In May 1968's edition of "Safety Fast" (the Pre-cursor to RevCounter magasine) it was announced that the "Bucks and Berks Group" of Austin Healey enthusiasts had been given full centre status and would be called the "Thames Valley Centre". The former group had been formed by Frank and Edna Walker to cover the Thames Valley area which at the time were without local meetings.

However, the Austin Healey Club goes back a long way. A full and detailed history can be found on the New Forest Centre's website, thanks to Joyce Pearce.

In short:

• The first Healey Club, The Healey Drivers Club, was formed long before Austin Healeys were in production, in 1955. This Club was primarily started on the suggestion of Peter Cavanagh, a well-known radio personality of the time, together with Brian Healey, John Langrishe and Mort Goodall. The membership of around 200 consisted mainly of owners of what we today call Warwick Healeys — the Silverstones, Tickfords, Abbotts, Elliotts etc.
• The first club for Sprites and their owners was formed in 1959 on the instigation of Raymond Baxter, also a well-known media man, Doug Worgan and Derek ‘Willey’ Williams and a group of enthusiasts. The club was named ‘The Southern Counties Sprite Club’.
• This was quickly joined by an ‘Eastern Sprite Group’ organised initially by Colin Stokes, Gordon Barrett and Maurice Norton, and a ‘Northern Sprite Group’ organised originally by Diana Simpson and her husband together with a group of local enthusiasts.
• 1960: John Langrishe and John Thornley, suggested the various groups and clubs should be re­organised along the lines of the very successful M.G. Car Club as a single car club. Talks were had with BMC (as it then was) and Peter Browning, then a member of the Harrow Car Club, which resulted in Peter being invited to join the team at Abingdon. BMC agreed to provide a HQ and secretarial facilities for the ‘new’ club at Abingdon, together with space for club news in the magazine ‘Safety Fast’.
• It was not an easy transition from several separate groups to one united club and it took Peter Browning, Brian Healey and John Thornley sometime to convince them all that the ‘new’ club would cater for them all equally, but eventually they all agreed to give it a go.
• 1961: The first Austin Healey Club Ltd. was born and Peter Browning became its first General Secretary. 

Note from your Web-master

I joined the club in 1984 (42 years at the time of writing) when I moved house and decided to add the cost of buying a Healey BJ7 to my mortgage. The house cost £45,000 and the car £4,500! (I wish my Healey was worth 10% of my house value today!!! Better to invest in bricks and mortar than classic cars).

It wasn't that long before I got coerced onto the Thames Valley Committee. In those days we organised 2 or three events per year, and had a small but keen group of followers. I also recall the AGMs where we were lucky if anyone but the committee turned up. We also had a fair number of "Yuppie" members buying cars at rock bottom prices from California, driving them for one summer, then selling on for huge profits. Those days are gone, we have a much more dedicated group of members and the number of active event goers has increased year on year. We even have very healthy AGMs!!! So, onwards and upwards. Support your Centre as we're here to stay.