Founded in 1936. Going from Strength to Strength …..

IN THE BEGINNING…..

Lymington Motor Cycle & Light Car Club was founded back in the 1930’s. This is substantiated by the Club Banner which boldly proclaims 1936. The club flourished during the war years, but the events of the war curtailed motorcycling for pleasure and so limited the activities of the club for some considerable time.

In 1963, after a long hard winter, a group of local motorcyclists met at the Borough Arms public house to discuss reforming the Lymington Motor Cycle & Light Car Club. With great enthusiasm the idea was given the thumbs up, with Mr. K House being unanimously chosen to be the Chairman of the revised Club. A pro-tem committee comprising Messrs. L Hunt, I Grewcock, R White, D May, M Beale, R Grewcock (Snr) and A Cattingham was then selected.

The new committee made the following decisions:

1.To adopt the standing rules of the former club en bloc

2.The former Club badge to be used

3.An annual Club subscription of 10 shillings (50 pence) per member

4.The first Annual General Meeting to confirm the decisions made so far, was to be held at the Angel Hotel, Lymington, on Monday 30th September

5.To apply for A.C.U. affiliation as soon as possible

The new committee decided to meet monthly and set to work devising a programme of events to interest all members. Film Shows – Mr Ivor England promised his assistance and the Chairman would contact a colleague in possession of projection equipment. Mr. M Beale agreed to look into all matters and contact those concerned.
Social Activities – A dart board would be appreciated and a display board for ‘Sale & Wanted Items’. Mrs Grewcock with the assistance of the Treasurer consented to running a raffle at the next meeting.
Quiz Nights – Motorcycles, photographs and general knowledge.
Club Runs – Arrangements were made to ride on the next Sunday, from Lymington Pier to the Beaulieu Scrambles, then a week later to the Perce Simon Trial of the Ringwood Club. The Secretary was instructed to correspond with the Ringwood and Southampton clubs, offering assistance with marshalling, etc. at any of their events.

Further ideas were discussed – speakers on first aid, insurance, road safety and RAC/ACU training courses. A monthly information sheet to tell members about news, views and forthcoming events was heartily accepted. Mr. R White was nominated Press Officer, a role which he accepted without undue protest. The public house management was to be approached with regard to supplying refreshments (for the ladies?). With food and drink in mind, the idea of a Christmas Dinner was raised and feedback from the members invited. These thoughts in mind, the meeting closed in anticipation of the next gathering, set for 14th November 1963.

The first Annual General Meeting of the reformed club was duly held on 30 September 1963 in the Angel Hotel, Lymington. This opened with the Chairman’s welcome and outlining the proposed purpose of the club and the anticipated events.

The motion to reform the Club was voted unanimously in favour by those present. The committee was elected en bloc and, there being no dissension, the club rules accepted. Three names were proffered to the Chairman for the position of Club President. These persons were to be investigated by the committee, examined and the committee to report back at the earliest opportunity.

After some discussion, the position of Club Captain was offered to and accepted by Mr. Nicholl. It was then decided by all present that, by reason of locality and convenience, the Angel Hotel was a suitable meeting place for the Club and, in future, would be accepted as the Club’s HQ. In anticipation of the work to be done on Club activities in near future, the position of Competition Secretary was discussed and Mr. Wright, being agreeable to accepting the position, was co-opted onto the committee. The meeting closed with the agreement that all future meetings would be held at the Angel Hotel, commencing 7.30pm.

The meetings offered a wide variety of subjects and the Sunday runs were taking the club all over the place, from the near east and deep into the west. But isn’t it odd. Everything is brilliant; everyone is bursting with enthusiasm: then the shine disappears and people can’t be bothered. This appeared to happen with the Club. About a year after reforming, the members attending the Sunday runs had reduced so much that the committee decided that their efforts were wasted and Sunday runs would be dropped.

Another concern of the committee was the sociability of members at Club meetings – lots of members being aloof, very singular and not mixing. Having said that, the committee were pulling together and trying hard to get more new members, in the hope of turning things around. Advertising posters were planned; a Club news sheet would be printed. And so they plodded on, their efforts truly not appreciated.

Eventually, the committee’s efforts paid off. Membership numbers increased and the Club was buzzing again. A.C.U. affiliation was obtained and members were competing in trials and scrambles. Members were also busily engaged in helping Ringwood and Southampton clubs with marshalling, etc. at their events. The weekly meetings retained their popularity with a varied programme and the weekly draw helped to hold up the Club’s finances.

MOVING FORWARDS …

1964 ….. the Club was still solvent. There was still some disorganisation over the film shows and a series of picnic runs was suggested but not carried out. It was proposed and carried out to pay one guinea to an auditor.

1965 ….. the Club funds had doubled – leading to the Treasurer being told not to hoard the money! The Chairman said that plans were to spend some of it on Club entertainment. Reasonable success was achieved by members competing at the Beaulieu Team Scramble. Unfortunately, no trials were run as a suitable ground had not been found.
The Club news sheet had still not appeared so this was put back on the agenda.

1966 ….. Lord Montague of Beaulieu proposed for President.
Ground for a closed-to-Club trial found, but might be compromised by a public footpath running across it. The Chairman to investigate.
A suggestion was made that some thought be given to some ideas for including car owners, as the number of these were increasing. The membership numbers were beginning to slump and the Club was down to just over 20 members.

1967 ….. the Club did well in the Team Scrambles.
Club finances were holding up well, the current balance being £42.18s 11d
Mr. I Driver was proposed as the next Club President.
Due to public complaints about the noise, the trial ground was lost.

1968 ….. all is not lost, a new ground for trials found and two trials were held successfully. The Chairman expressed his grateful thanks to the ladies of the club for their indispensable help at the Club trials and social activities. Mr. G Marshall expressed concern at the general lack of assistance from members and said everyone must do their bit if the trials were to continue. Foot and mouth disease appeared on the agricultural scene causing all trials activities to be severely curtailed.

1971 ….. in June, a highly successful vintage road safety run was organised by Mr. H Wilson. Plans were immediately formulated to make this an annual event.
Membership numbers had by now greatly reduced, giving the committee great cause for concern.

1972 ….. Mr. H Wilson organised another successful vintage road run. Permission was sought and obtained to use Wellworthy’s car park as the starting area.
It was decided that Club trials would be discontinued due to inadequate support from Club members.

1980 ….. once again, the vintage run was organised and permission sought to use Wellworthy’s car park, as before. The facility was refused, unless the Club could show that there was sufficient insurance to cover this use. Despite these initial problems, the run went ahead and was successful. Due to the growing interest in vintage machines, it was proposed there should be vintage runs in June and September the following year.

1984 ….. a car boot sale, organised in conjunction with the Fire Service, was a great success raising £80 for the Fire Service and £46 for the Club funds. Concerns were raised about the charges levied against the Club bank account. Steps were taken to find a less expensive alternative. Forthwith, the funds were transferred to the TSB Bank.
It was propsed that a book be kept, recording the awards made at Club runs and a photograph album of events. Ian Smith volunteered to maintain the album.

1985 ….. from the 2nd April, there was a change to the Club meetings. The Royal British Legion Club in Lymington High Street became the new HQ, meetings were to start at 8pm and, as subs from the current number of members was not sufficient to cover the cost of room hire, a collection was made at each meeting.

1986 ….. the Treasurer was pleased to announce that the Club funds had reached healthier levels and it was deemed no longer necessary to request additional contributions from members towards room hire.
To celebrate the Club’s Golden Jubilee, members were asked to make special efforts for the Lymington Vintage Show at Buckland Manor Farm.
Interesting videos had been brought by members for viewing at the Club meetings. As the British Legion’s television set was less than satisfactory, Arthur Bowles offered to bring his set from home for future meetings.

2009 ….. the Club continues. Noisy, crowded meetings are held every month, where many pints are quaffed.

A varied programme of runs is conducted throughout the year, many in conjunction with other clubs. There are a variety of machines used on these runs, from classic and vintage (including tax exempt machines) to modern cruisers and crutch rockets. Club members continue to attend local fetes with their classic and vintage machines and also raise a considerable amount of money for local charities.

See you at the next Club run?