This account of the Singer Centenary Celebration, which took place in and around the city of Coventry between August 12th and 14th 2005, is from The MASCOT, the magazine of the Association of Singer Car Owners (ASCO).
We owe it all to this man - George Singer, who founded the Singer Car Company in 1903 and sold his first car in February 1905, having previously made bicycles, motorwheels, motor-cycles, three-wheelers and cyclecars. Some of these were on display at Stoneleigh Abbey.
The Singer Centenary was celebrated by a series of visits in and around Coventry on the 12th & 13th August 2005, and by a Centenary Rally at Stoneleigh Abbey on the
14th August 2005.
The Singer Car Centenary Celebration
Millennium Place and the
Coventry Transport Museum
The first event was a drive through the city from the centenary base camp at the Royal Court Hotel, once the home of William Hillman, another Coventry motor manufacturer, to the Coventry Transport Museum, where almost 50 Singers were parked outside the Museum in the Millennium Square, creating a superb display, which was visited by the Lord Mayor of Coventry, Councillor Ram Lakha
On Saturday morning two groups set off - one to Coundon Court, now a school but once the home of George Singer - the other to Canterbury Street to visit the site of the old factory where the first Singer cars were built.
Those visiting Coundon Court parked their Singers in the grounds and were then treated to a guided tour by Richard Hoare, a former teacher at the school, who is so enthusiastic about the place you could almost imagine George Singer himself was still there, not just his bust.
Those visiting Canterbury Street also had a treat, Colin Borley bringing to life the remaining facade
and internal ornate wooden staircase of the old factory, which are now listed monuments and part of Singer Hall, providing student accomodation for Coventry university. Fortunately the students were on
holiday, so we were able to park in Gazelle Close - Vogue Close is nearby. You could almost feel the vibrations as Colin described how the whole area shook as Big Bertha, the 700 ton press, stamped out the chassis side rails.
Then Colin produced the picture below, which was taken in the late 1920s from very close to where we were standing. The picture belongs to Lewis Francis, of Broad Lane, Coventry, and shows his cousin Arthur Etherington second in from the right at the very back of the picture.
Directly in front of him stands Andy Boyle, a footballer who played for Coventry
City. Arthur worked at Singer in his youth, taking home about £2 a week.
This is the Senior production line at the time Singer was moving towards mass production.
Next on the agenda was a drive North to the Bosworth Battlefield centre, but by this time the weather had decided it could hold out no longer and it started to rain. Then it rained harder, and then harder still, so there was nothing to be done but make a dash for the restaurant, which was in a beautifully restored Tithe Barn.
The food there was excellent, but with the Centenary Dinner in mind, we opted for
the asparagus soup. This was piping hot, served with a roll and butter and cheered
things up considerably - except the weather, so it was fortunate that the Battlefield
Exhibition was under cover. This was very interesting and gave us a history lesson
on the Civil War, with a film show to end. We hope the weather had cleared up in
time for the re-enactment of the battle that was being staged a week or so later.
