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Letters

Anyone recognise who and where?

OBMI wonder if any OBM readers can shed some light on where this photograph was taken, or even identify some of the riders? It’s obviously of a Royal Enfield dealership as the Royal Enfield advertising board for cycles and motorcycles is clearly visible. I know it’s somewhere in Cornwall thanks to the Cornish ‘RL’ registration prefix and the tin mine engine house in the background.

Typically of the period the garage has cars for hire, adverts for Shell and Mobil oil and a BP petrol pump. I would say it was taken in the late 20s early 30s but I am not sure. You can see that the other petrol pump has a glass bowl on top of it, when I was a boy these pumps were hand pumped to fill the glass bowl with one gallon of petrol and then it was gravity fed into your machine's fuel tank.

In the late 40s and early 50s Castle Garage on the Liskeard road was a BSA dealership, there was no electricity supply so petrol was pumped by hand and, with two-stroke oil, it was 2/9-1/2d per gallon. To illuminate the pumps the owner – Cass - had two windmills driving a pair of car dynamos charging a battery. An annual visitor to the garage – a family holidaying with a Panther outfit – noticed that Cass had taken one of his windmills down one year and enquired what had happened to it. Cass replied that down here in the valley that there was not enough wind for both of them.

Colyn Thomas
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Some memories Colyn, well OBM does anyone else recognise the place or the people? TB

‘To be congratulated

The January issue carries a letter from LA Selfe, who commented about the November ‘call to arms’ for AJS enthusiasts. I was one of the riders who braved the elements to ride to Retreat Street.

The celebration was organised by Steve Corbett of the Sunbeam Sidevalve Owners' Club – nothing at all to do with AJS! Steve went to considerable lengths and even got the keys to the building from Wolverhampton Historical Society.

I found it spooky, prowling through the rooms and workshops where the Stevens Brothers created their early masterpieces. On display, in what was once the loading bay, was George Rowley’s 1930 500cc ohc Senior TT machine.

Just before Christmas a mysterious package arrived, it contained a beautifully detailed badge marking the centenary of AJS, which was presented to all who registered their attendance. I'd like to pay tribute to the time, effort and expense that Steve and Kate Corbett went to, in making a pretty dire day into such a memorable occasion.

Andrew Ross
AJS & Matchless Owners' Club
Warwickshire Section

‘It was me

My brother, Philip Bootherstone, has just posted me a copy of a letter on page 34 of your May 2009 edition. It is by Haydn Smith in Warwickshire, please thank him for his kind comments and tell him if he Googles Linda Bootherstone he will find that I am still very interested in bikes and have done many trips on old machines.

My brother is a keen old bike racer and has had increasing success in the last few years, I’m sure he must have got many spares through OBM.

Linda Bootherstone
(remembered as Leslie in the article but all our brains are going at this age!)
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