In March 1986 we helped to put together a massive Land Rover meeting at Battersea Park in London to support the "Keep Land Rover British" campaign. You'll remember the Americans wanted to buy Land Rover. But we the great British public didn't want to see our favourite vehicle sold to the Americans did we?

To make sure the Prime Minister got the message that the British Government must not sell Land Rover to General Motors, more than 'One Thousand' Land Rover Owners converged on Battersea Park to sign a petition along with many supporters. This was presented at Number 10 Downing Street under Police escort with a convoy of vehicles from Series One's to Range Rovers. Tony Hutchings handed over the petition on behalf of us all.

After I lost editorship of Off Road and Four Wheel Drive magazine, I helped to found, edit and arrange production of the 1986 'Land Rover Directory', and the following year published the ARC (Association of Rover Clubs) Handbook.

During this time I got fed up with 'deadlines' that are part and parcel of the publishing industry, so I changed direction slightly. With 15 acres around us we founded Britain's first Off -Road Driving School.

It took three months to build the course, then we planted over 1000 trees and shrubs and landscaped the whole area. From slow beginnings as the 'site' matured we reached the peak about 1998/9. By the year 2000 over 10,000 'pupils' had joined us mainly from the public utility and authority sector.

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(c)Goodwinch Limited 2006