COMING up for its 50th anniversary next year, although its roots go a lot farther back than that, the Sixty and Worcestershire Motor Club is one of the county’s oldest motoring groups.

It was officially created in the spring of 1969 when the Sixty Motor Club and the Worcestershire Motor Club decided to merge. It was a marriage of convenience for the thrusting new Sixty Club, only formed in 1960 but with a rapidly expanding membership, and the much older Worcestershire MC, which was founded in the early 1900s , but had been suffering waning fortunes of late.

Worcestershire MC actually began life as Worcestershire Motorcycle Club and the original secretary was a gentleman by the name of John Howell, who went on to become a well known motoring correspondent. Pressure from members saw events organised for cars as well as motorcycles and fairly soon the name was changed to Worcestershire Motor Club. When the merger came in the late Sixties the combined membership of the new SWMC club would be around 370, only eight per cent of whom were former Worcestershire members.

Within two years the old Red Hill School in Foxwell Street, Worcester had been converted into its new headquarters, which were opened during a Valentine’s Day dance in February, 1971, by the reigning national Miss Motor Club Linda Walker. However, sadly that didn’t last long and economics forced the club to move in the mid-Seventies to the Bank House at Bransford, a very happening venue at the time. Today, after several relocations, the Sixty and Worcestershire Motor Club operates from The Huntsman pub in Green Street, Kempsey, where it holds meetings on the last Thursday of every month at 9pm. Anyone interested is welcome to drop in.

In its early days, Worcestershire Motor Club enjoyed the freedom of the open road and organised several hugely popular events which would be impossible today, like motorcycle hill climbs using the public road at Angel Bank between Ludlow and Cleobury Mortimer and car speed trials along the undulating drive across the Old Hills at Callow End to Madresfield Court.

Members took part in several high profile national car rallies and this continued after the Second World War when Peter Morgan, of the famous Malvern car makers, Jim Goodall and Worcester GP Dr William Steel entered a team of three Morgans in the RAC Rally several times in the early 1950s, winning the manufacturer’s team prize twice.

However, things were changing and Worcestershire MC motorcycle members splintered off to form Worcester Auto Club, while with the increasing availability of cars for the general public, several other new motoring clubs began forming in the Midlands. One such was the Sixty Motor Club in Worcester, founded by employees of several of the city’s major engineering firms, including Heenan and Froude, Archdales and HW Ward.

When the merger came to create the Sixty and Worcestershire Motor Club, it proved an ideal union – the Sixty members brought their youthful enthusiasm, while Worcestershire MC brought its experience and a cabinetful of expensive trophies it had accumulated over the years. Next year the partnership celebrates its Golden Wedding, which is a fair track record in any marital stakes.