f o u n dati o n News
The Foundation’s Year so far
Since last November’s AGM there has been a considerable
change in personnel on the Board at the Foundation and
along with this have come fresh ideas for the future and
a fresh impetus and determination. There follows a brief
account of the various actions and initiatives that have
taken place, followed by the last in the series of articles
written for us by the winners of our awards last year:
this one is by Jake Briscoe of the Ministry of Defence.
Spring Cleaning at The Hunt House
The first three months of 2015 have seen a lot of activity at
The Hunt House. Not only have all the office areas been
“de-cluttered” with the help of several skips, but also the
unsightly and peeling wall paper in the Conservatory has
been removed and the gaps redecorated to provide a much
smarter venue for folk to gather for meals after lectures and
at events like Conference. The Rolls Wing has seen the last
of the old and noisy heating units on the outside walls and
they have been replaced by smart new radiators connected
to the same heating system that also serves the Workshop,
Classroom, and Engine Room. The whole system has been
fully overhauled and a new gas boiler fitted, and all that is
now required to complete the picture is for British Gas to
install the new supply. Much of the thrust behind all this
work has been from new Director Chris Ball, who, as well
as completing the cataloguing of the R-R films in the
Archive, now intends to bring all the displays in
The Hunt House up to date.
and John Lowe under the guidance of Malcolm Tucker,
to produce a brochure that will enable Linda to raise
substantial sums from Industry. Be warned, this group of
people, along with the redoubtable Jim Myson, have taken
responsibility for liaison with Club members are after your
support and donations!
More Motor Car Records
The Foundation has recently purchased an important set
of records of cars sold by Jack Barclay. These comprise
photographs, specifications, invoices, correspondence,
etc, and cover some 2100 Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars
built in the 1930s. All such models are well represented.
Additionally, there are a few records for 1920s cars.
These records will be scanned during the next few months,
and when this is complete, a list of chassis numbers will be
published. Copies will then be available for purchase; this
will be of particular interest to the current owners of the
cars concerned.
The amount of data that exists for individual chassis varies
widely, but as whole, this archive is of great historic interest.
The Sir Henry Royce Memorial Lecture
Programme
The first Sir Henry Royce Memorial lecture of 2015 took
place on 18 March and was a resounding success. Tim
Bryan of The British Motor Heritage Centre at Gaydon
spoke with clarity and enthusiasm about the Centre, its
development and some of its most interesting exhibits.
His talk was followed by a delicious and convivial meal for
fifty people in the Conservatory, and was the start of a full
programme for the year arranged by Cedric Ashley who
rejoined the Board at the AGM. The other talks and
dates are:
21 May
Bruce Lawson
“The Life and Times of C S Rolls”
8 October
George Gillespie
Chief Executive of MIRA
“Motor Industry Research Association”
25/30 bequeathed to the Foundation
January brought a solicitor’s letter to my desk which
contained the surprise news that the Foundation had been
left a 25/30 by a Mr. AJ Kent of Smethwick, who had died
on 31 December. Enquiries revealed that the car appeared
to be in a locked garage at Mr. Kent’s home, but the
executrix of the estate, a young lady of diminutive stature,
was unable to comment on its condition, as the windows
in the garage doors were too high and too dirty to allow
much to be seen. A further complication was that the doors
were very well secured but there was no evidence of any
keys to unlock them, and it would be necessary to await
the attendance of a locksmith before all could be revealed.
It was, therefore, somewhat of a leap in the dark that was
taken one Tuesday morning in February by the Business
Manager, accompanied by John Bowen Jones Jnr and a car
transporter, when they arrived in Smethwick an hour after
the locksmith’s visit to take the car to its temporary home
at the MTC in Coventry courtesy of Foundation Adviser
Clive Hickman. It was clear straight away that the car was
under repair as the engine was incomplete, but that would
not be an obstacle to moving it. What did offer a challenge,
however, was that all four corners of the vehicle were jacked
off the ground and that the wheels, only three of which were
fitted to the vehicle to begin with, were shod by tyres that
were deflated: in addition, there was no electric power in the
garage. It was several hours before all the difficulties were
overcome and the car loaded on the transporter, but during
this time it was fascinating to talk to the neighbours and
discover that one of them had actually helped to push the
car into the garage some 28 years previously! The pictures
will show, I hope, the rest of the story; an overall sound
example of a late 1930s small horsepower limousine which
will make an interesting and very worthwhile refurbishment
project for its next owner. The car will be offered for sale by
H & H during the RREC Rally at Burghley in June.
11 NovemberBrian Gush
Director of Motor Sport Bentley Motors
Please get in touch with the Foundation Office if you would
like further details on any of these.
New Brochure production
John Beecroft and Ian Hick have gone into publishing!
John is piloting a leaflet designed to explain once and for
all to Club members what the Foundation does and why
they should support it financially, while, together, they
are collaborating with independent Directors Linda Scott
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f o u n d a t i o n n ews
MoD Award Winner Jake Briscoe
I am Jake Briscoe, an ex Ministry of Defence Advanced
Mechanical Apprentice, I was fortunate enough to win the
Sir Henry Royce Memorial Competition in October 2014.
This is a competition funded and run by the Sir Henry
Royce Memorial Foundation.
Since winning the award I have received my deeds of
apprenticeship and therefore am now a fully qualified MoD
Mechanical Engineer. I feel winning this award at the time
I did, towards the end of my apprenticeship, gave me a
great final lease of motivation and pride within my training.
The pressure the competition put me under both in
regards to innovation as well as technically and pushing
my boundaries out towards creating a 3D printed project is
something I appreciate: it made me pursue other grounds
of engineering outside my previous remit.
Winning Henry Royce also gave me the opportunity to meet
with MP’s of the area close to Portsmouth and Gosport as
well as meeting the MP for Education. This meant I could
indicate to him what I felt could be improved within both
apprenticeships, as well as indicating how to improve the
advertising of career prospects within secondary schools.
This means ultimately the competition allowed me to get the
platform I required to air my feelings on improving a system
through parliament by notifying the MP.
Henry Royce Competition has also attracted many potential
students to CEMAST, which is a Centre of Excellence for
Engineering within the Fareham College Group. My work
piece and project report as well as my story was advertised
on various open days at CEMAST and this was used as
a tool to advertise the success of previous Students/
Apprentices.
Since receiving this award I was fortunate enough
to receive a commendation at Whitehall from
HRH Prince Andrew.
This was followed by me advertising the competition, my
success and members club at the Whitehall Atrium which
was witnessed by the Prince and was a great moment for
myself and I hope the Sir Henry Royce Foundation.
Finally I would like to thank the Foundation for the chance
to take part in such a prestigious competition and I would
recommend any of the future apprenticeship to put in their
all to take part in this event.
The Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation
Chairman: Jane Pedler Deputy Chairman: Clive Green Company Secretary: Mark Griffiths
Trustees/Directors: Cedric Ashley, Chris Ball, John Beecroft, Duncan Feetham, Philip Hall, Ian Hick, John Lowe, Charles Tabor
Business Manager: Graham Cottrell
The Hunt House, Paulerspury, Northamptonshire NN12 7NA
T: 01327 811048 • E: [email protected] • www.henryroyce.org.uk
Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation is a company Limited by Guarantee. 52
Registered in England number: 6819026 Charity Number: 1128686
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