FAMILY ALBUM
Motorcycling must be an inherited trait. It certainly seems to run in the family trees of these RC regulars…
Motorcycling must be an inherited trait. It certainly seems to run in the family trees of these RC regulars…
This photo came to light while rummaging through my father’s old files. He wouldn’t go near a motorcycle, but my grandfather, Donald Bright Hoseason, was a keen rider so we presume this is him. The Rudge looks to be from roughly the right era for a chap who was born in 1899… so unless anyone knows otherwise, I’m claiming this rakish fellow as my grandad!
The photo of my dad on the Ariel was taken in Normandy, not long after D-day. His keen interest in motorcycles landed him a job as an army dispatch rider in the signal corps: lucky him!
The Matchless G80 has a special significance because he bought it new to celebrate his 21st birthday, not long after leaving the army. The pic was taken outside my grandparents’ garage, where the G80 and the Velo were kept before he married my mum. He was 23 when the G80 pic was taken. He did say the G80G80 waswas his favourite bike, although he also had a Vincent Rapide. He always nagged me to get a G80, and many years later I finally did – I’ve now had three, in fact.
My mum loved dad’s Velocette. They used to go for weekend tours with another biking couple in the Trossachs. This pic was taken near Stewarton in Ayrshire, when they were a courting couple. No helmets in these good old days!
I thought my old dad gave up DR work when he left his Matchie in Dunkirk but this pic turned up, marked ‘Egypt’ on the back which shows him astride an M20. Rommel must have been shaking in his boots. A generation later, here’s my sister perched on my Matchless G9 café racer.