H.C.V.C. Annual Dinner

The annual dinner of the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club was eaten on March 4th at the Carlton Rooms, Maida Vale, in the lofty hall where Victor Silvester’s dancing contests and the Daily Mail £5,000 initiative-prize panels are televised. At the A.G.M. preceding the dinner Lord Montagu of Beaulieu was elected President of the H.C.V.C., Sir Henry Spurrier becoming the Club’s Patron, while J. H. Fielder was elected its Chairman. The Club was founded in 1957, with an inaugural rally at Beaulieu, and now has 60 genuine vintage commercial vehicles on its books.

“The Club” was proposed by G. Mackenzie Junner, the response coming from Mr. Fielder, and Lord Montagu proposed the toast to the ladies and guests, the latter including members of the commercial vehicle Press and Mr. and Mrs. W. Boddy, the response coming from E. L. Cornwell, who took the opportunity to advertise his recent book on commercial vehicles. The many prizes were then presented, the owner of a Lacre road-sweeper receiving two prizes.

The evening concluded with some excellent films, of the H.C.V.C. Solihull Rally, of London’s last tram (a splendid documentary), the inevitable “Heroic Days” and a rather prolonged silent film of Lord Brabazon opening the New Building at the Montagu Motor Museum and unveiling the Collins/ Hawthorn Memorial therein.

The Club, which caters for some of the most fascinating old vehicles imaginable, will hold two rallies this year, one again at Basildon New Town, another at Beaulieu on June 11th, and it expects to receive invitations to other Clubs’ events. What it badly needs is free or inexpensive storage space for its more bulky historic vehicles—can anyone oblige?