The British Motorcycle Charitable Trust is a Charitable Trust dedicated to promoting and supporting the preservation and restoration of British motorcycles. Established as a Registered Charity and a Company Limited by Guarantee in 1979, the Trust aims to protect and restore rare British motorcycles and provide access to the public through a network of museums and annual motorcycle heritage events. The Trust also provides support and resources to educational establishments, clubs and private individuals and maintains information on all aspects of British motorcycles.
Funding
As well as donations and membership subscriptions, the Trust benefits from legacies from motorcycle enthusiasts. The income is used to preserve rare British motorcycles and to improve the preservation of British motorcycle engineering heritage in the UK.
Trustees
The Board of Trustees are all volunteer motorcycle enthusiasts with expertise in various areas of business. The current chairman is Paul Barnes
Museums
Between 1979 and 1995 the Trust developed the National Motorcycle Museum at Solihull before it was transferred to a private management company. Coventry Transport Museum worker Damien Kimberley has compiled a unique history of the motorcycle manufacturing industry in Coventry, a project funded by BMCT. The BMCT are affiliated with and support a network of transport and local interest museums around the UK to display rare British motorcycles. Associate Members of the Trust enjoy free entry to the following collections:
The Trust also supports the Manx National Heritage museum and has provided financial assistance to help them preserve historic British motorcycles with TT and MGP history. The Black CountryLiving Museum benefitted in 2001 from a joint BMCT / Heritage Lottery Fund grant to purchase the Marston Collection of Wolverhampton built motorcycles, which included several rare Black Country motorcycles including a 1918 Sunbeam military vehicle found in a derelict state in France. Grant aid was also given so that the museum could erect a replica 1930s motorcycle shop within its grounds, complete with rare locally built motorcycles like the AJS S3 v-twin. In 2014 a totally revamped motorcycle display opened at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire, thanks to a £75,000 grant from the BMCT.
Motorcycles
The British Motorcycle Charitable Trust own and restore a range of rare British motorcycles including a 1911 BSA 3.5 HP, a Scott Flying Squirrel, a 1923 Beardmore Precision and a 1937 Brough Superior SS80. The Trust has recently acquired the last running Triumph Bandit which it has donated to the Coventry Transport Museum and a rare Carfield 'Baby' from 1923 which has a 1.5 HP Villiers engine and won a Bronze Medal in the Scottish Six Days Trial covering over 1,000 miles in challenging conditions. The Trust is also funding the restoration of a 1936 Triumph Tiger 80 by the Coventry Transport Museum. In 2015 a unique Matchless Vickers machine gun outfit from the First World War was saved for the nation when the BMCT acquired it and provided for its exhibition at the Tank Museum in Dorset.
Educational work
The Trust funds a range of research and educational work relating to the British motorcycle industry and has funded work by staff at Coventry Transport Museum to write a history of the motorcycle manufacturing industry in Coventry. The Trust also helped to fund the development of the Resource Centre at Haynes International Motor Museum near Yeovil, where information and literature on British motorcycles is being digitised for the benefit of enthusiasts and restorers throughout the World.
