Here we are are on the last day of 2007 a time when we are tempted to remember the old year and look forward to the new.

As I look back through the stories I have written this year I know that 2007 has been great fun in very enjoyable company but, as you all know, that is not the complete story. Sadly it will always be remembered as the year that we lost Trevor, we miss the boyish excitement that he radiated, his huge personality and his ever ready smile. We always will.

But Trevor was much more than that because he did a great deal of quiet 'behind the scenes' work. In the months leading up to his death he could often be seen riding alongside different people and talking to them about the proposed changes to the CTC. He would explain how he saw things could be, listen to our views and suggestions and from all this he produced graphic aids to our understanding of the changes. These were invaluable in enabling us to have an educated vote for the changes at our AGM.

But as some of us know the death of a loved one is something we can do nothing about. We can shout and scream, kick the furniture or cry quietly but it makes no difference - death is cruelly final and we have to try our best to live with it and try even harder to move on.

So, lets talk about Des Radford, the bonfire builder.

Without Des the CTC in this area would not exist, or if it did it would only be a shadow of what it is. Des' enthusiasm over the last 21 years has given us a wealth of rides and routes that we continue to enjoy year after year. Lets just think about that.

21 years of dedicated enthusiasm. Many of us would have become tired and given up long before then but in reply to a message that I sent to him after he announced that he was effectively hanging up his cycling shoes he just replied

'Thank you so much, I don’t deserve it I’m sure; I’ve only been doing what I enjoy doing most.'

So, what's all this about lighting bonfires then? Quite a lot actually, its not a literal thing - its an analogy, but nevertheless a very good way of illustrating an achievement and appreciating its continuing effect.

My father has, in recent years, found it difficult to carry on digging his garden, opening trenches for potatoes and generally keeping his garden tidy. He has a good excuse for this, he is, after all 97. Anyway gardening has meant that he continues to keep looking forward to the next gardening year and as you get older that sort of mental attitude is beneficial. So I give him a hand with the heavy stuff.

There was a pile of hedge cuttings and branches in the far corner that he was anxious to burn but we had to have a dry, windless day. So we waited, then along came that day. I started to drag the branches to a part of the garden that had been cleared of vegetables, the potash that remained afterwards could be spread about and that would be beneficial in the next season. The first branches were dry enough but as I got further down the pile they got wetter and wetter, some thought would have to go into this. I started a second pile next to the dry branches and when I had finished that pile I lit the first. The fire gradually caught and soon had itself a good heart. We then slowly placed more of the rubbish from the second pile on to the fire, the intense heat quickly dried this new material and soon that blazed too. The two of us quietly enjoyed the experience of seeing the one pile getting smaller and at the same time enjoyed the glow and warmth of this fire, our great creation.

That is the secret of a good bonfire. If you create a good heart you can keep it going for ever, it will take all the green and wet wood, dry it and when dry that becomes the new heart. It can go on and on.

Des achieved this great bonfire, he built its heart. We younger upstarts are represented by the wet, mucky constituents of the second pile. Wet, mucky, younger upstarts we may be but we want to keep Des' fire going. We want to keep it going so he can enjoy its warmth at close quarters and not from a far bedroom window.

So lets look forward to 2008, lets hope for increasing membership, fun and good rides.

But most of all - friendship!

Happy New Year and happy pedalling

Lew Spokes

PS. For the complete Wednesday and Sunday rides programme click on the link at the top of this page, or if that is too much trouble then click here.