Sometime in 1981 when the Road Roller Association was discussing its 1982 Annual General Meeting location, the then Chairman, Derek Rayner, discovered that Thomas Aveling had died on 7 March 1882. The timing of the meeting had already been determined as to be out of the rally season and therefore the first weekend in March would be a very good time to arrange a suitable commemorative event.
The AGM was subsequently held in what used to be the Aveling & Porter offices – then belonging to Winget’s - the company which manufactured dumpers, etc - on the Esplanade in Strood on Saturday afternoon, 6 March, following an interesting
