Revival

The turn-up in the D.A.'s fortunes came just in time for us to celebrate our Golden Jubilee in 1977 with some hope for the future. A Special Award programme was instituted, another handbook issued and a joint dinner held with EDARF at Furze Hill Hotel. The revival continued in the next year, the CTC Centenary Year in 1978, when a number of us rode to Godalming to present a scroll of loyalty to the Council meeting. We had decided against allowing the Presidency to run on and on by placing a three year (later 5 year) limited on the term of office and in 1979 John Davis replaced Len Duffin. A Harlow section was mooted although it never got off the ground but a Colchester section commenced which fairly successfully ran for three or four years. These were proving quite successful years for the D.A. and in 1978 Charles Comport recommended 'Spotlight' magazine which has flourished ever since. The D.A. programme included an annual Camping weekend and Gymkhana at Danbury which continued for several years. One feature of the membership then was the number of young recruits to the pastime, apart from the leading members of the sections most were in their teens and twenties, quite a change from the present day.

We successfully organised several large scale events for the club as a whole - a Home Counties Rally at Thaxted in 1982, a B.C.T.C final in 1983 and several Veterans Triennial Rides so that we felt we had plenty to celebrate by the time of our Diamond Jubilee in 1987. A lunch was held at Ramsden Heath Village Hall prepared by Joan Comport who had previously done much catering for the D.A. for our sliced shows plus organising jumble sales to raise funds. Another handbook was issued with emphasis the modern D.A. and as part of the celebrations we hosted the CTC National Dinner at the Churchgate Hotel, Harlow in 1988 at which, appropriately, the Essex team received trophies for winning the D.A.T.C. in which we had been very successful at individual and team level in the 80's. Mention must be made of Dot Sharp who has been an outstanding D.A. Secretary for a record number of years until 1999 and, with husband Jack, was largely responsible for the success of the Brentwood Section during the 1980's. Our Audax "Windmill" Rides started in 1984, have become classics and we commenced the 1990's by organising the CTC National 400k Audax; we have also continued with Essex heats of the Triennial Veterans Ride. Presidents in later years have been Ken Thorndike, Charles Comport, Dot Sharp, Chris Regan, Margaret Davis and currently Brian Penny. The D.A. has settled down to a steady, rather than spectacular, period of existence and we look forward with confidence to the future.