October 2011 - Royal Automobile Club

your leTTers
Send letters to: The Editor, Pell Mell & Woodcote, 89 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5HS,
or email pellmell@royalautomobileclub.co.uk
The Curse of Cowley
As a new member of the club I fear
I may have, once more,
perpetrated a recurring motoringrelated
misunderstanding in my
life that has worked against me on
many occasions but this time, I
can only hope, has not influenced
the Elections Committee unduly.
To explain: at the beginning of
each new school year the teacher
would read out the register and
make some quip about your name
seemingly to get some kind of
‘hook’ on it so that they could
remember who you were. When
the teacher reached me I was, on
more than one occasion, greeted
with ‘I suppose your father is
called Maurice….’ to which I would
reply ‘Why yes - do you know
him?’ .After several trips to the
corner of the classroom and a
reputation for flippancy for this
innocent reply I began to realise
that I was missing something. The
effect remained a mystery for a
long time until one day, in the
1960s, when I was thumbing
through the plastic AirFix models
in a local toyshop, the penny
suddenly dropped. Maybe I
should have bought the model
Morris Cowley for my father
Maurice Cowley and one for each
of my offended teachers...
Stewart Cowley
12 | October 2011 | Issue 136
The name Morris Cowley was
indeed given to various cars
produced by the Morris Motor
Company between 1915 and 1958.
I am sorry to hear it meant you
spent your youth in the corner of
rooms. As for your name swaying
the Elections Committee, your
guess is as good as mine. It could
be the car related name, or there is
the possibility that, rather than
cars, one of them is obsessed with
railway stations and they invited
you to join because of the Morris
Cowley railway station in
Oxfordshire; a third option to
consider is that you are a
charming, clubbable gent who will
be a pleasure to have as a member.
The Editor
Mission iMpossible
I have had the privilege of being a
member of the club since 1997, I
am proud of my club and have
recommended several new
members who, as far as I know,
are all very happy to have joined.
This being said and
unfortunately, living abroad, I am
struggling to get a single room for
my occasional stay (once a month
on average) and this despite the
increased number of rooms at
Pall Mall. I understand that
several members who live in the
country are using the club as
their downtown domicile during
the week. Whilst I can
understand the rationale for such
an affordable solution in central
London, I am becoming
increasingly frustrated with the
difficulty to book a room one
month ahead of my trip. As a
matter of fact, it appears that
members who use the club as
their downtown domicile can
book multiple nights, weeks in
advance, and cancel their
booking with 24 hours notice. I
am, in a certain way, financing
these gentlemen’s way of life with
a membership allowing me only
rarely to have a room available in
central London. There are
probably several solutions, but I
would recommend at least one:
keep a few single rooms for which
offshore members have priority.
Nicolas Stepczynski
Thank you for your letter and I am
sorry you are experiencing
problems when trying to reserve
single rooms. Whilst the fifth floor
development has increased the
overall number of bedrooms, the
number of single rooms has not
increased. The same booking rules
apply to all members. Rooms can
be booked 90 days in advance of
arrival and can be cancelled up to
6.00pm on the day before arrival
without penalty.
Christian Horvath