About Brighton & Hove Clarion Cycling Club

Five Clarion riders admiring the view from High Beech Lane, north of Haywards Heath, in September 2015

We are a cycling club who ride together for leisure and exercise; we don’t participate in racing or other competitive sports. Although we have a committee to keep things running, we are non-hierarchical, and any member can suggest or lead rides and other events.

We sometimes ride in Brighton and Hove or along the seafront, but most of our rides require trains or other forms of transport in order to get to a suitable place where we can ride, away from the city, without having to surmount the South Downs! We try to maintain a fortnightly programme of rides, usually on Sundays. For this our basic principles are:

• Start at a relatively civilised time
• Avoid busy roads, long or steep hills as far as possible
• Distances of 20-25 miles (or less particularly in winter months)
• Return to Brighton station before dark in the winter.

Anyone who wishes to is welcome to join us. Safety is, of course, a paramount concern but note that we all participate at our own risk. To get an idea of what our rides are like, have a look at the “Ride Reports” tab on this website. Any member is welcome to suggest a ride.

It is not necessary to join the club in order to try out our rides, but if you like what you see, we hope you’ll join. Equally it is not necessary to participate in the rides to join the club! There is a membership fee, but nearly all of that goes to the national Clarion Club, in return for which members get third party insurance and a regular newsletter, with a small local supplement to pay for our website. None of the officers are paid – it is all entirely voluntary, and we always welcome new committee members to help organise things and give existing committee members a break.

To join the Clarion CC please click this link. If you’re interested in racing, Audax rides or strenuous touring, contact Bob Harber.

The Clarion Cycling Club was founded in 1894/5 as an offshoot of The Clarion weekly socialist newspaper edited by charismatic journalist Robert Blatchford. Unlike other Clarion organisations, the Cycling Club survived through the 20th and into the 21st centuries. For more information see the national website www.clarioncc.org. (A short history is also available on this website; go back to the “About” tab and click on “The Clarion Movement” or “Clarion History”.)

The Brighton and Hove Section was formed at the end of February 2004. An earlier Brighton section disappeared in the 1950s(?). It included one of our current members.

Details of history, rides and activities prior to 2011 can be found on the old Clarion website.

A record turn-out (augmented by Clarion CC riders from across the UK) at the Eastbourne Easter Meet, 4 April 2010, for a ride up The Cuckoo Trail and around the Pevensey Levels