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History Pages
| How it all started---- |
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The present BSA Front Wheel Drive Club rose, like a phoenix, from the ashes of a
previous club of the same name. The facts surrounding this earlier organisation
are a little vague, but we do know that it had been in existence for a number of
years, and was run mainly by and for BSA FWD owners and enthusiasts living in
the Birmingham area. By the late fifties the Club had entered a downward spiral from lack of support and falling membership, and was virtually defunct. in 1959 a small group of BSA FWD owners living in north London began meeting at each others homes, and as numbers increased, in pubs. The main topic of conversation was of course BSAs, but since a few of these people were members of the existing BSA club, there was a lot of discussion on what could be done concerning its plight. Eventually the decision was taken to approach the committee and offer to take things over and start again. The affirmative reply was received with an almost embarrassing alacrity, along with a list of members and the entire possessions of the Club! With this mandate our enthusiasts lost no time in hiring a hall (the Priory Social Centre, Hornsey), circulating their intention to hold an extraordinary meeting, and generally doing all the things that are necessary to launch a new club. Colin Bryce recalls visiting Basil Roy Ltd (the one time BSA main stockists) in Great Portland Street for some spare parts and seeing a note in the showroom advertising the meeting. The meeting was held on March 14th 1959, when the officials of the earlier club proposed that all assets be transferred to the new club. A committee of six was elected, a new set of rules drawn up and apart from these formal arrangements, a couple of rallies were organized and a lot of questions answered, like where do I get front hubs?. Yes, very much the same story today! Since most of the members of the existing club joined the new one the membership list very rapidly rose to 63 by the time the first magazine was published in May 1959. This first ever edition of magazine coming from the new club was quite interesting, as you would expect, containing a wealth of technical articles, plus nostalgia from the beezering past and optimism for beezering to come. It occupied 16 pages of very small type, was printed by the Edith Williams Secretarial Service of Welwyn Garden City, at a cost of £7.10.0d for 100 copies and postage costing 2d (old pence) a copy, Front Wheels as the magazine was called, was intended to be produced quarterly, and in fact issue 2 did appear, but four months later in September. Thirteen pages of print, not quite so earth shattering as issue one but nevertheless achieving quite a high standard of presentation and content. The new familiar monthly format was adopted in January 1961. The first AGM was held on October 24th 1959, and by July 1960 the number of members had risen to 136. It is sad to note however, that having done so much in such a short time, not one of the original nucleus of founder members was left on the committee by the autumn of 1961. Despite this, the Club continued to flourish and hopefully improve over the years to form the BSA Front Wheel Drive Club we know today. Peter Bowler and Colin Bryce |
  
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