Category: <span>NCCC News</span>

The Humphrey Family Haus Cafe Ride for West Midlands Air Ambulance

Morning everyone just a heads up that this Saturdays Christmas Cafe Ride (20th December) is being hosted once again by the wonderful Humphrey Family, Ian, Debbie and Alice all club members.

Not only are they hosting our coffee stop at their home but also making all the cakes too!

For those members that have been fortunate enough to have been hosted by the Humphrey’s before then you all know what a wonderful, welcoming and delightful time we’ll have and for those whom yet haven’t, then here’s your chance!

It’s truly fabulous and so kind thing of Ian, Debbie and Alice to host our club members and just emphasises what fabulous people and friends that we have within NCCC.

As a gesture for their very hard work the Humphrey family suggest a small donation £5 per person and all proceeds to be made to our club charity for the club’s charity the Air Ambulance .

Full ride information will be sent in the normal way via WhatsApp and email nearer the time.

(All rides are of course dependent on weather conditions)

Finally, it is the Christmas Cafe Ride so feel free to add some glitter, tinsel and festive attire to add to the Christmas Cheer, don’t forget it’s all for charity too!

Isobel’s final Heritage Ride of 2025!

ISOBEL’S HERITAGE RIDE TO CHRISTMAS CORNER.

This was the final Heritage Ride of the year and what a cracker it was!

Beautiful clear blue skies it really was a glorious sunny winter morning, albeit with a rather chilly start, and lots of wonderful apricity was enjoyed by the group along their way .

Despite the frosty start we saw a magnificent seven club members taking part today.

Today’s ride was a very appropriate ride out to Christmas Corner which is a site of a Second World War military airfield close to Shenington village in Oxfordshire.

The site opened in 1941 and closed in 1945. It was a satellite of Chipping Warden airfield, and functioned as the base for Operational Training Units of Bomber Command (92 Group). The airfield had three concrete and tarmac runways, Two type T2 aircraft hangars and one type B1 aircraft hangar. By 1978 part of the site was used as a motor car test track.

These days the site is used as a very popular kart racing circuit with competitors visiting from all over the UK.

More interesting information can be found on the link below.

https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=1394994&resourceID=19191

The ride was 61 miles today with 3,500 miles of climbing and started at 9.00am depart from Milton-under-Wychwood village green.

Oh yes we almost forgot!

The refreshment stop today was the Corner Cottage Bakery in Kineton where some delicious cakes, bakes and drinks were very much enjoyed by the riders.

The real bonus was that the group managed to sit outside and bask in the sunshine too which was a pleasant and most enjoyable .

 Another huge NCCC shout out once again to Isobel Hunter for not only putting all our Heritage Rides together for us but leading the rides too .

Isobel plans all of our Heritage Rides for us all throughout the year.

Her work is voluntary and we’re so fortunate to have such brilliant enthusiastic members like Isobel, we’re truly grateful to her for everything that she does for our great cycling club.

Below are some sample pictures of today’s fascinating ride.

Find out more information about joining visit our website link below.

Be great to see you!

www.northcotswoldcc.org.uk

Find us on the following links:

Instagram www.instagram.com/northcotswoldcycling/

Facebook www.fb.com/NorthCotswoldCC

Strava https://strava.com/clubs/4582

Website www.northcotswoldcc.org.uk

 

Women Only Couch to 50k is back for 2026!

WOMEN ONLY it’s back for 2026!

YES, we’re super excited to confirm that for the third consecutive year our Women Only Cycling Series “Couch to 50k” is back again and the first ride is on 10th January.

The series will be held on Saturday mornings at 10.00am and start from The White Hart Royal, High St, Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire, GL56 0B and the first ride will be on the 10th January is 6 miles (10k).

North Cotswold Cycle Club & Breeze Moreton-in-Marsh.

North Cotswold Cycling Club are very focused on encouraging more women’s cycling within the club and delighted to announce that based on last two year’s incredible success our women’s membership now represents 30% of the total club memberships .

All rides will be led by our own team of experienced women ride leaders and supporting riders. Everyone is welcome to come along and take part in these rides.

The series schedule for 2026 is below but we must emphasise this is very dependent on the weather.

Week 1 – 6 Miles / 10K (Saturday 10th January 10am)

Week 2 – 12 Miles / 16K (Saturday 17th January 10am)

Week 3 – 15 Miles / 20K (Saturday 24th January 10am)

Week 4 – 20 Miles / 30K (Saturday 31st January 10am)

Week 5 – 15 Miles / 24K (Saturday 7th February 10am)

Week 6 – 22 Miles / 35K (Saturday 14th February 10am)

Week 7 – 26 Miles / 42K (Saturday 21st February 10am)

• Week 8 – 31 Miles / 50K (Saturday 28th February 10am)

  1. Watch out for more information.

Follow us on:

Instagram northcotswoldcycling

Website www.northcotswoldcc.org.uk

Facebook: https://www.fb.com/NorthCotswoldCC

What a fab Christmas Women Only Ride

It was the final NCCC Women Only ride of the year today and what a fabulous festive turnout it was!
To a distillery too! Well it is Christmas!

It’s fair to say that our ladies section members that took part today certainly grasped the festive spirit with an abundance of Christmas costumes, tinsel, fairy lights and festive bells that really did bring lots of festive cheer through the various Cotswold villages that they rode through today.

A huge well done to all of our fantastic ladies who took part and looking at the amount that turned out today, once again it speaks volumes about our fabulous ladies section within our fabulous club.

Three groups took part with a choice of two routes available, which were a 20 miler and a 40 miler. The longer ride for the faster group.

The festive ride was arranged so that all groups met at the Cotswolds Distillery .

The groups are made up of various speeds below:

Group B > 10 – 11 mph average

Group A > 12 – 13 mph average

Group C >  14-15mph average

Short Route: Out to Great Wolford & Brailes which was an anticlockwise loop of

20 miles with 996 ft of climbing.

Long Route: A clockwise loop that headed out up to Batsford passing down through Chipping Campden and on through Mickleton, then skirted around Ilmington heading east towards Armscote and Whatcote before the fabulous refreshment stop in Stourton at the Cotswolds Distillery.

Following the wonderful stop the group headed back to Moreton via the Comptons and Chastleton.

Total ride was  40.1 miles and 2556 ft climbing.

RIDE LEADERS!

 Massive thanks to all of our amazing ride leaders today. Without you these incredibly popular events simply wouldn’t happen, here’s today’s wonderful lineup.

Group A: Laura, Cath, Caroline & Bridgette

Group B: Charlotte, Helen & Heather

Group C: Lisa & Victoria

The rides start from the Dekomte building on Cotswold Link, Moreton-in-Marsh at 10.00am.

The rides are official NCCC rides and held for club members. New riders to the club will be very welcome to come and try the rides, however will need to become club members thereafter (for insurance purposes).

We are a British Cycling affiliated club, you can join us via our club page below. Annual membership is only £15 per annum.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/club/profile/6068/north-cotswold-cc/#join

We are a friendly social inclusive club and everyone is welcome to come along and join one of our rides?

Here’s a link to our website for more information

www.northcotswoldcc.org.uk

Follow us or make contact on any of the following links:

Instagram www.instagram.com/northcotswoldcycling/

Facebook www.fb.com/NorthCotswoldCC

Strava https://strava.com/clubs/4582

Website www.northcotswoldcc.org.uk

Women Only “Couch to 50K is returning for 2026!

WOMEN ONLY it’s back for 2026.

YES, we’re super excited to confirm that for the third consecutive year we are hosting our Women Only Cycling Series “Couch to 50k” and the first ride is on Saturday 3rd  January 2026.

The series will be held on Saturday mornings at 10.00am from our club meeting point the Dekomte Offices, 6 Cotswold Business Village, Cotswold Link, Moreton-In-Marsh, Gloucestershire, GL56 0JQ.

The first ride will be on the 3rd January is will be 6 miles (10k).

North Cotswold Cycle Club & Breeze Moreton-in-Marsh.

All rides will be led by our own team of experienced women ride leaders and everyone is welcome to come along and take part in these rides.

These rides have proven to be incredibly successful over the past two years and our fabulous group of ride leaders are really excited to be running this initiative again.

We have more exciting news too!

We are also hoping to announce a new venue in Moreton-in-Marsh for our post ride social and banters!

Watch out for more information shortly.

Follow us on:

Instagram northcotswoldcycling

Website www.northcotswoldcc.org.uk

Facebook: https://www.fb.com/NorthCotswoldCC

Minutes of the NCCC AGM 23rd November 2025

MINUTES FROM THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF NORTH COTSWOLD CYCLING CLUB

TIME: 09:00 AM ON THE 23RD NOVEMBER 2025 @ DEKOMTE, MORETON IN MARSH

Apologies received from: Caroline Clare, Jim Tierney

1. Chairman: Review of the Year – Jeremy Griffiths (JG)

JG stated it was good to see so many people in attendance of the AGM. Huge amounts had happened within the club during the course of the year, including record membership levels, club members travelling abroad and good numbers turning out across all club rides.

It was announced that JG would be stepping away from both the position of chair and NCCC committee. JG commented that he had an amazing time as chair of the club and enjoyed every minute – solid foundations had been built moving forwards but would take some time to regroup after a busy and difficult year.

2. Treasurer: Presentation of the Annual Accounts – Marcus Hearle (MH)

See appendix.

MH also stated that he would also be stepping down from his position as chair and on the committee.

3. Summary Reports:

Club Ride Captain – Martin Lewis (ML)

ML noted that it had been a good year ride wise with membership the highest it had ever been.

During the summer months, there were rides available every day of the week. Also commenting that the success of both existing and new rides could not happen without ride leaders and thanked leaders for giving up their time to do this. ML stated he was proud to be ride captain and it was superb to see such welcoming and friendly riders across all groups.

Membership Secretary – Martin J Lewis (MJL)

MJL was absent from the meeting, but JG commented that the BC membership renewals had been seamless.

Publicity and Communications – Paul Flint (PF)

The clubs social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram) were being recognised more and more. The increase in engagement does not just happen overnight, and PF commented that the club had been beating the drum for some time to see the increase in followers and noting the engagement with BC South.
The social pages allowed NCCC to acknowledge the clubs activities over the course of the year, such as volunteer in focus, Cotswold Radio shows, Chris Sidwells events, winter racing to name a few.

PF noted the work being done to increase the women’s membership through the couch to 50K program and the introduction of the monthly ladies ride over the last 2 year period.

Total     Members Total     Women Members

2023        190                   38 (20%)

2024        218                   63 (28%)

2025        231                   70 (30%)

PF signed off with TWMD (Together we make a Difference), stating that as a club, we have made a difference which was clear to see in the numbers and increased engagement.

4. Setting of the Annual Subscription:

Proposed to keep annual subscriptions at the existing rate – Agreed.

5. Election of Officers:

Committee Role Name

Chairperson – James Barlow

Vice Chair – Simon Jones

Club Secretary – Laura Baskeyfield

Treasurer – Martin Angell

Club Welfare Officer – Simon Jones

Chair of Youth Initiative – James Garstin

Race Secretary – Will Biggart

Club Ride Captain – Martin Lewis

Membership Secretary – Andrew Bray

Time Trial / Hill Climb Secretary – Will Biggart

Publicity and Communications Officer – Paul Flint (noted he would be looking to step back in future)

Social Secretary – Henry Eve

General Committee – 1 Jeremy Taylor

General Committee – 2 Ian Humphrey

General Committee – 3 Rachel Davies

General Committee – 4 David Hanson

AOB:

• Richie Milner ride will take place on 31st December. JG expressed his wishes for this ride to stay in the clubs calendar forever.

• James Barlow expressed his thanks to JG for a great tenure as chair of NCCC, sure that some riders have continued to retain their membership as a result of his position. He asked for a final round of applause for the work put in.

• Ian Humprey commented on the absence of women at the meeting, especially given the high levels of female membership. It was suggested that the timing / location was right for the AGM to take place.
The new committee agreed to discuss this.

Meeting finished at 09:50am

NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING: MONDAY 5th JANUARY

7PM AT THE WHITE HART, MORETON IN MA

Minutes from NCCC Committee Meeting on 3rd November 2025

MINUTES FROM COMMITTEE MEETING OF NORTH COTSWOLD CYCLING CLUB: 7PM ON THE 3rd

NOVEMBER 2025 REVOLUTION CAFÉ, STOW ON THE WOLD

Introductions & Apologies

Attendees: Jeremy Griffiths, Henry Eve, James Barlow, Rachel Davies, Marcus Hearle, Simon Taylor, Laura Baskeyfield, Andrew Bray, Martin Lewis (Ride Captain), Simon Jones, Will Biggart, Simon Richards, Martin Angell.

Apologies: Paul Flint, James Garstin

Chairman – Jeremy Griffiths (JG)

Last committee meeting before the AGM on the 23rd November, as to which a number have comms have been sent out. All committee roles are available, should any club member wish to stand.

However, the current chairman, treasurer, youth chair and social secretary have all indicated they will not be re-standing and these positions will be vacant.

JG to confirm availability of Dekomte for the

AGM to take place and send out the agenda. A number of items belonging to NCCC (incl. trophies, water containers, paperwork, clothing) from the closure of Cotswold Cycles to be collected and stored

by the existing committee members.

JG noted he was out of touch with the current physical activities taking place within the club and this was a good time for him to hand over the baton to someone else.

Secretary – Laura Baskeyfield (LB)

Expecting to run the ladies C250K again in January 2026. LB to explore options for the rides to remain running from Moreton in Marsh. WB to provide an introduction to the team at the White Hart.

The monthly ladies ride are still well attended, but it had been noted that no access to toilets at the start of the rides was proving difficult for some. LB to approach Jake / Dekomte with regards to potentially gaining a key for access for these particular rides.

Youth Secretary – James Garstin (JG)

No update from contact at Fire Service College, but JG will follow-up.

JB had expressed that a Group 2 rider (Mike ?) may be happy to take on this role. ST offered to discuss this with him during a club ride.

Ride Captain – Martin Lewis (ML)

Rides seem to be well attended by club members, despite the relocation, although numbers generally determined by the weather. It was noted that group 2 had been a little thin on the ground.

After discussion with the committee there did not seem to be any clear reason for this, other than holidays etc. ML proposed to introduce the mud guard rule for the upcoming weekends rides, given

that road conditions were starting to deteriorate. The committee were in agreement with this.

Ride leaders would be asked to help to enforce this rule amongst the clubs riders.

Stopping at the White Hart on Sunday rides had been working well, although was taking a little organising in terms of orders. WB offered to check in with the pub and check everything was running smoothly on their side. Saturday rides had been stopping at Bakery on the marsh, and currently this format was running smoothly for club rides with the Bakery also offering 10% off.

TY Cycles have offered to stock the NCCC mudguard extenders, although a payment message needs to be agreed with them – perhaps a QR code. ML will order some more for purchase at the AGM.

SJ confirmed that club kit orders will also be delivered to TY Cycles for collection, in agreement with them.

Treasurer – Marcus Hearle (MH)

Clubs balance stands at £8,132. Up slightly due to the increase in member fees and due to not running the picnic ride or sponsoring a young rider in 2025.

Payment to British Cycling for 2026 affiliation had been made and confirmed. However, NCCC no longer has a club coach. AB reminded the committee on the lengthy process for obtaining this qualification, and asked that this be considered when looking at future Go-Ride opportunities.

As part of the handover process, ML will run through a 5-year financial projection for the club.

Race Secretary – Henry Eve (HE)

Unfortunately the planned away day to Wales did not happened, but will look to postpone this until 2026 when the weather is likely to be better. JG suggested that this happened early in the year, then could be rolled out further in 2026 if successful.

General Committee:

James Barlow

No longer publishing Tuesday winter ride group, there is an internal WhatsApp group should anyone wish to join.

AOB:

Chairmans closing remarks: In the coming months, the committee will need to work hard to maintain the club’s membership to the numbers at what they currently are.

NCCC had built a great facility alongside Cotswold Cycles / Revolution café, but it is the people, not the venue that have

driven the numbers to what they are. There is no doubt that the club can continue to grow without Cotswold Cycles, but it should not be a given that we keep on adding members each year and the committee will need to work hard and generate new initiatives in order to not see a decline in numbers.

Next Meeting / AGM = Sunday 23rd November @ Dekomte, Moreton-in-Marsh

Isobel’s War Memorial Heritage Ride was so good!

What an absolutely fantastic Heritage Ride today! These monthly bonus rides are proving to be very popular and today was another example with a fab turnout of 13 club members taking part.

Today’s ride was a tour around some wonderful War Memorials which the members found very interesting and at times it was nice to take a moment to reflect and remember those many people that were sadly lost.

Another bonus today was the glorious sunny autumn morning that we had throughout the entire ride.

The three fascinating locations are below, please do check them out they’re all most fascinating places in their own right 👇

Farringdon Old Town Hall

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Town_Hall,_Faringdon

13th Century Buscot St Mary Church

https://ohct.org.uk/church/buscot-st-mary/

Westwell War Loot Memorial

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westwell_War_Memorial

This ride really was brimming with history so rather than make a very long post we’ve added the link from our website below for more detailed information of the fascinating places that we visited on our wonderful day of riding.

https://northcotswoldcc.org.uk/event/isobels-war-memorial-heritage-ride/

As mentioned it was purposely arranged to commemorate and reflect on the many lost during the wars.

The ride was approximately 41 miles today with 2,080 miles of climbing and started at 9.00am depart from Milton-under-Wychwood village green.

Oh yes we almost forgot!

The refreshment stop today was the Lynwood & Co Cafe in Lechlade where I can confirm some delicious cakes, bakes and drinks were very much enjoyed by the group.

https://www.lynwoodandco.com/

Another huge NCCC shout out once again to Isobel Hunter for not only putting all our Heritage Rides together for us but leading the rides too.

Isobel plans all of our Heritage Rides for us throughout the year.

Her work is all voluntary and we’re so fortunate to have such brilliant enthusiastic members like Isobel, we’re truly grateful to her for everything that she does for our us.

Below are some sample pictures of today’s fascinating ride.

👀 Watch out for the next fantastic Heritage Rides to Christmas Corner – Fancy Dress optional!

Find out more information about joining visit our website link below .

Be great to see you!

www.northcotswoldcc.org.uk

Find us on the following links:

Instagram www.instagram.com/northcotswoldcycling/

Facebook www.fb.com/NorthCotswoldCC

Strava https://strava.com/clubs/4582

Website www.northcotswoldcc.org.uk

NCCC members take on the mountains in Mallorca!

NCCC members explore Mallorca!

Flying the NCCC flag whilst sporting their club kit last week in Mallorca were fab members Alan, Carrie, Challise, Victoria, Mel S and Mel W as they enjoyed the varied cycling that Mallorca has to offer: dramatic coastal views, turquoise coves, iconic climbs, churches, monasteries, switchbacks through pine forests, and spinning through old lanes criss-crossing the flatter agricultural areas.

A few highlights:

*Cap de Formentor* (and the infamous lighthouse)

Distance: ~40 km round trip

Elevation Gain: ~960 m

The initial climb to Coll de la Creueta is approx. 4km long  @ 5% gradient, there are some steeper sections, up to 12%.

*Sa Batalla* (and the infamous Repsol garage)

Length: ~7.8 km

Elevation Gain: ~395 m

Average Gradient: ~5%

The group’s favourite ride: switchbacks through pine forests, followed by expansive views over the valley before the final push up a series of 180-degree bends. And then the long descent via Coll de Femenia to Port de Pollença.

*Puig de Santa Magdalena*

Length: 4 km (depending on start point)

Elevation Gain: 196 m

Average Gradient: 5%

Max Gradient: Up to 13.5% in short sections

A few other climbs were ‘bagged’ including Coll d’Honor (7km, 390m elevation gain, 6% average gradient, the last km includes tight hairpins and gradient over 10%).

The intrepid group of NCCC members quoted. “Sa Calobra is top of the list for next time!”

The group chose their routes well and somehow dodged almost all the showers earlier in the week! It was predominately blue sky and sunshine the last few days in Mallorca and a nice 23 degrees.

Below are some sample pics that the group have kindly shared with us of the great time they all had in Mallorca, check out the fab picture of Mel W and Carrie on the final bends up to the famous lighthouse climb (captured by Mel S)

So, on behalf of all your buddies at NCCC a huge well done to all of our fab members who completed their amazing challenges last week.

Isobel’s Heritage Ride and what a fab ride it was!

ISOBEL’S MONTHLY HERITAGE RIDE 

It was another most interesting and enjoyable club Heritage Ride today which once again proved to be another real treat for the members that took part!

This month’s ride headed out to the Charterville Allotments at Minster Lovell and the Swedish Timber Houses in Temple Guiting.

The Charterville Allotments were built by the Chartists in the 1840s, and the Swedish Timber Houses were built in the 1940s from flat packs.

Both incredibly fascinating places to visit and more information can be found on the links below .

https://minsterlovell-pc.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/MLPlanningPolicyStatement2020.pdf

https://www.prefabmuseum.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/SWEDISH-PRE-FABS-Location-List-115.pdf

The ride was approximately 49 miles today with 3,018 miles of climbing. It started at 9.00am depart from Milton-under-Wychwood village green.

The cafe stop was at the fabulous Old Post Office in Guiting Power.
 Another huge NCCC shout out once again to Isobel Hunter for not only putting all our Heritage Rides together for us but leading the rides too .

Below are some sample pictures of today’s fascinating ride.

Watch out for more of our fantastic Heritage Rides before the end of the year which include a War Memorial Ride and a visit to Christmas Corner