Invitation
Macarthur Branch of the Ulysses Club wish to invite all members to our Memorial Ride. Please advise all your members
Date: 8th September 2024 Destination: Cordeaux Dam
Ride Start: MacDonalds Narellan (Cnr Narellan Rd & Camden Valley Way) – 10am start (gather 9.30am for chit chat)
As usual a short Memorial Service will be held along with a 1 minutes silence for those ridden on. Unfortunately we have lost a few members this past 12 months.
A BBQ will be catered for by the Macarthur Branch at the Dam
$2 per Sausage or Rissole Sandwich / Roll, and $2 per drink
Regards, Lorna Kerr Secretary
Macarthur Branch
Ulysses Club Memorial Ride – History
By Colin Menger – No. 6330
A lot of todays members would not have been Ulysses Club members in March 1999 when the first ride occurred. It is usually interesting to know the history of events and the people who started them, who have often passed on.
The late John Richard (Dick) Lindsay, member 3757, requested at a Wollondilly Wanderers Branch meeting in 1998, that he be authorised to contact Ulysses Club National Committee, to request that a Ulysses Club Memorial Ride be held each year to honour members who had ridden on. This was voted on and passed by the members at that meeting. The request was put forward to and approved by the Ulysses Club National Committee.
The first Memorial Ride was held in March 1999. It left Picton Bowling Club and finished at Cordeaux Dam. The event was altered from March to September as it was felt the event could clash with the Ulysses Club Annual General Meeting, plus the weather was better in September. The starting point was altered from Picton Bowling Club to McDonalds Narellan in September 2000.
Wollondilly Branch were the original organisers of the Memorial Ride. Macarthur Branch took over, originally under Dick Lindsay’s leadership, from September 2001. This was after the Macarthur Branch was formed in December 2000, which Dick Lindsay was one of the founding members.
Old No. 1, Stephen Dearnley, attended and strongly supported the Ulysses Club memorial Ride. I believe the first Memorial Ride had about 60 members attend from Macarthur, Nepean, St George, Sydney and Wollondilly Wanderers Branches.
A short service has been held every year, along with a minute’s silence for those ridden on. This was followed by a sausage sizzle put on by the organizing branch.
2024 will mark the 25th year since the inaugural Memorial Ride. It is now held in every state of Australia and is growing in numbers each year.
Memorial plaques to Stephen Dearnley (No. 1) and Richard Lindsay (no. 3757) are placed on a rock at the Cordeaux Dam Picinic Area.
Representatives of the National Committee have attended most of our Memorial rides.
The Macarthur Branch were presented with a Spirit of Ulysses Award for running the Ulysses Club Memorial Ride.
Due to Covid 19 restrictions the ride had to be cancelled 1 year and Macarthur held their own event the following year. In 2023 it was held at Nepean Dam due to the closure of Cordeaux Dam.
We are now pleased it is back at Cordeaux Dam, where it all began.
