Charley at an early age was an avid Meccano enthusiast. As a pre teen he joined the Malvern Meccano Guild (Johannesburg S.Africa) and remained active until the guild's demise in 1939 when recruiting for WWII drained it of many of it's members. After the war Charley continued with the hobby privately subscribing to many publications and years later became a participant in Maurice Morris's publication series. Peter Mathews who was immigrating to South Africa from the UK in 1972, noted Charleys contact details from the MM series and on arrival called him and the two got together within 2 days of Peters arrival in S.A. There was no active guild or club operating at the time.

Peter also had come across the late Graham Davie and Clifford Brown who were exhibiting Meccano at a hobbies fair in Johannesburg and with Charley's help arranged for the group to meet in a vacant shop in Johannesburg's prestige Carlton Center. This meeting was attended by the above as well as Colin Cohen of the Cape Town Meccano Guild who happened to be visiting and 2 others who made up a party of 7. At this gathering the formation and inaugural meeting of the Transvaal Meccano Guild (TMG) came into being.		In 1975 Charley, Dave Feinstein and Dennis Els got together and discussed the need for a more flexible and less formal club which would amongst other issues cater for children and not exclude products such as Märklin Metal, Erector, Temsi and other similar metal model construction products. Out of these needs the Johannesburg Meccano Hobbyists (JMH) came into being formed. Charley was an avid builder publishing numerous Model Plans through MW models, a personal friend of the late Dr Keith Cameron and was quoted at length in the French publication Le Epope de Meccano with his 6m long Garrett locomotive. He never attended a Meccano meeting without bringing new numerous complex working models to the amazement and awe of all around.
	At his funeral which was attended by many Meccano followers the mourners saw fit to each cast a Meccano part into the grave at the conclusion of the service!

Additional Photo's of Charley Roth

20th anniversary 29-7-95 photo by Chris Adlam	20th anniversary JMH Group photo Aug 1995	20th anniversary of JMH29-7-95 a
display in shop front	September 1974	The Firs, Johannesburg, June 1997

Return to index page