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In Memory of |
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It was with sorrow that we learned in December of the death of Dennis Doubtfire. He passed away in hospital a short while after being admitted feeling unwell. Dennis was known to many in the MG world but has a special place in the hearts of the Y Type owners’ community.
Dennis was born in Fulham in 1932. (He was a lifelong supporter of Fulham FC and as an example of his kindness and generosity, he later allowed his daughter Karen to marry Terry, a Chelsea supporter!). Dennis joined the Merchant Navy as a young man, and did an engineering apprenticeship. While in the navy he kept up a correspondence with a young lady pen pal; Barbara, who lived in Stockton. He wed Babs in 1960 and they were married for 65 years.
He was the proprietor of the Manor Weald Service Station on the A3 at Milford in Surrey before retiring.
In 1988 he became, as he said, the ‘legal guardian’ of MG YB MGY 125 (this registration, perhaps the ultimate for an MG Y Type with a 1.25 litre engine, was reputed to have been reserved by the MG Car Co. for display at the Earl’s Court Motor Show. There’s no evidence to prove this however.) This was in addition to a TD that he’d bought previously. Representation of the Y Type at the time was included in the MGCC T Register. Dennis submitted some pieces for the ‘T Register Yearbook’, where the Y was permitted a column or two. He wrote one entitled, ‘YA, YB, YT ...Why not?’ and got responses from Y Type owners from all over the country. Encouraged by this, in October 1990 Dennis and another Y owner, Colin Rae, agreed to take over the Y register. This took place in a pub over a few pints, where the best decisions are always taken. They then applied to the club to form their own self-governing register.
Thanks to their hard work the register soon established itself and began to identify Y Types and their owners all over the world.
Dennis though did a lot more than just start a register. He had the ability to encourage, cajole, persuade and recruit others to take active parts in it. Jack Murray became the registrar, Ian Hopkins the graphic designer (His logo is the one we still use for all our stationery and rally boards), Derek Moore and then David Hague became our spares shopkeepers. After a couple of European events in Brittany and Luxembourg and runs in Yorkshire, Dennis persuaded Jerry Birkbeck and Richard Dick to organise the first Spring Run in 1997. This has now become an annual event, which Jerry presided over for many years. The picture (left) of men in shorts shows Dennis supervising Neil Cairns as he tends to Alan Chick’s car. It was Dennis who convinced Neil Cairns to become the register’s first scribe. Neil says he is still waiting for the annual salary that Dennis told him came with the job!
In 1997, the Y Register won the MGCC Nuffield Gold Cup in recognition for its promotion of the MG marque, a great achievement for such a new register. At Silverstone that year the cup was proudly displayed on the Y Register stand and thirty Y Types drove two laps of the circuit. The picture shows Dennis cornering at speed with Brian Moyse sitting in the passenger seat. As someone said about him, ‘He never spared the horses.’
In 2000 Dennis and Babs moved down to Somerset to be near Karen and Terry and their grandchildren Amy and Dominic. He handed over the reins to the committee. He reflected at the time;
‘For me it was the end of an era with friends made worldwide, and to think it all started with three elderly men meeting in an inn just before Christmas.’
David Hague said, ‘It was only then that we realised how much Dennis had been doing for the Register. His title was secretary; however, in practice he was also registrar, Safety Fast Scribe, minutes secretary and he looked after ordering, stocking and sales of Regalia.’
At the 2007 AGM it was agreed that in recognition of his contribution to the register, he should be appointed President, (or ‘Anointed’ as Jerry Birkbeck put it at the time) and this he remained.
Here are a few of the tributes and memories sent to the register.
‘I remember the 'Exe to Y' event that Dennis organised, which I think must have been the first of many longer events to different parts of the UK and abroad. Some of us stayed in accommodation close to large stables, only to be woken at unearthly hours by baying hounds, impatiently waiting for riders to saddle up!’
‘When I collected his Y memorabilia from him, he said that he was in his 90’s and wanted us to have it before he went. A lovely gentle man who we owe a lot to.’
‘Many stories about Dennis, like when he left the Gold Cup behind at Burton on the Water Motor Museum. It was still sitting there in its box on the step when I returned for it hours later.’
‘I was thinking about dear Dennis only the other day as his Christmas card’s annual arrival was always a signal for the start of the Christmas season. It is indeed very sad. I will always remember Dennis as being a cheerful soul, bringing a relaxed yet balanced opinion to matters when I was a member of the MG Car Club Y Type Register Committee. He and his dear wife Babs were always a joyful presence at MG Y Gatherings.’
‘Dennis contacted me and asked if I would take up the Register’s ‘Scribe’ role. This was in 1996 and I sent in a monthly report to Safety Fast for the next nineteen years. Many of the events back then for Y Types were organised by Dennis. He used his Y Type often and did not spare the horses. He once drove back to Chipley Farm Cottage in a hurry and burnt out his No4 piston. The piston now resides on the ‘Piston-Broke’ trophy we present at each Spring Run. On another event he ran in the West Country, we were all descending a steep hill on a very, very hot summer’s day. Then Dennis seemed to accelerate away from us, almost out of control. His brakes had overheated and he had brake-fade, i.e. no brakes. He managed to get to the bottom safely though. Going down to Devon to see one of my sisters, my poor YB got very hot and as I was not far from Wellington, I phoned Dennis to see if I could call in for some water (I had used my spare bottle). He arrived in his Y and took me to his cottage, fed and watered us and was very pleased to see us.’
‘One of my lasting memories is joining Dad for a road trip from Surrey to Cornwall in a long wheelbase Transit van to pick up a chassis. We managed to get it in but one end was hanging out of the back doors with an old rag tied to it!
He loved his Y and a few years ago he asked me to advertise it for sale on the internet. An offer was swiftly made but he couldn't bear to part with it and it still sits in his garage.
And lastly, something that perfectly sums up Dennis and all of us owners of old cars; from his son in law Terry:
‘Finally, when looking through his coat pockets at the hospital to make sure no valuables went missing Karen found a spanner. Not sure why it was there but I'm sure we will find out one day! Once a mechanic always a mechanic.’
RIP Dennis