2009 is the tenth anniversary of the formation of the Manchester and North West Group of the Standard Motor Club. In 1999 three members of the Standard Motor Club, Bryan Jones, Ken Ball and Ian Law met at a pub in Deansgate, Manchester and decided it would be appropriate to form a local Group in the Manchester area. Since then, year by year, the Group has increased in strength with a membership now of well over a hundred. In the later part of 2008 the average number of people attending meetings was 45. The Group encourages Triumph enthusiasts to join its meetings since it is recognized that Triumph since 1945 has always been regarded as riding alongside Standard. After all, since 1945 Triumph can be said to have built in Standard engineering. Other Classic car enthusiasts are also welcomed at our meetings and give us tremendous support. As a result quite a few "Open Class" members have been "converted" to buying a Standard or Triumph car.

Over the years quite a few Standard cars have been rescued from the scrap heap by our members and some restored to a high quality. The Group has had an excellent relationship with the Wirral Group whose Organiser Frank Williams has given us valuable advice and support.

It is intended that 2009 will be a celebration year for the Manchester Group, the programme is now almost complete for the year although more events will be added soon. The annual Group Show is being reinstated in 2009 (in recent years it has not been held because of difficulty in securing a suitable venue for the increasing number of exhibits). Group trophies and awards are being introduced at all shows that the Group enter and will include a Member of the Year and Merit award that will be allocated to members who have given outstanding service and support to the Group during the year.

We welcome all members of the Standard Motor Club at all our events. Whilst we understand the pressures that are put on our hardworking and dedicated parent committee, the Manchester Group would be delighted to welcome any of them to any of our events in our Anniversary year.

Finally, I would like to thank Phil Homer for including details of our Group in the excellent Standard Motor Club Web Site and also Steve O’Hara for including our items in the Standard Car Review.