the time honoured tradition of presenting all new Centurions with their badge, free of charge, must be upheld; and that any club promoting a 100 mile race shall contribute at least 75% of the cost of badges for new Centurions. The gist of a letter from Hans Leendertse C427, secretary of the Dutch Centurions was read out, enquiring about an update of the handbook and their willingness to pay for it .The number of Dutch Centurions had increased by 61 since the last issue. The assistant secretary Frank Jarvis C258, took this to mean that the Dutch were giving an undertaking to fund the full cost of production for a new handbook, instead of the intended meaning that each Dutch Centurion would purchase a copy. A simple mistake to make, which naturally led to some confusion. On December 7th, the first and so far, the only true Centurion, came into being, when Dave Ainsworth C540 organized a 100th birthday celebration for Bill Brown C12, at the Ford social club. Bill Brown had worked there in his younger years, possibly building model T’s? 1989 started with a sad blow to the Centurions, when the death on February 7th of the secretary, Tod Slaughter C218 was announced. Tod had been secretary for almost 24 years, having taken over from Chas Culling C51 who had held the office for 33 years. For more than half a century the smooth running of the Centurions had been maintained by these two dedicated men. Would there ever be anyone, as dedicated to replace them? Only time will tell. A meeting of Centurions was called for March, at which Frank Jarvis C258 was elected secretary with Hew Neilson C145 as his assistant, in addition to his role of captain. All the other officers including the


existent vice-presidents were re-elected. Frank Jarvis, in


accepting the rôle of secretary, stressed that he would not carry out his duties without charge to the society as had previous officers. He felt that the true cost of running the society should be made known. Outstanding matters from the previous meeting were dealt with, but it was agreed that the 75% surcharge for new badges would not apply to the forthcoming Ewhurst 100, as the decision had not yet been made public and race arrangements were already well in hand.


The Ewhurst 100 was held on 23rd-24th June, but before the race was even started there had been problems which led to articles being published in the national press. Ann Sayer C599 and Dianne Pegg C608 had been refused entry by the Surrey Walking Club on the grounds that there were insufficient facilities to accommodate ladies at the Ewhurst venue, and had they accepted their entries they would have to accept entries from a host of continental females as well. Whether or not this was the true reason, one will never know. A late entry was however, accepted from Dave Boxall C464 who had previously withdrawn having been selected for a 2 day race in France, which was cancelled 2 days before it was due to take place. A total of 107 men, the greatest number ever, started the race, one of them would fall foul of the judges on the first 10 mile lap. The early leader was Derek Harrison C466, but he was overtaken at 50 miles by Dave Boxall who went on to score his fifth British win. 77, another new record, completed the race, 37 of them for the first time. With such a large number of new qualifiers, the cost of providing their badges was going to put a great strain on Centurion finances. It was partly off-set by a generous donation from Surrey Walking Club and a number of individual donations. The secretary, Frank Jarvis, had started a correspondence with Messrs Haseler & Restall Ltd., a division of Marples & Beasley, which would take almost 12 months to resolve. It started as a simple enquiry about the current cost of our badges and the location and ownership of the die. In September a new national championship over 100km was held, many of the contestants being Centurions or aspiring Centurions trying to bridge the gap between the Hastings and the London to Brighton classics, and the supreme challenge. The winner and first holder of a new trophy, the ‘Wilkinson Sword’, presented by the razor blade company, was Peter


37


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