Matt Tomkins on girl power
You may notice that I was missing in person from our Mothers’ Day shoot (see p32). That’s because I was at home enjoying the first precious days with the newest member of our family, my beautiful baby daughter. While I was away, however, my thoughts were very much with the spirit of this issue, and the female role models I want for my little girl. Closest to home, her own mother had a huge part in restoring our Land Rover Ninety and enjoys driving it, but it doesn’t require a great deal more thought to bring to mind some of the other great women in the classic community.
Whether it’s the fabulously sideways
Bron Burrell, who so regularly flies the flag for historic rallying through the HRCR, and who is still chucking her Maxi, Puff, around with exceptional poise 53 years since it was her World Cup Rally car; or the late Pat Moss who, as a BMC works driver drove a Morris Minor, just like daddy’s, to fourth place in the '58 RAC Rally.
Turn these very pages, of course, and there’s PC’S first female columnist, Charlotte Vowden; writer, charity fundraiser and classic adventurer. As Charlotte wrote last issue, the gender gap in our hobby is closing and I for one am so pleased to be part of that revolution, which should mean that our classic world is ready to welcome my little girl with open arms when she is ready to be spinning her own spanners, waxing lyrical, or throwing the ‘Tomkins Special’ around a VSCC auto test as soon as she can reach the pedals.
So, this Mothers’ Day, let’s raise a glass to the mums, to the girls and also to the boys and the men who, whether consciously or subconsciously, strive to make our wonderful hobby that little bit more inclusive each day.
‘There are many great women in our classic community’