A Link to the Past!
British Pathe have a film clip of the Berwick & District Motor Club Speed Trials held at Haggerston Castle Park in 1936. Follow this LINK to the British Pathe website home page and then type in Haggerston Castle into the "Search" box. From there you should be able to download a preview copy at 128kbs, which is free, or you can order a 512kbs version at a price. Well worth the effort to see BDMC in action during it's early days. Is that Colin Pagan I see with the starting flag?
Berwick & District Motor Club
The earliest information we can find about a motor club in the area dates back to the early nineteen hundreds under the name of Berwick Motor & Cycle Club, possibly making the club one of the oldest in the UK. Interrupted by the First World War it seems to have taken sometime to reform, eventually doing so in 1935 under its current name, running events at Haggerston Castle and subsequently moving on to utilise the wartime airfields at Winfield and Charterhall as sprint and race tracks. While these venues are no longer used for racing they still figure in the club's calendar of events.
Over the years there have been several well known local heroes involved in international motor sport, with Berwick & District Motor Club proud to boast among it's members names like Jim Clark, Club President Andrew Cowan, Vice-President Louise Aitken-Walker and, more recently, Claire Mole to name but four that everyone will recognise.
The Club has built a reputation for putting
on quality events that competitors want. The Jewel in the BDMC Crown is
The Jim Clark Memorial Rally, organised in association with our friends
at Border Ecosse Car Club. Now probably the most popular rally in the
country it is the only one held on closed public roads on the British
mainland and a regular fixture in the British Rally Championship calendar.
Also on the Club calendar are our annual Autocross at East Ord, a couple
of Classic Rallies - The Berwick Classic (which from humble beginnings
has grown into a major event and a round of the NESCRO Historic Championship)
and The Johnston Trophy, Navigational events - The Buglass and The Chairman's
Challenge, and trips to other events to marshal. Added to that, the Club
is always on the lookout for new venues and events to put on.
Charterhall Circuit Map.........Winfield Circuit Map
Clark (with Barclay) at Charterhall in 1958 in the white
Border Reivers D Type
(Courtesy Graham Gauld Collection)
British GP Silverstone
(Courtesy Graham Gauld Collection)
Dates:
1st Wednesday
Every Month
Clubnight
See 'Members'
page