Handlebar Club archived news items

At the end of March, our club secretary, Rod Littlewood was interviewed by the Scottish "Sunday Herald" newspaper because "The moustache is returning to the height of facial-hair fashion". Rod's response was, "As far as we're concerned they've never been out of fashion". The full article can be found at www.sundayherald.com/print32457

	Derek Merfield R.I.P.
We were very sorry to report the death of our member Dr. Derek Merfield who passed away on April 13th 2003 after a long illness. Derek joined the Handlebar Club because he just happened to be passing "Trumpers" when we were involved with publicity for their 120th birthday. He spent much of his time in Australia, but we were very pleased to see him in Germany, at the World Championships held in Pforzheim. Our condolences go to his family.
	Alan Gear R.I.P.
Alan Gear, one of our distinguished members, died peacefully on May 22nd 2003. The funeral was held on Friday June 6th. Click here for an obituary.
	Sten-Erik Molker R.I.P.
Sadly, another of our distinguished members, Sten-Erik Molker, died on June 6th 2003. The Club was represented at his funeral held on Monday June 23rd. Click here for an obituary.
	Charlie Rogers R.I.P.
Charlie Rogers who has been a member of the "Nottingham Nest" of the Club for over forty years passed away peacefully in his sleep on the 3rd of August 2003. The Club was represented at the funeral by Conrad Clare.

At our May "First Friday" meeting we were joined by some American friends who are studying at Cambridge and had found out about the Club from our web site. For one of them, Kevin, it was his first birthday in the UK, and when without warning we all broke into "Happy Birthday to You" he was truly shocked. He still cannot believe that his girl friend and other friends had managed to arrange such a surprise.

On the last weekend in April, Ted Sedman attended the German International Beard and Moustache Championship as a guest of our member Jürgen Burkhardt and the Club "Belle Moustache", of which he is President. The championship was held in Pullman City, a "Wild West" theme park in south-east Bavaria. It was a most enjoyable weekend, and much to his surprise Ted was awarded second place in the "freestyle moustache" category.

The Annual Darts Match against the Pipe Club of London was held at a new venue, the "Overdraughts" pub, not very far from the "Old Red Lion" where previous matches were held. The new location gained general approval, not least because it was easier to park. However, we failed to maintain last year's success. Although we won the first game, the Pipe Club regained the trophy by winning the next two games.

The day after the A.G.M. weekend we were featured on "Southern Counties" radio.

Then on Good Friday three of us appeared on "Loose Lips", a brand new talk show for LivingTV, hosted by Melinda Messenger and Richard Arnold.

And the women's magazine "Marie Claire" featured Rod Littlewood ("Handlebar Heaven") and Michael Attree ("Edwardian Cad") in its competition to find the best moustache, Rod being the only person to appear twice in the magazine!

At the end of March the Post Office introduced "The world's first ever DIY stamps".

You can make up faces with hats, eyes, ears, mouths etc. and, yes, you've guessed, moustaches! So Rod Littlewood and Michael Attree were invited along to the launch.

For more information about the stamps click here