The Les Mellor Achievement Award Trophy has been found!

By Daryl Wilson

Over the years there have been many people come and go who have contributed to making our Club the success it is today. Many years ago a member by the name of Les Mellor donated a trophy consisting of various engine parts I believe from one of his engine failures. The trophy was called the Achievement Award to be presented to a club member “In recognition of an expensive or difficult re-build or restoration” during that year.

I believe Les’ idea was that the parts should be loose on the trophy backboard, so people could pick them up and speculate on their history and subsequent demise. Whilst this was a nice idea, in reality it meant that it was difficult to maintain all the parts and I suspect that some have been lost over time.

Well I am happy to report that in mid-2017 I received a phone call from a very embarrassed club member (who shall remain nameless) to say he had located Les’ original Achievement Award trophy in a box under a shelf in his office! It appears the trophy has been there for several years and gone completely unnoticed. Does not say a lot for how often he cleans his office! The said un-named member could not remember receiving the trophy and he is not that old, so alzheimers is out of the question!

The last time this Achievement Award trophy was officially presented was in December 2011, to Richard Harris for his beautifully restored Lotus 11. In 2012 we were unable to locate the trophy and it was lost to the Club. It was then decided by the Club Committee to replace Les’ trophy with a new plaque until we were able to locate the original trophy.

In November 2017 when preparing for the 2017 awards, it was difficult to arrange the remaining parts for Les’ Achievement Award trophy. After consulting with several committee members and club members it was decided that for the ease of future recipients, we would fix the engine parts to the backboard.

The main problem was to try to remember how the parts were originally intended to fit. It was also suspected that some parts have been lost over the years, so there was some guess work involved! To complete this task we removed all the existing name plates from the trophy backboard and fastened the remaining engine parts to it.

It was then off to the trophy shop with a list of names to get a new full set of name plates for all the Achievement Award recipients (from 1997 Patrick Mewing, until 2016 Joe Arico). By the time you read this the 2017 recipient will also be known and their name will be affixed to the updated trophy.

Les, if you are reading this or you have been advised by an LCQ member of the changes to the Achievement Award trophy, I hope you are not upset or disappointed with the changes. They are intended to ensure that the trophy will be well received by its new winner each year. The trophy will continue to be an important part of the Club’s history for years to come.