Where to park your bike securely in Central London

 

Free bike parking with security cameras

The City of London car parks provide secure parking free for bicycles (and motorcycles)  

Baynard House near Blackfriars EC4V 4BQ:  Free for bikes, 24h security, humans on site - extra bike racks outside glass fronted security office, accessible toilet (according to the Facebook group London Cycling)

Another recommended one is near the Barbican on London Wall ​EC2V 5DY which is an underground car park.

Other City of London car parks which provide free secure parking for bicycle are:

Minories E1 8LP

Smithfield EC1A 9DS

Tower Hill EC3R 6DT

For more information: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/parking/motorcycles-and-bicycles

Paid for secure bike parking 

This has been recommended on another websites:  https://www.spokesafe.com 

Some locations include lockers, repair stations, pumps and charging points for ebikes

The story of CLOG – how it started and the War*

The story of CLOG – how it started and the War*

*By Bob C based on his interpretation of "The First Ten Years" - our official history published in 1947 (author unknown).

The social side
CLOG (originally the Central London local group of the Youth Hostels Association) was founded on 1 March 1937. It has survived many crises in its 83 years, most notably the Second World War, which broke out only two years after it had been formed and whose restrictions in some ways reflected the current Coronavirus crisis restrictions. So let’s look at how it survived and went on to thrive. This is my interpretation of its history so apologies for any inaccuracies!

It might seem strange to start with the social side of CLOG rather than the outdoor programme but this was always as important as the shared love of the outdoors. It kept the group together through times when outdoor events were difficult and even now in the current Coronavirus crisis, the group is still trying ways of keeping together through social initiatives such as Julie’s virtual quiz which 25 members “attended”.
Until the 21st Century there were weekly social meetings in a regular venue (often referred to as “the Clubroom”). These weekly social meetings were the main way to find out what outdoor events were coming up and to book on trips in those pre-Internet days. They were also a good way to chat to friends and get to know each other.

It began when a meeting was held at the Young Women’s Christian Association, Great Russell St to set up the CLG (Central London Group). An Australian, Phil Victorsen, had asked the regional office of the newly-formed Youth Hostels Association (YHA) in Toynbee Hall, Aldgate if he could set up a local group. They advised him to write to YHA members who lived in Central London. 40 people attended the first meeting and they started by renting a room at Kingly St off Carnaby St.
Social evenings began at 5.30pm with chatting, people playing a piano, table tennis and mini-billiards. At 7.30pm there was a talk by a guest speaker or slides by members of their holidays (later on quizzes became popular). At 9pm Phil jumped on a chair and announced forthcoming events. There was then an interval for tea, biscuits, folk dancing accompanied by the piano and people booking hostel weekends directly with the trip leader. Then there was a sing-song till 10.30pm before adjourning to milk bars (the coffee shops of the day).

At that time the socials were especially to welcome new members who were recorded in a visitors’ book. A photo album of events was shown to all the new members who turned up. People were expected to pay a shilling (5p) a week but this was never insisted on.

A recurrent nightmare for organisers has always been nobody turning up. In January 1938, only one other person turned up for the Yo-Ho Pioneer Glee Club, a singing sub-group of CLOG. It had all started so well with 40 people signing up to learn how to sing. “Ben” Bennett, the organiser, tried to teach them to sing properly but his manner seemed to upset them and they resented being stopped in the middle of a song to be told where they’d gone wrong. Len Brown, the other person who had turned up, took it over and ran it along less Spartan lines, letting people warble along in their own slipshod way. It continued until the war.

Weekly social meetings had started in January 1938 and in the early years were held in many different venues as CLOG tried to find suitable premises. In 1938 they alternated every week between Kingly St (led by the aforementioned singing sub-section) and St Anne’s School, Dean St (also in Soho). By July 1939 this school hall had become too expensive.
The solution was to move to a cheaper school hall in Judd Street, King’s Cross. This involved lots of small children taking the p*** as half a dozen members carried the group’s belongings across Central London. At the time these consisted of a huge blue enamelled kettle, two large china jugs, a magic lantern (slide projector) box full of a motley collection of donated cups and saucers, a duplicator, a typewriter, a noticeboard and lots of camping equipment. Presumably they didn’t take their piano!

When war was declared, large meetings were banned by the Government and most socials were cancelled. The meeting place in Judd St was commandeered but the group continued to hold occasional meetings in Great Ormond St hostel (known as GOSH). The common room was blacked out but they were able to use the front room in the basement instead (one of many basements that the group met in over the years). They were unable to continue with the sing-songs in the hostel.

In 1940 it was taken over by the AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service) and the group had nowhere to meet. By this stage they were down to half a dozen members as most had been called up or evacuated. They met for a few weeks in Mickie Hartwell’s bedroom in Holland Park while Len Brown, her boyfriend, looked for rooms to rent. He found two rooms with a kitchenette in Holborn at 37 Great James St. Little did they know it at the time but the group was to continue meeting in this flat till 1970.

There was no furniture so the members furnished it themselves. They made benches out of scrap timber, bought half a dozen chairs in a second-hand shop and transported them on the tube. Members donated two settees and several armchairs. From the hostel they rescued camping equipment, crockery, a rug that they had been making and an old organ (which they were restoring!) to accompany sing-songs. However the ARP (air raid wardens) and AFS had nicked their primus stoves.

A New Members’ Evening attracted 20-30 new people but the Blitz forced meetings to switch from Thursday evenings to Saturday afternoons and only 14 people turned up to the next AGM which was inquorate.

In December 1940, the area was badly bombed. The local café and bakery where the group used to buy tea and buns were reduced to heaps of rubble but somehow the flat had miraculously survived. In January 1941 the clubroom doors and windows were blown off, it was repeatedly showered in glass and a burst pipe flooded the kitchen and caused the ceiling to collapse. The blast-damaged windows were boarded up and meetings continued.

When the Blitz ended in 1941 Thursday evening meetings resumed and a social sub-section was set up to run things. Over time, socials started attracting about 30 members again. In May 1944, a New Members’ Evening attracted 60 prospective members of whom 20 joined but this was temporarily reduced again as many dropped out during the flying bombs and rocket attacks. Eventually the Blackout was lifted and the group joined people marking VE Day and VJ Day by celebrating in Piccadilly.

By the summer of 1946, up to 60 people were attending socials in a room which comfortably held only 30 people. The group found a larger clubroom in Holborn Youth Centre, St Giles High St and alternated Thursday evenings between there and 37 Great James St. The group held a Xmas party inviting several former members who had married and now had babies or toddlers. The social programme expanded to include trips to theatres, places of interest and dances.
However they were given notice to quit Great James St following a complaint from a neighbour. Apparently some of “the youths in our charge” had lit a Guy Fawkes bonfire. In fact, they had given the remains of two old decrepit sofas to some small boys for their own bonfire but this was a matter of detail.

The group started looking for another meeting place. They couldn’t move to the Holborn Youth Centre on a weekly basis as their average age (then 23-24 years old!) was above the official youth centre age (14-20 years old). The group wrote to letting agents but their letters went unanswered and in any case many rooms had been made uninhabitable by the Blitz. Finally the landlord relented and allowed them to stay but he did put up the rent!

Next week – the Outdoor Programme

The story of CLOG – how it started and the War part 2

The story of CLOG – how it started and the War part 2

*By Bob C based on his interpretation of "The First Ten Years"
- our official history published in 1947 (author unknown).

The outdoor programme

The main purpose of the group was to organise weekends away with occasional day walks on Sundays. At this time many people still worked Saturday mornings but there were hostel trips every weekend leaving after lunch on Saturday. Cheaper weekends were organised for new members near London at Chaldon (in the North Downs), Epping Forest and Ivinghoe (in the Chiltern Hills). The total cost was 5 shillings (25p). Half of this was the train fare and the other half covered the bed and self-catering.

There was a short-lived experiment hiring coaches picking up members on Saturday at 2pm from Charing X and taking them to under-used hostels further afield which were hard to reach by train such as Patcham (in the South Downs) and Cross-in-Hand (in the Weald). In 1938 a camping sub-section was also formed.

The outbreak of war briefly ended weekend trips. At the beginning, nobody felt like going away and the YHA offered many hostels to the ARP (Air Raid Precautions). Holmbury St Mary (in the Surrey Hills), Ivinghoe and Flackwell Heath (both in the Chiltern Hills) all closed. Holmbury reopened after the war and still exists as a hostel.

However it turned out to be a “phoney war” to begin with. The Ministry of Labour & National Service, Ministry of Supply and Board of Education all encouraged young people to get out into the countryside at weekends. The exercise was felt to be healthy for young people waiting for military training or being drafted over to France, on leave or working long hours in factories in artificial light. Despite this, walkers were unpopular with transport officials because they were using travel facilities for pleasure which was not considered essential.

Soon a scaled-back programme of hostel weekends was organised, often ignoring “Keep Out” signs where the army had taken over large areas of the countryside such as the Surrey Hills and walking through military areas unmolested. There was rationing but it didn’t really affect hostel meals (they may have been quite small anyway!)

The group continued to have weekly trips through the Blitz. On Saturdays they had lunch at a café followed by a couple of hours in the clubroom before taking a Green Line coach to a hostel just as the air raids were starting. They would walk all day on the Sunday then take the train back in the evening. Taking the coach out and the train back was a way of keeping the cost down as coaches were cheaper. However this was no longer an option when Green Line coaches were withdrawn and converted into ambulances.

The group had a tradition of bank holiday camping weekends. These had been suspended because of travel disruption due to regular weekend invasion scares (possibly instigated by the Government to test readiness) and the fact that the Home Guard were very nervy and likely to take pot shots at people camping. However in 1942 these longer trips resumed and a summer camp was held near Basingstoke in Hampshire with young Austrian refugees as guests.

When the war ended travelling became easier but not cheaper. YHA membership and interest in trips soared but half the hostels had closed permanently or had to be refurbished due to damage from being requisitioned during the war. In the summer hostels had to be booked two or three months ahead, even if the group were helping to repair war damage.

Supporting the YHA

The secondary purpose of the group was to support the YHA. The group adopted GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hostel in Bloomsbury) helping out there two evenings a week and sometimes at weekends. They redecorated the hostel and organised dances on Saturday evenings. Every evening volunteers from the group ran a desk giving information about travelling, selling tickets and YHA stuff (such as hostel handbooks). They also organised trips to the Proms for people staying at the hostel.

There were also working parties at Holmbury St Mary, Ewhurst (also in Surrey) and Speen (in the Chiltern Hills). Cutting logs for firewood at Holmbury was especially popular. These working parties lasted till the Second World War when hostels closed or rail fares became too pricey. After the Blitz working parties recommenced at Kemsing (in the North Downs) and Speen. There was no preference for people working at a hostel rather than walking; they still had to pay to stay in the hostel.

The YHA also used the group’s clubroom to hold their own meetings during the war. After the war the YHA reopened GOSH and opened another hostel in Taviton St, Euston. The group helped out by organising working parties at both hostels in exchange for being able to hold their Xmas Party at Taviton St hostel.

How the group was organised

Within six months, Phil Victorsen, the instigator of CLOG who was our first chairperson, resigned. It isn’t recorded why. Maybe there was a personality clash, maybe there was a sex scandal (only joking!) but he resigned unexpectedly. As the group’s first chair, he had been taken for granted as a fixture but of course there’s no such thing as a fixed piece of furniture. Chairs come and go and CLOG would have to find many more chairs over the course of the years.

The new chair was Cecil Malyon, one of many accountants, and it won’t surprise you to learn that he wrote the group’s constitution. He put CLOG on a firm footing but he was active in the YHA at a national level and basically burnt out so he resigned in 1939. Mickie Hartwell (who was to become Mickie Brown) took over as Chair. She was to steer CLOG through the war.

When war broke out, many local groups folded. This nearly happened to CLOG. In 1940 an inquorate AGM voted by 9 votes to 5 to disband the group for the time being (possibly permanently), give notice to quit the clubroom and put their furniture into storage at GOSH. However two members (Ralph Jones and Syd Worral) persuaded some others to ignore this on the basis that it couldn’t be binding as the meeting had been inquorate. So the group continued to meet. In January 1941 an Extraordinary General Meeting reduced the quorum to a more realistic figure, given that only about 15 members were still turning up. Eventually membership increased to about 30 members.

By 1942 there was a new influx of members who were refugees from abroad. Soon there were as many Dutch and Belgian members in the group as British ones but they didn’t always see eye-to-eye. A couple of Dutch sisters, Bubbles and Tuppenny (surely not their real names!), provided fresh impetus but they had very definite views on how they thought the group should be run (they had been in a YHA group of their own in Antwerp before the war). Bubbles’ real name was Margriet Barber and her sister Tuppeny was Vera Barber.

At the October 1942 AGM, they called on the group to be more lively and go-ahead and to do something useful. This was translated into having a competition to design and make a model youth hostel, colouring in Ordnance Survey maps, naming wildflowers picked on weekend trips and making cushion covers for the clubroom furniture. However, human nature being fickle and sluggish, meant that none of these tasks was ever completed and some weren’t even started!

They wanted the group to be involved in setting up an international YHA in London. There was some disagreement about this which ended in a friendly split. In summer 1943, the Dutch and some of the English members left CLOG to run an International Youth Centre. The rest of the members went back to knitting and a more humdrum existence. They remained good friends even when the Dutch returned to Europe after the war. Out of this, a new International Group was set up in London. To begin with this was more active than the Central London group though over time this changed. Many years later the groups effectively remerged when surviving members of the International Group joined the Central London group.

The finances

To begin with, renting a clubroom cost 25 shillings (£1.25) per week. As little as this may seem today, this was considered high and led to regular moves to new premises (there was also a crisis with people booking on trips then cancelling their places). When the group moved during the war to 37 Great James St the weekly rent cost 11 shillings (55p) per week (it is now unthinkable that a flat could be rented in Central London on a permanent basis yet only used for weekly meetings). The dozen members or so at this time kept it going by sharing the costs, paying the rent personally between them, taking turns to buy bags of Coalite, putting money in the gas and electricity meters etc. In February 1941, they rented out one of the rooms to a local councillor every Saturday

The news sheet

The first news sheet (now Clogprints) was published in 1938. It was edited by the chair (Cecil Malyon and then Mickie Hartnell) and produced on a typewriter. In the war the news sheet kept people in touch and came to be seen as vital. Members had been scattered by call-up and evacuation. Letters from members on service abroad and donations of money encouraged those at home to keep going. The news sheet ran a series of articles entitled “What our Members are Doing”. Members were charged a nominal price for the news sheet to cover the costs. The News Sheet was not without controversy. In November 1941, the editor was criticised for appealing more to former members away on service than to the members who had more recently joined. It was always difficult to please everyone.

These first two episodes have been based on a pamphlet called “The First Ten Years” (author unknown, published in 1947 for 1 shilling (5p). I wonder whether the author thought we would still be going 73 years later? Next week, we’ll find out what happened after the War and how this must have seemed doubtful at times…

The story of CLOG – after the War part 1

The story of CLOG – after the War part 1

By Bob C

The previous two parts about how CLOG started and the War were based on a pamphlet called “The First 10 Years” written by Len Brown, one of CLOG’s first chairs and presidents.

The next four parts (covering 1947 to 1987) are based on my interpretation of “CLG – 50 years young (a history of the Central London YHA Group)”. This was a booklet published for CLOG’s 50^th birthday (in 1987). It was edited by John Stebbings (who was then President) and co-written by myself and several others. Those of us who wrote it were mostly relatively recent members (I had joined in 1984 so was effectively still on probation!) This meant that we had to base it on our reading of old News Sheets.

In 1987 several of CLOG’s founding members were still alive though no longer members. However a small number of people who were around in the 50s and 60s were still members in 1987. These were Doreen Coben, Dick Parker, Bert Bonner, Barbara Bonner (nee Markwell), Barbara Mainwaring and Ellen Felton. I only dimly remember a couple of them.  Nevertheless I have mentioned some of them in this article in recognition of their contribution to the group.

The social side

As always, we begin with the social side. CLOG has come a long way since it began on 1 March 1937 and this is illustrated by how it has celebrated its birthday. The 10^th anniversary in 1947 was a dinner in London followed by a folk dance wearing trousers, caps and hobnailed boots. Over the years other reunions were held at hostels and hotels across the country. The 25^th anniversary included a birthday cake baked by Doreen Coben. Dick Parker swopped his day job as Headmaster to be a Toastmaster, reading out telegrams and tape recorded messages from the President, Len Brown and his wife Mickie (two of the founding members) who had moved to Malta. Remember when a Telegram was not a social media platform?  Remember tape recorders? Remember cassettes? Oh dear, CLOG has been going a long time.

By the end of the war the group was using a flat at 37 Great James Street, Holborn as its clubroom. Unthinkable now that it could ever have been affordable to rent a flat in Central London and only use it once a week. There were weekly social meetings and also external events such as theatre trips. All of this was organised by a social subsection of the committee which met monthly. They also cleaned and repaired the clubroom. This included getting coal for the fire (in short supply in 1950) and sweeping the chimney. In 1952 they were getting rid of rats and keeping the place secure after a break-in.

The social programme included talks on outdoor topics, lots of quizzes, discussions, grumble evenings, record evenings and treasure hunts. One quiz was called the “Brains Trust” but it relied more on trust than brains. There were also slide shows and colour slides were a special treat in the 50s. In 1953 George Wade, Michael Michaels, Bill Tozer and Olive Campbell were some of the instigators of a Photographic Section within the group.  However by 1955 interest had waned and it was wound up the following year. After the speaker, there was tea and then announcements of the forthcoming programme. Until the 70s evenings were run by a host or hostess; after that they were run by a social organiser.

In the 50s Dixie Lee organised a catering committee who cooked dinner in the kitchen of the Great James St flat for about 20 members who arrived early for the weekly meetings. It cost two and a half shillings (12 1/2p). Early arrivals could also play table tennis. At 7.30pm the door was locked and late arrivals had to ring a bell. However the bell was too distracting and had to be replaced by a buzzer. Smoking among the men was commonplace but notices told members that it was banned between 7.30pm and 9pm while speakers were giving talks. The smokers responded by forming an anti-knitting faction.

The main external activity was folk dancing. In 1947 the group went dancing at Ivinghoe hostel in Buckinghamshire, the Regent Street Poly (now the University of Westminster) and in Islington. There were competitions with other YHA local groups and CLOG briefly had its own band. Despite this the Social Sub-Section condemned the number of folk dances and arranged a gramophone recital of ballet music instead.

In 1948 the group danced at Cecil Sharp House in Primrose Hill (the main folk venue in London) and in 1950 it was dancing every week at the Inns of Court and also performed at an international folk festival. Many of these events were outdoors (despite bad weather) but that didn’t stop one member complaining about them to the News Sheet under the name of “keen outdoor type”. By 1956 the group was running folk dancing classes at Cecil Sharp House and making money out of it. In the 1960s membership increased and other events were tried such as boating, pitch & putt and ice skating. Interest in dancing began to wane and it had ceased by the late 70s.

By 1968 the weekly rent of the flat was still only 30 shillings (£1.50) but the group had to move due to redevelopment of the area. Barbara Mainwaring and Doreen Coben organised moving to another smaller but more expensive flat in nearby Red Lion Square. There was no kitchen so the group brought in fish & chips for early arrivals.

After the war, many members got married and weddings within the group were a monthly occurrence. Ellen Felton, who had been a dressmaker for the Queen, made the wedding dress for one member. The News Sheet had a column called Cupid’s Corner. John Stebbings complained about the “deplorable number of engagements” being announced. Many couples spent their honeymoons at hostels walking or cycling and one couple (Edna and Jim Eggleton) decided to become hostel wardens at Ely in Cambridgeshire.

Many couples went on to have families and from 1953 the group held an annual Christmas party for families in the clubroom and later in nearby Coram’s Fields. At their peak over 55 children and many more adults were attending the family parties. Doreen Coben warned the grown-ups that they came at “their own risk”. In 1967 an annual summer party for families started at Hindhead hostel in Surrey. Both of these parties lapsed in the 70s when most of the children had grown up.

How the group was organised

Persuading people to organise events has always been a challenge but in 1955 the AGM voted that all members should organise an outdoor or social event. At this stage there were 102 members and 42 of them organised an event in the following year. In subsequent years committees could only dream of a third of the membership organising events. The committee had additional posts dedicated to working parties, dancing and catering.

The finances

Initially the group sub-let the flat at Great James St to other YHA groups during the week; these included the International Group (a splinter group from CLOG) and other groups of YHA members sharing interests in cinema, farming and forestry. In this way each of these interest groups subsidised CLOG subscriptions so the annual membership fee in 1956 was only £1.30. In the early 60s it was £2.60 and by the end of the 60s it was £5.20.

The news sheet

For many years Clogprints was simply called the News Sheet. It was monthly and produced by stencils on a duplicator until photocopying arrived in the 1980s. There were sometimes spelling mistakes and grammatical errors which letter-writers delighted in pointing out. In the 40s and 50s there were regular adverts for selling equipment to other members such as rucksacks, boots, bicycles, breeches, walking jackets and even an electric razor!

The News Sheet also carried letters from students abroad wanting pen friends in London. There were other letters from members overseas on National Service as well as people simply wanting to air their views. In 1952 there was a letter criticising YHA for opening bigger hostels (such as Alfriston in Sussex) at the expense of closing smaller ones. It may have been written by the editor to provoke a debate but the writer was accused of being a “caveman” and correspondence went on for months about whether hostels should be primitive or luxurious. Fred Short, when editor, preferred writing articles himself as he found them easier to edit!

Next week – walks and trips after the War in the 50s and 60s

The story of CLOG – after the War part 2

The story of CLOG – after the War part 2

By Bob C

The outdoor programme

After the war the group was very active. There were many weekends away staying in hostels close to London including Tillingbourne in Surrey, Bracknell in Berkshire, Puckeridge in Hertfordshire, Ivinghoe in Buckinghamshire, Kemsing in Kent, Chaldon and Holmbury St Mary in Surrey. Only the last of these still exists. Weekends away were a bit different to today and hostels were not just places to stay but had a social side as well. Apart from walking the weekends involved treasure hunts, telling stories in front of the fire, having a sing-song accompanied by a member on the accordion and listening to classical music on a record player.

Clothes were still rationed and outdoor gear didn’t exist. Members wore ex-army breeches, surplus gear and hob nailed boots. There were no waterproof jackets in those days so members wore army ground sheets and gas capes down to their ankles. Most walks stopped at tea shops (some members complained there were too many stops). In later years many tea shops closed down and walks stopped at pubs instead. Ironic that we have now come full circle and many members prefer visiting tea shops to pubs!

Until the early 60s many members still worked on Saturday mornings so walking weekends usually began on Saturday afternoon (though cycling trips managed to get away on Friday evenings). After the war London buses, country buses and Green Line coach were used to reach the countryside near London and then members walked to the hostels. By the mid-50s most trips were using trains rather than buses. Cars were not used till the 70s and the YHA did not allow people to arrive by car till then either. Some members tried to hitch lifts from car drivers to get to places further afield such as Shropshire and Dorset but often found themselves stranded. A couple of female members had to be rescued by a coach picking up sailors from Weymouth!

There were also mid-summer moonlight rambles. Unlike today’s evening walks, these involved getting the last train and walking all night ending with breakfast. One moonlight ramble from Leatherhead ended with cooking breakfast on top of Leith Hill, the highest point in the South East. There were many other groups doing the same sort of thing.

The group hired coaches for party weekends and longer trips. In 1949 there were coach trips to Ilam Hall and Hartington in the Peak District.  Later coach trips included the Isle of Wight, Stow-on-the-Wold and Charlbury in the Cotswolds. Sometimes the organisers made mistakes; for example one coach trip ended up at the wrong hostel!

In the mid-50s coach trips were going to Wales and the Lake District and in the 60s they were going to the Yorkshire Dales and Moors. Most coach trips were longer trips such as over bank holidays or Easter. In the 50s the Easter trip used to sell out before Xmas. Roads were much slower before motorways so the coaches left London late on a Friday evening, travelled overnight with breakfast at a hostel or café before starting a day walk. In 1957 this included climbing Snowdon by Crib Goch straight after travelling overnight. 

Party weekends included Xmas/New Year, Halloween/Bonfire Night and the group’s birthday in March. Early parties were held at Hemel Hempstead hostel in Hertfordshire. It closed in 1951 when the new town was being built and the parties switched to Chaldon on the North Downs. At least one party in the 50s went on till 3am but ironically the 60s were more sober with parties in the Cotswolds and South Downs. It was not unknown for the group to set fire to hostel camping stoves.

There were other outdoor activities as well with thriving sections of the group for cycling (often led by Dick Parker and Fred Short) and camping. In 1949 there were 12 cycling trips within one month alone and in 1957 the group went rock climbing on Tryfan in Snowdonia. Dick gained some notoriety for hitting the youth hostel warden with a snowball. We should point out that Dick was a very respectable member as his day job was a headmaster!

They also did watersports including canoeing, sailing and camping on punts (the men were known for setting the women’s boat adrift at night). On one sailing trip in Essex, the group’s boat sank and they had to hoist wet socks as a distress signal before cycling or getting taxis back. Even then, one member cycling back got knocked over and had to hitch a lift.

In 1948 two members (Derek Edwards and Cyril Fuller) completed a 45-mile marathon hike in the Brecon Beacons and this became a popular event throughout the 50s and 60s with members manning checkpoints bivvying in the mountains. On one occasion Derek went back with “the surplus gear” and it was only later that Cyril discovered he had taken his bivvy bag. That was a cold night. In the 70s the Tanners Marathon on the North Downs became the most popular one. Other weekends included working on farms after the war, photography and sketching.

Group trips abroad were rare and one member on a trip to Holland and Belgium complained that they should have stayed at home. However individual members travelled widely. One went round the world in 40 days; others went to places like Argentina, Holland and France. Bob Munslow (who was one of CLOG’s many eccentrics over the years) missed the plane to Bulgaria, had difficulty recovering his luggage when he did get there, had many difficulties finding anyone who could speak English, found that his tour party had moved to another hotel without telling him, took a bus which kept breaking down, left his passport at the hotel, walked across country with a very sketchy map, and got benighted in a forest full of bears and wolves. At the end of his holiday he was congratulated by the Deputy Minister for Tourism. Now that’s what I call intrepid!

At the end of the 1960s the average age of members started to increase. No longer in their 20s and with competing demands on their time, weekends away became less popular with only a few going on each one. It was at this time that day walks started. This was very controversial as some members felt day walks did not support the YHA if people were not staying overnight in hostels and threatened to resign (that old chestnut!) while others did not want to get up early to go on a day walk. However, Vera Davis wrote that CLOG should have enough room for both day walks and trips. The first day walk was in 1969 and despite snow and ice managed to attract 9 people. From then on, day walks became part of the programme.

Supporting the YHA

It’s important to remember that CLOG started as a local group of the YHA in Central London. In 1947 the YHA was on the verge of a financial crisis. The group helped out by doing office work at the regional headquarters in Gordon Square, running a shop selling YHA products and most importantly by individual members guaranteeing to pay 1 shilling (5p) each if YHA went into liquidation. Cecil Malyon (CLOG’s second chair) ran a Youth Travel Bureau for YHA which welcomed foreign tourists by CLOG organising many events including evening walks, trips to the theatre, river trips and guided tours of Fleet St newspaper printworks. Group members helped out when the Queen opened a new hostel at Holland House in Holland Park

In 1949 Ron Keatley suggested that the group adopt Tanners Hatch hostel on the North Downs which they had renovated after the war. For years the group supported the hostel by organising working parties of up to a dozen members every 5 weeks. The work included relaying a phone line to the warden’s house, clearing rubbish, digging drainage ditches, sowing the lawn, planting flower beds, trimming hedges, making cupboards in the members’ kitchen mouseproof, installing electric lights, mending blankets, scrubbing dormitories, creating steps to Ranmore Common, making garden seats, staining and waxing dormitory floors. One member wrote to the News Sheet under the pseudonym “Surgeon” to complain that the group had wasted time laying out a “lovers’ walk” path in the garden. The group named the path “Surgeon’s Walk” in his honour.

Also in 1949 members wrote to their MPs to support the creation of National Parks. For the first time councils had to produce definitive maps showing public footpaths. The Ramblers’ Association asked the YHA to assist and the group took part in footpath surveys near hostels at Ivinghoe, Puckeridge and Whitwell in Hertfordshire, Crockham Hill and Doddington in Kent, High Roding in Essex. As this was before the invention of photocopiers John Carlton asked other members to go to county offices to trace large scale maps (6 inches to the mile which took some getting used to) and then tread the footpaths to see if they existed. Later on in 1965 the group organised a weekend at Ivinghoe to survey walking routes to newly-opened hostels at Lee Gate and Bradenham so the hostel could publish a guide for guests showing them how to walk between hostels.

In 1950 the group contributed towards the cost of opening a new hostel at Tregaron in Wales. In 1957 the group, spearheaded by Cyril Fuller, turned their attention to Hindhead hostel in Surrey helping out by tree felling, painting, fitting curtains and repairing the roof. One work party even continued working on Xmas Day. Charles Gunn, the News Sheet Editor, encouraged the group to object when YHA decided to replace oil lamps and fetching water from a spring with electricity and a proper water supply. Our predecessors were certainly Spartans! Hindhead ultimately closed but Tanners Hatch has survived.

During the 50s the group took part in an annual National Youth Hostels Week in which hostels were opened up to the public. As part of this, the group opened its clubroom one evening for a public talk about the YHA.

The group alongwith other YHA groups in London organised a Xmas party for hostel wardens in the London region. At this time there was a close relationship between group members and hostel wardens. Several members volunteered as wardens at Hindhead, Epping Forest and other hostels near London; one member (Fred Short) volunteered as a warden in the Scottish Highlands.

The group also had a close relationship with other local groups in London. Joint folk dances were organised with groups from Islington, Wandsworth, Ealing and North London. In 1965 when Islington Group went into decline, the Central London group helped them out by redecorating their clubroom, organising joint coach trips and an annual cricket match (Islington won the first match but after that CLOG got their own back). Most of these groups folded by the late 70s and their members joined Central London which became the main group for the London area.