Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Message from Chas Smith?

Yup, me too.

I'm a classic car fan, and a Morgan nut. I want to drive my car, I want to talk about my car, I want to talk about other people's cars, I want to meet up and look at our cars, I want to read interesting articles about our cars, and I want to go on trips with other Morgan owners.

If MSCC want to provide the opportunity for me to do this, I'll happily pay my dues. If all they want to do is cater for people who want to talk about food, hotels, golf, or anything else not about cars then I'm not inclined to continue my membership.

There is an argument that I should attend the AGM and express my views to the committee, but to be frank I can't see it being a worthwhile exercise with it only being a one-hour meeting. Plus of course it clashes with the Williams open day, which gives me exactly the kind of thing I would expect from a decent car club!

Didn't I read that Dave W. said he's going to be hanging up his hat in Miscellany soon?

I do hope thats not right!

On a home made, custom bracket with neoprene draft proofing, maybe..?

As a fairly new MSCC member - 6 years - I have enjoyed belonging to the club and Donmog my local centre who have been very friendly and supportive.
If there are elements that I may not be particularly interested in then I am OK with that because there are others whose interests and abilities vary from mine.
I intend to stay with the club and do my best to promote and improve it. Taking part in activities , meetings & generally getting involved helps a lot.
I believe that as in life we only get out what we are prepared to put in.

Interestingly I do have three hat pegs in my garage, but far more hats to hang than hangers.

Really, I'm in 'extra time' with the Concours Secretary role. I had planned to exit after Harrogate last year, but had such a good day out that I couldn't resist 'one more year' and Llangollen. Then of course the one after is Milton Keynes, and is the Chapman's home turf, so I'll do that one. But then who knows? It depends on a number of things, one of which will be where Mog2017 washes up. But at some stage I will hand up this particular hat, because I can't go on forever. A monthly column is a big effort to keep refreshed.

On the matter of Q&A and the opening post on this thread, I won't comment directly, other than to say that the matter in question was discussed at previous NCM's and the changes imposed by the committee were directly related to corporate governance of the limited company. And from my day job in tax compliance I can state that there was no alternative in this matter.

What follows has been issued (10/03/2015) to Centre Secretaries for cascading to the members of MSCC:


This is a response to the email sent on Friday 6 March at 5.02pm by Chas Smith. The Chairman has spoken to both Chas Smith and Dixon Smith in relation to the matters set out in the email.

The Club is a limited company and has to comply with the requirements of the law and of third party agencies by which it is regulated, such as HMRC, the MSA and previously ABTOT.

In relation to the non renewal of the ABTOT registration, the requirements of ABTOT could not be complied with, in particular the report to ABTOT of the auditors to MSCC Limited, which did not meet ABTOT’s requirements, because the auditors did not have access to the travel account records and could not audit them. The auditors informed the directors of MSCC Limited that unless the travel arrangements were resolved to the satisfaction of the auditors the financial statements of MSCC Limited would be “qualified accounts”. This was not a situation the directors were prepared to accept.

Running a business, and that is what MSCC is, has become increasingly restricted and regulated.

It was a decision of the National Committee to bring in a new organisation to run the Club’s trip to Classic Le Mans in 2016. The details of any add-ons for members will be determined by the National Committee at the appropriate time.

The issue of who unbeknown to Quentin English told the previous LMC hotels that he had resigned was raised before the October 2014 National Committee meeting and dealt with before that meeting and at that meeting in response to questions raised. The contact was made by Scenic and Continental Car Tours without authority from the Club, for which SCCT apologised to the NCM. Quentin was informed of this by email on 23 October 2014.

All the decisions relating to the matters set out above have been made by the National Committee, which is the body responsible for running the Club.

The National Committee have also thanked Quentin and Ann English for all their hard work in organising the successful LMC trips in the past, and this was acknowledged by awarding them the Driving Force and Jenny Seward trophies respectively at the recent MSCC Awards Dinner.

10 March 2015


Michele Bailey
Peter Chapman
Roger Coverley
Directors of The Morgan Sports Car Club Limited
Peter Grange Company Secretary of The Morgan Sports Car Club Limited.

Thank you for that helpful information Dave.

Well hopefully this will all blow over as the year progresses and the people running the club can concentrate on making it a club that properly reflects the members requirements. Of course SCCT haven't yet put together a package for the next LMC so we don't really know just how more expensive they will be compared to Quentins trips. Out of loyalty to Quentin though, I will continue to use him if he offering to arrange travel, as I'm sure a number of members and ex members will.

Thank you for posting the director's response. A club means people getting closer together not further apart.

DaveW pleeese keep writing for Miscellany...you are the only good thing about it!!

I do know how tough it can be writing a monthly article and keeping it fresh.

As a newbie to MSCC how about these ideas.....

1. Buying a Morgan for the first time...handy hints and tips

2. Looking after your Morgan ...a beginners guide.

3. Maintaining your Morgan Five mistakes to avoid

Hope these help

Am sure you have written all these before ...but maybe you can resurrect them with fresh copy??

BUT above all keep writing ...we love you!!!