Peak Rally
The "Peak" - ahh - that was a rally!
Cold, wet November runs up to Buxton, through Chapel-en-le Frith (home of Ferodo brake linings), then up over the icy shoulder of Mam Tor to Cooper's Farm in Edale. Cold weather made a warm rally, and a good pub meant that the songs carried on well into the night.
- Jan Heiland
Run by the Sheffield & District MCC.
It's a long time ago - going on 30 years, but the squarish Peak Rally badge was designed by me and another club member called Kathy. The club being the Stockport and District Motorcycle Club based in Woodley Civic Hall, Stockport - not Sheffield. But I've not been a member for ages, turned to sidecars and have been with the Mancunian Sidecar Club for yonks.
It's a long time ago - going on 30 years, but the squarish Peak Rally badge was designed by me and another club member called Kathy. The club being the Stockport and District Motorcycle Club based in Woodley Civic Hall, Stockport - not Sheffield. But I've not been a member for ages, turned to sidecars and have been with the Mancunian Sidecar Club for yonks.
- Barbara Lucas
Thanks but don't leave it there Barbara. Tell us more, much more.
Tracing the Origins of the Peak Rally
A Collector’s Quest to Uncover Lost Editions from the 1960s
When commemorative rally badges were issued without the year of the event — as is often the case with those from Great Britain — identifying their date becomes a matter of personal expertise, built up over years of dedicated collecting.
And if the rally in question held its very first edition in the mid-1960s — nearly sixty years ago — and continued to run over the years, it has inevitably given rise to a multitude of badges through time, as is the case, for instance, with the Ides of March or the Peak Rally.
Among the ten triangular Peak Rally badges in my collection — issued in different enamel colours from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s — only one can be dated with absolute certainty: the dark green badge commemorating the 1969 meeting. This precious piece of information comes from Jean-Marie Debonneville, who himself took part in that memorable rally.
Shown here randomly, as I currently have no information that would allow me to accurately date them (apart from the dark green one from ’69). If anyone among the readers can identify even a few of the years for these ten badges, I’d be very grateful.
Mathematically speaking, based on my calculations, my personal deduction had been that the first edition of this rally likely took place in 1967. At least, that’s what I believed — until this morning.
After a long and thorough scan of the latest listings from British eBayers (my habitual morning ritual), I felt my pulse quicken. There, among the familiar badges of my collection’s horizon, appeared one I had never seen: a triangular badge of the Peak Rally.
Same shape, same enamel design, yet something set it apart — the year was clearly inscribed: 1966.
Until that moment, I had not even known this edition existed. That discovery, in the quiet dawn of my search‑ritual, felt like uncovering a lost page in the long story of a rally nearly sixty years old.
Needless to say, the speed of my “Buy It Now” click was as fast as a Moto GP racer coming out of the first turn.
So with the discovery of this Peak Rally badge dated 1966, we have now learned for certain that one of the earliest events took place that year. But was it truly the very first in the series? Could there exist another badge — also unknown until now — this time from 1965?
It seems that it’s not only archaeology that holds hidden treasures…
- Jean-Francois Helias