Dr Michael McGregor

Why Bourne
should
remember 
Raymond Mays

by Michael McGregor


A permanent memorial is about to be erected in Bourne to perpetuate the town's connection with motor racing and particularly the involvement of Raymond Mays. He was born here and his lifelong home was at Eastgate House.

The memorial will be a six-foot high stone obelisk featuring a striking bronze plaque containing his image to ensure that future generations will not forget the part that he played in the advancement of motor sport and of this town.

It will be positioned on a strip of land adjoining Baldock's Mill in South Street, home of the Heritage Centre, a prominent position where it may be seen by motorists entering the town and who will therefore be reminded of his achievements. The words on the plaque will tell his story.

To commemorate the motor racing heritage of Bourne, celebrating the centenary of the birth of Raymond Mays CBE (1899-1980). A veritable giant of motor sport, he put the town on the world map of motor racing.

75 years of ERA (1934-1999)
These voiturette racers became renowned worldwide for success in the classes for which they were designed and built, successes which continued into the 21st century with historic events.

50 years of BRM (1949-1999)
The natural successor to the ERA, the BRM, was aimed at the Formula One World Championships in a determined effort to put British cars in the front line of racing. In 1962, Graham Hill OBE won the Formula One Drivers' World Championship in the P57/8 model. This brought the Formula One Constructors' World Championship to the town. Testament to the dedication and professionalism of a workforce comprised mainly of local people.

The company was acquired by the Rubery Owen Group on November 1, 1952. Sir Alfred and Ernest Owen, along with their sister Jean Stanley, took much personal interest in its running. Mrs Stanley and husband Louis later assumed full management of the company. On August 29, 1999, Bourne saw the return of the cars associated with the town. The occasion was marked with a celebration dinner and roads were closed off to allow demonstrations of the racing cars.

Memorials are more about fame than worth but of all Bourne's most famous sons, I do think that Raymond Mays is the most worthy of remembrance. Certainly Bourne should be proud of its achievement in motor sport and of producing engineering works of art which are still achieving success in vintage events. I have always held that this was better commemorated by an exposition, as with the photographic display in the Heritage Centre, than by any individual memorial, but if a suitable monument to the cars and the major personalities can go alongside, then that would be a valuable addition to the townscape.

Raymond Mays achieved international recognition for the town as the home of the English Racing Association (ERA) before the Second World War of 1939-45 and British Racing Motors (BRM) just after. This came at a time when motor sport had a much greater following than today. The climax of years of dedication and pioneering endeavour by a significant local workforce came in 1962 when BRM received the World Constructors' Championship with Graham Hill as World Champion driver. 

Most of this would not have happened had it not been for the fact that Raymond Mays was born in the town and, having become permanently wedded to motor sport, chose to stay here all his life. I agree that Hereward the Wake is the most famous candidate for a memorial but his links with Bourne are very uncertain. Other more significant figures on the stage of history soon left Bourne and achieved fame elsewhere. For example, Charles Worth, son of a local solicitor and founder of the Paris fashion house, left the town when he was twelve and William Cecil, who became first minister to Queen Elizabeth I and the builder of Burghley House, near Stamford, departed within three days of his birth at his mother's former home, now the Burghley Arms in the town centre.

Raymond Mays was recognised as a driver of outstanding skill, winning literally hundreds of trophies from 1920 to 1950, despite the interruption of the war. From the very beginning, his personal charm and charisma were skilfully used to get sponsorship for his patriotic ambitions. This too was a pioneering achievement in a sport which hitherto had been the exclusive domain of the rich.

He was sometimes criticised for his extravagant lifestyle but, considering his privileged upbringing and the circles in which he had to move to gain sponsorship, it was understandable. He had a personal tutor until he went to Oundle School, a flat in the Dorchester Hotel in London when training as a Guards' officer and the gift of a speed model Hillman when an undergraduate at Christ's College, Cambridge, all from his father. However, the family business of wool stapling and fell mongering in Eastgate began to decline at this time and he had to leave university before completing his engineering degree. The continuation of this decline was inevitable as mixed farming changed to arable and the age of horse transport passed.

Declining job opportunities in the family business of T W Mays and Sons Ltd must have been more than offset by the increasing work available at ERA and BRM. Employees of many engineering firms in Bourne and the surrounding district today owe their initial training to experience with BRM. Much good and certainly fame came to Bourne through Raymond Mays and the memorial that is proposed will be a fitting epitaph to his work.

WRITTEN MARCH 2003

NOTE: The book Raymond Mays of Bourne was compiled and published by Michael McGregor and is available from the Heritage Centre at Baldock's Mill at weekends, and from
Walkers Books at 19 North Street, Bourne PE10 9AE.

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