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		This is the web site of The Freedom Riders MCC of Hayes and Ruislip, West London.
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Name:     Philip Duerden

 

Status:       Full Member

email:    info@ruislip.co.uk

I lived in the heyday of the club in Ruislip Manor

I now live in  South Ruislip

 

My memories of the club

The bike club to me was a conglomeration of small groups of school friends with a common interest in bikes, gathered together from different schools in West London (Hayes, Ruislip, Eastcote, Hillingdon) . So there were various small “groups” and these all mixed together.

However, the members were all around the same age and thus brought up, more or less, with the same background. So, we all had several things in common, and such things, when put under the “bike club” umbrella we quite unusual. In the main we all had good manners, and good diction. This meant we could all string a sentence together, and were generally polite. One associate was so posh if asked I am sure he would have spelt *uck with a Ph.

Now add to good manners and reasonable diction a background of, in general Monty Python type humour and suddenly you have a group of people who really did not, to all intents and purposes fit the “genre” of a rough tough bike club. So we were not!

I really do not remember any fights, forcible ejections form pubs or visits from rival clubs looking for “sport”. I do remember listening to “The Portsmouth Symphonia” (who performed classical music out of tune) whilst sat outside the Cricket in Beesands while the “general public” looked on with incredulous expressions on their faces. More so when this was changed to the speeches of Hitler, and a group of “rough bikers” could all be seen rolling about with laughter. Who can forget Pippen dancing a waltz with a lady who was "getting on" at the Fire Station in Ruislip, and actually doing it rather well, having first asked her if she would like to dance with him, when nobody else was actually dancing!!! (See below)

It was never for me a bike club, more a society trying to push back the extremes of what could, by means of laughter, shock those outside. Who can forget Polly riding all the way to Brighton from London with a fingerette on the end of his nose and “Hortence” the plastic giraffe on his handlebars?

I remember my days with the club as a period when my face ached with laughter……

Born 1958 in Bradford, moved to Ruislip when 4. Seriously injured in bike accident at 18, never rode again. Worked in Banking, Retail, Timeshare and Stationary. Lived for 8 years on a narrow boat. Married 4 kids

Live music and writing web sites (including this one).

1) Future Days - Can

2) Who knows where the time goes - Sandy Denny

3) Jollity Farm - Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band