Ken Jackson
(Ooops we forget Ken but he has found the site and here is a message from him.)
Chris Bracey sent me the link for the memorial site when
we got back in touch with each other via the Brune Park page of Friends Reunited.
I was one of the maybe forgotten founder members of the
club, when Chris and I heard about a scooter club starting up, we both went along Chris was riding my
Vespa 90SS as I was on a ban, it was a great place to meet.
I really got on well with Michael Estlick and at the time
I was working for Briggs Tyres in Forton Road, the club was about to launch and Mick invited me to be Vice
President of the Club, I can remember going to the printers in Anns Hill Road and having our business
cards printed, which we gave out at any opportunity. On official open opening of the club I got a load of
free stuff from Goodyear & Dunlop to put up in the hall, and the Portsmouth Evening News came along
and took pictures the one that appeared in the paper was all the bikes in a line with there lights on,
Gordon the caretaker went mad because very few of us had bikes with a good battery, so get get the light
to work you had to run the engine.
Mick at the time as I remember was a conductor on
Provincial Buses, and later went to work at Ultra on the Fareham Road (didn't we all at sometime) and got
involved with their band and the Ultraettes along with Keith Cooper.
Back to the Club:
It was at the club that I met and became friends with,
Steve Fletcher, Pete Boyle (pimple) and Colin Thompson Colin was a great mechanic and when I bought an old
dog of a GT200 from Rafferty Newman it was Colin's patients at weekend that got it running right, Neddy
Newman was not well known for his customer service skills usually the second word was "OFF".
Steve Fletcher was going out with a girl called Sheila
and at the time Colin was going out with Muriel Rowe, Angela Twigg and Jackie Catchpole used to hitch
rides, although Jackie did for a while go out with John Taylor a huge guy who was a friend of Steve's, he
was from Cornwall and in the days of wishing to shave but not needing too he was like a gorilla, it was
through Steve that I met Cheryl Horsecroft, she was my first real steady girlfriend after leaving school
and was a friend of Sheila's, I went out with her for quite a while and we got engaged ( getting engaged
became one of my hobbies).
The bike rides at weekend were fun, Stoney Cross, Fishers
Pond etc, I can remember on one ride to the New Forest I had Mick on the back of my bike, for some reason
Mick took a while to get his own bike, a bit odd as the founding President of a scooter club ! On the way
home John Cole ran into the back of a guy and his mate from the club who's names I can't remember but he
had a Vespa 180SS, it was a pure accident and taken in good part, and the bike was soon repaired. On
another occasion when I had Mick on the back for a club ride, we had to stop at some traffic lights in
Petersfield, out of nowhere some greasers appeared and set about us, I got a split lip and a black eye as
did some of the other, Mick got away with nothing.
Steve, Colin and other used to go to a newly opened
coffee bar in Stoke Road, the had a juke box and sold snack, I am not sure if it was called the wait a
while or if that was the greasers place on Forton Road, but name apart it was apart from the Thorngate
Disco on a Sunday the only place to go in the week instead of the pub, although May at the Whitworth Arms was very kind to underage drinkers I can
remember.
The scooter club was great fun and you made great
friends, but like all things time moves on, Steve and I joined the Air force and by that time he was going
out with Muriel and I was still with Cheryl although I did have a brief encounter with Angela Twigg along
the way, and then after breaking up with Cheryl and spending some time with a girl called Karen who later
went out with a guy from the club called Trevor ? I started seeing and yes got engaged to Jackie
Catchpole, she was a great girl and her parents were great too, I can remember the first time she took me
home to meet her parents, after a while of sitting in the lounge she grabbed my hand and said come
on, and to my surprise we went up to her room, which was in the loft of their bungalow.
God there are so many memories of those years I could be
hear for ever, these days I work in Business Development for an export company and after moving round the
country live near Hampton Court.
I hope this has not bored you too much, the ramblings of
an old man, it would be great to have a re-union and meet up with all those from the good old days of
"The Solent City Scooter Club"
Regards,
Ken
Lord Kenneth Jackson of Finchley
Tel: 07872 009329
email: kmj47@ntlworld.com
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