ENJOYING THEIR FAVOURITE PEACETIME PASTIME
I have sent in this photograph of the Derby Pathfinders team at the MPP ‘Bemrose’ Trophy Trial on behalf of my girlfriend Sheila Harding. One of the riders pictured (Maurice Nix) was a member of her family. Pictured from right to left are: Alf Briggs, Molly Briggs, Derek Bedwell, Allan Spriggs, Henry Burrows and Maurice Nix. It would be interesting to know what machines they are riding – we think that Maurice’s bike could be a BSA scrambler of some description,
although all the others are a complete mystery.
Marvin Harding
Great photo from the early post-wwii days of motorcycle club trials. The bikes are too close together to identify, although Allan Spriggs’ bike in the middle looks like a ‘special’ with ‘SSD3’ (Spriggs Special?) on the tank. Maurice is on a Matchless (same as the other tele-fork bike) with a 1945 East Sussex registration. Nothing new was available in 1945 and chrome-plated tanks didn’t come out again until a few years later, so my guess would be that both are ex-wd G3L 350cc bikes, civilianised with what look like pre-war chrome tanks from the sister AJS model. Maurice also has a natty high-level pipe which wasn’t standard for military machines. The only tele-fork bike supplied to British forces, the G3L was popular in the field and for postwar trials, and it’s interesting to note that even well-known rider Alf Briggs (and his equally competent wife Molly) haven’t caught up with the times and are still on girder forks! Rick P