A front cover drawing - a story from the archives.

Having just taken over as the ALC archivist, I have been going through past copies of what we now call “The ALC Bulletin” going back to 1953. There are many wonderful stories among them, which I will resurrect from time to time. One drawing that particularly caught my eye was this one which started appearing on the front cover from 1966. In 1965 the then editor, Jeffrey Eaves, asked members for suggested drawings for the front cover. Charles Edgar Deane, a committee member, provided this lovely, simple, line drawing of a wild camp near to a lake.

I couldn’t identify the location but I think the tent is an “Itisa”.

Charles was an architect, born in 1902, and on the 1939 census he's recorded as a master architect and surveyor. During the war he served as the chief engineer in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. Charles was one of our very active members and we can see him on the left in the picture from the Liverpool Echo 1 Jan 1970, serving a cup of tea to the Chairman of the newly formed British Tourist Authority. In those days we had a stand at the Camping and Outdoor Life and Travel Exhibition (Colex) to promote lightweight camping.

Charles died in 1975 and we thank him for his many contributions to our society. Here is his obituary from the December 1975 issue:

"It is with very great regret that we announce the deaths of two of our members Charles Deane and Frank Carlberg. Both will be missed very much from our ranks, as they were a link with the past, as both of them were very active Cycle Campers. Charles was a member of Central Committee and also Chairman of Southern Area for some years, and gave much in time and knowledge to the Association. In this day and age, we can ill afford to lose people like this, but then Anno Domini catches up."