Mays memorial room

THE RAYMOND MAYS Memorial Room is now ten years old, having been established in 1999 to commemorate the career of the international racing pioneer whose lifelong home was in Bourne and who made his mark both as a driver and designer.

He was cremated when he died in 1980 and so there is no tombstone in the town cemetery and it has been left to others to ensure that his reputation survives in a tangible form.

This has been mainly due to the work of the Civic Society who took over Baldock’s Mill in 1981 with the intention of turning it into a heritage centre and the memorial room to Raymond Mays was the first major project which came to fruition on Sunday 24th August 1999 when the official opening was carried out by the town’s M P, Quentin Davies.

The display was then a modest one, a few artefacts including the great man’s racing goggles, some of his trophies and documents and a collection of 200 old photographs that had been found in a trunk in the attic at Eastgate House after he died, all copied and mounted to form a pictorial record of his life and times. But from those small beginnings, the room has grown to an impressive museum that not only reflects an exciting career on the track but also the motor cars for which he was responsible, firstly the ERA models followed by the BRM which achieved the ultimate prize in 1962 by becoming the first all-British car to win the world championship with Graham Hill at the wheel.

All of these events are recorded here with a collection that grows annually and was greatly enhanced in June 2005 by a magnificent display of silver trophies reflecting the success of the BRM and its drivers, a veritable history of the company that produced it. The collection of 63 cups, salvers and rose bowls had been presented to BRM at racetracks around Europe where their cars were successful in Formula I Grand Prix events in France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Austria, Monaco, Belgium and Italy together with three rose bowls awarded in consecutive years to top driver Graham Hill after winning the United States Grand Prix in 1963, 1964 and 1965. Other awards were collected at race meetings in Australia, South Africa and of course in Britain.

The collection was given to the Civic Society on permanent loan by David Owen OBE, chairman of Rubery Owen Holdings Limited, the engineering firm that eventually took over the motor racing company founded by Raymond Mays, and is now contained in four specially built cabinets made from aluminium and safety glass to show off the trophies to their best effect.

Other fascinating objects that have been contributed since include a well cut lounge suit with his name tape inside, a Moet & Chandon Cordon Rouge bottle which gave its name to his first Bugatti Brescia, racing posters, banners and pennants such as the silk ribbons from the winner’s wreath awarded after an ERA win at Nurburgring in Germany during the rise of Nazi supremacy in 1936 and embossed with the swastika. Raymond had been driving himself and he remembered afterwards: “Crowds surged around the car, press cameras seemed to be clicking everywhere and all the ERA personnel were frenzied with delight at our victory. I was almost hoisted from my seat by German storm troopers and escorted to a special grandstand. There our national anthem was played and a high ranking Nazi official placed a laurel wreath around my neck and the car was garlanded around the bonnet.”

The latest addition is a white T-shirt that has been presented for permanent display with the distinctive red logo of ERA on one side and a white mouse on the other, emblem of the White Mouse Racing Team which owned the blue-painted ERA R2B, the famous 1.5 litre car which Prince Bira of Siam bought from Raymond Mays during a visit to Bourne in 1935 to mark his 21st birthday. The prince named it Romulus, quickly becoming one of the main exponents of this voiturette class of international racing and winning the Coup de Prince Rainier at Monte Carlo while the car remained in his ownership until his death half a century later. Two other models followed, in 1936 and 1938, which he named Remus and Hanuman and for the next few years, Bira remained consistently successful.

There are also many other famous faces in the photo gallery, a major part of the exhibition, including Malcolm (later Sir Malcolm) Campbell (1885–1948), hero of every schoolboy of the time who established new world speed records on land and on water at various times during the 1920s and 1930s using vehicles called Bluebird. He is pictured with Raymond at the Shelsey Walsh circuit in Worcestershire, the world's oldest motor sport venue that is still used after more than a century of hill climbing. The circuit was a favourite with Raymond and the picture shows him chatting with Campbell after an event in May 1935.

Another photograph features Amy Johnson (1903-1941), the adventurous airwoman who set up numerous long-distance records during the 1930s. She was fascinated with speed and met Raymond when he was competing at Shelsley Walsh in 1938.

In fact, Raymond liked to mix with the famous and was frequently photographed with the celebrities of the day, including the stars of stage and radio, but his favourite picture which is also on display here shows him meeting Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) and Princess Margaret at the Silverstone circuit on 13th May 1950 when he showed them the BRM. He treasured this photograph which he always carried in his wallet and autographed many copies which he handed out to friends and admirers. “This was one of the proudest moments of my life”, he said afterwards.

There are many other items of memorabilia on display, sufficient to make a visit worthwhile for the motor racing enthusiast and anyone interested in our history. Nearby, on the banks of the Bourne Eau in South Street, stands a stone slab erected in 2003 commemorating not only Raymond Mays but also this town’s contribution to international motor racing.