The history of the Austin Healey Club – an article produced by Joyce Pearce and first published in the 1986 International Healey Weekend Brochure<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No history of note ever made interesting reading by\nleaving out the disappointments and difficulties. These are just as much part\nof history as the successes and the fun. Nothing is ever perfect in this world\nalthough we try our very best to make it. A mixed bag is what makes life\ninteresting and gives us the scope for improvement and the incentive to carry on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The club’s many re-organisations in its early\ndevelopment stages led to inaccuracies and omissions in the records. During the\nchanges from management to management, records did get mislaid or even lost and\nmistakes were undoubtedly made. It is therefore\nsurprisingly difficult to re-construct the full story, much having to be done\nfrom memory. Very few of the early pioneers of the club are still around to\ntell the tale, though I am fortunate enough to have been around since 1967 and can\ntherefore remember much of what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the confusion has been further fuelled by the\npublication of many books and articles using a fair amount of ‘poetic licence’\nto fill the missing pages, often giving an inaccurate and out of date picture\nof the club. As the club gets older, its newer members, some born long after\nthe original club was formed, are the ones who are now often faced with the\ntask of providing club history and information to the press, publishers and\nother members. So it is of concern to us all that we have as accurate a history\nas possible which can be used for the basis of answering such demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our chequered history, whilst not being easy to\nunderstand, provided an immense challenge in the form of problems to be overcome.\nThese in turn, whilst being unsettling at the time, did give members and\nofficials the opportunity not only to learn a great deal from experts both\ninside and outside the club, but to develop expertise of their own. To learn by\none’s mistakes, though seemingly disastrous at the time, is a very good way of\nensuring they never happen again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having coped with a wide variety of problems and tasks,\nincluding how to set up a Limited Company, it should be possible in future to\nmeet any problem head-on and deal with it swiftly and efficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good, interesting club is run by able, dedicated, if\nsometimes extrovert people. They would not be there if they did not have the\nmotivation, ideas and convictions that they hold. But each one of them is\ndifferent and in their own way, like every other person on this planet, want to\nleave his or her mark, whether winning in the competitive events or imple\u00admenting\na new administration change. It is these different ideas and opinions that form\nthe basis of most of the decisions taken, and some of our most brilliant event\nideas have been born out of compromise between the various suggestions. To the\nonlooker it may appear from time to time that the committee seem to be arguing,\nbut this is really not the case, it is all part of our democratic way of decision\nmaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To have survived for 25 years is something of an\nachievement, given the recent worldwide financial climate particularly. It\nwould not have been possible if we had not had a good foundation to build on,\nand dedicated volunteers and supportive members prepared to give up their time\nand work very hard for the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will, no doubt, come as a surprise to some,\nparticularly our newer members, to learn that there was a Healey Club as far\nback as 1955. This may lead you now to wondering why we are celebrating 25\nyears of the Club this year, when it would appear the club is 31 years old!\nRead on and all will be revealed \u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first Healey Club, The Healey Drivers Club, was\nformed long before Austin Healeys were in production, in 1955. This Club was\nprimarily started on the suggestion of Peter Cavanagh, a well-known radio\npersonality of the time, together with Brian Healey, John Langrishe and Mort\nGoodall. The membership of around 200 consisted mainly of owners of what we\ntoday call Warwick Healeys \u2014 the Silverstones, Tickfords, Abbotts, Elliotts\netc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As newer marques came off the production lines, so a\nnumber of groups and small clubs grew up around this original club. This\nsituation continued until 1957 when BMC took production of the 100-6 to\nAbingdon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first club for Sprites and their owners was formed\nin 1959 on the instigation of Raymond Baxter, also a well-known media man, Doug\nWorgan and Derek ‘Willey’ Williams and a group of enthusiasts. The club was\nnamed ‘The Southern Counties Sprite Club’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This initial Sprite Club was quickly joined by an\n‘Eastern Sprite Group’ organised initially by Colin Stokes, Gordon Barrett and\nMaurice Norton, and a ‘Northern Sprite Group’ organised originally by Diana\nSimpson and her husband together with a group of local enthusiasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1960<\/strong>:\nJohn Langrishe and John Thornley, both great club enthusiasts, suggested the\nvarious groups and clubs should be re\u00adorganised along the lines of the very\nsuccessful M.G. Car Club. Talks were had with BMC (as it then was) and Peter\nBrowning, then a member of the Harrow Car Club, which resulted in Peter being\ninvited to join the team at Abingdon. BMC agreed to provide a HQ and\nsecretarial facilities for the ‘new’ club at Abingdon, together with space for\nclub news in the magazine ‘Safety Fast’. It was not an easy transition from\nseveral separate groups to one united club and it took Peter Browning, Brian\nHealey and John Thornley sometime to convince them all that the ‘new’ club\nwould cater for them all equally, but eventually they all agreed to give it a\ngo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1961<\/strong>:\nThe first Austin Healey Club Ltd. was born and Peter Browning became its first\nGeneral Secretary. This new club became the proprietor of all the UK clubs and\ngroups and a number of overseas clubs, which were by now starting up. It exercised\nbasic control, keeping the various groups and clubs in contact with HQ and each\nother and ensuring that they did not behave in such a way as to bring any\ndiscredit upon the Austin Healey name and motorsport in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Healey Drivers Club (the original 1955 club),\nbecame Midland Centre, the Northern and Eastern Sprite Groups be\u00adcame Northern\nand Eastern Centres and the Southern Counties Sprite Club became the Southern\nCounties Centre. The Healey Register was retained to serve the Warwick Healeys\nbut to be on this register one had to join the Austin Healey Club. The initial\n4 Centres were joined by a South Western Centre formed later in 1961 and a\nDevon & Cornwall Centre formed in 1962. Both centres being founded by Frank\n& Edna Walker a very successful husband and wife team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Healey Register was initially run by Leslie Cato\nand was later joined by a Sprite Register which was started off by Brian\nBoughtflower, and much later (July 1968) by a Big Healey Register run by John\nPritchard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, in 1961, there was a Scottish Sprite Group, but\nthey resisted attempts to include them as part of the Austin Healey Club and\ntowards the end of the 1960s they ceased contact and eventually disbanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A new club badge was designed to replace the old Healey\nDrivers Club badge which was now not applicable. The castle is symbolic of\nWarwick, where the old Healey factory was sited, the Union Jack was added\nbecause it was popular with the overseas enthusiasts, the long suspension\nbridge represented the connections with the Longbridge plant and of course the\nwings came from the Big Healey bonnet flash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1967<\/strong>:\nThis has been described as the ‘heyday’ of the Club but judging by our\nsuccesses in the late 1970s and early ’80s we are perhaps experiencing a second\nflush of this now. However, in 1967 membership of the club was recorded at\n5,500 but it must be remembered that this total did include the overseas clubs\nand many Warwick Healey owners who today have their own separate clubs. 1967\nwas also the year that Peter Browning took over from Stuart Turner in the BMC\nCompeti\u00adtion Department and thus vacated the post of club general secretary.\nRichard Shepherd took over for a short while, be\u00adfore handing over to Les\nNeedham, now General Manager of the RAC\/MSA. The centres, meanwhile, with\nexpansion in mind embarked on the formation of more group offshoots in areas\nhitherto not covered by the club. The Berks and Bucks Group instigated by Frank\n& Edna Walker after a house move saw them in an area without meetings and\nevents, and the New Forest Group founded by Gordon Pearce who found himself in\nthe same situation when he moved up from Bristol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1968<\/strong>:\nPerhaps with a certain amount of luck or an uncanny judgement of what was about\nto happen, the Berks & Bucks Group applied for and got Centre status\nbecoming the Thames Valley Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In November of the same year came the great BMC\nre-organisation under Lord Stokes. BMC became BLMC and the new company policy\nwas to cease production of the Big Healeys and to boost MG production at the\nexpense of the Sprite. Along with this they withdrew all support and facilities\nto the clubs, axed ‘Safety Fast’ magazine and put us all out in the cold\nvirtually overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Colin Stokes (not to be confused with Lord Stokes),\nDoug Worgan and Frank Walker met with officials at Abingdon in the hope of\nbeing able to take over the running of the club but it was not to be. Shortly\nafter this it was announced that the control of the club would pass back to the\nHealey family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1969<\/strong>:\nBrian Healey now became the club’s General Secretary. The cessation of BMC\nsupport meant the Austin Healey Club Ltd., which was BMC’s company to do with\nas they wished, was wound up and as at this stage they still owned the rights\nto the title we had to find another name. However we did go on using the logos\nand have only just found out recently that we did not have permission to do so.\nHowever this has now been amicably agreed by the newer and more interested British\nLeyland Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In April of ’69 it was decided to re-establish and\nre-register the Healey Drivers Club Ltd. as the control body over the centres\nand groups. It was at this time that the Healey Register, and the Association\nof Healey Owners formed at the time, went off on their own with the loss of\nmembers to the rest of the club. The Healey Register becoming part of the\nHistoric Sports Car Club and the Association an independent club which catered\nfor all pre-BMC Healeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During this year, the New Forest Group applied for\ncentre status, but due mainly to the uncertain future and the way it would\naffect some other centres membership wise, this was not granted. It was not\nuntil 1971 that they achieved their aim and then mainly due to a great deal of\npersistence and the help and support of Brian Healey and Les Needham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It became clear also during this time that the effort\nneeded to run the club was just too much for one person and the Healey family\ncame to the reluctant conclusion that they could not operate it under the\ncurrent system. The very sensible solution was to give the centres more\nautonomy including control of their own finances and administration, providing\nthey all agreed to set up an overall control body to ensure the rules were\nadhered to and keep everyone in contact. This control body, known as the\nNational Executive Committee, a title which it still retains today, was duly\nformed and the members of the Healey family became President and Vice\nPresidents. The first NEC was chaired by Doug Worgan and it was made up from 2\nrepresentatives from each centre who met on a bi-monthly basis to carry out the\ndecision and policy making process for the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Colin Stokes took over from Doug Worgan when he\nretired from committee work later on. Unfortunately, by now the rising costs\nand lack of any form of sponsorship was causing some problems financially and\nit was at this time that several Centres were disbanded. Northern, South\nWestern and Devon and Cornwall all disappeared and Southern Counties who were\nalso badly affected lapsed into limbo its affairs just ticking over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1971<\/strong>:\nNew Forest who had just been granted their centre status were seemingly\nunaffected by the problems being new and enthusiastic. They also had some very\ngood committee members who could get jobs done very well for very low costs,\nand one of these was introducing their first newsletter. It was called\n“Rev Counter”. It had only been in production for three months when\nthe NEC decided that the title would make an excellent choice for the club’s\nfirst ever National Magazine, which it hoped would bring about a change in\nfortunes for the club. Under the editorship of a Thames Valley member. Alan Puzey.\nit did just that for a short time, but after about 18 months with rising costs\nand printing problems coupled with Alan’s retirement, we had to cease\nproduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1973<\/strong>:\nThe Austin Healey marque was now out of production altogether as even the\nSprite production line had been closed down.\nBut this event, however sad, was a good thing for the club in one vital\nway. It caused a sharp increase in the cars\u2019 values and they became more\ncollectable. In turn this increased membership and brought with it an injection\nof much needed funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was in this year that Dave Hicks of Eastern Centre\nsuggested we have a National Rally. This was called National Healey Day – and\nwas the fore-runner of our now very successful International Healey Weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the future more secure once again, the centres\nbegan once more to expand and form groups. Midland and Northern on the\ninstigation of Cyril Carter, New Forest, a Bristol Group with Mike Gabb, Chris\nMarks, Joyce & Gordon Pearce and Dave Hicks all having a hand in the\nformation, and Eastern Centre formed a St. Albans Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1974<\/strong>:\nThe Bristol Group’s expansion was rapid and in less than a year they had\napproaching a hundred members. They asked for centre status and were given it,\nbecoming the ‘new’ South Western Centre. They in turn formed a Devon &\nCornwall group or Sub-Centre as they preferred to call it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1975<\/strong>:\nNorthern Group, who had also progressed quickly, were also granted centre\nstatus and they too established Sub-Centres in North Wales and Scotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After some six years, the club was back on form and we\nhad come full circle. In 1974 Rev Counter also made a come-back produced on a\nrota basis with each centre taking it in turns to finance and produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1979<\/strong>:\nAttention turned to the Club’s legal position. Roger Byford of Eastern Centre\nwas now in the chair at NEC. It was discovered that due to confusion when the\nNEC had taken over as control body for the club, that it had failed to\nascertain whether it was also supposed to have taken over the Healey Drivers\nClub Ltd., or whether control had remained with the Healey family. It was\nsubsequently found out that as no returns had been filed over the years since\nthe handover, that the company had been taken off the register at Companies\nHouse. Along with this discovery came the realisation that we were now\nunder-insured and that if a situation arose whereby a large claim was awarded\nagainst the club that the funds could not meet, then the officials would be\npersonally liable. This matter had to be rectified quickly. The necessary and\nlong com\u00adplicated business of forming a Ltd. Company began all over again, and\neventually the ‘second’ Austin Healey Club Ltd. was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1980<\/strong>:\nBoth Rev Counter and International Healey Weekend were becoming too large a\ntask for single centres to finance and control so it was decided that these two\nitems should come under the control of the NEC and be paid for out of Central\nFunds. Central Funds were gathered on a per-member basis contribution from\ncentres and thus the costs were spread more evenly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1981<\/strong>:\nIn late 1981 Joe Cox took over as NEC Chairman and brought with him some new\nideas and a fresh approach to management and marketing of the club, coupled\nwith immense enthusiasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between 1981 and 1984 membership increased by 25% to\naround 2000 and the Centres were much more evenly populated thus making it\npossible for the first time to introduce a system of proportional voting at\nNEC. This reduced the length of time it took to make the everyday\nadministration decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, still under the chairmanship of Joe Cox, our\nmembership and finances have stabilised. With a very enthusiastic and energetic\ncommittee, many of the events of the past which were curtailed because of lack\nof funds, membership, or organi\u00adsers have now been re-introduced, including the\nvery successful racing and competition programme chiefly due to the hard work\nof the current Competition Secretary, Tony Elshof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rev Counter has gone from strength to strength\nevolving out of its past traumas into the magazine we had always wanted but so\noften failed to achieve. Contact has been re-established around the world, more\nmembers are venturing to overseas events and our major UK events are well\nsupported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This then, is the story\nof how we come to be here today, celebrating this 25th Anniversary of the Club.\nBut this official story is only the tip of the iceberg. On the other side of\nthe coin are the events and activities, the side of the club which the member\nsees and contributes to. This is much more entertaining. An opportunity to feature\nboth the history and administration and the entertainment sides of the club\ntogether in one publication has never before occurred and it is a great\npleasure to be able to do it in this special year. We hope you will both learn\nsomething you didn’t know and enjoy reading about all the funny and happy\nthings that have happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Joyce\nPearce<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The history of the Austin Healey Club – an article produced by Joyce Pearce and first published in the 1986 International Healey Weekend Brochure Introduction No history of note ever made interesting reading by leaving out the disappointments and difficulties. These are just as much part of history as the successes and the fun. Nothing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nfahc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nfahc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nfahc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nfahc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nfahc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=689"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nfahc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":691,"href":"https:\/\/www.nfahc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions\/691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nfahc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nfahc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nfahc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}