History

 

This is a letter received via e-mail from one of our Web Site readers who now lives in Massachusetts -

 

Hello,
I came across this web page when searching for information on Wallasey and have some information that that might help with compiling a club history if that is your intent.
I was brought up in Wallasey and lived on Belgrave Street from 1939 to 1963 when I was married and moved to Neston. Much of what I know about the club came from my grandfather who raised me after my dad remarried. My father was John Crester Pringle, known to his friends as Cres, and he was a good friend of Les Graham and was involved with the early formation of the Wallasey MC. Like Les, my dad raced and I have just received a picture of him on his OEC which my brother John has just discovered. My grandfather often told tales of my dad's racing. He told me the bike was an OEC with a V-Twin JAP engine. He would complain that the bike was eventually damaged from too much racing on sand. He told me that dad and some of his cronies marked a measured mile on Leasowe Road at about 4:00 a.m. one morning to see if dad could get the OEC to exceed 100 mph. I believe that it did!
As a schoolboy I was a big fan of Les Graham, and the only time I was late for school (Wirral Grammar School) was because I was listening to the senior TT and Les was leading on the AJS Twin Porcupine. He broke down about three miles from the finish - it spoiled my day. The only good news was that I was so late that the school monitors had left their posts.
When Les Graham was killed on his MV Augusta in the Isle of Man I was sent down to his family’s home with photos from my dad, but have no idea what they were. Dad had a bad crash on a motorbike (I believe in Mold) just at or after the end of the war and was left with a stiff leg. He was still interested in motorbike racing and I recall a number of trips to Rhydymwyn to attend race meetings. Somewhere in my collection of family stuff is another photo of a camping trip in Wales (I presume) with a motorbike showing. There are a number of people that I don't recognise, but may be Wallasey MC Members. I can send this and a copy of the OEC picture to you if you would be interested? Back in the late 1950's a friend of mine, Dave Burnley, was an active member of your club and he might also be able to contribute to your history. Dave still lives in Wallasey.
Regards,
Tony Pringle

 

Wallasey Motor Club

 

The following article has recently come to light and now shows that the club was actually first formed in 1929.

(This is reprinted from an original Kart Meeting Programme held at the Tower Stadium, New Brighton in 1960)

The Wallasey Motor Club is made of men and women who either have motor cars, motor cycles scooters or karts (or else they share one with their husband or boyfriend). It's a friendly Club, although at times we flare up over something or other which is important to us as a Club.

Before the Club was formed, a group of riders including the late Les Graham, used to meet on the waste land on Gorsey Lane every Sunday, and from there a crowd of maybe thirty riders would set off on a run. These riders held together so well that they decided to form a Club and so in 1929 the Wallasey Motor Bike Club was born. Entrance Fee 3/- and Yearly Membership 10/-. (In fact we are proud to say that membership is still only 10/- a year, with reduced rates for the under 18's and lady members). The first Club Headquarters were over a stable (I think this was in Rice Lane) at a rent of 5/- weekly and it was patronised every night of the week, especially on Sundays after Club Runs, when they would settle down for a game of Housey-Housey (now they call it Tombola). As to the sporting activities, the Club held four closed trials a year.

Many of the members either raced or acted as Marshals at the meetings held by the Oswestry Club at Park Hall, Oswestry. During the following years new faces appeared on the scene and the sporting activities have increased. Club Headquarters are now at the Grange, Grove Road, and Club Night is Friday night from 8 pm. Every alternate week is Business Meeting when we all get together to argue about things past and present. The alternating weeks are Social Evenings. Sporting activities are held every month on Sundays. Usually it takes the form of a Rally, with classes for cars, three-wheelers, motorcycles and scooters. We have serious Rallies, and others not so serious. Now and then they end up with a Barbecue. Trials riders are well catered for with both closed and open events, which are well supported. Apart from these events, camping is a regular feature of the Club activities during the summer months. The Club has its own equipment and regular camping ground in North Wales. Club Runs keep some members busy, these are always well organised, and woe betide anyone breaking the rules laid down by the Highway Code. Anyone having mechanical trouble with their vehicle can depend on both technical and pm practical assistance from a host of amateur and professional mechanics.

Maybe you are interested in meeting some of us and finding out more about the Wallasey Motor Club. Provided you are keen and prepared to take a wholehearted interest in the Club - you will find a warm welcome and you will soon find yourself rubbing shoulders with people who have the same interests as yourself. The Motorcycling members do not make a practice of haring around town and country at a ridiculous speed, and attired in black leather jackets fur collars and minus a helmet, using pedestrians and other road user as obstacles on a race track.

Our Car members do not all appear in cloth caps complete with sports cars, nor will you see our vehicles lined up outside public houses while we hold up the bar. If you do see road users treating others with respect, and obviously knowing how to act whilst in charge of a motor vehicle, take a closer look, maybe you will see a Wallasey Motor Club badge.

 

A Little Bit of History

 

(The following article first appeared in the summer edition of the 1992 Club Newsletter)

For quite a while now, the committee have been endeavoring to trace the origins of the Motor Club, and it has to be said that all of our enquiries to date had drawn blanks. It is fairly common knowledge that the club goes back a long way, but with the passage of time and the change-over of various elected officials of the club, there exists no continuous paperwork that could be researched to any degree.

It was therefore a pleasant surprise to be given a lead to follow, purely on the strength of a chance remark made at the local newsagents. Kenny Andrew was proudly wearing his Wallasey Motor Club jacket when he went out on a shopping spree one day earlier this year. He was astonished to be stopped by a lady in the shop who said to Kenny - "So it’s still going then is it?" Ken quickly realised it was his badge she was talking about, and it soon became apparent in the ensuing conversation that the lady and her husband knew far more about the Club than anybody hither to had realised.

So it came to be that Jerry Lucas and I found ourselves one Friday night last May in the lounge of Mr. and Mrs. Jack and Edna Blakemore and sat and listened whilst a fascinating potted history of the club was unveiled.

In the summer of 1947, an advert appeared in the Wallasey News inviting people "Of a like interest in mechanised vehicles" to meet at a pub opposite Mosslands Drive, Leasowe, (long since pulled down). About eight or ten people turned up and they became the founder members of Wallasey Motor Club. In those early days nearly all the members rode motor cycles and it was some time before the members, and the Club, turned to motor cars as their main form of transport.

Jack was always on the committee in one guise or another and was the prime mover in most of the club’s activities. He and Edna have medals and trophies for driving and navigating on such events as the White River Rally and the Davies Cup Rally, all this on a Matchless 347 motor cycle.

Another active member was Joe Bale, a retired ship’s engineer who was lucky enough to have his own workshop, a rare commodity in the 1950’s. His specialty was to turn out hydraulic valve conversions on his lathe to modify the otherwise rigid rear suspension of most of the motor cycles of the time. Joe was also the person responsible for the famous flying "W" metal Club badge. He made a mould into which was poured molten aluminium. The badge was painted blue all over and then the relief pattern was ground off to reveal the aluminium design. I wonder if the ones that Keith Newey still has are part of the original batch?

Yet another member had a device called a "near-a-car" which was in fact a long motor cycle complete with auto-cone gearbox; whilst another member possessed one of the first "Squirrels" - this was an innovative motor bike in its day and had the distinction of a square 4 cylinder engine.

Surprisingly perhaps, a lot of the social events have changed little over the years. There were always, it would seem, quiz nights, business meetings, outings and film shows, although film shows then were something of a novelty with real projectors and reels of film to be changed. Now videos have changed all that. Field days were also held, where anything and everything took place on wheels, sounds a bit like a sort of Gymkhana with cars and motor bikes.

The annual dinner dance was as ever a big occasion, usually held at various hotels in the Victoria Road area, with members of the Wirral 100 Motor Cycle Club as special guests.

Even then premises were a problem and the club would be obliged to move around in order to find a suitable meeting place. After a short while at the pub in Leasowe, the club moved to a hall in Seaview Road, then into a wooden hut off Poulton Road, this was shared with the Salvation Army. They next moved to an auctioneer's room above Rowson Street. In later years the club would meet in the Grange, the Grand Hotel, the Magazines and the R.A.F. Club before eventually moving to the Leasowe Castle in the early 1980’s.

The motor club enjoyed a much higher profile within the local community than it does today. Motor sport particularly was seen by all to be generally a good thing, whereas today we are, at best, tolerated by the authorities as an unnecessary nuisance

The committee for 1959 was as follows:-

I wonder what would be the reaction today if we approached our Chief Constable and asked him to become President?

Jack and Edna eventually graduated to becoming car owners, and included among their various vehicles were a Drophead Talbot Sunbeam, and a 1938 M.G. T.A., the photograph of the same showing the W.M.C. badge clearly displayed on the bumper bar. Jack’s work took him to the North East were he and Edna lived for many years before returning to the Wirral two years ago. The last contact with Wallasey Motor Club is a membership card dated 1977. This is signed by Ray Parkin, the then Secretary, and shows Jack as an honorary life member.

As we sat talking, and looking through mounds of photographs and memorabilia, the hours had flown by and it was time to go. We discussed the possibility of a reunion for all former members of the Club. Edna thought this was an excellent idea and she knew of many contacts that she could look up. She did suggest leaving it until 1997 when the Club would be celebrating its Golden Jubilee. At that time we could advertise in the local press and motoring magazines and invite along any interested parties and guests to some sort of a grand bash. 1997 isn’t really all that far away and it's one for us to be thinking about over the next few years.

So there it is. The club was founded in 1947 nearly fifty years ago. Not the oldest motor club on Merseyside but very nearly. My thanks go to Jack and Edna for their hospitality and the wealth of information provided. If not before, then we look forward to seeing you both in 1997.

Richie Pearl

As of a result of the new information uncovered, the club held it's 75th Anniversary in 2004, a special one off night with guest speakers and presenters.