Formation of the Club
The Club was formed in 1906 as the Bradford Motor Cycle Club, following an inaugural meeting on the 12th.February 1906 at the Royal Hotel in Darley Street, which forty people attended. The meeting, as reported in Motor Cycle of the 20th February, had been initiated by Mr Bernard Read, who had asked through the columns of Motor Cycle for those interested in motorcycling in the Bradford area, to correspond with him, with a view to forming a club. A Mr G.E.Vint of Idle who chaired this first meeting was elected President. Messrs JR Kelly and H.Wheater of the Leeds M.C.C. attended and provided advice on the formation of a club. Bernard Read was elected Secretary and Mr Bullus, Treasurer. The annual subscription was set at 7/6d (37 1/2p).
The provisional Committee had some great members, including A.Hodgson, W.Mitchell, Barraclough, Brook, Lamb, ES Myers, and Fowler. They rented a place in New Inn block, which is now Bradford Law Courts at the bottom of Manchester Road. They had a bar, a snooker table, and a piano. But when World War I broke out, they had to close down and store the piano and snooker table at Mr.T.G.Bullus’s place.Some of the most important members were Alfred Scott, Percy Shaw (who worked for P & M Motor Co.), Clarrie and Tim Wood (who won the TT), J Arnold Smith (who ran a garage in Bradford), Charles Sydney (who worked for E.S.Myers and later started his own business), and Felix Scriven (who was the Secretary of Scott Motor Cycle Co.). Many of the early members also worked for the Scott Company, like Alec Dovener.After the war, the Club started up again. Alec Dovener took care of the secretarial stuff from 1919 onwards. The Club was really important in setting up the Yorkshire Centre. Alec was the first Secretary, and W.Haggas of Keighley was the first President.In 1926, the Club moved its headquarters to the Belle Vue Hotel in Manningham Lane. They kept meeting there until the late 1950s. They also had a Country HQ at the Golden Lion in Settle.The club members were on fire in the TT, winning Club Team Prizes in 1923 and 1924. By 1926, the Wood brothers, A.W. and CH, were super enthusiastic members. T.G.Bullis was the Captain, and his son was one of the rising stars in the sport.Joe and Geoff Hepworth, who were Vice Presidents at Bradford Piston Ring Manufacturer, were also involved. Joe found Hepolite Scar, the venue for Bradford’s hill climb, after speed events on roads were banned.Eddie and Stan Flintoff were making a name for themselves on Sunbeams. Alec Jackson, who won the first Lancashire Grand National, was probably the club’s best all-rounder. Harry Langman, Tim and Clarrie Wood were the leading road racers. Charlie Helm and Allan Jefferies were junior members who caused quite a stir with their riding skills, especially Allan, who had a bit of a wild streak (but he had a blast).
Meetings
In the 1950s the Clubs’ meetings were held at The Girlington Hotel. In the early ’60s, The Hare and Hounds Toller Lane, then the Kensington Club (once The Girlington Liberal Club) followed by The Victoria at Sandy Lane. Then from the late 70’s to the early ’90s, The Frizinghall Conservative Club. We then moved to The Bridge Inn Silsden and from 1999 moved to The Punch Bowl Silsden.
In 2015 the meetings transferred to the Kings Arms Silsden. In 2018 the meetings moved to The Narrowboats Inn at Skipton where they are still held. All members are welcome
The Club since 1970
Since the 1970s, the Club has primarily focused on organising Motorcycle Trials. They have participated in rounds of the ACU British Championships for both adults and Youth riders. Additionally, they have successfully run a highly regarded Closed to Club series, comprising eight to ten rounds spread over a twelve-month period. In the 1990s, they initiated the organisation of Beginner and Clubman trials, designed to be straightforward and accessible to newcomers to the competitive scene. This series was generously sponsored by the late Stuart Cameron of Autowbars Ltd., and it was aptly named The Autowbars Beginners and Novice Series. The series featured six rounds, evenly distributed throughout the twelve-month period. Notably, Stuart firmly believed that each participant could only win the Autowbars Shield once.
n the 2000s, the Autowbars series was replaced by two other Beginner trials. Nathan Wrigglewsworth introduced the Wrigglesworth Building Services (WBS) Summer Series of Beginners and Novice trials. The series had a similar format to The Autowbars Series but with a much more relaxed approach. There was ample coaching for the younger participants. Notably, the series doesn’t carry any awards. Later, a new sponsor emerged for a Winter series of Beginner trials. Steve Wilde, the owner of Manywells Garage, sponsored the series, which was known as the Manywells Beginners & Clubman Trials.
2000 onwards
2015 – there was a major change in the running of the Club with some of the ‘old farts’ Standing down to follow other things. The new committee continued to run the trials but the main Nevisis was on Closed to Club and Beginners and Clubman type trials.
2019 – the Club was very close to folding. One reason was the lack of help on the admin side when running our trials. Thanks to Brian, Anthony, Carina, Fran, Nick to name a few got their heads together along with others they got the club back on its feet. Then Covid pandemic arrived and hit the sport hard. It was a very difficult 18 months for the committee. The club did run a couple of trials during this period, under very strict rules. These were a success and appreciated by those who entered.
2021 – As you may have seen, or even ridden, Trials came back on the calendar. This has added a bit of a workload for our faithful and hard-working committee members. So, for the club to continue in 2022 we need a little more help. We are currently short of Event Secretaries, Clerk of Course, and course plotters. All the jobs would suit somebody with a little free time. The event Secretary involves mostly form-filling and box-ticking so fair organisational skills are required. The Clerk, of Course, requires to be licensed by the ACU. The existing committee members won’t just say, ‘Get on with it!’ – they will give you any help and support you need. If you think that you can help the club, please come along to the next meeting or leave a message via our Facebook.
2022 – the club hopes to start the Closed to Club series and run a couple of the Major Club Centre Trials. This is dependent on more help from members coming forward to help out.
2023 – The Club again run a series of Novice & Beginners trials on a Wednesday evening. It was agreed that to keep costs down for 2023 Annual membership for all will be £1.
2024 – Some members of the Club offered to run a series of Wednesday evening trials. (see Planit Opticians Summer Series of Trials page)
The Club organises our regular Yorkshire Centre (Timperley Cup, February) and West Yorkshire Championship (ES Myers December) rounds. Additionally, they conducted a couple of “Open Trials” throughout the year. Furthermore, the Club acquired two new pieces of land to facilitate trial activities.
2025 – The Planit Opticians Summer Series of Trials will again be run over 7 rounds this year.