Fitzgibbon family and their 110 year association with DHBC

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marc2131
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Postby marc2131 » 18 Jun 2017, 13:56

Today I met a new club member Gary Jenkins. He is the grandson of original DHBC foundation member Percy Fitzgibbon who may have been one of a small group of DHBC foundation members back in 1908. Percy must be in the picture below.

DHBC Foundation members on the day of the DHBC's establishment on 8 April 1908, at the Masonic Hall (since demolished) on New Canterbury Road, Dulwich Hill.
1908Foundation_zpsb722b813.jpg
1908Foundation_zpsb722b813.jpg (49.55 KiB) Viewed 4027 times
The Fitzgibbon family has had a long association with the DHBC going back over 110 years. Glad to see Gary, the third generation of the family joining the DHBC once again.

Foundation member (1908) Percy Fitzgibbons was a Dulwich Hill resident and he had 2 sons, John (Jack) and Ken who also joined the club when they were old enough. John began racing in the 1920s and only stopped in 1933. As a junior he won the 1 mile track championship and the Road Championship in 1932. Jack also helped in the construction of the Henson Park track and was a regular at club social functions.

Ken joined the club in 1933 and raced on a Charlie Paris made bicycle (Charlie Paris was the DHBC founder and had a bicycle shop at Hercules/Loftus Sts, Dulwich Hill). Ken bought the bike for the equivalent of $8 and was a foundation member of the DHBC Juveniles in the early 1930s. Ken participated in a 'centenary run' at the young age of 14. He also raced in the Goulburn-Sydney race just before WW2, finishing in the lead bunch but missed on being placed. Ken enlisted in the AIF in 1940 and served in Darwin and PNG.

Ken eventually moved to Newcastle and he became a member of the 'Newcastle Cycleways Movement'. He rode his bicycle well into his 90s. I believe he died around 2010. Ken had 2 sisters. One of the sisters, Jean, was a dressmaker by trade and use to make the DHBC racing jackets for a time.

In his later years, Ken Fitzgibbon wrote the following poem about the DHBC. He had fond memories of the DHBC and his mates for many years. He wrote this poem about the DHBC, probably remembering it's early years in the 1930s. Funny thing is the club sounds pretty much the same as it was a 80 years ago. Ken was quite a prolific poet and wrote a few poems about the DHBC.

The poem below is called 'Dulwich Hill Cycling Days' and takes pride of place in the 1988 limited edition book about the DHBC written and published by long-term club treasurer and secretary, the late Sonia Heathcote (1921-2008) in 1988.


Poem provided by descendent, Gary Jenkins.
DHBC Poem by Ken Fitzgibbon c. 1910.jpg
DHBC Poem by Ken Fitzgibbon c. 1910.jpg (550.14 KiB) Viewed 4027 times

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