clarion sunday

Clarion Sunday 2021
Sunday 13 June
The Fellowship of the Wheel (working title)
An artist’s project by Alan Ward to celebrate this unique and historic event.

We are looking forward to seeing you next year, it is disappointing that Clarion Sunday hasn’t been able to happen this year, as I’d been looking forward to working alongside MPA, to create an artist engagement with your cycling community. By way of a small homage to the rides you would have made, I have created a little lockdown virtual ride to Clarion House from my home in South Manchester.

Just prior to the shutdown, I’d purchased a gravel bike to begin to explore a little more off tarmac. My ride encompasses some of those surfaces, as I make my way through Greater Manchester. The film was made using a mapmyride plotted route, which was imported into the wonders of the Google Earth app. It’s a little bit of fun and references the fly-throughs of TDF stage previews and dreaded spin classes.

For Clarion Sunday 2021, we want to make your day a bit more special, and offer you something to remember it by.

I am an artist, photographer and designer, but also a devotee of cycling culture. I would like to document your club rides to Clarion House next year, using the data provided by tools like Strava and Garmin, and include photographs and notes from the journey to Jinny Lane. Between now and then I will be seeking your help with planning this. On Clarion Sunday 2021, I will be present to take a formal portrait of each rider with their mount, using a pop-up studio, and MPA will thank participants with a small one-off memento of Clarion Sunday to take away. Afterwards, I will assemble and interpret all the material gathered into a limited edition publication, and each participant will be sent a copy, with MPA’s compliments.

If you are interested in taking part you can contact me by email

Clarion Sunday is already a very special event. Through this project, we want to capture some of that, and give your members something unique to remember it by. We hope you will be willing to help, because we can’t do it without your participation. Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you next year!

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MPA is an arts and culture charity working in Pennine Lancashire. Our project Pendle Radicals is a part of a programme to celebrate the Pendle Hill area. Pendle Radicals explores the stories of the nonconformists, dissenters, independent thinkers and change makers who have been drawn to this rugged, rural landscape over the centuries. From the founder of the Quakers, who had his vision at the Pendle summit, to campaigners for women’s suffrage and the pioneers of the Labour movement.

Clarion House is a central point for many of those stories, and a special place for Pendle Radicals. One extraordinary tale is the 125+ year narrative of the Clarion movement and the National Clarion Cycling Club. What we want to do, though, is capture a snapshot of today’s living tradition of Clarion Cycling, your club, your members, and their ride on 13 June 2021.

Pendle Radicals is a part of the Pendle Hill Landscape partnership programme, made possible by support from National Lottery Heritage Fund.

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