BMMC National Chairs

Started marshalling in 1997.  A friend heard marshalling being discussed between Mike Farnworth and Ken Finnie on local radio.  She took down the number and Nadine called Mike to sign up for a taster day.  Cliff Hammond was the tour guide for the morning at Oulton Park. Nadine was put on the Avenue for the afternoon and had a TVR land at her feet - she was hooked!

Achievements:

• Introduced monthly blogs to membership
• Created Brand and Communications team
• Re-branded the BRMC logo
• Re-branded recruitments tents and Autosport show
• Secured new overall sponsorships with CSCC and Ginetta
• Introduced TeamWear to the Regalia portfolio
• Introduced concept of a National charity to support
• Recruited Ben Edwards to become our club President
• Introduced Club Ambassadors
• Introduced an Employee Assistance Programme
• Agreed reduced membership costs post COVID
• Improved links with BRDC Charity
• Increased membership of the club to over 2,500 members
• Created Sustainability Officer position

BMMC NW: 

• 2003 took over running of Taster Days from Cliff Hammond.  Joined NW Committee as Secretary. 
• 2007 – 2009 NW Recruitment Officer. 
• 2007 – 2016 NW Membership Secretary.

GRADING:

• 2004 became graded as Incident Officer. 
• 2016 graded as Post Chief.
• 2021 grade as Examining Post Chief

Motorsport UK: 

• 2009 JLT/MSA Marshal of the Year. 
• 2010 - 2022 Motorsport UK Marshals Working Group (Chair from 2020 - 2022). 
• 2016 Motorsport UK Volunteer Officials Advisory Panel (Chair from 2022 
• 2017 Motorsport UK Race Committee. 
• 2020 Enabled post-COVID regulations to include marshal requirements
• 2022 Motorsport UK Council and Rules Committee (to date)
• 2022 Introduced Marshals Pathway as Chair of MWG
• 2022 Presented Sergio Perez the second place trophy at the F1 British Grand Prix, Silverstone

OTHER:  2011 to date: BRSCC NW Marshal Liaison. 

I joined the marshals club in 1967, shortly after moving to Leeds. I can remember wandering into the Leeds’ motor show in the Queen's Hall and seeing a caravan, some straw bales and a tailor’s dummy holding a chequered flag. I asked what marshalling was all about and half an hour later I had signed on the dotted line and volunteered for my first event, the world speed records weekend at Elvington. The fact that I was almost killed by a 1908 Metallurgique did not put me off marshalling and so began 50 years of involvement with motorsport and the club.

I had joined the North-East region of the club and quickly became involved in the monthly club nights held between Leeds and Bradford. Within a couple of years I had taken on the role of public relations officer for the region and then got involved in preparing the regions newsletter. By this time I was marshalling at circuits all over the country from Silverstone to Croft from Oulton Park to Rufforth, covering Hill climbs, sprints, races, rallies as well as club events with BARC every month. I was one of the early members of the Silverstone emergency services team when our uniforms were based on second-hand firemen's jackets, trousers and pullovers. In fact, we set up the North East region emergency services team, copying the lessons we have learnt at Silverstone and providing cover at Croft, Rufforth, and other venues in the North.

It was now that I was asked if I would take on the role of regional training officer which I did with genuine enthusiasm. The grading scheme was just being introduced and training was taking on a far more important role within the club.

I continued in the role of Northeast region training officer until 1980, when the National training and grading officer role became vacant. I volunteered and was immediately accepted. In those days the role meant maintaining the grading records of all members of the club on a card database, where every member had a filing card containing their grades and history. Being involved in IT project management I decided that it was time to update the system and wrote the original grading scheme programme in Basic to run on my Dragon 64 personal computer. It now meant that we had audio cassette based databases and I could print out updates and reports for all the regions without having to resort to a typewriter and manual copying. When the IBM PC was introduced I transferred the program to that hardware and we upgraded to maintaining the records on floppy discs. We were continuously developing the grading scheme, trying to ensure it was fair and equitable for all members in all regions. We were also trying to persuade other clubs to adopt the same scheme and I'm glad to say that one by one they took on our BMRMC grades. 

Eventually my work became more onerous as I began travelling the world and, very reluctantly, I had to resign from national Council. Marshalling had to take more of a back seat as I tried to balance my career, my family, and my hobby.

After a few years I realised I was missing the involvement with the club and when the position of national public relations officer became vacant I volunteered and started working on Council again. One of the main jobs I took on in this role was the production of our annual report. This took about three months of my life every year as I cajoled, persuaded, and threatened members of Council to produce their articles, then produce the report on my PC at home before sending it off to a local printer then taking all the copies (at one stage we produced over 4000 each year) to Council for the regions to distribute. We had no online facilities in those days.

We also had stands at the racing car show in London and the Autosports show in Birmingham, we gained the stands for free by providing marshals to help run the shows. I will always be grateful to John and Audrey Watt who took on the organisation of our stand at Autosports show during that period.

We were heavily involved in lobbying the MSA to improve the lot of our members and other marshals with fantastic support from the late Keith Douglas. This culminated in February 1998 when, with national chairman John Felix in support, I gave a presentation to the Motorsports Council entitled “Marshalling into the new millennium”.  I still have the presentation and also the report I gave after.  Unfortunately, it shows that after 20 years we are still having to give the same message to the MSA.

Highlights during this period included our celebration of the 40th anniversary of the club, when our then president Murray Walker and Stuart Turner (destined to be our president in 2000) were our guests of honour at a dinner held at Chesford Grange. As PRO fell to me to organise the event and I'm happy to say it was a great success.

I continued as national PRO until, once again, work intervened, and I had to once again resign from Council in 2002.

In 2004 I was acting as MSA steward at Snetterton. George Copeland was the clerk of the course and he spent most of the day talking to me about the current state of the club and the fact that they were looking for a new national chairman to take on the role in December. When I got home I had a long discussion with my wife Kathryn and we agreed that I would take on the role for three years.

The club had been losing members for some time, as were others, so it wasn't long before once again we were preparing to give a presentation to motorsports Council. This was done in February 2006 and again when I look at the messages we gave them they were exactly the same as in 1998 and are still messages that need to be heeded today. The three years that I had agreed quickly passed and stretched into a 12-year term during which we also celebrated our 50th anniversary with a dinner and again it fell to me to organise! At the end of 2015 I realised that it was time for new blood to take on the role and advised Council that I would be retiring from the role at the AGM in December 2016. This duly came to pass, and I was both surprised and very grateful when I was honoured with the invitation to become a vice president of the club.  I am proud of the contribution I feel I have made to the club and I hope that in the years to come I will be able to continue to contribute to the development of the club and our members. 

I currently hold the grades of examining post chief, examining specialist and examining speed Marshal. In 1991 I was asked if I wanted to become an MSA steward, a roll I still fulfil today.

Throughout all this period I have been involved in numerous committees and working parties at the MotorSports Association. The list is long but includes:

• Motor Sports Council
• Chairman Marshals Working Group
• Volunteer Officials Advisory Panel
• Drag Race Subcommittee
• Race Committee
• Volunteers In Motorsport

My first visit to a motorsport event was Oulton Park in 1968 - the Gold Cup meeting.  The race was (I think) also called the Rothmans 5000.  Anyway, it was won by Denny Hulme and I was hooked.

I watched all forms of car and bike racing at Oulton Park until I was 20.  I knew Fred Myerscough and he invited me to help marshal at a BARC Sprint meeting on a wet and cold April day in 1978.  I joined the BMRMC and started marshaling at Oulton.

Standing in the queue one day to sign on at the old hut, located where the cafeteria is now, I started talking to Richard Newton and we became lifelong friends from that point (he was Best Man at my wedding).  He introduced me to Donington and also marshaling abroad.

In the early 1980's I went to many UK circuits and also Zandvoort, Zolder, Spa and Hockenheim.

I rose through the ranks to Examining Observer (as it was called then) and also attended every British Grand Prix from 1980 until 2000, as a marshal.

In 1978 Ray Sumner invited me to become a trainee Clerk of the Course.  I went through the training module and was tutored by such luminaries as Ray, John Felix, Dale Wells and Don Trueman.  I gained my licence in 2000 and started at Oulton Park. I was fortunate to be asked to stand in for one of the permanent Clerks on the TOCA package in 2001 and joined the TOCA team as Admin Clerk in 2002.  I was made a Championship Clerk in 2004 and continued with the BTCC until the end of 2016.

In the late 1980's I was asked by John Watt (the North Region Chairman) to become the Regional Secretary, a role I held for a few years.  Then in 1995 I was asked by John Felix (then Chair of the BMRMC) to become the National Secretary, replacing the retiring Ken James.  I held that role for 3 years until John stood down and I was elected National Chairman.  I held the Chair until the end of 2004.  In that time I was able to help with a number of matters including:

• Changing the name of the club from BMRMC to BMMC, thereby reflecting that we were more than simply motor race marshals but also were involved in sprints, hillclimbs, trials, etc.
• Launched a new glossy newsletter called 'Trackside' and edited the first editions including interviewing prominent characters. I did also bring paid advertising to the magazine through business contacts.
• Helped run the club web site
• Launched the club credit card that brought in valuable revenue to the club funds.
• Recruited Stuart Turner as Club President to replace Murray Walker in 2000.
• Lobbied the MSA, particularly the then Chief Executive, Colin Hilton, for improvements for marshals, especially facilities at circuits and more respect. I even managed to get Colin to attend our AGM in 2000.
• Represented the club at the MSA Race Committee
• Whilst being Chair of the club, I sat in the Marshals Selection meeting for the British GP for a number of years. One particular year (2003 I think) it was mentioned that a few of the senior officials had retired and replacements were hard to find.  After some arm twisting (as I was looking forward to a weekend in the garden) I became the Deputy Chief Observer at the GP.  I held this position for 4 years until Bob Kettleboro asked me to be his Deputy as Clerk of the Course for the GP.  One of the support races was, and indeed still is, the Porsche Supercup.  I came to know Jens Walther who, at that time was the Supercup manager.

In 2011 I was interviewed and ultimately appointed as the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Race Director, a position that I hold to this day.

Started marshalling at Shelsey Walsh Hillclimb in 1962.  Joined marshals club at grade F.

In those days grading went from A TO F, F being lowest grade.

I am vague on dates but a few years later joined Midland Region later to become Midland chairman in place of Mike Cartwright.  Then eventually became National Chairman for approx. 20 years.

Big object was to increase membership and it was against the tide of other clubs accusing us pinching their members.  Despite this membership grew.

I took the place of Len Pullen at motor sports council meetings held at Belgrave Square London.  I started my career clerking as deputy to Jack Lambert at BMRMC annual race meeting at Silverstone.  We had a very serious accident at this meeting where a marshal was killed.  Jack decided not to continue so I became clerk for BMRMC and you can see how that progressed.

When I was chair, I spent a lot of time in Ireland and could see an opening there. Midland chair at that time was Roger Williams and he and I went across to do some training.  It was felt too radical to form Northern Ireland branch so we had the northern Ireland branch of the midland region which eventually became BMRMC NI under Colin Rosborough together with its rescue unit.

Phil Morom was a big influence at Silverstone on marshaling and he formed Silverstone ES which again BMRMC had input to through myself.  The first time ES operated (I cannot remember date) it was VSCC Pomeroy Trophy in February and Cliff Wright and myself manned the fire tenders.

On to Donington and again BMRMC were involved with planning marshals post positions even before track was laid.  We then formed Donington ES which I led at the start.

Then came Donington racing club which I became Clerk.  This was for cars.  For bikes we had Donington 100 racing club bikes so I had a different clerks licence.  At this time, I handed over Donington ES and I am not sure who followed me.

I was also involved in the development of Rockingham which meant I had to learn about oval racing and was sent to the states on a course which was a steep learning curve.

John Ashton’s interest in motor sport started purely as a spectator before the war. He joined the North Staffs Motor Club as it was being formed. A keen competitor and co-driver.  In 1952 John became Chief marshal for the NSMC races at Silverstone which had gained great popularity. Each year the secretary of the club and John would hunt through masses of letters from people they had written to in order to figure out what job to give to which person. This continued until one year Jack Bannister, a very active member of the NSMc, joined us in this onerous task.

We decided a register of Marshals and a note against each name with the person’s capabilities would be a step forward.  Jack then suggested we should start the Marshals Club. After much deliberation and discussion, we had plans in place to launch the club.

And so, the Marshals club was formed. A few hiccoughs along the way but John became the first official Chair of the club.