Edgar Jessop plus next issue preview
Issue 82’s description of the ingenuity demonstrated by workers at the Spagforth plant in Uzbekistan has promoted a letter from a Mrs Lily Whoop, formerly of Nether Wallop, Hampshire and now resident at the Pleasant Dreams Nursing Centre in Gravytrain, Brisbane.
“I noted with much interest the mention of the “Village Idiots” in your issue 82, and their solution to the acute shortage of space at the Spagforth factory. My great grandfather, Walter Whoop, was a grundler at the Spagforth Bicycle division in Giggleswick. His mother worked as a rat catcher at the same plant, as did daughter Constance and son-in-law Merlin Muffley, who both worked as stamp lickers in the mail section. As Nether Wallop was some distance from the factory, transport was a problem, there being only one bus service per week, and that at midnight on a Thursday. Walter’s answer was to collect, over a long period of time, discarded sections from the bicycle chassis manufacturing section, which he skilfully cut and welded together to create a chassis capable of transporting four adults. He named this the Quadrocycle. It took some time to procure the wheels, which were secretly exchanged for 3cwt of home grown rhubarb with an unnamed Spagforth employee. The tubes in the tyres however proved totally incapable of supporting the weight of four adults, and were replaced with solid inserts made from pre-chewed Liquorice Allsorts. “The famous Spagforth test rider and TT racer Edgar Jessop was so impressed with Walter’s invention that he offered to present it to the chairman, Sir Carruthers Spagforth, with a suggestion that it be put into production. Walter, although immeasurably flattered (he was, like all Spagforth employees, completely in awe of Mr Jessop’s skill and prowess), had to refuse the offer lest the origins of the components be discovered and regarded as pilfering, which meant instant dismissal, or worse, transfer to the Spagforth division in Wetwang, Yorkshire, which cleaned and recommissioned ex-US military lavatory pans.
“When I immigrated to Australia with my late husband Quinton Whoop, we dismantled the Quadrocycle and packed it with our meagre possessions, but sadly it was confiscated by Australian Customs and held upon payment of import duty which they assessed at £93/6/3. As this was completely beyond our means we were forced to forfeit the goods, but curiously, I saw the cycle in use some years later, being utilized as pit transport for the Kawasaki Australia Racing Team. It had been painted a shade of lime green which, compared to the original beige, was most unbecoming.”