My other interests (Past & Present)

All images by the Author unless otherwise credited.

This page will be everything but model railways but I can start it with a photo from the days, straight from school, when I did work for the real thing. It's 1960, on the steps of the control tower at the "New Inward" hump marshalling yard in Hull and I'm a fresh faced seventeen year old with my "ganger" of the day, the now late Laurie Fairbanks.

Working on the railways gave me "priv" passes and with a good "push" bike and membership of the Youth Hostel Association, the result was access to far away places from Hull such as Plymouth, Exeter, Perth and Edinburgh.
But the ladies couldn't be courted on a pushbike and so in 1962 I got motorised and shortly afterwards I met the lady who was to become my wife. The chariot that helped in this was a 250cc Ariel Arrow. Valerie soon learnt the art of changing spark plugs as the Ariel's two stroke engine was notorious for plug oiling.
I took Val (with my parents, they went in Dad's trusty Ford Squire!) on the Ariel to Scotland the year after we met. It was 1963 and couples didn't holiday alone, least ways not as far as my mother was concerned and Val's too for that matter!

 Shortly after we were married in 1965 the Ariel was traded in for something just a little bigger. This was a 1952 Vincent, a series C "Rapide". 998cc's of brute power. Pictured above one moonlit in Bridlington. We liked riding on moonlit nights, as the Vincent's lights were not very good. (note the extra spotlight which was soon removed because it flattened the battery)  Val and I had many happy years as members of the Vincent Owners Club and are still in regular contact with section members to this day.

On my right in this photograph, taken in about 1967, stands the recently passed away friend of mine Mr. Tony Lloyd. Sadly missed but never to be forgotten!
 Incidently, at this time the treasurer for the Lancs & Cheshire section, was one Arnold Belfield, now of EXPO EM North fame.The Rapide lasted until 1968 in regular service but after the birth of our first daughter Heidi that year (she has always requested no-one should work out her age) it was relegated to the back of the garage by the arrival of MHO 86, a 1954 803cc Morris Minor. The question was always, "Why buy such a car?" The answer is easy, because it was cheap, £10 cheap. Incidently when I sold it I got £15!. The only photograph I have of this car was taken on the day our youngest daughter Helen was christened in 1972. The Vincent had been just sold to provide the deposit to buy the house in which we still live. That was £200 which was considered to be a good price in that year and certainly it showed a profit of the orginal outlay of £135!

Although MHO 86's 803cc. O.H.V. engine was better than the first side valve models, it still wasn't powerful enough for a family of four and all their gear and so we bought a 948cc model. EWA 788B was a 1962 4 door saloon re-registered to 1964 and was alot better. So much so that Val started to learn to drive in it.
"Daisy" as she was called was well known in the Morris Minor Owners Club because of her non standard coloured YELLOW wheels.
Daisy was eventually considered by us to be too expensive to repair and she was sold to a local young man, keen to get on in the preservation world, and with sufficient funds.
KAT ***E "Katy" was aquired. As a 1098cc model, she was much more able to cover longer distances without causing driver fatigue.
Coming down from Fremington edge, Reeth, Swaledale.
She is pictured here desending a very steep narrow private track from a friend's cottage in Swaledale. Currently this car still awaits a compete overall whilst her duties are undertaken by a Fiat Punto.I am still a member (currently Vice-Chairman) of our local branch , the "East Yorkshire" section.

In a moment of madness I allowed myself to be volenteered to help restore a double deck bus. Not just any bus but WAT 652, a 1957 A.E.C. Regent Mk. V. The very last one built with a shaped top deck to pass under the Beverley Bar just north of Hull. Not as many believed with a low body but a full height vehicle. I know "Sputnik" is still on the road these days and I hope her present owners are having as much fun as we did.
To prove the power of the internet, I received this photo from "Sputnik's" present owner Mr. Lance Blackman and I show it here hopefully with his permission.
I'm very happy to know that he is getting such enjoyment and wish him well.
I had also not forgotten the joys of Vincent ownership and when my brother-in-law Brian offered me "first refusal" on his 1950 Series C, 498cc Comet. I had to have it. Perhaps it was a hasty purchase because it was not the same as the Rapide. My only claim to fame was a reprimand from the organisors of a local rally for excessive speed. It was almost three figures but not quite!

The Comet eventually went in 2003 to finance the layout this website was first designed for, a van to carry it in and a garage/workshop to house both of them. That van has allowed me to also follow a love that "Daisy" started when she took us to the South of France, that is foreign travel under my own steam and this is where you came in.