‘A glance at the past’
Avicultural Society Magazine Vol 65 No.2 March - April 1959
‘Why not let your car speak for you and show your interests’ an advert read…
The reason for this glance back in time is a recent (May 2024) purchase of an original ‘Avicultural Society Car Radiator Badge’ which I now know dates back to the end of the 1950s. It appears little is known of the badges speaking to some of the Avicultural Society council members & having recently discovered the online back catalogue of Avicultural Society nagazines, I spent a few evenings browsing the online archive and then digging out the respective magazines from my own limited collection in a bid to research the badge and perhaps the previous owner. An additional option for members choosing to purchase the association car badge was the possibility of having their badge engraved with the members’ names, this was advertised as a way of protecting the badges from loss.
Thankfully this badge in question had been engraved and itself gave further information to its previous owner, in the days before the world of GDPR names and addresses of members were published in the aviculture magazines and I was therefore able to discover the name Peter H. Johns on who lived at 247 Middlewood Road, Sheffield 6. It later transpires Peter joined the AS in 1959 after being proposed for membership by Mis s K. Bonner. Colonel Ph. E. Milon, 4 rue de la Pompe, Paris i6e, France.
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Finally, I stumbled across a second mention of the
Society’s car badges and an interesting story of not such great merit from a 1967
issue under NEWS AND VIEWS which read: In 1957 the Council authorised a car
badge. Sales were apparently quite good,
but the Society derived little benefit. The Member in charge of sales stole
silently away, taking with him the proceeds and stock. The Society had the very
doubtful pleasure of paying for the production, and some Members never received
the badges for which they had paid. With this in mind one is perhaps a little
chary of a second attempt. Some replies to the recent Questionnaire do,
however, tend to show that there is a demand for a badge. Design-minded Members are therefore asked to
submit suggestions to be laid before the Council in due course. An interesting
sidelight is shown in a recent note from Ku mar Shri Dharmaku marsinhji of
Bhavnagar. He writes: “I have now lost
two of the Society’s car badges, both being stolen by removal from amongst
other car badges which were untouched. This shows how popular and impressive
the Society’s badges must be in this part of India. I doubt whether the Bird of
Paradise is recognised as such, but obviously the design and colour of the
badges are attractive”.
In the sale, another badge for the 'Foreign Bird League’ in the name of C. H. Johnson accompanied the AS badge... If anyone has any further information on either Peter M Johnson or C. H. Johnson, I would be grateful to hear from you.
The above article was written and published in the Avicultural Society Magazine Issue 2 2024
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