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THREE WHEELS ON MY WAGON

I had been working in Slough for a while when I heard through the pipeline that local TT sidecar racer Brian Gray was looking for someone to work in his Multi-franchise establishment up at High wycombe.

I presented myself for interview and was pleased to be offered the position......

I was with Brian for nearly a year when the pre-booked ferry ticket for my annual TT visit came through the door. However, I was very disappointed when Brian told me that he would be going to the TT to race sidecar and I would be expected to be in charge while he was away. He would let me go over once the sidecar races had finished mid race week. I was pleased that I could keep my sequence going albeit a short trip over.

As I related in an earlier chapter, it all went wrong for Brian when he crashed during the first practice and he crashed heavily at Union Mills. He came home with a bit of facial damage and a case of mild concussion. He stated he was OK and insisted I went over to the Island so I had nine days at the TT after all !!



The following year my Dad became seriously ill and I had to travel 300 miles each way from home in Reading to the hospital in Durham and this being done each weekend completely tired me out and Brian and I decided it was best for me to give up the day job.

For a short while I spent some time up North with my Dad and we decided he was to come down to Reading to live near us in a home

During this time I was asked by a friend Ged Tennant (another Sidecar TT racer) to go and see his newly acquired premises. The army Camp at Bramley, near Basingsoke, had closed down and local people were jumping in to open little businesses in the empty buildings......



I had known Ged for a while, meeting up with him, Maria and later, his son Ian at the TT. One year he had arrived on the outskirts of Liverpool and a main bearing had gone in the van. He chugged carefully to the ferry after packing out the bearing, and managed to get to the Paddock on the Island before the van engine cried "Enough". In between practices Ged stripped the bottom out of the engine and fitted replacement bearings. After the racing he chugged back to Runcorn before the crank broke and he had to pay out even more !! Not cheap this TT Racing !!

Ged had managed to get the old army fire station which was a super base to set up a motorcycle business.

Between us we decided to use the large area where the fire engines had been as our showroom......Ged went up to Chester and got some bikes from Bill Smith and I set out the rest of the building...

I invited the local motorcycle training course to set up their HQ in the building with one room set aside as a TV room, for the showing of training films or videos to keep people happy while they were having bikes serviced.

A shop area was installed and Ged and I invited reps to bring their wares to stock the shelves with oils and helmets and gloves etc..... Another room was set up as a good floor sized workshop......We had a travelling tyre fitter.....to come to fit tyres !!

Ged was area rep for the TT Supporters club (Hampshire) and I had taken over Berkshire and the Homes Counties after the late, greatly missed April Bolster had moved to the Isle of Man...I was also local rep for the Kawasaki Owners club so we kept busy and built up a large circle of friends and customers. We even set up a race team incorporating all of the local would-be racers to whom we offered advice, group entries and transportation to the UK circuits, in the shop van with Geds outfit....

In the November of 1994, Ged and I drove north with the big shop van and brought my Dad and the contents of his house down to Reading. I was now self-un-employed, Ged dropping me a few quid to keep me going. But Dad was happy, and I was happy that I had him close at hand, now knowing that time was short for him. I stayed with Ged until August 1995 when Dad finally passed on.

The very next day, I received a phone call from a motorcycle shop in Slough (another one) who were looking for a Manager and I accepted the offer. Ged was Ok about it since things were going well by now and he was able to bring in a young guy to run what we had set up.

However as a thrill Ged took me out in his sidecar outfit on a mainland circuit to show me what is was like to be a passenger.........What an experience. I was wired up for sound and playback was of a screaming man, gasping and breathless as we took the corners. Ged laughed at the end, he had hardly taken it out of second gear !! Nails, What nails ???!!!

Photographs from PhoTTofinders to whom I say thank you very much

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