The Silver Haired Scooterist
THE ISLE OF MAN YEARS - 1967
SCOOTER WEEK
From 1957 to 1976 following the famous Isle of Man TT motorcycle week thousands of scooter riders have descended on the Island for Scooter week most often in June. I will initially focus on the years of my annual pilgrimage to the Island, 1967 – 1974. There is a publication covering all the years of scootering on the Island and so much more by Steve Jackson: Scooter Mania! Every self-respecting scooterist or anybody remotely interested in this history should have a copy on their bookshelf.
Avon Valley VC started making the annual pilgrimage to the Isle of Man in 1967 after the 1966 event was cancelled due to the seamen’s strike.
The club always had a good turnout on the Island as did many other clubs. We rode 136 miles (219kl) from Bristol to Liverpool and the excitement started to build as we loaded our scooters onto the Manx Maid or Mona Queen ferry to Douglas across a frequently turbulent Irish Sea.
Different members had different methods of entertaining themselves on the crossing. Steve Hare (pic left) trying to teach seagulls how to smoke.
We stayed at Mrs Whiteside’s B&B (pic left) for a few years and she put up with our antics with a dour ‘boys will be boys’ demeanour. It is a wonder I survived the early years as I remember after returning from one of the evening functions the group thought it would be a good idea to hang me by my ankles over the balustrading four floors up. If they had not successfully retrieved me I doubt Mrs Whiteside would have been very happy mopping up the mess.
I was a young, naïve scooterist at that stage (as opposed to now being an old, naïve scooterist) more intent on not falling out of a pram (not very successfully, pic right) and jousting with sacks to knock other standing pillions off their perch than considering getting serious in the premier events. I became adept at leaping over wooden structures and shooting through water pipes. The white business shirt eventually changed to one piece leathers in future years.
To watch the full video ‘click’below
My mindset changed after watching legends such as Luke Kitto, Norrie Kerr, the Ronald brothers, Nev Frost, Iggy Mycock, to name a few, perfect their craft in scootering. Some had a couple of years head start visiting the Island and it showed in their calm professional, confident approach to the premier events with their names already gracing the winners’ lists.
The ladies who entered the event were just as inspiring with outstanding competiters amongst their ranks: Liz Chappell, Elizabeth Smolen, Bev Frost, Anne Lewis, June Stirrup, Dot Hasler and Ann Weir to, once again, name a few.
We started to make adjustments to our engines to make them as efficient as possible. It took a couple of years to start performing reasonably well in the premier events but by my last visit in 1974 I had achieved some results over the years I was proud of. The highlight in 74’ ending up 3rd overall behind Luke Kitto and overall champion Andy Smith.
The medals were icing on the cake. The real joy was in the friendships, camaraderie, and competing with some of the nicest, entertaining, fun people in memory.
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RESULTS
Rally Champion – Tynwald Challenge Trophy: John Ronald (Lambretta)
Retaining the Scooter Queen – Power & Pedal Challenge Trophy: Elizabeth Smolen (Vespa)
Best Sidecar – Watsonian Challenge Trophy: G Burnhill & M Adams (Vespa)
Senior Druidale: Giorgio Sicbaldi (Lambretta)
Junior Druidale: Luke Kitto (Vespa)
Team Award – Sir Ronald Garvey Challenge Cup: Giorgio Sicbaldi, B Appolloni, A Paggi (Lambretta Club d’Italia)
Best Scooter: N T Kemp (Vespa)
Night Trial: Keith Shaw (Vespa)
Ramsey Sprint: Solo 125cc Class S Bromley, 200cc Class I Willingham, over 200cc Class Ms J Lloyd, Sidecars 170cc Class Arthur Francis, over 170cc Mike Karslake
Mock TT and Field Events Champion: R Froud
Scooter Girl: Joan Thorne (Vespa)
Loving Cup: Ms J Cotterill & Mr B Harris
I have never forgotten the scootering years and the friendships that developed from them. I own and manage a business in Australia and until the outbreak of the Corona virus have not had long periods to reflect on those scooter years. During lockdown I developed an almost obsessive quest to recover as much memorabilia and information of those years as possible, much to the amusement of my partner (Margaret) who was never part of those times and doesn’t understand my latest crazy obsession. When I recently found my IOM year bars in an old container where they had been languishing for many years she thought I had finally lost the plot with my display of fervent delight.
For the last five years, Margaret and I have travelled back to the UK every year for two or three months and have a bolthole in Sand Bay near Weston-Super-Mare. Over the years we have had some great catch-ups with old AVVC friends usually in a hall over a pint with old pop songs in the background.
Long-time mate Andy Llewellyn and I took our wives to the IOM a couple of years ago and while driving around the beautiful Island a plan started to germinate: why not buy a retro scooter and come back to try and replicate some of the old photos I found.
Last year I had to return to Australia before my wife due to business commitments. I had been watching a London based scooter shop webpage for some time featuring a completely restored 1966 Vespa 90ss. I confided my plans to Andy and he jumped at the chance to view the scooter before dropping me off at Heathrow. I purchased the scooter from the lads at https://www.retrospectivescooters.com but forgot to tell the Mrs. At the moment, if you look closely, you can just see my nose poking out of the doghouse. More images taken by Paul Hart in the sold section of their website.
“The best laid plans of mice and men”
Along with a couple of mates the intention was to take, our scooters to the Isle of Man last May to once again have some fun on the TT course. Flights, accommodation and the Manx ferry were booked but Covid-19 took control and travel from Australia to anywhere in the world was, and still is, practically impossible and probably to be avoided at the moment so the trip is on hold until 2021 2022 which will make it a 53-year gap between the before and now photos.
My intention at the moment is to keep the 90ss in the UK for a couple of years for the return trip to the IOM and to enter some local and National rally’s and then ship it to Australia where the weather certainly extends the pleasant riding window.
HELP
If you would like to contribute anything to this blog or posts regarding the information on the content or corrections to any photos or text please contact me. If you have some memorabilia, photos, articles you would like to include in this blog please feel free to contact me (E: [email protected]). If you would like to contribute a guest post please contact me.