Friends of the Transport Museum
Formed in 1999, the Museum has a very active Friends organisation whose objective is to be involved with the restoration of vehicles from the collection and also to promote the Museum at external events.
Click here for a list of future Friends events
If you would like to join or to find out more about them please contact the Museum on 024 7623 4270 or click here for an application form
Newsletters
You can download recent Friends newsletters in Acrobat pdf format - they are approximately 1MB - 2MB in file size.
NEW - July 2010
NEW - May 2010
NEW - April 2010
NEW - March 2010
NEW - February 2010
Past Friends Events & Activities
June 2010
On Friday 4th Friends were on hand to host a visiting car club as they made a pre-arranged visit to the vehicle store facility.
Then on the 5th and 6th we helped out at the museum’s Cycling Festival.
Several Friends took the opportunity to become approved drivers of the Alvis Speed 25, Alvis TE21, and ‘Barbie’ cars at the driver’s day held on Friday 11th. These 3 vehicles were then driven to the Toddington Steam and Classic Car day on Sunday 13th. A most enjoyable day out, which included a ride on the ‘Black Prince’ steam hauled train to Gotherington.
Our Club night on the 16th saw Friends board ‘333’ and the Karrier mini-coach at the museum for a trip to Coventry & Warwickshire Motor Club’s ‘Wheels’ evening at the Blue Lias, Long Itchington. Brians’ Bromwich and Jackson took their own classics along to join more than 200 others in a splendidly diverse display of vehicles outside the pub. Only very long queues for the bar intruded into a super evening.
Several Friends took the opportunity to become approved drivers of the Karrier, Gipsy fire engine, and Singer Roadster at the second driver’s day held on Friday 18th. These 3 vehicles were then driven to the Braunston Fete and Warwick Classic Car show on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th respectively. The museum’s Armstrong Siddeley joined our convoy on Sunday; it was put on display at Kenilworth Castle and attended by Friends as part of the Armstrong Siddeley Owner’s Club outing. Our convoy then continued to Warwick castle for what turned out to be a very warm day, culminating in a couple of parade laps around the castle’s inner courtyard.
May 2010
Ragley Hall Classic & Transport show.
Friends took along the 'Barbie' car, the Karrier coach, and the Austin Gipsy fire truck:
Friends attended the Heart of England Show at Gaydon on the 9th, putting 2 motorcycles on display.
The Bike Nite at the museum on the 20th attracted record numbers of bikers and their machines:
Many classic Triumphs and Vincents lined up in the museum yard, along with AJS and Matchless machines, plus many others:
Even 3 wheelers and sidecars got in on the act:
An excellent buffet was provided and the museum was open for everyone to look around.
During the evening a presentation was made to retiring Chairman Richard Dawe. John Viggars thanked Richard for all his work over the years, in the capacity of chairman for most of the time since Friends inception.
April 2010
The museum had 3 vehicles on display at the Antiques for Everyone Fair at the National Exhibition Centre from 8th to 11th April.
Friends organised a rota system to man the display during all four days of the show. Plenty of interest was shown by visitors, and Friends were kept busy answering questions about the vehicles and the museum.
The photos below show the Daimler bus '333', Karrier coach, and Austin Gipsy fire engine.
March 2010
Friends and the Alvis Speed 25 were in attendance on the final day of Stuart Kettel's week of living in a glass box suspended from a crane in Broadgate.
More on this charity stunt at www.willthemadfoolmakeit.co.uk
After the speeches and photographs Stuart was delighted to be driven home in the Alvis, looking forward to a hot bath and a decent nights sleep. On the same day, other Friends loaded the 3-way van and drove out to Ryton to put on a display at a Scooter rally.
December 2009
Friends settle down at the December clubnight to compete in the Wilcox quiz.
September 2009
As part of the Coventry Festival of Motoring, the museum arranged for guests to tour the Museum's storage facility. Friends were in attendance to show the visitors around.
The following day several Friends boarded the Karrier coach and were driven around on the road run by Richard Dawe and John Batchelor.
Returning to Memorial Park the Karrier re-joined the Museum display and other Friends who had remained on the stand.
June 2009
Friends drove the Karrier coach and Alvis TE21 to Toddington for display at the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway's Transport Nostalgia Day.
The Omega motorcycle was also transported there in the Museum van, and Dave Stansfield travelled down with us in his Ford Model 'T'.
Many Friends took an afternoon trip to Cheltenham racecourse on the steam-hauled train.