The arrival of our AA Invoice for renewal on 1 May 2024 reminded us that we were now entering our 72nd year of continuous membership, bringing to mind many memories of a very different era.
We first took out AA membership in 1953 when the AA was originally a charity (which was reestablished with different responsibilities in 2008). We were leading our first church in West London where we were working among West Indian immigrants of the Windrush Generation. Cliff was driving an MG two-seater sports car[1] at that time. We happily displayed the distinctive metal yellow and black AA badge on that and successive cars which I think we still have in our garage. We were always happy to see their distinctive special lay-by telephone boxes and when their patrolling uniformed motor-cycle and sidecar riders saw the badge on the front of the car they always saluted which made us feel very special. We enjoyed knowing that they would always be there if we were in difficulties.
We have had many occasions over the years to be grateful, not only for the AA assistance but also for their route planners and map handbooks - receiving their complimentary and well-used leatherbound Mapbook on their 50th anniversary. We converted a number of vans into dormobiles which had multi-use in the late 1960s and 1970s when money was tight. Seatbelts were not yet required and our children were small - incidentally selling each motor caravan for more than it had cost us to buy a van and convert when we needed an upgrade after a few years free holidays and enjoyment!
Two occasions stand out of calling the AA out when we had broken down. The first was a few miles south of Cliff College in Derbyshire where we were due to stay overnight with Howard Belben, the Principal – his daughter Jane was part of our team in the East End of London. This breakdown meant that we became one of the earliest to take advantage of their newly launched relay service so instead of limping in, we arrived in style.
Another memory was of when we were returning from a holiday in Scotland, driving down a deserted A1 up North. We laughingly saw a wheel overtaking our dormobile and spinning down the road ahead of us. It suddenly dawned on us that it was one of our own wheels and we had to draw up sharply. Cliff went running off to find an AA telephone to call for help while Monica stayed with the three children. There was virtually no traffic on the A1 at that time and Monica, who was always the practical one, with the help of Jenny and Alison (the eldest not yet a teenager), collected the wheel and all the widely strewn wingnuts and had it back in place by the time Cliff and the AA help arrived. All that was needed was just confirmation that we were safe to resume our journey.
In 2013 we were holidaying on the Isle of Harris, a beautiful island which was just like stepping back in time. Enjoying the scenery, we had left an internal light on over-night and, our BMW would not restart – the battery was flat! Telephone links of any kind were spasmodic but when we did manage to get through, help came rapidly and we got it to a garage a few miles away – who ordered a new battery and two days later we were back on the road.
With the AA, it appears that we still have a number of free benefits including 24/7 legal assistance, 2 days of free European Breakdown cover up to 3 times a year and up to £1,500 of cover for lost or stolen keys. We remembered the occasion when we had needed to use the key replacement: service. We had just returned from 2 months in China and almost immediately went on to lead (and both speak at) a conference in Ashburnham Christian Centre. Monica’s handbag was still full to overflowing but she added Cliff’s bunch of keys including his car key to her own while they went into the next room to have a cup of coffee and left the handbag and Bible on the podium. During that short time, a thief came in and stole both items – and we were stranded – the insurance covered the handbag contents but the AA gave us access to the car and made it driveable and then replaced the keys when they were not recovered.
But our links with the AA also took us back to people who had been so helpful and involved with us in the ministry. We learned much later that the Chair of the AA in the 1920s was the father of one our close friends. In the late 70s, when we were preparing to organise the ‘National Congress on Evangelism’, we worked with Crispin and Gill Joynson-Hicks who were on the EA Council, and they were keen for us to take a break, with our family, by ‘house-sitting’ for them when they went to visit Gill’s family in Kenya – and they very generously always left the freezer full. It was from visiting their home that we caught the concept of lining and dedicating the walls of passages with family photos!
Crispin was the lawyer who set up C and M Ministries Trust for us. We did not realise he had links to Parliament until his father died in 1983 and he inherited not only the title of Viscount Brentford and a place in the House of Lords but also Newick Park – a Stately Home where there were many more family photos of his grandfather who was the renowned Home Secretary from 1919 – 1929 affectionately known as Jix. We continued to enjoy our house-sitting in their new home, although Stephen and a friend had to do battle with bats there on one occasion. The Brentford’s experience of listed buildings led to them advising us against taking on the then Grade 2 listed Moggerhanger Park in 1994 but nevertheless they were the first to give us a donation towards its acquisition. Over 30 years later having spent 20 years successfully restoring what is now a Grade 1 listed building we handed the baton on to others and retired to a small village off the A1, where we now live.
There is no public transport in our village and the nearest shop is two miles away. I, Monica, now only drive in an emergency and Cliff’s main use of the BMW is only for short journeys around our home but we decided to keep our membership of the AA for another year. I sent the above memories round to our family to let them know that we would continue on the Friday evening. Ironically, less than 12 hours later when we tried to do our weekly Saturday morning shopping, slightly later than usual, at 9.00 am, the car would not start!! So with free ‘homestart’ we rang the AA suspecting that it was just a flat battery as it was no longer getting long runs.
There was a long wait to get a message through on the telephone – so, unusually for us, we did it on-line and had an immediate response that a mechanic would be with us by 10.15 am. He actually arrived 15 minutes early, got it going – but we did need a new battery – last replaced on the Isle of Harris which we think was the last time we had needed to call out the AA. This time the Mechanic, Kieran, did not need to get us going to drive to a garage to order and then purchase a new one for our old BMW – but he delved in his van and found, among the supply he now carried, that he had the right one on board. He fitted it and we went to the shop and were back on schedule by 10.30.