大象传媒

CYCLING
[Ronald Eric Gould, born 12/7/1928, an Evacuee from Guernsey, left the Vauxbelets School in the summer of 1942 and was working at Pratchetts, Clayton Heights. Edited extracts from typescript.]

I was able to make a little extra money some weekends as we all had to do firewatch duty, which meant being on the premises in case there was an air raid and to put out any fires if any incendiary bombs landed on the works. Very few of the men wanted to do the Saturday night turn and I was always offered extra to take their turn, which suited me as I always managed to sleep and earned extra.

Later I found a cycle frame for sale and bought wheels and bits, and pieces from other people and managed to put together a rideable bike. Someone managed to find me some narrow strips of aluminium and Horace Hart, our Foreman, who was a skilled sheet metal worker, beat them into the shape of mudguards - a great help!

In the Easter of 1943, on the Good Friday, I decided to go for a ride on my bike. I had never been farther than work, but it was a lovely day and a few hours later I found myself at Ilkley, many miles away. I was so pleased with myself I asked my Auntie if I could have some sandwiches and on the Sunday, after looking at the map, I set off for York and I got there and back - all together over 100 miles! After that there was no stopping me, every Sunday morning I would creep out of the house while everyone was asleep, get on my bike and I was off - rain or shine, it did not matter what the weather was, all on my own, all day - I loved it! Remember, at this time the cyclist was king, there were very few cars on the roads, not like today. Later, one day on my way home I met up with a group of cyclists and they said "Why don't you join us?" and they seemed a very nice group so I did. From then on, every Sunday, I went all over Yorkshire with the "Bradford Elite Cycling Club" and I had a wonderful time with them. Every Sunday we covered about 100 miles and in all that time I had no punctures or any other mishaps. I was very lucky to be able to do this and get out on a Sunday as Mum and the girls had no way of doing the same.
All the time I was cycling I had this great wish that I wanted to see the sea, but as you may well know Bradford is nearly in the middle of England as far as East and West is concerned.
Anyway, I looked at my map one Saturday night and I thought to myself "Blackpool" sounds a lot better than "Hull" or "Grimsby", so studying my map I decided the quickest route was a straight line, or as near as possible, remember I had to be back the same night. I was not allowed to use the Youth Hostels, so I set off to Halifax, Todmorden, Rawtenstall and onto Blackburn at around dinnertime, but looking at the map I knew that no way was I going to make it and if I kept on and got to the sea I would not make it back that night, What I had not taken into consideration was that the route I chose was very nearly all cobbles and besides jarring your body to pieces, they knocked many miles per hour off of your speed. This was my only attempt and sad to say, I had to wait until June 1945 and our return home to see the sea.

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