OLDACE

When I joined in the Cycle Design department of Raleigh in 1969, Alan Oakley was head of the Concept Design department. Access to this department was severely restricted, although I was able to have a peek now and then. As head of his department, Alan Oakley was a member of the senior management at Raleigh, and as such he probably would not have expected extra payment for doing what was in fact, his job. The US was a huge market at that time, but it was the S.L.R's that were the main export. although many thouands of Choppers went to the States as well. The S.L.R's (sports light roadsters)

The blond DJ you mention might have been Pete Smith. Among other venues, he was a regular at 'Brummies' next to Warrow's. I occassionly covered for him there when he was double- booked.

Re. Ten Years After, when we used to go to the Gaumont Saturday morning 'Beat Club' around 1960, they were known as Ivan Jay and the Jaybirds. They would do covers of the latest top ten hits as well as rock and roll standards.

There were several of the 'patch' clubs, 'MC' clubs, or 'Outlaw' clubs around the White Hart in the 60's and 70's,although none of the early ones were 'chartered' to the original yank clubs. In the 60's there were the Notts Outlaws, the East Mids Hells Angels, the Ratae (Leicester Hells Angels). The Northants Hells Angels from Kettering were regulars, and there were occassional visits from others including Wolverhampton Hells Angels and Birmingham Hells Angels. In the 70's the clubs tended to be chartered, The Manchester Coffin Cheaters were regulars in the early 70's, as were Choppers Incor

I know of one small (12ft x 4ft) patch of Japanese Knotweed here in Shetland. It is on a south facing bank of a loch and hasn't spread much at all in 21 years. It probably doesn't like the shortage of daylight in winter.

That is definitely Chris Mann kneeling, the bike looks like a beige DA10 Golden Flash from around 1958-61. The early A7SS Shooting Star was light green, but IIRC the bulge for the drive sprocket on the primary chaincase was a slghtly different shape. Chris died a few years ago, he was a keen photographer, sadly missed.

We got back to the Auld Rock OK. The weather here is sunny with a slight frost at night. When we were in Notts I had hoped to visit Wollaton Park, but decided against it because of the ice underfoot. Last Saturday, St James Street near Maid Marion Way was too treacherous for my Mrs with her three wheeled perambulator to make it to the Roe Buck or the Sal, so we were marooned in the Hotel. A 330ml bottle of Tiger Beer was £7.80, so we phoned a friend who brought some cans and we had a drink in our room. We still enjoyed our trip, especially seeing the soon to retire government chief scientist

I notice that south of the river is East Trent Field. This is the first time I have seen this designation, on later maps this area is always referred to as The Hook. To the residents of Lady Bay it was still known as Trent Fields up to the 70's at least. I never heard 'The Hook' mentioned at all.

It's quite true that most of the recoverable North Sea Gas has been tapped, but what is not in the news, is that most of the reserves are in the 'Atlantic Frontier' west of Shetland. Currently there are 8oo Petrofac workers up here, most living in a specially built camp, in the summer hundreds more are expected, these will live in a flotel. The managers are being put up in hotels. These men will be building a new gas separation plant at Sullom Voe. The French firm Total have discovered a huge gas field west of Shetland, they are building a pipeline from Sullom to St.Fergus on the N.E.Scottis

I can confirm what Babs says about the music the Mods and Rockers listened to. Way back in the early 60's at the Toreador the rockers were listening to the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Fats Domino, as well as the Beatles and the rest of the Mersey Sounds. In 1964 when we moved to Beeston, there was plenty of Tamla Motown on the Juke Box at Jack's Cafe, and it was always being played. When I was the Saturday night DJ at the White Hart in 75-76, I would play stuff like The Doors, Hendrix, Hawkwind, The Allmann Bros, Led Zep etc. The sort of discs you would expect at a Biker's disco, b

I used to occassionly go to the Union Stewards Club around 69-71. I usually went a couple of pints late on. I can't remember the DJ you mention, but it was a long time ago.

I used to live on Sutton Passeys Crescent. The local legend was that the village of Sutton Passeys was wiped out in the Black Death, and that Hawton Spinney is the site of the resulting plague pit. Just heresay, but folklore sometimes has a grain of truth.

Not had any snow up here yet, but it did freeze last night.

The ale wasn't all that good, but it was passable hand pumped real ale.

We could replace it with the Winter Solstice, which was the celebration the christians usurped. A good Yule to all of you.

Jimmy Needham was known as Noddy when he was a member of the Aces motorcycle club, he had a Ducati/Honda cafe racer at one time. Dave was breathalysed after leaving the White Hart one night, it was thought that his manager, who will be nameless, grassed him up. The motive being that a crash would finish his career. The subsequent ban had consequences much later on. He was caught again in the late 80's, this time he was jailed. Dave was the nicest person you could wish to meet, even when he'd had a drink.

It was Nev Hughes who had the garage on Trent Boulevard.

There was a stock car racer who had a garage on Trent Boulevard, he was a red top. Can anybody remember his name, I can't.

Just got round to reading this thread. Yes they are Turnstones, and the first two pics are Black Tailed Godwits, or Blackwits as they are known in the birding fraternity. I was down in Notts two weeks ago, and noticed that there were loads of Goldfinches around, including a 'charm' of 40 near Brinsley.

Hi Mudgie, I agree that Xmas has become a huge marketing opportunty, but when you talk of it being hi-jacked, don't forget that originally it was an Pagan festival celebrating the Winter Solstice. I will be wishing my fellow Pagans New Year Greetings on the Solstice, as I will to the followers of the Abrahamic religions, and also hoping that they can stop killing people in the name of their deity.

Yes Stu, Dave is Lord Biro, just my little joke. BTW if you see Dave again can you tell him I will be in Notts from Friday 9th to Sunday 11th November. I will be in the Roebuck, Horse and Groom etc. I would really like a pint or three with him .

I've had the pleasure of knowing John for well over 25 years. He is a one-off. As the leader of The Church of the Militant Elvis Party he has fought many elections, as Lord Biro he has been in print in the Daily Telegraph and other media. I know him best as a drinking partner in the Trip (before it was ruined) and other real ale outlets in the city.

I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the final. Forest were up two when Roy Dwight broke his leg after 27 minutes, and then they held on for the rest of the game. I can remember cheering my head off when the ref blew for time.

Don't even wait until you get any symptoms, in some men there are no symptons until its too late for a curative treatment. I'd had niggling but not too troublesome symptons for years, almost imperceptably they got worse over a period of two or three years. A year last February I watched a programme about Bob Monkhouse's prostate cancer, and how he coped with the illness that eventually killed him, in the programme he recommended that all middle-aged men shouild get tested. The following day I phoned my GP and he saw me within three hours. That began a procedure that lead to a difficult 5 1/2

Lower back pain can be caused by kidney problems associated with an enlarged prostate. A simple PSA blood test will tell you more. In fact all men of our age group should be getting tested regularly. I, like many others ignored the symptons, one of which was lower back pain. Fortunately when I did eventually get the blood test, it was not too late, but if I had had it done earlier it would have saved me much discomfort.