5 Minute Interview With Lesley Robertson

Lesley Robertson, Curator of Cycles at the Museum, is one of the members of staff involved in organising the annual Coventry Cycling Festival, which takes place in Millennium Place in front of the Museum, each Summer.

With just a couple of weeks to go until this year's Festival, we caught her for a chat:

Hi Lesley - firstly can you tell us what we can expect from the Coventry Cycling Festival this year?

Lesley Well, we kick off on Saturday morning with the Tom Sabin ride, which should be leaving the Museum at about 9am, then the Cycling Festival on Millennium Place starts at 10am. There will be mountain bike displays, an organisation called Cycle Magic will be there giving people a chance to have a go on all kinds of weird and wonderful bikes, there’ll be rickshaw rides for the less energetic, face painting, slow bike riding, ‘scoot bikes’ which are bikes for very young children, and there will be activities within the Museum itself – and we’ve also got a cycle-powered stage where local bands will be performing, and an arts and crafts and healthy food fair - so it should be a real feast of pedal powered fun all weekend long!

Which part of the festival are you most looking forward to?

Lesley Probably the Tom Sabin ride – I love to see the riders setting off and understanding why they’re doing it. The point of the ride is to commemorate the achievements of Tom Sabin – he was a cyclist from Allesley in Coventry who was the first person to win a gold medal for cycling at the first modern Olympics at Much Wenlock, so we organise a bike ride from Coventry to Much Wenlock – 100 miles there and 86 miles back.

And you had a go at riding the route yourself recently didn’t you?

Lesley Yes – three of us from the Museum rode the outward route a couple of weeks ago – it took blood, sweat and tears! No, seriously it wasn’t too bad, although we had a headwind for 80 miles, Clive struggled with his knees – when we got to the top of Clee Hill Clive went into the cafe to ask for a bowl of hot water and a tea-towel to wrap round his knee...
We had a few tantrums along the way, but we made it, and were met in Much Wenlock by a lovely Blue Badge Guide called Suzanne who showed us round and gave us a wonderful welcome.

So if anyone reading this fancies getting involved in the Tom Sabin Ride, is it still possible?

Lesley Yes we’ve still got spaces available, the closing date for entries is Wednesday 22 June – I would say though that they do need to be reasonably experienced riders – it’s a pretty tough route but well worth the effort.

We do have another ride as part of the Festival though – a much easier route called Ride To The Romans, which is about 10 miles from the Museum to the Lunt Fort at Baginton. It leaves Coventry at 2pm on the Sunday (26 June) and it’s very much a family ride – we encourage people to bring a picnic and have it when they arrive at the Lunt, where they will get free entry on the day. It’s a really lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and there’s no need to book, just turn up on the day with a bike!

What will you be doing during the weekend of the festival?

Lesley I’m in charge of the Slow Bike Ride! It’s held over both days, and people have to ride a bike round a course as slowly as they can without falling off or touching the floor – the slowest time recorded in each of the three age groups will win a bike to take home! It’s a lot of fun. We’re also holding a raffle to win a bike, so overall there are four bikes to be won over the weekend.

Finally, can you tell us about why Coventry has a Cycling Festival?

Lesley Well there are a few reasons – firstly to acknowledge Coventry’s history with bicycles and cycling generally – the City was at the centre of cycle manufacturing for many years, and some of the most important innovations in cycling were made here, so we love to shout about that heritage. Secondly we want to make cycling accessible for as many people as possible and show them how much fun it can be, which is why we offer such a range of different types of activities at the festival. Finally, we just enjoy putting on a fantastically fun weekend of pedal-powered activities – the festival gives families a chance to get active in loads of different ways and enjoy spending time together, and that’s what we love to see.

Thanks very much Lesley! Coventry Cycling Festival 2011 takes place on Sat 25 & Sun 26 June - find out more here.

Five Minute Interview With Steve Bagley

With just three weeks to go until the opening of our Summer exhibition Coming Of Age At The Ace Cafe, we dug Head of Collections Steve Bagley out from under the mountain of books, videos and photographs that he has been buried in for the past few months while putting the exhibition together, and sat him down for a quick chat about how it’s going:

What did you set out to do in putting the exhibition together?

Steve: The exhibition is about the Ace Cafe in London, but in reality it’s about an awful lot more than that. We were approached by the Ace to do an exhibition, and we wanted to explore what the Ace was in a cultural sense, what it stands for today and what it stood for in its heyday in the late 50s and early 60s. So when they asked us to put an exhibition together we didn’t just want to build another Ace Cafe, we wanted to explore how the cafe had become a cultural icon – that was our starting point.

When we started looking at it, it became fascinating – that for a very short period of time, for a very few people the Ace became a centre for them – as much as being a meeting place it became a symbol of youth and rebelliousness, in a sort of typically British way. It wasn’t inherently violent, it wasn’t really antisocial – the guys who went there were normal working class guys with 9-5 jobs and they’d go to the Ace to let off steam.

Then it became really fascinating to me to explore why those guys went, why they became rockers, leather boys or whatever you want to call them, and from that point I began to expand the exhibition into being about more than the cafe itself and what it stood for.

What kind of research have you been doing?

Steve: I’ve been researching very specifically about Rockers, cafe cowboys, leather boys – a group that grew out of the teddy boy group and were what we typically think of today as ‘rockers’ – all motorbikes and leather. A lot of my research has been done online, and through a number of books, films and of course Mark Wilsmore at the Ace has been an absolute font of information.

I’ve been trying to put together not just these guys’ time at the Ace, but their backgrounds, where they came from and to some extent the phenomenon – what they were as a group and the subculture we now know as rockers. I’ve tried to link the idea of the rocker subculture nationally and how it fitted into British society at that time and then link that specifically back to the Ace, to show how the Ace became a symbol of that culture.

Have you made any exciting discoveries through your research?

Steve: Yes – it’s a funny thing but this whole subculture that I’ve been exploring has fascinated me, and I think that what I’ve discovered is the Ace. It’s one of those places that you go to it and it captures the essence of something – although it isn’t Warwick Castle or any of the great houses around the country, it’s still this really strong part of our culture. If you go to an important building you feel something – at Hampton Court you almost ‘feel’ Henry VIII – you go to the Ace and you can still feel these guys and get the sense of what it was like back then.

So what I would say is, the most exciting thing I’ve found is the Ace. At the end of the day it’s just a caff – you go there, the food’s nice, and there’s all sorts of people coming in – but there’s a thing about this place - it’s a really interesting part of our culture, and I have to say it has fascinated me.

With three weeks to go until the exhibition opens, how are you feeling?

Steve: I’m actually not worried that the exhibition won’t come together – it will come together because it always does. What always worries me about putting an exhibition together is the detail – whether it’s going to look right, whether it’s going to capture that essence of the cafe we’ve talked about, and what we’re trying to say. The real cafe is a busy place and I hope we’ve managed to convey that and that it will all look right and feel right – and be a fun place to visit!

What do you hope that visitors will feel when they have seen the exhibition?

Steve: I hope they’ll feel the same as me – a fascination with the Ace and that subculture, and a better understanding of what went on at that time. And I think they will enjoy it too – it’s going to be a great fun exhibition, as well as motorbikes and leathers there’ll be jukeboxes, pinball machines – and lots of interactives too. Of course it will attract bikers but the exhibition will have a broad appeal – people always enjoy visiting a recreation of a building and that’s what we’ve tried to capture with this exhibition. I think it’s going to be very special.

Coming Of Age At The Ace Cafe is at Coventry Transport Museum from 3 June to 2 October 2011. Tickets are £5 on the day or £4.40 in advance, with concessions and family tickets available. Find out more and book online at www.transport-museum.com/ace.

Car Clubs at CTM

Over the last few weekends we have been hosting some rather prestigious Car Clubs, and they’ve been very warmly received.

Recently we hosted the Morgan OC with over 20 cars on Millennium Place as part of their annual Lincoln to the Cotswolds Run, and on Sunday 8th May we hosted the Audi Quattro OC with another 20 cars to enjoy. Click here for images from both events.

On Sunday 15th May, we are hosting the Porsche 924 OC with up to 30 cars on Millennium Place from 10am through to 4.30pm.

All these Car Club days are FREE to our visitors, so bring your family and your camera to capture some rare and interesting cars. We have Car Clubs on Millennium place most weekends between 10am and 4.30pm. Keep up to date by logging on to our website for more information www.transport-museum.com

Guest Speaker at CTM - Peter Forwood

Australian Peter Forwood has spent a considerable portion of his life to date travelling around the world on his Harley Davidson Electra Glide V2 motorcycle. So far he and his wife Kay have visited over 400 Countries and States around the world, and from Mid May of 2011 they will be off again, this time to Europe and Russia on the bike.
Before they depart, Peter will be appearing at Coventry Transport Museum to give a fascinating talk on their amazing adventures with the Harley!
The Harley-Davidson is on display at the moment at Coventry Transport Museum until 13th May.

Tickets for Peter Forwood’s talk on Thursday 12th May at 7.30pm are just £5 each, with all ticket money going to fund the Museum’s future transport projects.

You can book your tickets by telephone: 024 7623 4270 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 024 7623 4270 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Fire up the Quattro!

On Sunday 8th May, we welcome back the Audi Quattro OC with 20 of the iconic cars on display on Millennium Place.
The club are returning to the Museum for their AGM and will be parking their cars on Millennium Place for everyone to enjoy between 9.30am and 3.30pm.

The Quattros joined our Festival of Motoring last year for the first time and will be part of this year’s Festival in September.

If you’re a fan of BBC TV’s ‘Ashes to Ashes’ Drama series, then the Quattro’s are a must!

Facilitators Blog…Forties Fun!

Last week we reached the 1940s in our Through the Decades weekends, so we dusted off our ration books and put our hair in curls! It was a great weekend and lots of you came to learn about life in Britain during the war. We were very grateful to our resident gardener and museum assistant Jeff who explained all about Digging for Victory and planted lots of French bean seeds with you all! We were amazed to see how much his shoots had grown overnight, so hopefully lots of you who visited us have your own mini plants beginning to grow at home! On Saturday we were visited by Monty’s Double! Colin-Brooks Williams is a professional Montgomery look-a-like who spent the day at the museum near the Victory Car – Monty’s own staff Humber vehicle. He had a great day chatting to visitors about Monty’s life and posing for lots of photos! Many thanks to Colin for coming along.



It’s always a highlight when we do wartime activities to hear the memories of those who lived during the time, and this weekend was no different. Several of our visitors told us about their experiences as evacuees and reminisced about rationing. Our younger visitors were surprised to see how little food a weekly ration was, and how heavy a small piece of shrapnel could be!
This weekend we’re still in the Forties, this time celebrating the anniversary of VE Day! There’ll be bunting galore, so don’t put it all away just yet! Children can have a go at our free activity and make their own Union Flag to wave as well as learning about how Britain celebrated the end of the war.

Don’t forget next month we have our 1950s weekend, coinciding nicely with the opening of our new exhibition ‘Coming of Age at the Ace Café’. At the Fifties weekend you can expect lots of rocking and rolling! Come along and have a go at our Elvis Karaoke (complete with Elvis wig and glasses!), and see how life changed for people after the war. We hope to see lots of you there!

An Interesting Find In The Archive

Curator Damien Kimberley was in the archive recently, undertaking research for his latest book, and he came across two little pieces in consecutive editions of The Light Car And Cyclecar magazine, from January 1925, which we captured our imaginations, so we thought we would share them with you.

The first entry is this photograph of "a striking little three-wheeler seen in Coventry recently", and the magazine appeals for details from whoever owns the vehicle.




In the next edition, a full page article about the vehicle appears, explaining how it was built by a Mr F. W. Baker, of 'Rothsay', Pinley, Coventry, in his spare time, from the components of an old 6 h.p. Humber motorcycle "which had already seen much service".

We were fascinated by this little story of one man's endeavour to create something rather special, and hope you enjoy reading the article too: (Click on the image to open a larger version).

Eric Meredith visit Wednesday 13th April

On Wednesday 13th April, we had a special guest visit the museum – 97 year old Eric Meredith from Warwick who is a goldmine of historical fact about the automotive history of the Standard Motor Company in Coventry and the Avon Coach Building Company in Warwick. Together the two companies made Standard-Avon Cars, these were very distinctive because of their beautiful sweeping lines and bodywork.

Eric started his working life in 1927 when he was 14 years of age, as a woodworker and progressed to a fully qualified coachbuilder with the Avon Coachbuilding Company and eventually becoming the Managing Director of the company. During his engineering career, Eric was an integral part of designing and building Spitfire fighter aircraft and Wellington Bombers in Derby for the second World War. He went on to design and build a specially adapted car for RAF Hero Douglas Barder, amongst many other projects.

Eric will be coming back to the Museum after Easter to spend another day with us so that we can film and record his amazing life achievements for everyone to enjoy.

*Photo courtesy of Jim Balfour/Coventry Telegraph.

Facilitator's Blog - Coming Soon 1940's Weekend

Our next ‘Through the Decades’ weekend is coming up soon, its our 1940’s weekend on 30th April – 1st May and we’ve got loads of things planned, including the very popular ‘Granddad’s Allotment’ activity where you can learn how to ‘dig for Victory’ and plant a vegetable seed to take home and look after and then eat!

We are also really pleased to welcome our Field Marshall Montgomery Look - Alike who will be standing to attention by Monty’s Humber Staff car and reading from the real Monty’s diaries.
Lots of us who work at the Museum will be in 1940’s costume so why don’t you dress up too? You could visit us dressed as an evacuee a soldier or a land girl!

Facilitator's Blog - 1930's Weekend

Our 1930’s weekend followed soon after ( 2^nd and 3^rd April ) with visitors discovering some of the interesting items invented during this decade… most importantly of course the chocolate! Did you know that Rolo’s, KitKat’s, Smarties, Mars Bars and Malteasers were all invented during the 1930’s!

Really importantly to us at the Transport Museum this was also the decade when the Highway code was first published and the dreaded driving test was introduced.

Facilitator's Blog - 1920's Weekend

Just time for quick catch up with our ‘facilitator’ year here at Coventry Transport Museum. I really hope you made it to our very glamorous 1920’s weekend ( 19^th – 20^th March) where we got the chance to dress up as ‘Flappers ‘ - the original ‘it’ girls. Our visitors of all ages loved trying on the sparkling head bands and fabulous feather bowers and posing for a photo or two with a cocktail shaker poised in one hand and a delicious ‘mocktail’ recipe to take home in the other.

Music and entertainment was provided by the wonderful dancers from Chloe Academy of Dance a Coventry Based school, who taught some unsuspecting visitors how to Charleston! They ended the weekend in style with an amazing and glittering Charleston performance.

Easter Activities

We decided to try something new for this years Easter holidays, especially planned for our very youngest of visitors – Storytelling for the under fives!

The first session was yesterday and it went brilliantly we had great fun telling stories, playing musical instruments and “Beep Beeping” along to the most popular story ‘ Little Red Car’.
Please come along to our next two story telling sessions which are free drop in sessions on Wednesday 20th and Wednesday 27th April at 11 – 12 on the mezzanine gallery and join in the fun.

CTM Facilitators

Pre-Royal Wedding Tea Dance – 28th April

To mark the Royal Wedding, we are staging a Pre-Royal Wedding Tea Dance at the Museum on the afternoon of Thursday 28th April between 12 noon and 3pm.

We can confirm that there’ll be a dance floor laid specifically for the event, with music provided by piano/keyboard wizzo - Martin Bissell.

Admission is FREE to our Tea Dance, with refreshments available all afternoon. Tell your friends and come along!

CTM seeks Italian Job Mini

The Museum is looking to acquire a 1960’s red Mini Cooper as featured in the film ‘The Italian Job’ for display in the Museum’s ‘Italian Job’ sewer pipe, as the scene where the minis were escaping Turin via the sewer system was shot in some of Coventry’s enormous sewer pipes.


If you can help with securing this iconic car, please contact Steve Bagley – Head of Collections Email: steve.bagley@transport-museum.co.uk