History

June 1952: Report of inaugural 4/4 Club meeting. A paragraph on the second page states…….”It was appreciated by all present that, as yet, the club could not be spilt into regions. However, when membership is sufficiently large, attempts will be made to form Northern and Southern Groups”.

1961: Committee Meeting notes. “The proposal to form the first group of the Morgan 4/4 Club in London has been given quite a lot of support”.

Notes from Chas Smith: 

#1. When the club was founded there weren’t any centres as such, the membership had a few members in the Derby and Malvern areas as well as other locations.

#2. I joined the club as soon as I got my Morgan, in 1965 there were only two centres; the original Midland, and the newly formed London centre. Up until then the Midland centre was the Club, not a selection of members. (The Midland centre was not given ‘recognised’ status until 1973)

December 1969: Text from 4/4 Club Newsletter #77. “Derbyshire Centre. A Mr Ronald C. Brown of Borrowash, would like to hear from any members in the area who would be interested in forming a centre and holding monthly meetings. When a group got established they could apply to the Club’s committee for recognition and become a centre”.

Summer/Autumn 1970: Miscellany. List of Club Officers includes Derby Secretary (P Evans). Whilst it lists ‘Secretary’ and not ‘Centre’ alongside this entry, it must be assumed that Derby was eventually recognised as a centre by the club committee.

Late 1970: Various notes suggest that Derby group was approved as a Centre.

October 1974: Miscellany text. “Wanted, New Secretary for Derby centre due to apathy of members turning up to meetings. G Turner, present secretary, is resigning in disgust”. 

1975: Miscellany. Throughout this year the Derby (centre) group is not listed at all in the Club Officers and Centres page.

February 1975: Miscellany text. “Good news, an attempt is being made to get the Derby centre back on it’s feet”. (By 1976 Derby (Donington) is listed as a Centre; so although we cannot find a specific entry (yet) stating that the club ‘recognised’ Derby as a centre, it must have happened during 1975.) 

March 1976: Miscellany – Derby Centre News. “At the January meeting of the centre it was unanimously agreed that the Derby centre will henceforth become the Donington Centre).

Summary of the above: As the club grew after the 1951 formation, the rising membership in some areas led to a wish to have local meetings (Noggins); some members were travelling huge areas to a Noggin. It is well documented that the first centre was London and followed by East Anglia, which was initially a sub-group of London centre (likewise HopMog started as a sub-group of London). The first mention we can find of an emerging Derby centre appears in December 1969 (see above), but this seems to have had a stuttering start with poor support and changes of leader. Then, Derby (Donington) is recognised and given centre status; this looks  to have been in 1970

Thanks to long standing DonMog member Mike Pullen for compiling this detailed history.