Rushden Query Motor Club

1931

RUSHDEN AND DISTRICT QUERY MOTOR CLUB

The RDQMC was formed in 1931 with the object of 'encouragement and protection of motor car and motor cyclists in this district'. The date was February 25th 1931.

Also to 'endeavour to meet the requirements of both competition rider and tourist by organising various sporting events, social and picnic runs and lectures etc. throughout the year’.

The club was affiliated to the Auto Club Union at its inception.

Ninety members formed the club, all men, with 19 ladies who were Associate members. The first chairman was Mr. Jim Knight and General Secretary Mr. Sid Hawkes.

These were early days in ownership of motor cars and thus many members were owners of motorcycles.

The first years' programme had 39 events including:

	4 dances at the Windmill dub
	8 social run visits
	4 motor cycle hill climbs
	4 motorcycle trials
	Visits to Pye Radio, Clacton, Ketton Cement, Whipsnade, Leicester Speedway, Wolverhampton, Thames Valley.
	The club also helped with the local Fete and Parade.

What a starting membership and year of events for a club.

The highlight of each year was the Annual Dinner and Presentation of Awards.

In 1932 no less than 52 events were in the programme, This included the first 'all night' trial (to Gt. Yarmouth).

The club was associated with charitable donations and in the first year £40 was given to local charities.

For annual competitions new trophies were presented to the club and included the Ravensmoore Trophy, Joyce Cup and Three counties Trophy.

These awards were competed for annually, firstly for motor cycles and in the later years motor cars. This continued well into the 1980s and by this time the club trophies had increased to around 20. The cost of entering an event was usually one shilling (5p) and membership cost six shillings. The annual diner dance cost five shillings (25p).

The club had created an excellent mixture of competitive motoring events, social events and service to the local community. The motoring aspects meant contact was easy with other motoring groups and inter club competitions were created.

Motor Cycle scrambles and grass tracks were held at Newton Blossomville then in later years at Yelden with the last events at Wymington.

In 1938 the club also organised the Carnival Queen competition for what had become Rushden Carnival. This event raised the remarkable sum of £174.5s.7d and was all donated to charity.

The involvement with Rushden Carnival continued through the whole period of the RDQMC. One chairman of the RDQMC eventually becoming Rushden Carnival chairman for 15 years.

On September 4th 1939 at a Committee Meeting held at the club headquarters, the Oakley Arms, it was decided to cancel the clubs' programme. It was eventually decided, however, to hold the 1940 Annual Dinner at the Masonic Hall - noting that if meat should be rationed, it would cost only 1/2 coupon each! At this event the staggering sum of £344.18.8 was given to 22 local charities.

The war brought petrol rationing, call up for some members and the disruption of most peoples' normal life. The 1939-45 years saw the club running at a low level and organising a few social events each year.

After the war, and as with many clubs after 15 years, quite a lot of early members had retired or resigned, but there were many new comers to keep the club going.

The emphasis of the club for competitive events was still with motor cycles. Several scrambles each year were held at Yeldon, plus trials and grass tracks.

During the late fifties car rallies were introduced and by the start of the sixties a full programme of car rallies was held each year. The motor cycle side of the club had fallen off. The motor cycle enthusiasts had reduced over the years and those still active joined nearby motor cycle clubs.

The last motor cycle scramble was organised in April 1964 and held at Wallers Farm in Wymington. The event produced the largest quagmire for many a year - and many complaints about mud on the road and everywhere else!. The club did continue to organise annual motor cycle trials for some more years.

1964 saw the club at the Unicorn pub - and also the indoor winter activity of Scalextric was started. The membership was around fifty full members with further associate members.

After thirty years, very few of the founder members were active in the club, but several continued as Vice Presidents. Quite a few sons of founders had joined the club by this time.

This was now the era of the motor car and the brief period that real rally cars were not too different to the more sporty road cars anyone, with the cash, could buy.

Car rallies were held on Sunday afternoons with two or three Saturday night rallies. Car treasure hunts and social runs were held each month, plus quizzes and dances. All this with petrol at about 20p a gallon.

In 1966 the government brought in regulations for the ' Control of Motor Rallies '. All rallies with more than 12 entrants had to be authorised by the RAC. This was not good news. However, this regulation was the catalyst which resulted in the second major period for the club.

At a meeting held at The Two Brewers in Olney in 1966, representatives from ten Northamptonshire motor clubs assembled, and the Mid Counties Association of Auto Clubs ( MCAAC ) was formed. The simple idea was for each club to organise one large rally and all the clubs could enter. This gave 10 large rallies instead of about 100 small ones. Eventually this meant that an MCAAC award and an RDQMC award could be won on each event. Events were keenly fought between clubs.

In 1966 the club moved to its own clubroom located to the rear of the Griffin Inn in Higham Ferrers -kindly agreed by the Landlord of the pub. This was the 'Gearbox' and the scene of many committee and social events over the years to follow.

Throughout the sixties and early seventies in conjunction with the MCAAC, car rallies had up to 80 entries, auto crosses up to 100, inter club quizzes were held, an annual dance at the Salon, Northampton could have 600 people and the Annual Dinner Dance at Overstone had a 250 sell out each year. The RDQMC membership was 95 at the end of 1969.

The club had always produced a monthly news letter which was circulated to all members, albeit that few people actually volunteered to take on the post of magazine editor.

Coming into the eighties with the club over fifty years only then the membership had again changed significantly. All forms of motor sport were dramatically more expensive and any driver entering a rally had to have the correct insurance. Several of the MCAAC clubs folded up and gradually during the eighties the club membership and interclub activity declined.

The club continued until the early nineties with a few full members, but competitions had ceased. The MCAAC had also ceased to exist during this time.

The decision was finally taken to dissolve the club in 1995. The many trophies of the club were offered back to the original donors or their families and the remainder sold to ex-members. The funds were donated to charity.

Fortunately quite a lot of the clubs' records are still kept by ex-members, to whom I am extremely indebted and without whom this brief history could not have been compiled. The records make fascinating reading, as I found out recently.

There are many many people who made significant contributions to the RDQMC during its sixty year history. To mention one or ten or fifty would still leave many more to be included, and this would not be practical. Personally I thoroughly enjoyed my 25 year membership of the RDQMC.

Richard Lewis, Chairman 1969 & 1972.

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