Park Langley Trophy

Description: A two handled silver plate cup, weight excluding ebony base 378g and 22cm in height including ebony base plinth. Background: One of the three founder members of the Southern Counties Sprite Club in 1959 was Doug Worgan, who ran a Healey Dealership at the Chinese Garage, Park Langley. It is likely that Doug Worgan presented the original trophy, awarded for speed trials. The original became damaged and a new cup, above, was presented in 1984. The original presentation for “Speed Trials” and “Auto Test” would have involved testing skills such as parking in a box, stopping astride a line, driving around a pylon, etc., and may have involved the use of a stopwatch… A “car gymkhana”. They must have had a lot of fun. There would have been many previous winners of the original cup, names and dates currently unknown. This replacement cup is marked as awarded to Bob Beaumont in 1984, being Sprite Class Winner, Brighton Speed Trials, we believe the first winner of the new cup. We also have a report (June 2025 10/10ths) that in May 1985 Bob Beaumont was a Clerk of the Course at a Grass Auto-Test that Southern Counties ran in partnership with three other clubs at The Bentley Wildfowl Trust. There were 5 classes up to 1,300 cc, i.e. Sprites only, with the Vice-Presidents Cup going to the best Southern Counties member driving an Austin Healey that day. Two attempts were allowed, with no prior practice, the best time to count. A limited slip diff was allowed, but with a 10% penalty! Bob’s wife was Secretary of the Course, Kevin Law was Chief Scrutineer, and Ken Jarrett Chief Time keeper. This Park Langley Trophy was kindly returned to Southern Counties in 2025 by John Poulton, a club member, who was the last winner of the Trophy. John tells us that he won the Trophy for best score on a grass auto test at Bentley Wildfowl Trust in East Sussex. As yet, we do not know the date. Thank you for returning the trophy, John. In 2025 the Southern Counties Committee agreed that the trophy should be re-purposed. Southern will now award the trophy at each AGM to our Southern Counties member who has shown the most commitment in attending our club events. To be Awarded at The Southern Counties AGM, 9th September 2026 E & OE, corrections and additional information very much welcomed by the club.