as part of the Two Tunnels cycleway near Bath was quite an experience. It is over a mile long and 300 feet below the land surface at the deepest point.
Not many people about at 4pm on a Tuesday. An astonishing silence inside. Dimly lit. As you approach the mid-point you gradually realise you are hearing the recorded sound of a single cello playing soulful music. Website atwww.twotunnels.org.uk/

TA members will be aware of the Bill Finch Memorial 25 which several of us rode earlier this year.
Sadly Bill Finch’s brother Bob died this July. BOB FINCH was event secretary for several TA East 12 Hours in the early Seventies, when the event was run with West Suffolk Wheelers 12 Hour – certainly in 1971& 1972 (Thanks to Mick Pepper for sorting out this information) as well as the RTTC Championship in 1973 – where I was off No 1, riding trike.

Bob was certainly sent off with a bang – a tremendous thunderstorm broke over the West Suffolk Crematorium at Risby during the funeral and as Don Picking stood up to give the eulogy lightning struck the crematorium chimney, there was a crash, the lights went out and the fire alarms went off.

On the subject of funerals, details of The Funeral of ARTHUR COMER, long-serving TA South West Regional Official, have just been announced:-
It will be at Westerleigh Crematorium (BS37 8QP) on Wednesday 23rd October at 3.00 pm.

Afterwards Arthur’s friends will meet at the Old Inn Westerleigh. If you plan to go please let John Thompson know so he can tell those organising how many to expect. John’s contact details are in the new TA Address list that is arriving on our doormats this week.

Sadly I never met Arthur, though I now realise I must have been drinking in the George Inn at Frocester, not very far away, when he died in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol.

It will be just 58 years ago tomorrow (October 16th 1955) when he became a committee member of the newly formed TA South Western Region at its inaugural meeting Tetbury. And judging by “Some Members Mileages for 1958” in the Spring ’59 Gazette Arthur was some trike rider – he had covered 10,146 miles on trike in 1958, out of a total of 14,362.

Finally -back to the EAST. There have been successful weekends at the Comet Hut (courtesy of Mike Keen and the LVCC) and at Harby near Lincoln (courtesy of Pete Holland and the Lincoln Whs) but I think I had better get this TA East E-News into your hands in time to plan to join us on Saturday:

We will be starting with coffee (10.45-11.15 am very approx) at the Osiers Tearoom, Museum of East Anglian Life, near ASDA in STOWMARKET, Grid Ref: TL047586 and then a short rural ride to the “ANGEL” near the north end of the main street of DEBENHAM TM173635.
If you do not find the TA indoors, remember to check the garden, just through the carriage-arch.Hope to see many of you there!

Ferg Muir 01603 615000 fergusmuir@btinternet