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Any of you former motor bikers remember a character called "Bonneville Bill"? As a young teen just getting interested in motorbikes the name often cropped up as a legendary "Ton-up" on the boulevard. I never meet the bloke and wonder if he is known to anyone on here?

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Before my time, but this is what the Nottstalgia site was about, some fascinating reading here, whatever happened to Mudgie49 Ashley Oldace Trever S Limey Babs Mgreed1200 ?  

I was following Sambo round the island at the south end of Trent Bridge once. His footrest dug in too hard and off he came. He slid feet first on his back until he hit the kerb with his feet, (he was

Hi Oldace. Bonnie Bill,I remember him well a good little rider with the most highly polished bike you ever saw.I also remember that terrible accident just past Whatstanwell Bridge Aug 64 It certainly

of cause he will be remembered on here i prosume the bonnie bill you mean will be billy gilbert who was perhaps the legondary bonnie bill in your teens but there was a bonnie bill before him, and also billy marshall who insists that he was the original bonnie bill but most of us will dispute that.

one of the things i will always remember from my youth at the whitehart were the races up and down the bulivards but usually university bulivard and the crowds of bikers watching even from middle gates of highfields or from the whitehat itselfs ,whatching them leave whitehart yard up abbey bridge round the island down the bulivard ,round beeston end island and back up to the whitehart. billie nearly always was back first., billie was only about 5 foot tall and very small build but he sure could handle that bike.

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Can't add much to that, to me Billy Gilbert was Bonnie Bill. It was rumoured that he had his bike professionly race tuned, and since he weighed less than 10 stone, he was always hard to pass.

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i know ashley and old ace will have there own stories about this and i look forward to hearingthenand from any others who who see this and have there own memories by the way a reminder that this years whitehart \aces\41 club reunion will be on saturday 9th june at the whitehart from 3 pm with a bike show in the afternoon and live band at the night time, all are wellcome so any of you who might be passing please pop in.l

another big day for all mods and rockers is planed the saturday before in mansfield at the football ground full details can be found on rockers reunion site for anyone who may be interested.

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It sounds like Billy Gilbert was the man if he was around in the early-mid 60s. What happened to him?

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A guy called Bill Chapman from Draycot,was the first 'Bonneville Bill'.Ex army boxer,rode a 'T'bird' before buying the first 'Bonneville' Kingstons had in their showroom.

Back in the day,University blv'd was only part of the circuit,along the blv'd,over Abbey bridge.,turn left,Gregory st'?left onto Derby rd,Derby rd to the Priory,along Woodside rd and back onto university blv'd. Bill Chapman Did a ton+ most of the way round this circuit.

My eldest brother was part of an early crew of bikers 1954-60,and rode a B.S.A.and was also riding 'the circuit'.

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Feel sure there was an earlier Bonneville Bill? if I'm right you didn't see him much? bit bigger than gilbert but not much and had noticeable sideburns? as regards the boulevard races fritz and cranson were pretty quick! plus poor old ernie, I had a go 1967 on my own bonnie, never had owt capable before, that slight bend to the left at the gates is like a sharp corner at about 100mph! and was surprised how long it took to get up to that speed, wouldn't surprise me if Billy Gilbert hadn't geared his down? not much use having a faster bike if you run out of road getting there? which "Digger", did ploughing up the island at the end one night,lol

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The local cops must have been pretty hot on that stuff.

There was mention of ones name elsewhere her I think.

You guys must have got on pretty good terms with them in the 50s/60s? :)

Did they even have vehicle that could do any kind of speed in those days.

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'Z cars' Mick,Ford Zodiac or Zephry 6, not that fast,can't remember anyone busted in a race with a 'Z car'. L.ate one night a gang of us were burning down the M1,southbound and were chased by a 3.8 police Jaguar.The two 'coppers' caught up with us,they gave us a real good b--------g and escorted us back northward and off the M1.

That ended the 'ton ups' on the motorway for a while.I think Derek(dgbrit) might have been on that 'sortie'.

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P.C. Shirley,the one man 'Flying squad'.He watched to much 'Dixon of Dock green'.He would try to hassle 30-40 bikers,at middle gates alone.

The guy had a pair of brass ones.lol

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The late PC Shirley rode a Police Triumph TR6, not as fast as our bikes, never mind all the equipmnet it carried. He was not respected by us. PC Metcalfe on the other hand was well liked, he was motivated by his concern for our survival, he did not always book us,and when he did, he did not perjure himself in court.

One morning we were returning from and all night run along the A614 and points North, PC Shirley was on Mansfield Road Arnold towards Carrington, at the bottom of a hill. When we were a few hundred yards from him,he walked into the road with his hand up. As one we accelerated, and passed him flat out at 100mph+. We gunned it along the ring road to our hideout at Bunny Woods. There was another motorcycle cop, PC Hubbard, he wasn't as bad as Shirley.

As Mudgie points out, the cars had no chance against our Bonnies, Goldies, RGS's, Vinnies etc. Any cop coming to the middle gates was in no danger whatsoever, the thought of violence towards the police never entered our heads. They were a different breed to the modern police, all of them were 6 footers, most had served in the armed forces, many in the war. They did not need to scream and shout in order to intimidate and dominate the public,and unlike the majority of the modern police they were in most cases deserving of our respect.

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Yes Pc Shirley was the one mentioned before.

Pc Hubbard I had not heard of but Pete Metcalfe was a real character.

He would ride his motorcycle in escorting Royal Convoys with the Queen.

He would often stand up and give the royal wave to the crowd as he drive

ahead of the royal cars, sometimes riding Sidesaddle.

Oldace you may be interested to know that the Bobbies of those days

are also critical of modern police. And you are right that many of

them in those days were ex Armed Forces. Today they are ex University.

I am sayin nowt!

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As in teachers...as a kid I was taught and disciplined by blokes that had been in the forces.They passed on what they had learned to us.In the sixties this and the generation of teachers disappeared...along with discipline.

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\snip\.In the sixties this and the generation of teachers disappeared...along with discipline.

Hear! Hear! In another group someone is complaining that teachers are not interesting or interested in the pupils, hence they all play truant; thus the schools are to blame. I say NO! the system broke down many years ago and discipline, that should be instilled in kids when young and in the home, is now almost totally non-existent.

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of cause he will be remembered on here i prosume the bonnie bill you mean will be billy gilbert who was perhaps the legondary bonnie bill in your teens but there was a bonnie bill before him, and also billy marshall who insists that he was the original bonnie bill but most of us will dispute that.

one of the things i will always remember from my youth at the whitehart were the races up and down the bulivards but usually university bulivard and the crowds of bikers watching even from middle gates of highfields or from the whitehat itselfs ,whatching them leave whitehart yard up abbey bridge round the island down the bulivard ,round beeston end island and back up to the whitehart. billie nearly always was back first., billie was only about 5 foot tall and very small build but he sure could handle that bike.

Back in the late 50s when my Dad had the Shell garage in Castle Boulevard, he employed a fella on the pumps and workshop who I think was called Billie. I remember that he was small, probably 5 stone dripping wet and on a couple of occasions he ran out of puff trying to kick start his bike, a very large machine that he used to perch on top of like a little monkey. My Dad kicked started it for him a couple of times and I remember on one occasion even had to pick it up when it fell over one night. Remember him arriving taking off from the garage like a rocket.

If it was Billie, he didn't stay with us long and my Dad said he had been involved in an accident and would not be coming back to work for a while so he put him off. Never did see him again and seem to recollect that was not the first accident that he had been involved in.

Atre you aware if the Billie you are talking about was the one that worked at our garage??

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Wasn't Billy Gilbert, late 50's he'd be about 12 years old, talking of good riders anyone remember a lad called Andy, he had an Ariel Arrow but couldn't half ride it, another was Ray Weiss had a cb72 another fast lad, till he wrapped it round a telegraph pole coming back from matlock lol, Didn't know him when we both went down the hart but there was a guy called Dave who did a bit of racing, years later lived near him when he was late 30's after about 10 years off bikes we did a track day at Mallory Park, I was hopeless but they had to black flag him as worried about their bike! he then bought new Suzuki 4 cyl 750, after about a month traded it in for an 1100 as 750 only good for about 150mph! the 1100 top end 180+ and he'd ride it at that! summer mornings about 4am he could get to matlock from basford in around 18 mins, Eastwood bypass would be 160 ish,all the way,, from Ambergate to Cromford, whatstanwell bridge apart he never dropped below about 130.! On mad sunday in IOM one year he lapped at a time that would have qualified him in the race!

used to look at him sometimes and you could see a wistful look, sort of "if only"

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Andy with the Ariel Arrow, traded it in for a Rocket Gold Star, then he was really quick. I remember he was the first to have triangular tyres, and nobody could touch him in the wet. Quite a few of the Aces took up racing, Tony Starkey was named Motor Cycle News newcomer of the year in 1973. Charlie Grafton raced a 750cc BSA outfit with Willie Wyre in the chair. There were others, but most of us stuck to racing on the roads. The A614 was my favourite, I had relatives in Worksop, and used to ride over there on Saturday afternoons. I would practice the racing lines and braking points, always trying to go just a little faster or brake a little later.

After a year or so of this, when it came to the night time runs to the Robin Hood cafe, I was able to ride as fast as if it were broad daylight, I literally knew every bump on that road.

I didn't like the Matlock run so much, too many manhole covers and too many built up areas. After the Hurt Arms at Ambergate the road was OK, but a lot of traffic, I saw a really nasty crash near there in August '64. It put me off that road for a long time.

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wonder if any of you guys remember pc sirley chashing sambo one night into robins cafewas just about to book him for speeding at over a ton down university bulivard , sambo turned round and laughed at him said do what you like i am off to australia tommorow for good so i wont get to court sorry or words to that effect ,

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Ah, we had a chap nicknamed 'Sambo' at Plessey - he was from Sierra Leone; not PC these days though. I had an all-white cat that I called Sambo but when I met Julie she forced me to change its name to plain SAM.

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LOL - there used to be a restaurant chain over here called "Sambos" - they were still around when I arrived in '78 - but now all gone!

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