RANDOM IMAGES FROM BYGONE DAYS
In terms of racing and time trials, the 2010s were dominated by two characters. During the first half of the decade Andy Halliday was all-conquering before New Zealander Ben Allen started his spell at the top, breaking many club records in the process. Towards the end of the decade Ben moved to Hong Kong for work reasons, and Andy re-took the top spot.
In 2016 Ladies Trophies were awarded for the first time as the number of female competitors increased alongside a general growth in participation and interest in women’s sports together with society striving more more equal access across the board. Christine Meek, Sarah Percival and Gillian Morgan were amongst the pioneering names on trophies
The 2010s saw Frank Proud pioneering an expansion of the club’s activities into Audax and beyond. No less than three Westerley CC members completed Paris-Brest-Paris (1200km). Frank Proud twice, Dave Morrison twice and Steve Britt once. Steve and Dave also completed London-Edinburgh-London (1400km) and the Borders of Belgium (1000km). Frank then took it up a further notch by getting a very respectable placing in the Trans Continental Race. The club went on to run some of the nation’s best attended Audax events from 2017 to 2019, the May Day Chiltern Audaxes, but this was curtailed by the outside events in 2020. The club reached some high placings in the Audax UK club rankings, reaching 18th highest points scoring club in the UK in 2018. Meanwhile Dave Morrison ranked 11th in the individual UK rankings in the same year.
Nevertheless, the club will probably be best defined in this decade by the development of the sell out Westerley Winter Warmer Reliability Rides from Chalfont each January and the Hillingdon 10s on Wednesday evenings across the summer (Westerley Wednesdays) at the Hillingdon Circuit. Both events started as club activities but developed into mainstream major fixtures in the West London and Home Counties Calendar. The Westerley Winter Warmer became one of the famous Chiltern Classics series of early season Reliability Rides. The decade also saw the introduction of the popular London-Brighton-London annual summer ride introduced by Ian McNally. By the end of the decade however, Ian had moved to Ireland with his new wife Estelle, whom he met through Westerley CC as both were members!
The club reverted to its traditional hooped jerseys and changed its name from the Westerley Road Club to Westerley Cycling Club during the decade. Sadly, towards the end of the decade Club President Roly Collicott lost his sight, but like Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder in music, that was never going to stop Roly who converted to a Tandem Stoker. Roly became President in 2012.
