The first event at Fairy Hill – Pendine – Cambrian National Open Trial
The foundations
It is generally believed that the origins of Swansea Motor Club begin with a lantern slide lecture on Douglas motorcycles given by motor cycle dealer Ivor L Roberts at the YMCA in Swansea in 1922. A number of attendees were keen to organise a club so that they could compete in sporting events and other activities.
It would appear from early texts that the name Swansea Motorcycle and Light Car Club was considered and this may have been a working name whilst preparatory work for the new club was undertaken. However it is clear that when the new club was inaugurated and affiliated to the Auto Cycle Union in 1924 the name was Swansea and District Motor Cycle Club. (We know this as, during the Covid lockdown, Mrs Judy Buller came across the original S&DMCC minute book from 1924 to 1939 amongst her father Percy Sivell’s belongings. Judy donated the book to the club and I am indebted to her for providing this wonderful historical document and helping to clear up a number of questions about the early years of the club).
The first official meeting of the club took place at the YMCA on March 13th 1924, presided over by Ivor L Roberts, with 64 people in attendance. A committee was elected comprising of:
Chairman: Mr Sadd
Vice-chairman: Mr J Atkinson
Captain: Mr Bert (Herbert W) James
Vice-captain: Mr WE Church
General Secretary and Treasurer: Mr Henry A Enoch
Organising Secretary: Mr HH Mattock
Other committee members elected were: JS Brayley, John Dawson, Charles Hudson, Thomas AJ Phillips, Ivor L Roberts, WG Waters and TJ Young.
Other founder members included L V Thomas, Ted Thomas, Stewart Marks, George Gregor, Bert Jones and Frank Dayson.
The first President was Frank Charles and he and the assembled band of enthusiasts set to work enlarging the club.
1924 to 1939. The first event and successful expansion
The first major event, a hillclimb for motorcycles up Fairy Hill, Old Walls, (in between Llanridihian and Reynoldston on the Gower) was run in 1924, and therefore 1924 is taken to be the year that the club was properly founded. This event proved a great success and later, in September of the same year, a sand race meeting was held at Rhossili Sands.
In 1927 the Swansea Motorcycle and Light Car Club changed its name to the Swansea Motor Club. The club continued to progress, motorcycle trails events continued and racing started on Pendine Sands. Amongst the entries were J Guthrie, T Simpson, Freddie Dixon, George Patchett Eddie Stephens, H Levack, Gordon Bennett, Eddie Stephens, L V Thomas, Ted Thomas, Handel Davies, the Treseder Brothers and many others.
Events organised by the club varied – one popular event was a grass track race and gymkhana organised in Singleton Park in aid of the Singleton Hospital Carnival.
A 1937 cutting shows many prominent members competing
By 1939 the club’s activities had expanded to include scrambles and trails, including the Cambrian National Open Trial, which was run until war broke out. A meeting at the Gore Hotel, in Caer Street, on 24th July 1940, decided that the club’s activities should be suspended until the end of hostilities. All the awards, which had been accumulated over the years, and which had been generously given by “prominent men of the town”, were carefully stored away.
During this period and the subsequent years it must be remembered that the road network was based on the A road network, and road surfaces were not as smooth as they were.
More information can be found at:
The Home of Welsh Motorcycle Racing
N.B all these details are correct as far as is known. If anybody has any additional information and can supply official documentation or eye witness accounts/ reports then please contact us.