Ulysses Club
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The Ulysses Club was formed for older motorcyclists at the instigation of Stephen Dearnley in Sydney, Australia in 1983 in reply to a letter in the now defunct "Bike Australia" magazine, the editor being Peter "The Bear" Thoeming. The name Ulysses Club, and the club's motto of "Grow Old Disgracefully" were the ideas of Rob Hall. Peter "The Bear" Thoeming sketched the "old man" logo, that is still used by the club in its original hand-sketched form. The inaugural meeting of the club was held in Sydney on 6th December, 1983 when the five people present approved a draft constitution and the Ulysses Club was duly formed.
The name comes from Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It tells how the great Greek hero Ulysses, now middle-aged and securely in charge of his kingdom of Ithaca, is getting bored with things around him and longs to go adventuring again with his shipmates of old. It describes very well indeed the sort of person who still has enough spark to go on riding into middle and later years.
It is the largest organization of its kind in Australia and it now has branches in Canada, Germany, New Zealand, South Africa, Norway and the United Kingdom.
