Gloucester FC used a marked out grass track for sports which was four laps to the mile. The first bicycle racing at ground was at the Gloucester Athletic Club evening meeting on 22nd June 1893, there were foot races and half and one mile open bicycle races, the races were followed by a fireworks display.
The 14th Gloucester Athletics Festival was held for the first time at Kingsholm on 8th August 1893, the meeting was organised by the Gloucester Athletic Club, who paid £30 to the Athletic Ground Company to rent the ground for the meeting. There were four hundred entries for the eight open events at the Festival, which included four bicycle races: ½ and 2 miles open handicaps, a 1 mile local handicap and a 1 mile open scratch race for a first prize of ten guineas and a challenge cup. The press reported that the organisers were disappointed at the lack of big names for the cycling events. After the meeting there was a promenade concert, dancing and a large fireworks display.
Bicycle racing at Kingsholm continued through the 1890s with meetings organised by Gloucester Football Club, Gloucester City and Tyndale Cycling Club, Gloucester Harriers and the Post Office sports. The St Catherine's Flower Show was held on 18th August 1898 and hosted the Sunlight washing competition** On 24th August 1899, Mr Poole displayed his new cinematograph with the latest films.
Balloon ascents were popular attractions at galas and sports meetings and Kingsholm hired Professor Gaudron's balloon performance on two occassions in 1895. Gaudron arranged with the gas company to fill his balloon using a five inch gas main and at 6.25 pm on Whit Monday, he jumped into the balloon and it quickly rose high into the sky. Gaudron then jumped from the balloon holding on to his parachute and aimed to land in the fete field, but a breeze pushed him off course and he was unceremoniously deposited onto the roof of a house in Dean's Walk. A ladder was found and Gaudron quickly returned to the fete field to an ovation from the crowd.
Bicycle racing went into the doldrums at Kingholm from 1900 after Gloucester FC lost £584 when they hosted the England against Wales rugby match in 1900 and the sports meeting were not held there for several years. The club tried again with a sports meeting on Whit Monday 1907, but spectator support was poor. After the meeting, there was some activity with the Alington CC annual sports and the Gordon League sports around 1900, but there was very little bicycle racing at Kingsholm until 1930. In the meantime, the Spa ground continued to be the popular Gloucester venue for sport, including cycling.
The Gloucester Athletic Sports meeting eventually moved from the Spa to Kingsholm and their first meeting there was on 5th August 1930. There were three cycle events, half and one mile open handicap races and a three match sprint competition between Albert Theaker and Ernie Chambers^^. The two laps sprint match race was exciting, it went to a decider race, which Theaker won in a close finish. Albert Theaker won silver in the 1930 National Sprint Championships and Ernie Chambers won silver medals at both the 1928 and 1932 Olympic Games.
Surprisingly there were very few sports meetings in the 1930s, the Gloster Aircraft company held a few of their annual sports meetings from 1937 but there was almost no bicycle racing until the Gloucester Amateur Athletic Club and Gloucester City CC organised a successful joint sports meeting on 23rd August 1947. There were four cycling events, including a five miles scratch race and the attendance was over 2,000. This was probably the bicycle racing at Kingholm.
Kingsholm is still used for rugby and is the home of the professional club Gloucester Rugby. The stadium has also hosted pop concerts featuring Tom Jones, Ronan Keating, Elton John and Lionel Richie.
** The Sunlight washing competition was held at many sports and fetes in the 1890s, competitors had to quickly wash dirty clothes with Sunlight soap. This press report describes the action "The competition was severe and some remarkably clean clothes were produced in the short space of three minutes, after having received a liberal application of soap and undergone a process of vigorous rubbing." The winner received a silver cup and six boxes of Sunlight soap.
^^ Ernie Chambers worked for the cycle manufacturer Claud Butler in the 1930s, they produced the EH Chambers' Path Model bicycle that "was personally supervised by Chambers himself." Chambers later set up his own cycle shop on London Road, Mitcham.
