Supporters' League

It's a pity to see the TFF's wonderful history section now being used as a vehicle (and I don't mean the Hands 10-20) by a TUST militant to get in a dig at some modern day supporters, trying to do their best to raise money for the club. The History Room is surely not the place for cheap points scoring, and many will be saddened to see it being sullied in this way.

While I fully understand that seeing the words 'a voluntary and unconditional donation' would have been a revolutionary red rag to a TUST militant bull, who advocates that supporters should use every penny as a bargaining chip to demand influence. Perhaps The Guardian was just in Manchester in 1923, but there'd be little to gain by denigrating a past generation of Torquay Supporters should they not have elected their committee, nor had ambitions to replace the club's  ownership structure at the time.

Lets just accept that times have changed considerably since 1923. As the TUOSC section in our last home programme (versus Maidstone) stated: 'If you are interested in becoming part of the TUOSC Committee please contact' etc etc. It might be disappointing that there are currently more Committee positions available than there are volunteers to fill them, but what would the practical use of elections be, when it seems that there are more than enough places for everyone who should want one ?

Being seen to be scraping the barrel this hard in order to take at a cheap shot at the newly formed TUOSC, will again not cast the militant wing of TUST in a good light in the eyes of the average TUFC supporter.


Looking to the future, this is the car the club need to get hold of:


"The Hands has been owned by me since 1960. I believe her to be unique as a 1922 model. Shortly after I bought the car a 1923 10/20 was advertised in Veteran & Vintage magazine as the only one left. I saw this car in Dewsbury and was for a while in touch with the person who bought her. I am told that this car may now be in a Dutch motor museum but I have not been able to trace her whereabouts. I am in contact with someone in Australia who has an incomplete 1923 10/20.

The gear lever lies comfortably under the left leg when driving maintaining the box in top gear. In 1995 I had some work done on the body to replace rusted metal where panels meet the wooden frame. Two dickey seat panels were replaced (see various bills from TT Workshops, Wilts). Also the car was resprayed back to her original colour blue. The front and rear aluminium plates to the water jacket on the engine block are replacements.

link - Hands 10-20


Resprayed back to her origianal colour blue !!  The addition of some yellow 'go faster' stripes, and perhaps Andrew Candy's number plate as well....and what an item we'd have to raffle in 2023 !!!   But should we raffle it in order to add to club funds, or present it to Nico to mark 8 happy years of his management ?  Not a decision we need to rush into right now.


By now, history fans will be keen to learn more about George W Hands.  Google however, are keen to divert us to George W (Dubya) Bush.  A Calthorpe cars search is the better option.




The company started out in the 1890s as a Birmingham bicycle maker called Hands and Cake run by George W. Hands.

The cars continued to have excellent coachwork made by the Calthorpe subsidiary company of Mulliner (acquired in 1917), who had an adjacent factory. Sporting activity continued with Woolf Barnato, amongst others, racing at Brooklands. George Hands briefly left the company in 1922 to set up his own Hands make of cars in the Calthorpe motorcycle factory in Barn Street, Birmingham but returned in 1924.

The days of the high-quality light car were coming to an end by the late 1920s, and sales of the fairly expensive Calthorpe were declining. A receiver had to be appointed in 1924, and the Bordesley Green factory closed, but very limited production kept going for a while. A final fling with the 1925 15/45 six-cylinder 2-litre car was really too late, and sales of the remaining stocks of cars had virtually ceased by 1928.

About 5,000 cars were made in the post-war period; pre-war production is uncertain. Fewer than ten cars are thought to have survived

link - Calthorpe Cars

Don't forget that TUFC was supporter-owned from 1921 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1990.

The capital to launch the club in 1921 was raised from across the community - with shareholdings from as little as £1.

No majority shareholder and the directors elected by shareholders.

In the absence of a multi-millionaire white knight, it was a better option than than handing over the club to property developers!

I find this also particularly interesting. Tell me more, Jon?

The 1921 capital project is particularly noteworthy at this time where a property developer's mate (who supports one of alpine's old teams) is aiding his quest to divide supporters. Noble Pete would no doubt be astonished at such a community share issue taking place early on in the last century.