Letters

Following the recent readers’ letters about petrol pumps, I thought you might like to publish this photo. The garage, in East Preston, West Sussex, was redeveloped in 2009/10, but as it was a listed building, part of the planning approval required that the pumps be retained and restored – and they remain in good condition.…

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Andrew Millard from Stockport, Greater Manchester, became the lucky winner of a brand new 1200cc Triumph Speedmaster after the winning ticket in the National Motorcycle Museum’s winter raffle was drawn by former racer and Honda team manager Neil Tuxworth at the International Classic MotorCycle Show at Stafford on Sunday, April 22. The second prize, a…

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Having read many classic bike and similar magazines over the years, I have never seen any articles about the late Fred Launchbury. He had a shop in Raynes Park, London SW20, and around 1963 I was working in a shop called Mowbray Motors in Wimbledon. I’d just bought a Norton Dominator 77 from the cheap…

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Some years ago, our local paper the Leicester Mercury did an article about holidays and day trips to Skegness in the 1950s and 60s, and invited readers to send in their memories and photos. As the route used to be a favourite bank holiday ride for Leicester’s ‘ton-up’ boys and girls, I put together a…

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Following Pete’s Prattle (April), here’s an old petrol pump photo that might interest readers as riders in the Welsh Two-Day Trial fill up over the pavement at Gough’s Garage in Presteigne, Radnorshire, around 1950. On the left, in white overalls, is Frank Gough, and the man in the striped tie is the Regent rep. The…

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Here’s a picture of an old hand-operated pump still in use in the village of Tongue (then in Sutherland, now Highland, and just about as far north as you can go on mainland Britain) in 1989. That’s me at the ready, but just posing. Keep up the good work. Eric Dale, Email Read more Letters,…

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A few issues ago, you ran an article about the BSA Bantams that went to the Elephant Rally, and it ended with one that didn’t come back. We were all members of the Ashfield Motorcycle Club that met in a disused bakery on the outskirts of Romsey, Hants, so we became known as the Bakery…

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As a lad, I was brought up with bikes by a bike-mad dad and lots of similar uncles, so I was used to all the petrol pumps in Prescot and the surrounding district. In the 1940s and 50s we had two in the town, Saggerson’s and Clegg’s. Clegg’s had a laundry and a garage fronting…

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I loved the article about old garages in April’s OBM, and also enjoyed Bernie Freeman’s memories mentioning the Ace. By courtesy of the Ace Cafe London Archive, I have attached an image of the cafe and garage taken at around the time of the Coronation in 1953, and offer this general history of the site.…

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Pete’s article regarding old petrol pumps reminded me of the annual pilgrimage I made with my late friend David Cattell to watch the pre ’65 Scottish Trial in 2007. During that week we travelled further north, staying in Dornie for a couple of nights, and David insisted that we made a detour to see an…

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