I published the photo above in a couple of places this week and I'm sorry that I still don't know who deserves the credit for taking it (it came to me third hand).
I've just been re-reading the stories in the Manx Independent about the loss of animal life in the Isle of Man during the snow and quite a lot of it happened in this part of the Island. I've added the details for the Isle of Man Agricultural Benevolent Trust to the front page.
But just down the road from where this photo was taken I have happy memories of a man who celebrates his 90th bitrhday today.
Geoff Duke was world motor cycle champion for three years between 1951 and 1953 but 20 years later he established a garage business in Douglas near to Pulrose Bridge. The three parts, a petrol forecourt, a showroom and workshop are all separate now but he also used to run a wholesale parts business from the premises.
I used to the spend the hours of midday to 6 pm on a Saturday serving customers at Michael Motors (it was my second job of the day as I used to assist with Crowe Brothers milk round at Bishopscourt between 5.45 and about 11 (with a cycle home for some hot soup in between - funny how its only the winters I remember!).
At about 12.30 on the Saturday a Volkswagen van would pull up on the other side of the road to see if the garage had any requirements for spares. The driver always had a warm and friendly greeting even though there was rarely any business for him.
Often I would see the van driver in Douglas after school. He would ride around on a little 50cc Honda and gave the teenage lad with the afro hair he recognised from Kirk Michael a big wave. "That's Geoff Duke" I would proudly tell my friends.
The term down to earth could have been invented for Geoff Duke.
No comments:
Post a Comment