The AA Man's Birthday Cometh - hundredth anniversary
Early motorists were persecuted by police. Around 1886 the first speed limit of 4mph, imposed by Parliament on machine-powered
vehicles, also carried a proviso that a chap should walk in front of the vehicle with a red flag.
Originally speed traps were peculiar to Surrey, where they remained for four years, before being introduced elsewhere. It wasn’t difficult to fall prey to them as a policeman would hide in the hedgerow or ditch with a stopwatch and measure the vehicle’s progress over a furlong. If drivers had exceeded the limit of 12 mph – the limit introduced into the county in 1896 - by “driving furiously” they were arrested and given a hefty fine.
The anti-motorist fever that spread throughout the country’s police force, and particularly the level of persecution, prompted a group of motoring enthusiasts to assemble at London’s Trocadero Restaurant in June 2005. From that momentous gathering was born the Automobile Association.
Initially its main aim was to help drivers avoid speed traps and warn motorists of the places in which police lurked. Unfortunately prosecutions ensued for AA men issuing these tip-offs, but a solution was found. Whilst they’d always saluted passing members they used the ploy of not saluting, so that a member read this as a sign to be on their guard.
From an original membership of 100 the AA, which celebrates its 100th birthday in June, now has 25 million supporters.
AA roadside telephone boxes were introduced in the 1920s, from which period the box in Eardisland is believed to stem. These boxes were accessed by a membership key in order to ‘phone for assistance in the event of a breakdown.
The Eardisland box stood originally at Legions Cross: a junction of the village road and the A44. An AA archivist believes that it could be unique in the UK.
When the boxes were being scrapped fifty years ago the box was saved from extinction by the local AA man, Mr Harry Gittoes. Somewhere along the way it came to rest in his son John’s garden.
The dilapidated gem was renovated with money left over from the Eardisland Millennium Fund by a local craftsman and John was even able to supply the original black and yellow paint.
Opposite the AA box is the 18th century Dovecote, for which the bulk of the Millennium Fund was used. This now houses a display of related items – some of which were donated by the AA.
Whilst the box has attracted a great deal of interest since its installation in the village centre, Eardisland has always drawn visitors because of its sheer beauty. It is my own favourite place on the Herefordshire Black and White Village Trail.