Fifteen cars were displayed on the Knowldale stand at this year’s Rochdale Classic Car Show in Falinge Park, organised by Rochdale Rotary. Some images from our display are in the Gallery, and there is also a video of the show on YouTube

Andy Czakow has passed on some correspondence relating to the formation of Knowldale in the 1950s. Click Read More to see the links to the Correspondence and a Transcript. There is also a Newsletter from 1953.

The AGM will take place at 9pm on Tuesday 27th May at Milnrow Cricket Club. All members are welcome and encouraged to join us.

Agenda

1 To read and if approved adopt the minutes of the 72nd AGM held on 28th May 2024.

2 To read and if approved adopt the Annual Report of the Committee

3 To read and if approved adopt the Balance Sheet and Approved Accounts

4 To elect accountants for the ensuing year

5 To elect six members of the committee and co-opt if necessary

6 To consider the annual rate of subscriptions

7 Any other business by leave of the meeting

Entries are now open for the Knowldale Autumn Tour 2025 on the Rallies.info website

Thanks to everyone – entrants, start, lunch and finish venues, marshals and the organising team – for helping create a memorable event with superb weather and spectacular views on Saturday.

The photos from Dickon Siddall are now in the Gallery.

The Code Board scores are below. Well done to the 24 crews who managed to get them all, and the 22 who missed only one (perhaps we should make it harder next time!) The Knowldale Autumn Tour will be open for entries soon.

Car	Driver	Navigator	Card 1	Card 2	Overall
1	Andy Rushton	Marie Rushton	16	13	29
2	Ian Rowson	James Forrester	Non Starter
3	Colin Brennan	Mike Corfield	16	12	28
4	Geoff Barlow	Mrs Barlow	16	12	28
5	John Cooper	Janet Cooper	16	13	29
6	Dave Hedley	Rebecca Hedley	16	13	29
7	Mark Stone	Karen Graham	16	13	29
8	Geoff Maine	David Hunt	16	9	25
9	Paul Spenceley	Harry Cook	16	12	28
10	Alwyn Marland	Joe Halsall	16	13	29
11	Geoff Bateman	Maggy Bateman	16	13	29
12	Duncan Hopkinson	Kay Hopkinson	16	12	28
13	Ian Swallow	Victoria Swallow	16	13	29
14	Nigel Barrett	Julia Barrett	16	12	28
15	John Pinder	Dave Rowe	8	12	20
16	Andrew Gillett	Rob Clay	9	10	19
17	James Swallow	James Sharples	16	12	28
18	Jack Mather	Steve Mather	16	13	29
19	Paul Slingsby	Michael Fox	16	13	29
20	Malcolm Davey	Neil Andrews	16	13	29
21	Neil Williams	Susan Williams	16		16
22	Edward Roberts	Jeff Smith	16	12	28
23	Steven Mortimer
24	Joe Taylor	Kate Taylor	15	12	27
25	David Taylor	Marilyn Smith	16	13	29
26	George Howarth	Callum Roe	16	13	29
27	Thomas Wardle	Andy Robinson	16	13	29
28	Brian Holt	Barry Tickle	16	12	28
29	Austin Bell	Catherine Bell	16	13	29
30	Christopher Rae	Terry May	16	12	28
31	Charlie Woodward	Fred Bent	16	12	28
32	Steve O’Connell	Richard Hazeldine	16	13	29
33	Ian Redman	Duncan Mckno	16	12	28
34	Sylvia Rand	Geoff Rand	15	12	27
35	Andy Stanworth	Alan Ridehalgh	16	12	28
36	Malcolm Graham	Tracey Norris	16	12	28
37	Mike Kirk	Mike Davies	16	13	29
38	Malcolm Grisdale	Roger Harrison	16	12	28
39	Chris Fradgley	Andrew Wilde	16	13	29
40	Rod Sutcliffe	Barry Speake	16	13	29
41	Adrian Lloyd	Denise Morris	16	13	29
42	John Taylor	Anna Taylor	16	12	28
43	Sam Thompson	Colin Thompson	16	12	28
44	Steve Auty	Pete Walsh	16	13	29
45	Eric Thornley	Martin Beamish	16	13	29
46	John Ettridge	Sarah Ettridge	14		14
47	Tecwyn Pierce	Sue Pierce	16	9	25
48	Alun Owen	Delia Owen	16	12	28
49	Mike Bennett	Karen Bennett	16	13	29
50	Damian Timlin	Janis Naylor	14	13	27
51	Colin Wroe	Jacqueline Wroe	16	12	28
52	Stuart Mason	Allen Baker	16	6	22
53	Keith Oglesby	Graham Hanson	16	13	29
54	David Pipes	Gael Hepburn	15	12	27
55	Raul Walker	Peter Clegg	15	13	28
56	Bryn Morgan	Dave Slater	13	12	25
57	Steven Greenbank	Janette Greenbank	14	9	23
58	Simon Boardman	Peter Kenyon	16	12	28
59	Roger Goth	Miles Whitelock	16	13	29
60	Roger Wilson	David Stott	16	13	29
61	Peter Wright	Alan Shaw	16	12	28
62	Andrew Ogden	Richard Murtha	16	12	28
63	Norm Briers	Mark Earnshaw	Non Starter
65	Sean Bramhall	Debbie Drummond	Non Starter
66	Kevin Roberts	Simon Alker	16	9	25

The Final Instructions for the John Clegg Mini Miglia have been emailed out to the nominated crew members. If you haven’t received yours please check your junk mail folder before contacting the Entries Secretary.

A Motorsport UK StreetCar Event

Saturday 4th October

Supported by JC Mills Ltd

Starting with a butty and brew at Fairways Garden Centre near Macclesfield, a route of approximately 115 miles takes crews through Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the finish at Milnrow Cricket Club where a well deserved meal will be served.

Route definition in the supplied Roadbook is by tulip diagram, and Ordnance Survey map references will also be provided. Many of the roads used on our events are ‘classics’ in the world of road rallying. As a shorter StreetCar event with plenty of assistance available to novice crews, this is an ideal opportunity to bring out your classic, cherished or everyday vehicle on a ‘proper’ event.

The ASRs (Regs) for the event are here

Entries are now open on Rallies.info

The current entry list is here

Alan Barlow

Sadly longstanding member Alan Barlow passed away just before Christmas at the age of 75. As many of you may know he had suffered from health problems for a number of years, and because of this poor health his Opel Manta GTE was restored by the Car SOS team. Many club members were involved with the handover programme at Nutter’s restaurant.

Alan had been a Knowldale member for over fifty years, and had competed as a driver and co-driver on many events during the seventies and early eighties. He was also an invaluable service crew member for various club members alongside his great friend Brian Maguire, sadly also no longer with us.

Alan’s was buried on his farm on 16^th January and below is the eulogy read by Deryck Pickup.

First I think we should than Alan for fixing us up with a sunny day.

Since Alan passed away I have had many conversations with friends and the thing that has become apparent when asking for memories of Alan is that he always was just there, getting on with things in the background and never making a fuss. 

You could always rely on him to do whatever he had been asked to do, on time and to the best of his abilities, which were many.

I first met him when he first joined Knowldale Car Club, which I think must have been around 1972. Back then Alan had a quick Minicooper S, PEN 579, the engine from which is still in the barn over there.

At that time Alan was the driver and his navigator was Rod Collins and the two of them were regular competitors on road rallies in the Northwest.

Their most successful year was in 1975 when they were outright winners of the Knowldale 12-car Championship, and second in the Knowldale Road Rally Championship.

Around this time Alan had also started navigating on International rallies with John Wood in an Escort 1300 Sport. John was the fastest of our local drivers and in 1975 the pair finished second in class on the Welsh International Rally, and first in class on the Scottish International Rally.

The Scottish result was due in no small part to Alan’s quick thinking and ingenuity.

After successfully completing the first nineteen special stages on the twentieth the car suddenly lost all electrical power and coasted to a halt. 

Fortunately Alan was able to push the car to a point from where it was possible to freewheel downhill to the end of the stage. On investigation the cause was soon revealed. The live lead from the battery was still attached to the battery post, but the post was no longer in the battery. End of story, end of rally, one would have thought. But Alan didn’t think so. He grabbed a screwdriver out of his toolkit and proceeded to bang it into the next cell of the battery, and then clamped the lead to it with a pair of molegrips. A quick shout of “try that” to Woody, and the car fired up running on ten volts! This bodge enabled them to complete the last remaining stage before the overnight halt, whence a new battery was obtained and normal service resumed, resulting in a class win.

1975 was completed with a finish on the Lombard RAC rally alongside myself, and 1^st overall on the annual Boxing Day Autotest driving his Mini.

Whilst all this competing was going on Alan also spent all his remaining nights and weekends working with his father-in-law, Bob, in rented garage premises servicing and repairing cars. Mechanical and electrical repairs were Alan’s area of expertise whilst Bob was the bodywork man. If they couldn’t fix it, it couldn’t be fixed! 

With this specialised skill and knowledge it made sense for Alan to become a rally car mechanic, and he teamed up with a good friend of ours, Brian Maguire to be my service crew for my rallying exploits. The service crew’s job was to meet up with the rally car after every stage if possible, with a van full of tools and spares, and repair whatever damage had been sustained.

At one period we had a Bedford CF van with a 2.3 litre engine which could get a bit of a move-on. 

I remember one trip in this van with them going to the Ulster Rally when we had to catch the ferry at Cairnryan near Stranraer. The van was towing the rally car on a trailer and Alan was driving. We were far too late in setting off and this meant we had to travel at highly illegal speeds across southern Scotland. Would you believe we saw 85mph on the clock at one point, pulling a trailer! We reached the ferryport just as the ramp was being raised. The lad on the gate got onto his radio and waved us straight through. The ramp was lowered again and on we went. We couldn’t have cut it more fine!! 

By this time, the rallies we were competing on were major events attracting a lot of publicity. To this end, the event sponsors would always have banners and hoardings liberally positioned around the start and finish venues. Over time it became a point of honour amongst the rally crews to return home with one of these banners, and Alan and Brian were no exceptions.

You will all remember that Alan was well able to maintain a straight face, but he excelled himself on this occasion. We were at the prizegiving after the Granite City Rally in Aberdeen, in some big posh hotel. The awards were given out on a stage, which had a large sponsor’s banner across the back wall. I think it said Consolidated Pneumatics or something similar. The awards were dished out by the local mayor or other dignitary, in front of a few hundred people. After the last award had been given out the dignitaries exited, stage left. Stage right, who should enter but Alan and Brian, totally po-faced. They casually untied the banner, carefully laid it flat on the floor and then equally carefully folded it into a neat pile, and walked off the stage with it. All in full view of the assembled throng!

It took pride of place on Alan’s garage wall for many years after!

Sadly all good things come to an end and the recession of 1982 put an end to my rallying exploits, but I think this suited Alan as he was by now in the throes of establishing his electrical contracting business, and time off for rallying would have been at a premium.

I can’t give you any knowledge of his business life but we know a man who can, who will be along in a minute.

From here on we didn’t see Alan very often as he was always busy with his work, until we were contacted by Emma and Geoff about the Car S.o S. TV programme. Emma had been successful in getting the TV people to restore Alan’s Opel Manta for him, as by this time he had already had severe health problems which prevented him from doing any work on his car himself. The programme was being filmed at Nutter’s restaurant and we were able to provide a dozen classic cars as background scenery. The look on Alan’s face when he saw his now mint condition car was priceless and worth all the secrecy entailed.

Alan was an outstanding member of our club who will be sadly missed and I think I can safely say on behalf of Knowldale Car Club that we’re all proud to have been his friend.

Steve Warrington will be the contact for obtaining Annual Dinner tickets.

Steven.warrington@sky.com or 07921 148986

Dave Bamber has been appointed Test Commander on the Clitheroe Targa rally on Saturday 15th February 2025 to be held at Dishforth Airfield off the A1M above Boroughbridge.
He needs a number of marshals to cover the tests, start and finish, passage controls and numerous cones. There will be four loops of three individual tests followed by three full tests to finish the day.
Signing on is at Dishforth between 8.00 a.m. and 9.15 with the first car to start the tests at 10.30. Timing will be with Liege timers. The last car should finish the final test at approximately 19.45.
Interested volunteers please contact Dave at davidbamber42@gmail.com or on 07833708424