Hello everybody. I used to be the membership secretary, a long, long time ago (late 1970s and early 1980s). A while ago I dug out an album of slides from the wardrobe and set to scanning them and uploading the ones I thought might be of interest to others onto flikr. There are a few pics of some singles which I took on a trip up to Harlow (sorry, but I can’t remember whose house it was). These are here
There are also some from what I think was a committee meeting in west London, which featured Mike Hailwood’s bike. I’m not sure of the date but think it was sometime in 1979. These can be found here
I can put names to some of the people - Dave Ross, who was secretary at the time. Tony Brancato. Spaggy. Me. I think that the woman sitting on the bike in one of the photos was Caroline?
Hope they’re of interest.
Brian Henley
Hi Brian, brilliant memories, we have a large archive of pictures on the website and would love these to be included.
Is there any chance of emailing them to Guy Gagen the branch boss.
Thanks for your hard work in the early days, how you did it back then with so many members by mail is outstanding commitment.
I hope you approve of the club today and what we do for members.
I haven’t been using flickr long but I believe the pictures which I have added can be freely downloaded?
I used to help Jilly at times with producing Desmo - collating the pages and putting them into envelopes, etc. A whole group of us would gather at her house and sit around surrounded with paper, sorting it out. In the early days we had a Roneo(?) duplicator and had to type up the pages on wax sheets. We soon found a print shop near where I worked in Croydon who could do a much more professional job, initially photocopying and then producing the complete magazine.
I hope that I helped in transforming the club from what was essentially an amateur outfit into the professional setup it is today.
Ahh ok, the links do need to be e mailed to Guy for him to get o to the website.
You guys have my utmost respect and apart from technology nothing much has changed.
8 of us posted all the welcome kits out, sticking on labels and stamps.
Your kind words are very welcomed.
Brian, only just seen these pictures, they are great and will be a welcome addition to the Club’s archive. I have been sent some black and white photos by another Brian (Silver) showing a Factory visit from about the same period. These will be scanned ASAP and made available on the web site Archive.
PS, Love the Dragster pictures from the 70’s as well, some names from my youth!
Did you notice the Ducati drag bike? Judging from the clogs on the back of the van, almost certainly belonged to Herman Jolink
Hello Brian.
Re. the Harlow photos - they were taken at my childhood friend Tom Hunter’s house. Presumably that was a visit to the Herts. and Essex Branch at the Greyhound in Harlow Town Park.
Tom and I set-up that branch in about '78 although my being away from home, as a ship’s engineer, many months a year meant that Tom was busier with it than I was and he was the ‘face’ of the branch. I suppose that’s the reason I don’t remember this visit. At the time, I think it was one of only 2 or 3 branches in existence. The branch died for a while in the mid-80s, by which time I’d lost contact with Tom, and quite a few years later, after moving to work ashore, I resurrected it at a different location - the Plume of Feathers at Pye Corner, Gilston, just outside Harlow - where it continued for many years.
The red bike with chrome/nickel frame was Tom’s restoration project iirc and I’m certain he’d love to see these pictures. I don’t know where Tom is now but these photos have given me an incentive to try to find him - not so easy 'cos I’m in Thailand.
Thanks so much for posting these.
PS I was also membership sec. for a couple of years in the early 90s, plus tool hire later.
Tom Hunter died of cancer a few years ago.
Hello Brian and Martin, great to hear from you both, many happy memories - especially with the production of Desmo!!! I still hear from David Ross, Zed Zawada, Brian Silver, Peter Fisher, and quite a few others from the earlier club days. Sad to hear about Tom Hunter though.
Hi Jilly. I’ve kept in touch with Brian Silver frequently over the years and visited him at his home in June this year, on my first ‘proper’ visit to UK since 2015. He seemed very well considering his recent health problems. If I didn’t know he’d been quite ill, I’d never have guessed. He’s got even more bikes in The Shed than I remember!!