Presenting "The Commercial Motor" Cup.
Page 29
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OLLOWING upon the precedent which he set last year, the President of the Commercial Motor Users Association, Mr. E. S. Shrapnell-Smith, C.B.E., attended at the -brewery at Marlow belonging to Thomas Wethered and Sons, Ltd., on Saturday, April 21st, to present to the chairman of the threetors The Commercial Motor Challenge Cup won by the company's first team entered for the C.M.U.A. London Parade, and to the drivers the ShrapnellSmith Challenge Cup won by the same team, and the medals and money awards won by the first and second teams, whilst Mr. V. B. Butt was presented with the engineer's medal.
Col. F. S. Stevens, the chairman c,,f the company, presided at a gathering of many distinguished local people and visitors. Supporting him on the platform were Mr. E. S. Shraprell-Smith, C.B.E.; Maj.-Gen. S. S. Long, C.B., and, Sir-John E. Thornycroft, K.B.E., whilst there were present Col. F. A. D. Stevens, C.B.E., D.L., the Chief Constable of Bedfordshire ; Mrs. F. 0. Wethered, Mrs. Adeline Wethered, Mrs. F. S. Stevens, Mrs. F. A. D. Stevens, Lady Thornycroft and Miss Thornycroft, Mrs. E. S. Shrapnell-Smith and Miss and Master Shrapnell-Smith, Major W. V. Sloan and Mrs. Sloan, Mr. N. Endacott and Mr. Puddiphatt (of John I Thornycroft and Co., Ltd.), Rev. Canon Graves, the chairman of. the Marlow Urban District Council ; Mr. and 2fIrs.E. H. Yates., Mr. E. N. Crew (head brewer), Mr. C. F. Foulsham (second brewer), Mr. and Airs. Dyer, Mrs. Sloan, Senr., and Mr. Butt.
Keenness the Controlling Factor.
Col. Stevens said that the parades encouraged the drivers to maintain their vehicles in a high state of efficiency. No special preparation was made for the parade, each vehicle undergoing its annual overhaul, which would take place whether the parade were held or not, and no money was specially spent for the purpose. The condition of the vehicles was due to the keenness of the drivers, but he felt that they would be disheartened if they had not been allowed to have their wish to compete at the parade. He was pleased to say that, in, addition to the money; awards presente by the C.M.U.A., each driver would receive 21 from Messrs. Thornycroft and 21 from Messrs. Wethered, whilst each
mate would receive 108., and the driver of the seventh vehicle, which could not, compete in the parade, but which was kept exactly as the others, would also receive the 22 in gifts.
He said that Mr. Butt was the main spirit energising the keenness and enthusiasm which imbued the staff, and that this keenness and enthusiasm were things you cannot buy.
One great improvement he had been glad to observe, and that was in the status and condition of the drivers, which had been brought,about by the employ
ment of motor vehicles. The men were more intelligent and had better hours and greater comfort on their vehicles than the old horse draymen of 20 years ago.
-Maj.-Gen. Long and Sir John E. Thornycroft congratulated the company and the men upon the result of the parade, and Mr. E. S. Shrapnell-Smith, in a highly congratulatory speech, dealt with the parade and prospects of the cup again coming to Marlow next year, saying, however, that the competition in 1924 might be expected to be very fierce. He presented the awards amidst a great amount of enthnsiasm.
Mr. Butt, in proposing a vote of thanks to some of the principal guests for their presence, paid a very high compliment to the men and also to the makers of the vehicles, whilst he said that it would have been impossible for the keenness to be shown by the staff if the head of the concern had not himself been a keen man.
With a vote of thanks to the President of the C.M.U.A. for attending, the meeting dissolved.
The vehicles were paraded in the yard in just as splendid a condition as they were at Lincoln's Inn Fields, and each one bore on the side of its cab a neat brass plate recording the awards that had been won in the past two years, and with the addition of local victories the list was quite formidable.