Cycling to a beauty contest …….. “the pretty entrants” of 1937

I bet there will be someone who remembers Riding’s Stores Ltd.

They sold cycles and advertised themselves as “The largest Quality Cycle Specialists in the North of England”, with branches on Deansgate, Corporation Street, Market Street and Swan Street, with shops in Moss Side, Rusholme and Stretford as well as here at 362 Barlow Moor Road.

And in their drive to bring cycles to the world they boasted “No Risk - No Bother – No Fuss – It’s so easy, so simple Riding’s ‘Best of All’ Easy Ways”, which meant that from 1/6 a week you could have any Hercules model , with the added bonus of no deposit and a ”Seven Day Free Riding Trial”.

The advertisement appeared in the Chorlton and Wilbrahampton News for July  16th, 1937, but what caught my eye was an additional notice drawing attention to “More Pretty Entrants in Riding’s Great Northern Cycle Queen Contest”, which featured eleven young women, with one posing with a cycle, another in a swim suit and another talking on the telephone.

And in an act of overkill, the company posted yet another reference to the contest calling on women to “Send in your photographs now!  Adding, “Waste no time. This is a marvelous opportunity for some local girl to gain fame and popularity”.

All that was required was a  name and an address on the back of the picture which was to be sent in a “1½d. sealed envelope to Riding’s” main showrooms on Stockport Road. 

The company also embraced all the modern technology, promising that “Elimination contests will be filmed and the final selection will take place at the New Manchester Hippodrome”, which I suppose opened up the potential for a cinema news story.

But if that was not enticement enough there was the promise “handsome cash prizes” and the simply direct question “Will You Be Queen?”

So, there you have it and by one of those little quirky twists, the Riding’s shop on Barlow Moor Road was just four doors down from Ken Foster’s cycle shop.  Now that is a bit of historical continuity,

Location; Chorlton and Manchester

Pictures; addverts from the Chorlton and Wilbrahampton News, July 1937 from the collection of Maggie Watson