This photograph is believed to have been taken in June 1961 and shows a cut-down Daimler owned by the St Edmund's College Motor & Engineering Club (SECMEC), which was run by Fr Peter Bourne.
Who are they and what are they celebrating with the Union Jack and beer bottles?
Spencer Hamill (St Hugh's & Douglass 1956-65) writes.....
I don't know whether this is a red herring but the Edmundian magazine Vol.XXVI No.177 (Autumn 1961) - School Chronicle - Summer term entry for 25 June 1961 [page 58] states:
“The skeleton Daimler from the Motor Club (S.E.C.M.E.C.) is seen moving round the school with members triumphantly clinging on for dear life - for all the world like a continental tram”.
but It doesn't make any mention of the union jack and beer bottles.
The boy standing on the right of the photo is Adrian Gillham. He is the only one I recognise.
He goes on to say.....
I may be clutching at straws here but Adrian Gillham [standing on the right in the photo] was in Junior House during the academic year September 1960 to July 1961 (after which he moved to Talbot). If he is wearing a Junior House tie in the Daimler photo then the photo must have been taken between these dates.
My own school diary entry for 25 June 1961 doesn't mention any SECMEC events, nor any celebrations, but that doesn't necessarily mean there weren't any.
Adrian Gillham (Junior House & Talbot 1960-65) added.....
I have a vague memory of the occasion but I was just an observer of the older boys having great fun and wishing I too could be a member of the motor club which did not include Junior House boys. I think you had to be in first division to be a member. I think the boy to the right of the window could be Paul Bailey he was a friend of my older brother Chris.
Spencer Hamill then added.....
Something else comes to mind regarding the Motor Club. Fr Bourne made a cine film of SECMEC's trip to Rome in August 1962 in a car called "Lulu". A description of this trip appears in The Edmundian magazine of Autumn 1962 page 134. The film was shown in the bounds common room on 28 October 1962, which gets a mention in the bounds chronicle of The Edmundian of Spring 1963 page 19. I wonder if the film still exists.
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