Bruce William Pattern was born private in private, the son of Charles Leslie Pattern and Orame Lillian (née Jackson). He married Alison J. Lovell in private and Bernadette F. Cronin in private, and there are two children.
Quindham special for Ely Y.F.C. charity expedition
Five members of the Ely Young Farmers’ Club are setting out on Sunday on a “quindham” but it isn’t as mysterious as it sounds. “Quindham” is the word they have coined for a bicycle for five that they have put together for a 102-mile charity trip to the Norfolk town of Wymondham (pronounced Windham) and back.
The club leader, 27-year-old Wilburton farmer, Adrian Furness, said: “Quindham rhymes very nicely with Wymondham.”
BUILT FROM SPARE PARTS
The two-wheel bike has been built up from spare parts. The front forks are from a motor cycle, the wheels are from a Honda 50 and the three-speed gear mechanism has come from a garden tractor.
Gear ratios have been worked out very carefully. Mr. Furness. said: “If we had it in top gear all the time, pedalling as fast as we could, we reckon we could just about touch 40 m.p.h. But we don’t intend doing anything like that speed. We think about 10 m.p.h. would be a very good average.”
TO BOOST MINI-BUS FUND
Mr. Furness and his four cycling companions – Bob Day (apprentice mechanic), Peter Houghton (farmer’s son), Bruce Pattern (auditor) and Alan Rich (agricultural surveyor) – have been building the cycle for about two months. The releive cyclist is John Parish.
The sponsored ride is the club’s charity event for this year, and is in aid of the Ely Highfield special school minibus fund.
The five will be doing a few practice runs before they leave Ely on Sunday morning.
On the “Quindham,” five-seat special, are (front to back) – Adrian Furness, Peter Houghton, John Parish (reserve), Bruce Pattern and Alan Rich.
The route they will take from Ely Market Place to Wymondham is via Prickwillow, Mildenhall, Thetford and Attleborough.
Cambridge Daily News (3 August 1973)
FIVE MEN ON BICYCLE ARE BACK FROM THEIR TRIP
Five members of the Ely Young Farmers’ Club got back to Ely early today, nearly 17 hours after setting out on a 102-mile trip to Wymondham, Norfolk, and back, on a bicycle made for five.
And two of them, club leader Adrian Furness, a 27-year-old Wilburton farmer, and Alan Rich, aged 23, an agricultural surveyor, did the trip without going to bed the night before. They worked throughout Saturday night on a mechanical problem that meant adding another section of chain to the homemade cycle because of too much “whip” on the cogs. They finished their emergency repair only two-and-a-half hours before the ride started.
Further trouble hit the team when they got to Thetford, where a breakdown meant a stop of one-and-a-half hours for repairs. Reserve rider, John Parish, took over from Mr. Rich when they restarted.
The team did the outward 52 miles at an average speed of 10 m.p.h., but hit very bad weather conditions on the return journey.
Other members of the team were: apprentice mechanic, Bob Day, farmer’s son, Peter Houghton, and auditor, Bruce Pattern.
They organised the sponsored trip to raise money for the Ely Highfield special school minibus fund. Mr. Furness said: “We have no idea yet how much we shall have raised.”
