Brooklands Members (BM) are the official support group for Brooklands Museum[1] in Weybridge, Surrey, England. It is governed by a charitable trust. The BTM's main aims are to financially support and promote Brooklands Museum. Principally funds are raised for the museum through subscriptions to the BTM and by additional fundraising activities throughout the year such as an annual Classic Car Show & Jumble, a series of popular talks and other events The BTM also fund specific projects such as the restoration of the Pratts petrol pagoda which was opened in October 2010 by Prince Michael of Kent, the replacement of the Test Hill railings and the recreation of the iconic Brooklands Scoreboard. In 2019 the group funded an exhibition at Brooklands for the first time – the First to Fastest exhibition featured the museum's Vickers Vimy and the Transatlantic air race winning Harrier from 1969.
History
editConstruction of Brooklands motor racing circuit began in 1906 after the land owner, Hugh Fortescue Locke-King, visited motor racing events overseas and wanted to create a place in England where motor racing could occur away from normal public roads. The track was constructed in less than a year opening in 1907. It flourished as both a motor racing circuit and aviation centre until 1914 and the advent of World War I. Reopening in 1920 Brooklands once again became prominent in motor racing and aviation. In 1939 the circuit was closed once again and did not re open.
After many years of industrial neglect, the site now being owned by Vickers (later British Aircraft Corporation and British Aerospace), the Brooklands Society formed in 1967 with the intention to preserve as much of the remaining track and buildings as possible. Following the sale of the land by British Aerospace a charitable trust was formed in 1987 with the intention of starting a Museum dedicated to the Brooklands site and based on the original 1907 clubhouse. Following negotiations with the new landowners, Gallaghers, the museum was established on thirty acres surrounding the clubhouse including the Members banking and Test Hill.
To raise funds and support for the museum two new groups were formed, principally the Friends of Brooklands Museum but also a more prestigious entity the Brooklands Club. After the initial renovation, the museum opened in 1991 displaying artifacts from both motoring and aviation related to the Brooklands site.
In 2007 a move was made to amalgamate the support groups for the museum which resulted in two of them, the Friends of Brooklands Museum and the Brooklands Club joining to form the Brooklands Trust Members under the auspices of the Brooklands Museum Trust. The Brooklands Society remained independent from the museum itself.
The BTM was officially launched in the Summer of 2008 with its first full season of activity the following year. The first chairman of the new group was Philip Strickland and the vice-chairmen were Robert Hall and Ian Macgregor. The president of the BTM was Sir Stirling Moss and he was welcomed at an inaugural dinner held at Brooklands in December 2009.
Ian MacGregor died in December 2010 and Robert Hall retained the vice-chair at the 2011 AGM.
Philip Strickland stood down as the founding chairman at the 2014 AGM. Neil Bailey replaced him as chairman and Julian Grimwade joined Robert Hall as joint vice-chairmen, Robert stood down from the role in 2019 and Julian followed later.
Present day
editBy early 2020 the BTM had around 6,400 memberships worldwide, reaching around 19,000 people through those memberships.[2][citation needed] After suffering a severe slump in Membership during the pandemic in 2020 membership levels returned and exceeded the 2020 peak - at the end of 2024 there are around 7,500 memberships.
It publishes a bi-monthly magazine for Members, the Brooklands Bulletin, which went from a monochrome newsletter to full colour A5 magazine production in January 2009. In 2019 the Bulletin was re-organised and a new editorial team put in place along with new publishers, Hine Marketing, to produce an A4 full-colour quality magazine. The magazine was originally edited by Chris Bass and then Alisdair Suttie upon the re-organisation.
There is a regular e-mail newsletter for members only plus a members section on the Brooklands Museum website. The group also run social network pages on Facebook and Instagram. It organises a series of well-received evening lectures for members at Brooklands Museum featuring speakers from the motoring, aviation or related fields. Additional special motorcycle events have previously been hosted by former TT rider and Moto GP commentator Steve Parrish, and Motoring evenings hosted by commentator and journalist Simon Taylor. Angela Hume originally organised the evening talks, then Steve Clarke succeeded her and Harry Sherrard runs them today (2024).
The group also organises motoring and aviation-related trips, holidays and events to benefit Membership. The "Driving Group" was founded by Angela Hume who was succeeded by David Brockington-Hill and then Jonathan Braim in 2024.
The Members Outreach team promotes the group at events at Brooklands Museum and occasionally off site. In the past they have been represented at Goodwood Revival and Festival of Speed and Le Mans Classic amongst other more local shows and events. It is currently headed by Debbie Crawt (2024).
Tim Morris was the original BTM administrator/Membership Secretary from 2009. The Administration is based in an office at Brooklands Museum itself. Due to increased workload he was joined by a second staff member, Katharine Allen and later Jeni Larwood. In 2019 Sarah Dover took over the assistant role and later became the main administrator when Tim Morris retired in 2020. Sarah was followed by Eleanor Pugh-Jones after she left in 2023. The Administrators are the only paid members of the Members team.
An offshoot of the Brooklands Members has been Brooklands Members.tv (BM.tv) A small group who record all the Members' live talks at the museum and also record videos of Brooklands life and events which are broadcast on their online channel on YouTube. They are principally produced by Mark Jarman with help from presenters Tim Morris, Martin Gegg and other Museum volunteers.
A monthly radio show called The Track was created in 2020 to promote interest during the pandemic for broadcast on Brooklands Radio (an independent local radio station for Weybridge and North Surrey)
At the 2014 AGM Philip Strickland stood down as the founder chairman and Neil Bailey took the role. Neil stood down in 2022 and Kevin Lee became the Chairman.
In 2024 Kevin Lee is the current chairman with Harry Sherrard as Vice Chairman. Martin Gegg is the secretary. The original group name of Brooklands Trust Members was shortened to Brooklands Members at the 2019 AGM following a re-branding exercise by Brooklands Museum.
In June 2018 Damon Hill OBE became the second president of the Brooklands Trust Members.
References
edit- ^ Brooklands Museum.
- ^ BTM Administration Statistics Jan 2020 available from Brooklands Museum