Golden Jubilee Rally

Golden Jubilee 21-22 May 1960 Woburn Park

Every English citizen is more or less familiar with the prestigious Woburn Abbey, located near Woburn in Bedfordshire. For foreign readers of this website, devoted to motorcycle touring, and who may know little or nothing about it, allow me to present it in a few lines.

A brief history of Woburn Abbey

The rich history of this Cistercian abbey dates back to 1145. Taken from its monastic residents by Henry VIII and given to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, in 1547, it became the seat of the Russell family and today the Dukes of Bedford. Its lush grounds of around 3,000 acres (1,000 hectares) are home to a magnificent collection of rare animals and birds, the Woburn Safari Park.

Incidentally, the 13th Duke of Bedford, who succeeded to the title and severe inheritance tax in 1953, decided to maximize the revenue potential of this stately estate by opening it to the public as a paid tourist attraction. Thanks to his resourceful publicity skills,since the late 1950s, Woburn Abbey has been associated with motorcycling and music on numerous occasions.

Hippies and live music at Woburn Abbey

As far as music is concerned, for those previously unaware, it was the UK's very first open-air rock festival and was held over 3 days, from 26 to 28 August 1967, at Woburn Abbey.

The event heralding the era of Flower Power attracted over 25,000 hippies from all over Europe.

With balmy summer weather throughout the weekend, a good time was had by all (especially the Duke of Bedford, who pocketed £5,000 - 10% of the gate money) as can be seen from the images in the video below:

The 3-day line-up featured major bands such as Small Faces, The Move, Bee Gees, Eric Burdon, Jeff Beck, Family, Al Stewart, Alan Price, Blossom Toes, Breakthru, Dantalion's Chariot, Denny Laine, The Big Roll Band, The Dream, The Marmalade, The Syn, Tintern Abbey, Tomorrow, Zoot Money.

The original event poster

The festival was repeated the following year, from 6 to 7 July 1968. Once again on the grounds of Woburn Abbey, headlined by Jimi Hendrix and the famous artists and bands of that era, including John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Champion Jack Dupree, Alexis Korner, Family, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Pentangle, Donovan and Geno Washington.

Woburn Abbey invaded by leather and chrome

In 1960, the Federation of National and One-make Motorcycle Clubs (FNOMMC) was formed, later to be renamed the British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF).

Badges produced in the early 60s by the FNOMMC

The enterprising FNOMMC wasted no time and the following year invited motorcyclists to take part in their very first rally, held on 1 October 1961 at the Beaulieu Motorcycle Museum, in the heart of the New Forest in Hampshire.

Camping on the grounds of Woburn Abbey for one of the first rallies in the mid 60s organised by the FNOMMC

In 1965, the FNOMMC invited British motorcyclists to gather at Woburn Abbey, thus christening their meeting “the Woburn rally,” an event that was held for nine consecutive years until 1973, prior to moving to Donington Park in 1974.

View taken at the 1972 meeting of the Woburn Rally, showing the abbey in the background

Golden Jubilee rally: was this in fact the first rally at the abbey?

The information that can be found to date on the internet concerning the FNOMMC, the BMF and the very first Woburn rally held in 1965 suggests that this is probably the very first motorcyclist meeting organized on the property of the Duke of Bedford.

In reality, this belief is completely false. The very recent discovery of a souvenir programme dating from 1960 and therefore 5 years before the very first Woburn meeting held by the FNOMMC, proves that another motorcycling event took place there.

Apparently a rally by the name of Golden Jubilee was organized at Woburn Park on 20 and 21 May 1960, and that meeting was not organized by a club or a federation but by the defunct British Cycle and Motor Cycle Industries Association Limited, founded in 1956 and which was in activity until 1969.

The official program of the Golden Jubilee rally of 1960

British Cycle and Motor Cycle Industries Association Limited (1956 to 1969)

So what was this association organizing the May 1960 rally at Woburn Park?

Its origins go back to the 19th century, to 1893 to be precise, when the ‘Cycle and Motor Cycle Association’ (CMCA) was founded with the aim of protecting the trade of cycle manufacturers.

From 1899, the association set up its headquarters in Coventry from where it provided secretarial and administrative services to at least four organisations.

In 1900 it was renamed the ‘Cycle and Motor Cycle Trades Association’. Thereafter, from 1910 to 1956, it was known as the ‘Cycle and Motor Cycle Manufacturers and Traders' Union Ltd.

1956 - an unforgettable year, rich in diverse creations

In 1956, it changed its name for the third time to the ‘British Cycle and Motor Cycle Industries Association’ (the name under which it organized the Golden Jubilee rally in May 1960); operating under this name until 1969.

1966 Earls Court show - Visitors study the BSA twin-cylinder on which
John Cooper won the first ever Hutchinson 100 race at Brands Hatch, in August 1966

From 1973 onwards the association's name was shortened to 'Cycle and Motor Cycle Association'.

What can be said in brief about the work of this association is that from around 1910 to 1960, it was responsible for regulating the wholesale and retail trade in order to maintain the manufacturers' pricing policies and trading conditions.

It was also responsible for promoting foreign trade, regulating press advertising, awarding prizes for races and other competitions, and organizing the annual national cycle and motorcycle exhibition.

One of the exhibitions being the 'Motocyclorama' organized in 1967 at Earls Court by The British Cycle and Motor Cycle Industries.

Badges produced for the Motocyclorama 1967

An event presented at the time as "the most brilliant international exhibition of all time" of which the video below shows a brief overview:

Fiftieth anniversary of what?

A golden jubilee is the 50th anniversary of an important or special event. What important event in 1910 warranted a motorcycle rally to be organized 50 years later to celebrate the event? I must admit that after multiple fruitless searches on the internet I had to admit defeat.

I just contacted my good friend Dave Richmond to ask if he could help me solve this mystery. I hope he can eventually find something about this rally among the pages of his huge collection of motorcycling magazines of yesteryear.

In the meantime, if among you, dear readers, one of you knows the answer to the reason for the celebration of this Golden Jubilee of May 21 and 22, 1960, we are interested in this precious information.

- Jean-Francois Helias