New Year News

The LCEF 4th anniversary is fast approaching and this has been yet another eventful and rewarding year. The fund has been growing from strength to strength, getting more and more support from the courier community and the wider cycling community.

The European Courier Calendar, our last fundraiser, has been a huge success and has been sold out all across Europe and further afield – so thanx to all of you out there who helped out and got your kit off – some of the proceeds went to the Warsaw Kurier Fund and some of it to the guys in Edinburgh to help them out with the organisation of the European Cycle Messenger Championships 2012. We’re hoping to give them another £500 soon so the sale of the calendar can benefit all the European couriers out there who given their time and energy. More calendars are on their way to London soon so if you didn’t get one, get in touch!!

The last month or so has seen several cycle couriers being involved in very serious accidents, all involving HGVS. The LCEF has paid out over £1000 to these riders who will be out of action for the next few months. One of them, Andrew Robinson, is still in hospital after a second operation on his leg and is not expected to ride again for another 6 months at least. Here’s Andy recuperating at home, squeezing out a smile for the camera.

One rider we haven’t been able to help though is Henry Warwick. Henry, a veteran courier, was killed 2 weeks ago after a collision with a coach on Bishopsgate in the CIty of London, which makes him the 9th London bicycle courier killed whilst at work. A memorial ride was held last Friday from the Foundry to the spot where Henry lost his life. About 200 people came, mostly messengers, to pay their respect and say their last goodbye. Accidents like these remind you how dangerous this job can be, even for the most experienced among us. So ride safe out there and don’t even think of undertaking that lorry when it’s turning left, you might not make it.

Following this tragedy and a post on the LFGSS forum highlighting the LCEF and our aim, we have received many donations from the general public, cyclists and non-cyclist alike from all over the UK. So thank you again for your generosity, it’s greatly appreciated and will go straight into the pocket of injured riders.

We will also meet this Thursday (23rd of February) around 7 o’clock at The Foundry to take a slow ride to the corner of Lower Thames st and Queen St Place EC4 to remember our friend, Sebastian Lukomski, who died whilst working on that day 8 years ago … not forgotten.

We’ll keep you posted with our coming fundraisers; a possible 4th anniversary party, the annual Donkey Derby and the much anticipated 5th edition of London’s Calling, which will be held in June as pre-event to the ECMC 2012 in Edinburgh… website up and running soon.

In the meantime, we have just received our biggest order of LCEF cycling caps, so if you need some stylish headgear, drop us a line. (These are also available at Look Mum No Hands on Old St, Velorution on Gt Portland St and Fullcity on Leather Lane).
And to keep you warm, hoodies are on coming soon all the way from Scotland and the House of Pistard: http://www.houseofpistard.com/).

Last but not least, Darren “Dazzler” Coxson has left the LCEF committee to apply himself to his studies, so we wish you all the best and thanx for your time and efforts over the past 4 years. You will be missed!

 

European Courier Calendar 2012 – Launch Party Tuesday 20th December

Anyone who was around last Christmas for the launch of the much-lauded LCEF Naked Calendar 2011 and managed to pick one up, will no doubt have found themselves at numerous times over this last year slyly casting sneaky peaks up at the wall for a healthy, life-affirming dose of PURE, UNADULERATED, COURIER BUFFNESS. As we trundle into December and you wring your hands in woe as the last of London’s birthday-suited couriers looms into view, then fear not; there is hope for the future. We have yet more to offer you for 2012. Much, much more.

‘Herding cats’ is a much-used and spot-on phrase to describe the experience of trying to organise a flock of couriers to a single end and if you think 2011′s London Calendar was a coup to pull off then spare a thought for the LCEF’s very own, Marcus Cooke award winning, Papillon, who has spent much of this year drawing on her thick book of European contacts to come up a with a fundraising idea bigger, badder and more ambitious than anything else seen this Millenium. With a truly international cast and profits being split between the Warszawski Fundusz Kurierski, the LCEF and the ECMC 2012 Edinburgh, this year’s calendar (again beautifully designed by talented London exenger Niki D-K) will be on sale to the international courier massive in all its naked glory Europe-wide in time for Chrimbo.

This year’s London launch party, to be held in the exclusive basement space of the Betsey Trotwood pub on Farringdon Road, EC1, will be defiantly bucking the trend this time around by being held on Tuesday 20th December. Yup, that’s right, it’s a school night! But it’s Christmas week and central so with ales on tap, live music from Italian breakbeatist and sax blowing maestro DJ Sax, LCEF DJs, mince pies, mistletoe and carol singing, there’ll be something for everyone. So come on down for a xmas booze, pick yourself up a calendar or two and help us toast our way out of 2011 with style.. For those unable to attend or from outside of London, keep your eye out for coming news of where you can get hold of a copy online and we’ll post one out to you… inyt.

 

Digger “The Revolutionary Fundraiser”, Dark Times and more..

On Saturday the 15th of October we had the opportunity to celebrate Digger’s 50th birthday in Look Mum No Hands. Digger asked me to organise an alleycat for that occasion, with the intention to raise some money for LCEF (that man really has his heart on the left side). So I printed forty manifests for “The Revolutionary Diggcat”. Digger himself took care of the spokecards. All was planed, apart of one thing…. well, the racers. They were just too busy to have a great time on the dance floor and forgot about the race. So, another alleycat that never happened
However, everyone had an awesome time and Digger managed to sell a loads of spokecards… in total £180 worth of spokecards for the benefit of the LCEF. Well done young man! We salute you! Also big thanks to Brixton Cycles, Bikeworks and LMNH for supplying the prizes. They will be used for the next race!

And so the bands battled for the LCEF!

On Friday 21st of October, our friends, and always supportive courier band Ragworm and also for the messenger community unknown band Rikky Fredo & the Fabulous Fucktones organised a battle of bands at the amazing Grosvenor. Ryan the Cannuck organised the “Race of Cocks alleycat” to make the transfer to SE London quicker and more fun. Starting at Fullcity and finishing at the Grosvenor with four checkpoints in between. New to the London messenger scene, Lane from Melbourne Australia, won the race and took home a track frame donated by Fullcity.
Before the battle we were to witness one surprise announcement by Buffalo Bill and that was award winning ceremony for Steph aka “Papillon” with the “Markus Cook Award” for services to the international courier community. Well done Papillon, you truly deserve it! And then the battle started with Ragworm. They showed us more than their solid performance of pumping punk’n'roll. These guys are getting better and better! Nobody quite knew what to expect from Rikky Fredo & Fabulous Fucktones. But I have to say…these “fakengers” rocks! I didn’t have such a fun for a long time! And the same counts for the half naked audience! Good times and rock’n'roll! I don’t really know which band won the battle, however these guys managed to raise around £200! So the LCEF is the winner! Well done all of you, who are about to rock!

by Vojtech

 

London’s Calling 4 takes £1000 for LCEF…

All images © Selim Korycki

…and everyone had a good time! The list of thank-you’s is a pretty long one so we’ll have a go now. First to Niki Dukes-Kovac’s for putting together a beautiful website, one for the portfolio – to Alex Story for creating the artwork for the Max poster and the t-shirt, some pretty unique work and very well received. To all our amazing sponsors without whom we wouldn’t have been able to heep some pretty amazing prizes on our racers. To Rollapaluza for letting us use their roller equipment, always willing, always appreciated. To House of Pistard for printing up the wicked LC T-shirts, to Hobs Printers for offering to do all our flyer and spokecard printing (for free!). To all the staff at the venues, in particular Victor at The Macbeth, Alfie at The Victoria and Hannah at Imbibe. To Black Rainbow and Gwem for up-front tunes on Friday, to DJ Scarper, Ragworm, Defcon Zero and Noise Complaint for filling the stage with pure awesomeness on Saturday, to Liz Hughes for rushing off on Sunday at the last minute to get music equipment for the roller race. To George for collecting logs, to Bardi for the Goulash! To JP and Barry for BBQ duties. To everyone who came out to marshall at the checkpoints, to the amazing photographers who produced some stunning imagery, Redrum, Rod, Roman, Selimski, Jorge, Stoy, and Aga for last years selection. Fantastic. To Gertie, Little John and Liz for running the rollers, to Creative Ian for van work, to those out-of-towners that made their way to London, you knows who you is. To Peter and Dave for tall bikes and jousts, to Look Mum for our registration venue. Finally to everyone that came out to play and to the LCEF for all their hard work behind the scenes, it was real!

 

Spring News – Caps, Cuts, Claims & Capers

New Caps are in and they’re all over town. You can pick one up at Condor Cycles, Grays Inn Rd, WC1, Fullcity Bikes, Leather Lane, EC1, Look Mum No Hands, Old St, EC1, Cavendish Cycles, New Cavendish St, W1, Velorution, Gt. Titchfield St, W1 or Metro Riders Room, Northburgh St, EC1. Thanks to our partners for spreading the love.

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That Cabby Judas, commonly known in dirty courier circles as ex-Reuters wild-child Lover Nick, put on a hair/money raising show for friends and family recently when he took the radical and life-changing step of shaving off his flowing locks in aid of the LCEF. After passing the knowledge last year, Nick now spends his days avoiding clipping couriers in his cab, saying “you wouldn’t believe who I had in the back of my cab the other week..” twenty times a day and eating roast-of-the-day baguettes in butty sheds all over London. After he made £250 quids for us by shaving his bonce WE SALUTE HIM. Thanks, man – nice work.

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The Donkey Derby at The Horseshoe was another top night, thanks as always to Rollapaluza for taking the time out and putting on a show for us. Thanks to Caspar especially for running things, Gertie and Simone for helping out with the rollers and Lawrence of Cyclone for DJ’ing duties. A frenetic night of woozy, high-spirited racing with Apryl walking away with the cash prize for top female and Janky James effortlessly maintaining his top spot for the third year in a row. Results and photos over here. Plus we made another £250 quids on the night. Double plus good.

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Claims-wise it’s been quiet since Christmas. But there must be something other than Spring in the air over this last month because we’ve had five, yes five claims in March. I guess we must also be up to ‘G’ in the alphabet because claims have come from two Georges, a Glenn, a Greg and then finally a Ken. A broken wrist, a broken rib, a pair of sprained wrists, a broken hand and a knee injury make up the gruesome tally of injuries from the spate of road-related ‘accidents’ this month. We take immense pride in the financial help and moral support that we are able to offer through the LCEF in response to incidents such as these and we know that the fund-raising we get involved in really does help smooth things over in the short-term for those injured riders that come to us. Yup, we’re gonna keep gunning…
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Finally, take a look over at the LFGSS forum where you can see further philanthropy in action from our friends in the wider cycling community. We’ve seen serious help from this direction before and warmly welcome a donation this time around. Many thanks for the props chaps, see youz on the highwayz..
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Speed Dating Alleycat – Friday 11th February

OK people let’s get rid of those cold winter-time blues with some Hot Valentines Fun Courier Style!!! That’s right, were taking the intriguing world of love to the manic streets of London. Mixing business with pleasure and racing with leisure it all goes together like sex and leather. We would like to present to you the first race of 2011………………..

It’s the Speed Dating Alleycat!

Look Good and Ride Fast !!!!!!!!!!!!!

by Apryl B

 

London Courier Appreciation Day – Wed 27th October 2010

2009 witnessed London’s first ever Courier Appreciation Day and so having decided that it would be fitting to recognise London’s couriers’ contribution each year around this time, we’re back again next Wednesday the 27th to deliver more of the same in the way of free hot coffee (again sponsored by the those lovely gentlemen at Leather Lane’s Fullcity Cycles), home-cooked cakes and bagels, LCEF goodies, smiles, handshakes and general good cheer. Last years event was very well received and enjoyed by all those who rolled up and all those we managed to flag down in passing so keep an eye out for us on the day, we’ll be camped up on the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue and Bloomsbury Street from 10:00 am so come along and say hello, have a nice slice of cake and let us know if you take sugar.

Following last years Appreciation Day we also took a straw poll amongst various members of the courier community to discover whether people thought it was a good idea to take steps towards attaining some sort of civil recognition, which may have involved approaching selected city bigwigs to see whether they would like to get involved by way of sponsoring us or helping us turn the day into something more official in the city calendar. Interestingly, all we received were various non-committal shrugs, no-one seemed to want anything other than that which we could organise ourselves, so we’ll be leaving it organic. It seems it’s just our transatlantic cousins who feel the need to be recognised by way of a formal proclamation so we’ll happily stick with what we’ve got for now and that’s eachother.

See you there!

Photo – AL Brambilla

 

London’s Calling 2010 – Results and Thanks

The LCEF would like to thank everyone that came out and took part in London’s Calling, it was an amazing event! We would like to thank especially the wonderful folks at Haphazard, an awesome venue in the heart of Hackney. Big thanks to Niki for creating such a beautiful webside and Csaba for a great flyer. Thanks to all the people for their hard work behind the bar, especially to Zsoka and Justa. Big credit to Irish Wayne for the welcome and much needed breakfast and all the logistical support. Thanks to Ranka for security on the door. Huge thanks to all the bands and DJ’s, the music was full-on large. Special mention to Madafaka, coming all the way from Glasgow, they really ARE better than Metallica! Massive thanks to Rollapaluza for lending us their rollers, and to Gertie, Little John, Rosine and Liz for running the roller race. Thanks to Apryl and Hobbs Printers for the posters and flyers. Untold thanks to our generous sponsors for all the great prizes, some really strong support and much appreciated indeed. London’s Calling 2010 was serious fun and couldn’t have happened without all your help. To those we haven’t mentioned who pitched in you know who you are. The result of all that hard work and some serious donations from the wider community around the weekend has seen an outstanding £2000 raised for the London Courier Emergency Fund. EPIC WIN. Thanks for showing out!

Results

Main race “Le Tour de Londres”

1. Janky James
2. Martin
3. Tom Mcguire (first out-of-towner)

1. Sarah (fourth overall)
2. Steph Papillon
3. Tamsin

DFL: Odge and Mickey Moomoo

Bagjack sprints:

1. Janky James
2. Wookie
3. James Tait

1. Sara Skull

Skid comp:

Redrum

Trackstand:

Kristina

Foot down:

Redrum

Roller Race

1.James Dawson
2.Greg
3. Peter

1. Kate
2. Tamsin
3. Liz

Albion Alleycat

1.Janky James
2. Johny H
3. Rob Serious

1. Tamsin
2. Tamsin
3. Tamsin!

1st out of towner : James Dawson (Netherlands)

DFL: Tiff

Video : Redrum
Photos : Annalisa

 

London’s Calling Albion Alleycat – Friday 17th Sept 8:00pm

In the twilight of a time
There emerges a need for couriers to comprehend their own bitter fate.
Finally resigned to the inevitable beyond, they search the ages
Desperate for an alleycat offering assurance, redemption and hope.

Tales of such races fill page upon page with enough ink
To flood a thousand valleys, and drown the tallest tree
But there is one race that has yet been run.
The Albion Alleycat.

Desolate and baron, courierdom at a crossroads
The messengers have retreated shuttering their once carefree lives
From unseen enemies which seem to plague not only the physical form
But the innermost thought.

Driven by panic, compelled by dread
The couriers begin to devolve
Once dear colleagues turn wary foes
Brother against brother, sister against sister.

Achievement and ambition are dismissed
As heretical, or worse, treasonous
Even nature itself is scorned
Choked with suspicion and fear
Voices do not dare to sing
Nor fingers to play
Imminent defeat is all but assured.

But in the darkest hour
Whispers begin to tell of an alleycat emerging from the darkness
A race without a history, faceless and obscure
Part presence, part idea they say
As if the very race they describe has existed for eons
A dormant seed awaiting nourishment
Word of radical acts…

Disobedience, non-compliance spread amongst the messengers
At first fearful, then defiant, as the legend grows
Whispers turned to cries and the cries into screams
And tend to cower no more the fury of those riders
Whose talent behold as they exact revenge on their rivals
Spare neither the repentant nor the bold.

Now, the race is on, smouldering in the belly of humanity.
It cannot be extinguished, for the Albion Alleycat endures
Even as evidence of its presence is debated with the passing years..

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-London’s Calling-

 

Jesus, what a weekend. Its not impossible youre still recovering from the aftermath of Faster Pussycat Kill Kill, the first female-only alleycat, organised by the wonder that is Chandra and her charming assistant, the LCEF’s very own Pikemeister.  For those of you that missed it,  Moving Target has a report here, featuring the winner of best pussycat costume award and Nhatt’s in-depth account of bra-burning and phallus-grabbing.   Chandra’s own race report is here, and congratulations are due to, well, everyone. Possibly the finest alleycat this year. Special mention to the Fund’s own Stef, and of course Nhatt, for joint first place.

Naturally, all profits from the race are going to the Emergency Fund.

For those not racing, or revealing their inner transvestite, the hottest costume of the weekend was the new LCEF logo shirts, fresh from the hackney sweatshop of the House of Pistard.  Tenners were flying as the new batch was revealed, fought over, desleeved by Ryan and then drunkenly posed in.  Check out Londons Finest in these pictures, then hit the link above to get your own piece of fashion history with free LCEF good karma points.