HopMog History
HOPMOG Started life as The South
East Social Sub-Centre of The London Centre.
So for some background information I begin with a short history of The London
Centre.
The
London Centre was the first to be called a centre as such.
The main nucleus of the club was, as you would expect, based in the
midlands. In the early sixties it was
suggested that a centre based in the London area would be a good idea.
There was quite a concentration of members in and around London so after
a meeting at Jim Banbury's home in Chelsea on Friday 3rd November 1961 the
London Centre was born. Unfortunately
its birth was a bit premature as there is little evidence of any activity
In 1965
after several impromptu meetings at W.A. (Griff) Griffiths Garage usually on a
Saturday Morning. The London Centre was
re-born on the 29th of September.
Most of
the London Centre meetings were held north of the Thames, as I think many still
are. So a group of us 'South London Lads
(& Lasses)' thought we could hold meetings to the south of London in the
Kent area (later to include Surrey) thus the embryo that was to become
HOPMOG began.
The
South East Social Sub-Centre of The London Centre (a bit of a mouthful that)
started life in 1972 and became a ‘Centre’ in it own right, The South East
Centre, around July 1974. The HOPMOG
name was adopted in January 1976.
HOPMOG
initially covered Kent, but soon there was demand to meet in neighbouring
Surrey and then several members started meetings in the Canterbury area and
with a good regular attendance is now known as ‘East Kent’.
So now we have 3 regular noggins each month, the second Tuesday in Kent,
the third Tuesday East Kent and the last Thursday in Surrey, a very large
catchment area. We also hold occasional
Sunday lunch time meetings, often with an addition feature in the afternoon
keeping us busy throughout the year. These
include visits to gardens, historic house and castles, also kite flying, quiz
evenings, the odd treasure hunt. We have regular very popular favourites like
the centre barbecue and our own dinner dance.
We
publish HOPMOG REVIEW, a bi-monthly
news letter. We produce a
HOPMOG CALENDAR of events, which is sent to all MSCC members in our
“patch” in January. Now we have this Website. We
also produce our own Regalia, and Car Badges.
We have
run two national Club events; MOG 90,
at The Whitbread Hop Farm and a decade later we ended the millennium in style,
with MOG 2000.
In 1992 we held our first Morgans at Brooklands, which was such a great
success; this was repeated in July 1995 and June 1999, where we celebrated our
Silver Jubilee. We have also ventured
across the channel with several very successful events in Le Touquet and
Brugge. A visit to the Schlumph Bugatti
collection in Mulhouse, an unforgettable weekend at the first Le Mans Classic,
all in 2002. The following year
returning to France with a trip to Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny
complete with day out in Paris. 2004 a
return to The Le Mans Classic and our 30th Anniversary event at
Cobtree. 2005 saw a return to France
with a second Mulhouse visit, followed by a wonderful trip to Guillestre in the
Alps.
If that
were not enough for the more senior Morgan owner there is
TOGMOG*, the brainwave of a mature Hopmogger, Ben Brittain:
“TOGMOGGING was born out of
selfishness. I wanted to get to know
other Morgan drivers but I didn’t enjoy evening noggins.
They are, by definition, evening events and driving home at night, in
the dark, having had the odd drink is not my idea of quality Morganeering.
I realise they are a good way of socialising but, being retired, I’m
usually tired by the end of the day and prefer to be at home with my feet up by
the time most evening Noggins start. Mid
week, daytime Noggins - now that’s a different matter.
The second step towards the birth of TOGMOGGING
happened when Tony Baker and I joined one of Quentin’s trips to France- this
was the trip to Mulhouse in July 2002. Tony
and I had independently made the decision to get more involved with the Club
and when we met up with Nancy on the visit to Monet’s Garden and Paris in 2003,
the ground was laid.
The three of us were elected to the HOPMOG
Committee at the 2003 AGM- or in Nancy’s case re elected since she and Graham
were founder members of HOPMOG.
We immediately began to think of ways of making a contribution to the
Club and I came up with the idea of mid week daytime meetings.
The Committee encouraged me to find out whether there was much interest
amongst members and I put a piece into Miscellany which Quentin suggested take
the form of a letter to “Dear Charles”. I wrote under the title “Is it me?” a
phrase most of you will associate with Terry Wogan’s morning radio programme.
Next we co-opted Brian on to our informal sub committee and
TOGMOGGING was launched.
I wrote a letter to The Togmeister himself advising him of the momentous
event and was rewarded with a T shirt to auction in recognition of our
commitment to raise money for “Children in Need”. We have raised a few hundred
pounds for the cause so far and will do more.
Tony, Brian, and Nancy have given tremendous support.
We get together once a year to select events and a mid week
TOGMOG is now a regular part of the
HOPMOG Annual Programme. Tony
has also organised two superb mid week breaks; first in Snowdonia in 2005; and
then in North Yorkshire in 2006. We look
forward to many more such events in the future.
Our monthly meets started with a Spring and Summer programme visiting Country
Houses and Gardens but demand for a full year of events obliged us to introduce
Autumn and Winter ideas including organised walks in the Winter months.
Driving snow and oozing mud are not a pre requisite but they help
stimulate the thirst and taste buds for our final destination- The Pub.
Nowadays there is a TOGMOG on the
first Wednesday of every month culminating in a Christmas lunch to swap stories
and prepare for the following year.
What more can I say? Everyone is welcome
at a TOGMOG.
I have a list of more than 60 car owners who come from all over the
South to join our events. Some of the
little terrors are still working but sneak off for a Morgan fix as often as
they can. For myself, well, I have
succeeded in building more friendships in three years than I previously found
in a lifetime! Long may it continue.”
Ben Brittain, Cardigan- in Chief. *[TOG:
Terry’s
Old Geezers(or
Gals)]
Brian
Downing
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