AFTER lessons, a group of schoolboys enjoyed heading into the countryside on their bicycles.

The after-school cycling clubs drew pupils from New Marston and Blackbird Leys Primary schools in Oxford.

Teacher David Munday, who ran the clubs with the help of fellow staff, led the pupils on 49 excursions, covering more than 900 miles, between 1957 and 1961.

He writes: “Leaving school at 3.30pm on Wednesdays, we would cycle for miles, across the lovely landscapes of Oxfordshire, Berk-shire and Buckinghamshire.

“All the boys were aged 10 or 11 and I don’t think there were any other groups like this in the area. They were unique.

“We cycled as far as Wittenham Clumps in the south, Thame in the east, Ambrosden in the north-east and Eynsham in the west.

“These were evening rides, but on one day ride, we cycled to the Chilterns (Chinnor, Watlington, Cuxham, Stadhampton and home), a total of 44 miles.

“The boys were taught the disciplines of cycling together, how to read and interpret maps, the architecture of the medieval churches they visited, sketching, photography, recording, and care of others and the countryside.

“All had to write a report of every ride and I believe some still have their books today.

“The staff and I must have taken out 100 boys over five years.

“Discipline, of course, had to be strict, but the boys accepted this and I cannot remember anyone blowing their car horn at us.

“Traffic was much less in those far-off days, but we still had to be watchful and alert.”

Mr Munday, of Wharton Road, Headington, recalls several memorable moments – 22 staff and pupils huddled in Brill Mill during a thunderstorm, being passed by 20 coaches bringing race-goers home from Epsom on the twisting hills between Nuneham Courtenay and Sandford, and being held up by a large herd of cows at Stanton St John.

In 2002, one of the cyclists arranged a reunion, hired a minibus and invited Mr Munday to join them retracing one of the trips they did in 1959.

Mr Munday tells me: “This I readily agreed to.

“Then came one of my greatest thrills – when we stopped at Elsfield and Charlton-on-Otmoor churches, they remembered much of what I had taught them.

“We finished with a dinner in Thame. How we reminisced.

“Many of the cyclists went on to top positions in industry, teaching, the forces and other occupations, including deep-sea diving on the oil rigs – something to be proud of.”