A Little Bit of Club History ............

Way, way back - when King Harold was a little boy -  there came a bunch of marauding donkey wallopers up the Via Portsmouthia.   On the whole their chariots were pretty naff, and when driven at a speed of three-and-a-half leagues an hour they were pretty unreliable as well.    So it was then, that after a while they veered off the main highway and spread to the West.   They swanned about following the one with the pyke (nothing new there then!), and finally made an encampment at an old forge.

As they raped and pillaged the neighboring towns and villages they encountered some funny little four wheeled chariots.   'These are good' they said, 'we will take these back to the forge'.   They painted them, they polished them, they mended them, and when the new technology came along they even sold them on smoke-signal-Bay.   Herbert, the Earl of Austin, heard of this enterprise and with the help of the Donkey Wallopers he set up a manufacturey  to the North, where he made thousands and thousands of the damned things

Some may say that this tale is a load of old bollo round objects.   No doubt charioteer Smith will scribe a more honest - but less exciting - account at some time in the future !!!!!!!         Meanwhile kiddies; lights out and off to sleep.

A more honest account from 1972 reads ...........

Solent Austin Seven Club

The Solent Austin Seven Club is a very new club having only been founded in January of this year although many of the members have been together in other local clubs for over four years. The present membership is around 50 with a great variety of cars between them — for instance Gordon England Brooklands, Ulster, Speedy, Nippy, Chummies, Vintage and Post Vintage saloons of all types and to add an international flavour — a Rosengart.

The emphasis is very much on using the cars and to this end we organize driving tests, treasure hunts, picnic runs and a 600 mile Easter tour of the West Country.

For our members who are still busy with restoration we have demonstrations of how to rebuild various A.7 components such as the rear axle or gearbox. All the major events of the Club year are recorded with cine cameras and shown at a grand film night.

Our contribution to the Jubilee Year was the Pre-Beaulieu Rally Barbecue when we are delighted to play host to over 300 fellow enthusiasts.

The club meets on the second Friday of the month at the 'Farmers Home' Durley, which is a few miles north east of Southampton.

This account was found in the programme of the August 1972 "Golden Jubilee of the Austin" which was held at Longbridge,  organised by the Austin Seven Clubs Association, and hosted by British Leyland.

But what has happened since  - is nobody going to tell us???