CAMBRIDGE MODEL BOAT CLUB
Chairman: John Parsons
Secretary: Philip Powell
Treasurer: Chris Lowe
Cawcutts Rep: John Hellard
Paxton Rep: Philip Powell
Organisation
The club is run by a Committee of five people who are elected annually by the only formal meeting of the club. The Committee have the power to co-opt additional members for specific duties if required. The Club Rules are available here.
We do occasionally attend other events in the area, these are announced to members via Email and the Web Site.
History
To find the origins of the club we will have to travel back to the early part of the 20th century, and take a trip down memory lane, Fortunately we have a member of the club (Chris Hinson) who was in contact with some of the early pioneers in the field of model engineering. Two such gentleman were Mr Maurice Reynolds, former proprietor of Renmodels of Cambridge, and Mr Don Unwin. Both of these gentleman were members of the Cambridge Model Engineering Society, although both these gentleman were in their 80s when interviewed they both had extremely good memories of the events leading up to the formation of the Cambridge Model Boat Club.
Carrying out research into the history of the club Roy Julian wrote “I visited Don Unwin and spent a fascinating evening with him. His bungalow is a paradise for modelers, and it was not long before I was looking at 3 1/2” guage locomotives, a silver medal winning traction engine, several clocks, model books galore and a 35 mm slide library of many interesting things. At the time of the interview copies of Cambridge Model Engineering Society catalogues of exhibitions the society had held were available giving dates and names of clubs involved in exhibiting. These plus Don’s memory recall gave a picture of the years before Cambridge Model Boat Club, and leading up to the possible establishment date of the club. Don was interested in model engineering from about the age of 11 years, and in 1938 the Cambridge Model Engineering Society was established with Don as founder member. After the 1939/45 second world war, exhibitions were again started involving the Engineering club, the Aero club and the Yacht club. Subsequently by the year 1948 all reference to the Model Yacht Club had disappeared from the catalogues and from about this period the Cambridge Model Boat Club was formed.” Subsequent enquiries have suggested that 1950 is the most likely start date of the Cambridge Model Boat Club.
The club is run by a Committee of five people who are elected annually by the only formal meeting of the club. The Committee have the power to co-opt additional members for specific duties if required. The Club Rules are available here.
We do occasionally attend other events in the area, these are announced to members via Email and the Web Site.
History
To find the origins of the club we will have to travel back to the early part of the 20th century, and take a trip down memory lane, Fortunately we have a member of the club (Chris Hinson) who was in contact with some of the early pioneers in the field of model engineering. Two such gentleman were Mr Maurice Reynolds, former proprietor of Renmodels of Cambridge, and Mr Don Unwin. Both of these gentleman were members of the Cambridge Model Engineering Society, although both these gentleman were in their 80s when interviewed they both had extremely good memories of the events leading up to the formation of the Cambridge Model Boat Club.
Carrying out research into the history of the club Roy Julian wrote “I visited Don Unwin and spent a fascinating evening with him. His bungalow is a paradise for modelers, and it was not long before I was looking at 3 1/2” guage locomotives, a silver medal winning traction engine, several clocks, model books galore and a 35 mm slide library of many interesting things. At the time of the interview copies of Cambridge Model Engineering Society catalogues of exhibitions the society had held were available giving dates and names of clubs involved in exhibiting. These plus Don’s memory recall gave a picture of the years before Cambridge Model Boat Club, and leading up to the possible establishment date of the club. Don was interested in model engineering from about the age of 11 years, and in 1938 the Cambridge Model Engineering Society was established with Don as founder member. After the 1939/45 second world war, exhibitions were again started involving the Engineering club, the Aero club and the Yacht club. Subsequently by the year 1948 all reference to the Model Yacht Club had disappeared from the catalogues and from about this period the Cambridge Model Boat Club was formed.” Subsequent enquiries have suggested that 1950 is the most likely start date of the Cambridge Model Boat Club.