Good to remember Standard Company
IT was good to read Enda Mullen’s article on the Standard Motor Company in the Telegraph (15th February).
Sadly the Standard is becoming a forgotten company in spite of it having been Coventry’s largest employer at one time.
We in the Standard Motor Club, who are now a members’ company limited by guarantee using the Standard Motor Company Ltd name, are doing our best to keep the old name alive and it was our magazine editor who was responsible for suggesting the name of the Flying Standard pub to JD Wetherspoon. However many people including the specialist motoring press frequently speak as if Triumph was the owning marque which took over that ailing company Standard whereas it was the other way round as Enda Mullen accurately states.
Our Standard 8s and 10s are often mistaken for Austin A35s when people say they owned a two door example yet the 8 and 10 were a only ever built as four door. Had it not been for the Labour government of Harold Wilson forcing Standard Triumph into a shotgun marriage with the ailing BMC in the 1960s I wonder whether they could have become a British BMW.
They were way ahead at that time and had been from the late 1940s when they launched the iconic Vanguard. Fortunately our Club members between them are keeping alive well over two thousand Standards worldwide.
Peter Lockley Chairman, Standard Motor Club
Simple blood test for prostate cancer
DESPITE the need for early detection there is no screening of men for prostate cancer.
Hence our campaign to raise awareness of the risks of prostate cancer in men over the age of 45.
We are indebted to the generosity of local people and the Coventry Telegraph for supporting this campaign.
Your support is enabling us to stage our next event which will be held on Saturday 9th March at St Finbarr’s Club, 303 Holbrook Lane, Coventry, between 10.45 am and 1pm.
We will again be offering PSA testing for any man aged 45 and over. March is Prostate Cancer Awareness month, and this is our contribution: remember that most early prostate cancers do not have any symptoms. So, we encourage men at risk to have a simple blood test to assess the health of their prostate. For more details visit cnwpcsg.org.uk. Peter Smith, Secretary, Coventry & North Warwickshire Prostate Cancer Support Group
It’s easy to see how we got here
HOW did we get here? Easy. Impose years of austerity in order to get the country ‘out of debt’. Get to the point where councils cannot provide public services. The people start to get angry, want someone to blame and give a good kicking. Agree an EU referendum, tell a few fibs and blame everything on Europe and we’re out with the Tories fiscal reputation intact. Job done.
Bob Arnott, Holbrooks