MEET THE
TEAM
Chairman
Simon Hayes
I’m from Lowestoft Suffolk. When our predecessors announced they could no longer find the time to run the club, I thought it would be a terrible shame to have it fold, so I set about creating a group to help. The first 12 months have been a huge learning process. In my role, I don’t class myself as in charge, more of an overall mouth! It’s everyones club, and everyones help is vital – I would never have been able to do it alone and we all work together as a team. I’ve loved wedges since childhood (like most we had them in the family) but didn’t actually get one until 2020… I had her recovered from Inverness! Lisa (christened by her previous owner) needed a fair bit of TLC, but shes worth every penny. Of course, their (undeserved) reputation means that both Princess and Ambassadors survive in very limited numbers, so I aim to save as many as possible and find them new homes.
Membership Secretary
Paul Andrew Arnold-Kitchen
I live in Southampton and took over as Membership Secretary from Martin when the Club was handed over. I have owned a number of Princesses over the last 15 years. The first was "DWS" the Oyster 2200HLS that was owned by Kev's father many years ago. I have rescued a number of them over the years, got them running and sold them on. One notable one was the Special Six that now resides in Ireland. I rescued it after a narrow escape from the banger track!
I currently own a Sandglow 2200HLS which I bought from the daughter of the original owner in 2021.
Chris Collin
Treasurer
My love of wedges began aged 3 when my Grandparents moved house and their new neighbour parked their Austin Ambassador. I kept staring at it. I thought it looked like a spaceship, unlike anything else and I never forgot it. I owned an Ambassador and a Princess as a student, then finally tracked down a rare Wolseley 2200 wedge from its original owners. Alas the car is not roadworthy, but is something of a life-long project.
Douglas Hester
Technical Support
I have a 1980 Princess 2 2ltr HLS Denim Blue manual gearbox, owned since Nov 2018. I got involved with the club when my brother in law bought Jo in 2017, he had recently got her resprayed as the boot and bonnet were marked where she had been parked up. I helped Steve get her ready for the 2018 show after which he needed to move her on due to a Wolseley he had acquired. As she has such low mileage I was given first refusal and have owned her since replacing the cylinder head, cambelt, making and replacing the heading and quarter trims and a few other jobs. Often Steve and I work together as we both have a few cars and have so far replaced 3 headlining on 2 wedges and an Allegro. I worked in the motor trade until 1991 and always loved classic cars so when the club was in trouble offered to help form a committee to help keep these cars alive. I was trained as a mechanic and later switched to Electrics finishing my apprenticeship at Rolls Royce MPW as an electrician. Sadly Rolls folded in 1991 so I went to LUL on the trains, just much bigger voltages.
Steve Munro
Technical Support
My interest in BL cars goes back to my childhood when my father had an Austin Maxi but I always loved the shape of the wedge. When I retired In 2018 I bought an Austin Princess EJO 141V (JO as she later became known) which I had resprayed and did bits to it with Doug Hester my Brother in law. When I saw a very rare Wolsely wedge for sale I had to have it and sold my Princess to Doug. I have had extensive bodywork and a respray carried out on the Wolseley and replaced the headlining with Doug. This years work will be engine out and rebuild and some interior work on seats Doug is a dab hand with the sewing machine and we do a lot of work together.
Andrew McAdam
Parts Secretary
Events Secretary
Andrew runs Macs Factors - his knowledge is legendary and of course this means if there is an elusive part we do not have, he may well.
Roy Fairfull
Webmaster
I have a 1983 Austin Ambassador 2.0 HL auto which I bought in April 2021. I'm the 4th owner and the car has covered only 52k miles. I live in Bognor Regis and in early 2024 I took over the role of Webmaster. Being a bit of a serial classics restorer and tinkerer, I've had many over the years but the Ambassador is my first wedge ownership. I've made a number of repairs and done a few custom upgrades to it which has been great fun to do.