A warm welcome to the June edition of Scootering.
Throughout 2008 I had developed plans to get on the racetrack with a Group 6 Lambretta, which was being built by Sean Brady at our Scooterotica garage. I chronicled the build on our Scooterotica Forum, and the project gained much interest. I finally arrived at Cadwell Park, completely wet behind the ears and with zero race experience, at the last meet of the year in 2008. I was inexperienced and ill-equipped, but I did have a tent and beer… so I pitched up and got stuck in. On the Saturday of my maiden meeting, I was greeted by possibly the loveliest couple I have ever met in my entire life… Les and Denise Perry. Les had been following my exploits online and wanted to come and say hello; realising that I was both on my own and probably out of my depth (in race terms) they kindly took me under their wing and spent most of the weekend chatting to me and buying me cups of tea. The friendship further developed with Les visiting our garage on numerous occasions, and my bumping into him and Denise at various rallies and race events. At one point I rang Les in October 2015 and said: “I’ve got an interview with Scootering magazine Les, can you help me out?” One of the briefs for the interview was to come up with a concept for a magazine article, but me being me, I wanted to go one step further and actually create the full article and present it in printed format, so I engaged the services of a designer and put the piece together. One part of the article would involve an interview with a scooterist about his club history, and Les agreed to be that guinea pig for my first ever editorial piece… bless him. I told him how grateful I was for his help at the time, and that I would not forget it… and I haven’t. Which is why I was so sad to receive a call from Denise in April to tell me Les had died. The scooter scene has brought many of us these types of friendships with people, which is one of the many reasons we love it so much. It’s been a difficult year for all of us in so many ways, but my heart goes out to all those scooterists who have fallen during the past 12 months, one and all. As a tribute to Les, I’ve decided to print his article below, because even if you didn’t know him, I think after reading his column, every scooterist will be able to relate to his story in one way or another.
Anyway, that’s enough of my ramblings, it’s another belter this month… stay safe and enjoy the issue.