History of the
Metropolitan Police Motor Club (non competition)
On the 2nd January 1952, fifty-four police officers, of various ranks met at the “Old Yard” at 3:30pm and there formed the “Motor Car and Motorcycle Section” of the Metropolitan Police Athletic Association.
On the 23rd October of that year the first General Meeting of the section – now re-named the “Motor Car Club” was held, there being 61 members present.
On the 24 November 1952 AC”B” Henry Dalton (later to become Sir) and Chief Superintendent N Radford (later to become Deputy Commissioner and first Honorary Life member of the Motor club) became the first members of the Club to sign up for the annual subscription of 3/6d.
By May 1953 membership had risen to 121 and it was reported that a Club badge was in the process of being chosen.
The minutes of the AGM in May 1954 make reference to the “Club News Sheet” and in this year the Editor of the News Sheet was elected to the Committee.
The Club took its present title of “Metropolitan Police Motor Club” in 1956 and went from strength to strength with members taking part in all forms of motor sport.
By 1963 the membership had risen to 588 and in 1967 the Karting Section was formed followed by a Marshals Section in 1968.
The AGM of 1969 was informed that the membership stood at 439, quite a drop in number over the preceding year but by the following year it was back up to 470 and in May 1972 membership stood at 540.
In 1973 on the 21 anniversary of the club the membership was in excess of 620 and a new monthly magazine had replaced the new sheet.
Extract from the MPMC magazine February 1973 (Les Cottam Hon General Secretary)
“Every weekend our motorcyclists and rally/race/autotest/midget racers/hill-climbers are competing with “civilian “ clubs showing the MPMC flag.
This year we hope that our rally crews will move further into National and International events and keep plugging the name of the Club.
Although not able to take part in open competition our Associate Members have done well for the Club through the Marshal Section and of course our Social events ranging from the annual Dinner and Dance to our bi-monthly buffets.”
In 1983 the Motor club was one of first MPAA Committees to change the rules to allow Civil Staff (police support staff) to become full members and compete in the Club name and in that year two were elected to the Committee.
Over the following 2 decades the club thrived with teams competing in many national and international events and the membership remaining high.
As we entered the new millennium the membership starts to drop for a number of reason and new members became increasing harder to find. The decline in motor sport is not unique to our Club but has been the nature trend for all motor clubs in the UK. This can be attributed to many factors including the high cost of competition, reduced opportunities and the increased complexity of self-preparation of modern vehicles.
Additional problems befell the Club from the early 2000’s with reducing numbers of police staff and long servicing police officers retiring from the big recruitment of officer numbers during the 70’s.
In 2004 the change in the printing industry saw the end of the quarterly magazine “Met on Wheels” and the birth of the Club website. (Re-launched this month July 2014)
In 2006 the Club became the “Metropolitan Police Motor Club Limited” at the request of the MPAA (Metropolitan Police Athletic Association) to protect the Committee members for the world of possible litigation claims.
In 2012 the Club held the 60th Diamond Anniversary dinner at the Historic Brookland Motor Museum along with the Federation of British Police Motor clubs. The legendary motor sports commentator Murray Walker was the guest speaker and the night was a great success.
In 2014 the membership stands at around 210, taking us back to the levels of the late fifties. The Club still has a strong committee now made up of many retired officers and staff.
The re-launch of the web site this month sees a change in our communication strategy and greater interaction with the membership, which we hope will deliver a better service to existing members and may encourage new ones to come and join in.
Richard French
Chair
(Retired police staff)