A short history of the club founded 1953 and earlier cycling in the town.

The Club was formed in 1953, but there is evidence of an earlier Cycling Club in Mildenhall. An old photograph in the local museum shows cyclists on ‘Ordinary Cycles’ in front of the historic Market Cross in 1896 which forms part of the modern-day Club’s logo. A Mildenhall & District Wheelers existed between 1933 and 1940 but folded due to the second World War.

The current Club originated with a group of young men who cycled to the swimming pool in nearby Newmarket. The group decided they wanted do more varied and adventurous cycling, and Mildenhall & District Cycling Club was born in 1953. However, the new Club lost many members to National Service and by 1956 was on the verge of going out of existence. It struggled on until 1959 with just five members, when one of the founder members Alan Thompson returned from the RAF determined to keep the Club going, and he and Dave Bowers set about increasing the membership.

During those early years it met at many different establishments. These included an old fish & chip shop, a garage at the Ship Inn Public House (pictured on the BFER Mildenhall display panel by the river Lark on the corner of the cricket ground, now dismantled and moved away from the Lark Road as a house) and the saloon bar at the Half-Moon Public House.

As membership grew during the sixties, it met in a room of the now demolished Town Hall until 1977 when the Club made the bold move to build their own club-room at Wamil Way on the cricket club ground, and the building has since twice been extended and refurbished.

Bridge Farm Dairies, a local family run company, sponsored the Club from early days, enabling it to continue attracting cyclists from across the eastern region. The company trade name was given to their annual grass-track promotion which became known as the Dairytime Gala.

Since 1987 that one-day grass track meeting has grown. In its heyday, the ‘Mildenhall Cycling Rally’ attracted thousands of cyclists, of all disciplines. Now known as the Mildenhall Cycling Festival, it is run over one day and continues the club’s tradition of promoting grass-track racing.

In 2003 members celebrated the Club’s Golden Jubilee, with many events to mark the occasion. The Club also produced a book entitled ‘Anything Cycling – Mildenhall CC: The first 50 years’, which gives a much more detailed history of the Club’s 50 years.

The Club’s Golden Jubilee coincided with the meteoric rise of Victoria Pendleton, who became the darling of the track until her retirement in 2012. From when she won her first National Championship medal in 1997- a Bronze in the Ladies 800m Grass-Track Championship contested at the Mildenhall Cycling Rally – to when she won Gold in the Women’s Keirin and Silver in the Women’s Sprint at the London Olympics in 2012, Victoria’s outstanding career saw her win two Gold and one Silver Olympic medals and 16 World Championship medals. She has left a remarkable legacy for British Cycling and especially women in cycling.

Read more about their history on the club’s website (via History on the left sidebar).

The club welcomes new members to come and see them on Monday evenings (except Bank holidays), and holds open sessions on the first Saturday of every month and at other times – download a leaflet (PDF two pages)– and see the events list from the home page of the website where you can also find contact details.

Mildenhall Cycling Club supported the display panel which includes a short history of the club alongside stories about navigation and recreation on the river. This panel was funded by BFER and placed in the corner of the Mildenhall Cricket Club by the river Lark. A key cycling club member, Dave Bowers, made the frame and installed it together with the cricket club president, Tony Cornell. Read stories from the history of Mildenhall Cricket Club, and read more about the display panels.

Display panel at Mildenhall Cricket Club by the river Lark