Newsletter May, 2012

New Members:

Firstly, since the last Newsletter may I welcome another six new members into our Association. They are –

Ian Cunningham from Edinburgh
Jim Grant from Stenhousemuir
David Seaton from Bonnyrigg
Tommy Scott from Kilmarnock
Oliver Tomlins from Insch, Aberdeenshire
John Roberts from Tough, Alford, Aberdeenshire

Their contact and other details can be seen in the Members and Details section.

Website amendments:

Roger Turnbull has moved back to Lockerbie with a new address and phone number. These changes can also be found in the Members and Details section.

2012 Spring Run:

A full report with “photies” can be seen in the “Previous Events” section. Before you have a look may I remind you, and especially if you are new to the site, how to view images. Not all images are capable of being enlarged, but you can easily tell which ones do. When you hover the mouse pointer over an image, in addition to displaying the image caption, the pointer will change from the usual arrow to a pointing finger. When this happens, by simply select-clicking over the image with your mouse you will be taken to another window where a much larger image will appear. You can then use the symbols at the foot of this new page to navigate around and in most cases enlarge the image even more; or if you wish, just keep clicking the image and it will enlarge to give you very much more detail.

5th Bo’ness Hill Climb Revival, 8th and 9th September 2012:

Just to remind you that we will be at this event. If you haven’t as yet considered signing up to this organisation – have a look at what they are offering in the Newsletter March 2012. The latter can be found in the Archived News Items – it’s well worth it.

SMS (Scottish Motor Sport):

I received an email from Bruce Lyle recently regarding a new MotorSport Group. He felt we should be made aware of its existence. The email was addressed to all motorsport participants. The gist of the information the email contained:

“The new group is called Scottish Motor Sport (SMS) and was formed 18 months ago.

So what is SMS?
It is important to stress that it is not a new governing body or a new association. SMS is a strategic body, designed to speak with one voice to the Scottish Government about all things motorsport. It consists of representatives of two- and four-wheel motorsport – including the car clubs through the Scottish Association of Car Clubs (SACC), the kart clubs through the ASKC, and Knockhill. The Scottish Auto Cycle Union (SACU) represents the interests of the two-wheel community.
What is SMS going to do?
SMS is not a ‘doing’ body; it is a strategic group. The intention is that SMS will provide a channel for motorsport to talk with Scottish Government and its associated agencies (Sport Scotland, Event Scotland, Visit Scotland, etc) distilling a coordinated message from the entire motorsport sector.
What will it achieve?
They believe that motor sport should be recognised as a sport of National Performance Significance to Scotland and SMS will assist in achieving this recognition. This, in turn, will lead to the submission of a strategic plan for the sport in Scotland which will give us the basis to be able to open discussions on potential funding streams.
Progress – has been somewhat delayed this year by the Independence debate. The SACC has sought member clubs’ opinions on the matter, which has happily concluded that in the event of an independent vote being successful, the MSA would remain the Governing Body of Motor Sport in Scotland. This will allow the MSA to continue its commitment to the new entity SMS who will move forward to encourage the development of the sport in our country. In the longer term, the SMS is confident that clubs and competitors will benefit from being part of a Government supported the initiative to create higher quality venues, better competition opportunities and stronger career development possibilities for Scottish drivers, marshals and associated individuals, all the way from the grass-roots to international level.

The Chairman of this new organisation is a Mr Tom Purves.

The aims of this group are surely to be commended and it is to be hoped that it does succeed in its endeavours, and hopefully does not turn out to be just another talking shop.

Bill Henderson’s MotorSport Photograph Website:

I’m sure all veterans if they competed actively at all, will remember Bill Henderson snapping away at most event of any standing in Scotland. His son William has started to digitalise Bill’s many thousands of photographs (a huge task), and his efforts can be view at The Bill Henderson Collection. If you haven’t already seen the collection – have a look, you won’t be disappointed. Bill, by the way, a VSMA member, can still occasionally be seen at events.