British Motorcycle Charitable Trust

The British Motorcycle Charitable Trust (BMCT) is a Charitable Trust dedicated to promoting and supporting the preservation and restoration of British motorcycles. Established as a Registered Charity and a Company Limited by Guarantee in 1979, the Trust aims to protect and restore rare British motorcycles and provide access to the public through a network of museums and annual motorcycle heritage events. The Trust also provides support and resources to educational establishments, clubs and private individuals and maintains information on all aspects of British motorcycles.

As well as donations and membership subscriptions, the Trust benefits from legacies from motorcycle enthusiasts. The income is used to provide restoration grants and to improve transport museums in the UK.

The Board of Trustees are all volunteer motorcycle enthusiasts with expertise in various areas of business. The current chairman is Ian Walden, OBE.

Between 1979 and 1995 the Trust developed the National Motorcycle Museum at Solihull before it was transferred to a private management company.Coventry Transport Museum worker Damien Kimberley has compiled a unique history of the motorcycle manufacturing industry in Coventry.

The BMCT are affiliated with and support a network of transport museums around the UK to display rare British motorcycles and members have free entry to the following collections:

The Trust also supports the Manx National Heritage museum and has provided financial assistance to help them preserve historic British motorcycles with TT and MGP history.

The Black Country Living Museum was supported with a gift of £135,000 from the BMCT in 2001 and the Heritage Lottery Fund to purchase the Marston Collection of Wolverhampton built motorcycles, which included several rare Black Country motorcycles including a 1918 Sunbeam military vehicle found in a derelict state in France. Grant aid was also given so that the museum could erect a replica 1930s motorcycle shop within the grounds, complete with rare locally built motorcycles like the AJS S3 v-twin.

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