The Brett family stayed there, the parents Mrs and Pop Brett and the daughter Bessie (Jack and Charlie stayed elsewhere !) and from 1947 we had a large group of people who came year after year. The Campbells from Dunfermline and Gwynn Chick from Wales, the O'Bryans from Northern Ireland and others whose names I regret I do not remember. This group filled the hotel and we all went around as a group, by coach, by Electric railway and on foot. We made quite a queue when we all wanted ice creams and we took over a long bankside at places on the course when we went out to the races.
I was introduced to American comics by Eric Kennish and I was enthralled by the escapades of the supermen. My Dad ran the hotel sweep and hepled to sort out the coach trips
Unfortunately, after a few years the Kennishs said they were going to give up the business and were therefore selling it. Some of the regulars had, by then, given up going and things appeared to be bad with regard to cash flow. I'm not sure what happened but the hotel would not have been ready under new management before the TT so Dad booked us into the Empire Hotel, the big red hotel further south on the bay. It was more expensive but we enjoyed the new experience.
We stayed there for a few years until one day in 1961 Dad came home from work not knowing whether to cheer or cry.....He had been given a promotion which meant him running MOD workshops in Newcastle and in Doncaster but he would have to spend some days of the week staying down in Doncaster. It also meant the TT would be off the books for the time being.....
We still managed to attend the TT, me with a girl friend, in 1961 to see the Hondas but it was Dads last TT for a while.
I continued the Huntly attendance at the TT by booking into a smaller hotel, the Fairhaven on Empire Terrace, just next to the Ascot and just above the Castle Mona. I found out later that it was the hotel where my Mum and Dad had actually stayed before they went to the Regal !......
Mrs Gawne was the landlady and I had taken a new girl friend over with me that year from Newcastle Airport and hired a Ford Anglia 105E in green in which to get around. There were only two other people staying in this delightful hotel.......then I met some friends on the prom who didn't like where they were staying and also up at the paddock I found a group of friends who were trying unsuccessfully to "live" for the TT period in a small car ! Then a honeymoon couple who were on holiday in the Lake District contacted me and said they had decided to come over because they knew the TT was on, could I get them accomodation ?
So I persuaded them all to come to the Fairhaven.
More people asked me for help so in a very short time we had a full hotel, much to the delight of Mrs Gawne and we enjoyed a number of years with her, topping up the hotel to capacity when any vacancies occurred. This continued until I was invited to join a group of guys that I had known for years...I ended up in the Douglas Bay Hotel with the Dugdales, Bill Smith, Steve Murray and the Carters and Haslams. It was an real eye-opener and I had a great time there spending the evenings in the Texas Bar.
In 1966 when the TT was delayed because of a Seamans strike, I took my wife-to-be to the Min-y-Don run by Tom Cringle and his wife Alma. We had a lovely week then we flew back to Newcastle so my girl friend could go back to nursing......This was the year when I was soon back at the TT and bt the Senior Race Day had been to the Island THREE times !!
Simon was born in 1969 and we enjoyed a few years at the TT as he grew up ...Unfortunately he does not have the avid interest I have, but he is always interested in my continuing involvement..
Dad came over with me in 1972 by the local motorcycle club trip. I had been over for practice week, returned and then gone back with Dad..We saw the 125cc race but the Senior was postponed due to dreadful weather. Poor Gilberto Parlotti lost his life in the 125 cc race. dad and I spent the rest of a dismal day in the beer tent with mutual friends before returning home on the late ferry..
In 1974 after my wife, son and I had moved south to Reading, I persuaded my Mum and Dad to come over and join us for the TT to see the John Player Nortons with whom I was doing a bit of "work"...This time we all stayed in the Marlborough Hotel and I had brought my own car over. We had a fairly good TT period but I was glad to get home, it wasn't the same anymore.....
Mum died in July 1978 and Dad took it badly..
So In 1979 I took my Dad, wife and son over and stayed again in Cringles "Min-y-Don" where we had great food and a big bedroom.
It was noisy being as it was on the sea front and we had the Eagle Tavern Pub next door...I came down to my car one morning and found that my windscreen wipers had been torn off and someone had been sick on the bonnet.. It was the second year of Hailwoods return and I was able to get some good tickets for the Grandstand for that memorable race between Mike and Alex George.
I was, by now, deeply involved in the TT and found that having all the family there was extremely limiting. It was then that my wife said that it would be best for me to continue going to the TT but alone...as long as we had a family holiday in September ! This has been the rule since then....
I tried Homestays next...A large one in Douglas which I managed to fill with more friends and then I tried a journalisic exercise...In 1988, my friend and I arrived on the Island without anywhere to stay, I put out a message on Manx Radio and in very quick time we had a place to stay, a farm over at Ballaugh. I enjoyed it but it was a long way out of Douglas and it was a bit too much, driving back out to Ballaugh and going up a long drive to the farm late at night.
In 1989 we stayed again in a hotel on the sea front to be near the Honda workshops and where Steve Hislop was based. Just Ben and me, two men in a hotel with a complete ladies hockey team. (the hockey festival was on at the same time as the TT).....
In 1991 I tried a private house up in Onchan....I signed in and dumped my cases and then went for a drive along the front. I saw my friend Doug Randall with a young ginger-haired lad crossing the prom. I drew to a halt and was introduced to New Zealander Shaun Harris who was to ride Dougs Suzukis that year. They told me they were very disappointed with their sea front hotel, the room being so small that Shaun could hardly hang up his leathers ! Completely on the off-chance, I took them up in my car to the house where I was staying in Onchan and asked if the people had a spare bedroom and also could the boys use the large garage next to the house. Doug and Shaun moved in and were most grateful for the facilities and a bedroom each. Doug and Shaun and I stayed there for three TT years. Next door was Arthur Wheeler !! When Shaun came over with the Britten team they all took over a place near the Nook and I found out that the house was no longer doing homestay..
I came over to the TT on my own, so I tried again via Manx Radio and through them I found the lovely family with whom I stay now...
I did have one year when the people of the homestay were away for the TT period but I quickly found another homestay just off Cronk-y-Voddee Where I was the only english speaking person staying, the rest being French and German..The next year I was back with the family homestay and have been there ever since, seeing the youngsters growing up.
In a separate chapter I relate a couple of occasions when I was able to get over at short notice or when I had booked and then found I could get over earlier than when I had booked.
I slept in my car until I could go to the hotel---- my car was set up with rear seats down, a nice warm sleeping bag, portable TV and CB radio, I used my car-avan at mainland events but in the years I used it at the TT I parked in the Paddock, in Nobles Park or in someones driveway, all with permission of course, I found it most useful..
