Miller’s early endeavours
When a young Belfast lad called Miller could not afford a new trials bike, he convinced his dad to buy him a Villiers 8E three-speed power unit from the factory, so he could make his own.
With the engine on the way the youngster headed off to Nicholson’s – the local motorcycle scrapyard in Belfast – and purchased a super lightweight vintage Matchless – without an engine or gearbox, for the sum of £12.
Cutting and shutting the frame, fitting the Villiers engine in kept the lad out of trouble for many a night, and eventually the ‘SHS –mk1’ was created. SHS for Samuel Hamilton Special, and not only did the bike prove competitive but probably convinced young S H Miller he could improve and create better machines than the factories could.
Soon Sammy realised the original girder forks were not ideal for competition so purchased a set of MP competition forks. He then fitted a 1938 James petrol tank rather than the terrible two-piece Matchless tank. His first victory on this bike was winning the 1952 Mccrum Cup Trial at Wolf Hill, near Belfast.
The next main event was the Scottish Six Days Trial, which in those days meant catching the ferry from Belfast to Glasgow with all of your possessions and spares for the week on the petrol tank, riding from Glasgow to Edinburgh for the start, doing the 1200 mile six-day event, finishing at Edinburgh, riding back to Glasgow, and then catching the ferry back to Belfast, but with the satisfaction of winning the ‘Best Newcomer’ award, the Ben Nevis Trophy.
Sadly, the 2020 series has been cancelled because of the pandemic. When lockdown started back in March I don’t think anybody expected the repercussions of Covid-19 to be so widespread and long lasting, writes Dave Gittins.
With memories of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001 still lingering (when we were able to resume a 'normal' programme in the July) I thought this outbreak might follow similar lines. How wrong I was!
The first three rounds in the series – at Yatton Keynell (Bath); Newcastleunder-lyme (Acorns) and Theale (Mortimer) were cancelled fairly early on, but I still had high hopes that the final three rounds (Kendal (Westmorland); Clun (Moseley) and
Llanthony) would survive.
I was wrong. First, Moseley decided that they wouldn’t run, while Kendal (the first of the final three) remained very upbeat, and as I write this piece they are still very optimistic of success on August 9. Please support them if you can.
That leaves Llanthony, who have a fixture on September 27. The Llanthony Valley is a very close-knit community in the Brecon Beacons National Park; neither the locals, who have been very supportive in the past, nor the landowner, were very keen for the club to run even though the date was sometime ahead. So the Llanthony club and the Bath club (who had to cancel their only fixture in April) will combine forces and run a meeting on September 27, at Yatton Keynell. But it will not be a championship meeting.
I have high hopes we can run a full programme in 2021 and as 2020 was the 25th anniversary of the championship that will now be celebrated in 2021. Those riders who contacted me before the pandemic, indicating their intention to ride in the 2020 series will have their details transferred over to 2021.
In the meantime, if you have any questions about the 2021 championship, please contact me at davidgittins650@gmail.com, or on 01432 273627. Similarly, initial enquiries about the joint Bath/ Llanthony meeting on September 27, can also be directed to me.