A MINER'S LIFE
Wayne Marshall’s Lambretta tribute to his father.
Some things are just ideas, concepts of our minds, many of which may never reach fruition. Initially this machine was one of them and destined to just remain as a nice idea.
That was until Wayne’s father was discharged from hospital for the very last time. He knew then that if the tribute Lambretta was actually going to be seen by his father, he needed to crack on and get it done.
COAL
Okay, where do I start?
Some of my main passions in life are classic Vespa and Lambretta scooters and coal mining, as I was once a collier and one of the very last coal miners in the country.
Growing up in my area of Yorkshire, coal was omnipresent; it had a bearing on absolutely every part of our lives and the communities in which I lived. As such, my views on the subject run very deep and strong and I could easily get myself all worked up into a fit of rage, anger and frustration and start bashing out a political essay on my keyboard. Instead, I must demonstrate restraint and remain professional and impartial in my art, reporting clearly and concisely on the main subject matter of Classic Scooterist.
[At this point I’d just like to mention that it’s my decision to show political restraint and has nothing to do with censorship or the fact that Mau wouldn’t print the article if I swung too far left, which would result in me not getting paid. (Oh, and Mau, while I’m on the subject of pay, terms and conditions!!???). Right, on with the article and stick to the facts].
NATIONALISATION
One of the major contributing factors to this country once being a great and powerful nation is the fact that we have such an abundance of coal beneath us. Our coal, at least 200 years’ worth, which belongs to all of us (or should do) was there for the taking, creating employment and energy self-sufficiency; then they closed the mines.
This was an act of short-sighted madness and industrial suicide, of which the consequences are now biting us hard in no uncertain terms.
As much as I’d love to go back underground, we can’t just dig a big hole and start mining again; it would take years to get back to a situation where we could once again begin production – by which time, even if the will of the establishment was there, who are we going to get to mine the ‘black gold’? You can’t teach mining in a classroom; you need the old colliers to pass down their skills and experience and far too many of these old warriors have already passed away, or are in such poor health as a reward for their time labouring in such conditions.
NOT TOO ‘SHY’
Wayne Marshall, or ‘Shy’ as he is known, which he informs me is a traditional family nickname due to his grandad being a quiet, shy type, is from Kinsley, a mining village south of Wakefield. H’s now 52 and got his first scooter at 16 years old. It was a Vespa PK that Wayne said was rubbish; as such he didn’t have it long before he became fed up with it and moved on to motorbikes.
Even though he didn’t have a scooter, he was still into the music and the scene, attending rallies every now and then. About eight years ago he went to a Featherstone Spartans
Rally and decided that he once again wanted a scooter.
Not long after getting his scooter, his son Kyle – or shall we say, ‘Shy’ junior (this is going to get very confusing), who also has his own scooter now, a Vespa T5 – suggested that he should do a custom scooter with a mining theme as a bit of a tribute to his grandad ‘Old Shy’ (or Alfred Marshall as he was officially named). This idea was discussed and then put on a shelf at the back of their minds.
ALFRED
Now aged 83, Alfred Marshall – Wayne’s father (also nicknamed ‘Shy’) – began his working life in a mill, but very soon became a miner working in the local pits, ending up at the Kinsley Drift mine in his own village. He was a ‘chocker’ on the coal face until he finally retired.
As a result of being a face worker and gobbling all the dust for many years, his lungs are now shot and he’s suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD for short) and struggles to breathe. This condition has seen him take badly on several occasions and just at the beginning of the Covid pandemic he found himself in a very bad way in hospital.
He was so ill that the options he was given by doctors was to remain in hospital or move to a hospice to die. Once Wayne heard of his father’s prognosis, he
went directly up to the hospital and brought his dad home for the last time. Wayne and his family decided that they would provide the care for their dad and have looked after him ever since.
That was two-and-a-half years ago now and old ‘Shy’ is still thankfully with us, puffing and blowing a bit, but still doing what he can supported by the family.
A KICK WI’ A PIT BOOT!
This was the impetus, the kick up the backside that Wayne and Kyle needed to put their ideas in motion and get on with the Lambretta with the theme dedicated to ‘Old Shy’; and as we were all in lockdown, they had the time to get on with the project.
The scooter, an Indian GP150, was stripped down with the frame and bodywork sent to a local guy called Graham Beckett to blast it back to bare metal and repaint in high-gloss black.
Wayne had previously seen a few scooters with murals on them that had been painted by the hand of Gatch Rivett, a well-known street artist from Halifax way. Gatch has been responsible for many a custom-painted scooter in his own easily recognisable style and whether you’re fan of his work or not, you can definitely spot his unique technique from a mile off as it does stand out in the crowd.
As you can see, Wayne is a fan and contacted Gatch to see if he’d take on the job. At first, Gatch didn’t seem that enthusiastic but once he heard the back story, he committed to it.
STRIKING IMAGES
Wayne got a few images and ideas together and went over for a meeting with Gatch to discuss his requirements. He had a couple of pictures of his dad down the pit and a picture of his mum, from the time she was part of the Women Against Pit Closures movement and was present on the picket lines, as well as helping out in the community, like most of the wives and girlfriends of the striking miners did.
He also has his grandad’s cardboard pit hat which is more than 100 years old so that was to be included in the theme as well. He did ask ‘Old Shy’ if he still had his old pit boots in the shed, but was told they had been thrown out after a mouse had built a nest in them. The image of the boots and also the miner’s lamp are generic ones Wayne found on the internet. There’s also the picture of some graffiti that was painted on the fence at the end of his road and was left there for years, a stark reminder of the long-lasting and deep divisions caused by the 1984/85 strike.
A RIVETT-ING EXPERIENCE!
With the ideas for the commission now agreed, it was left up to Gatch to translate these in his own individual style on to the freshly painted black Lambretta bodywork.
The miner’s lamp was the perfect shape to fit nicely on to the horncasting, as was the image of the Kinsley Drift pit check on the headset top, which now has ‘Old Shy’s’ 83 pit check number on it. The left-hand side of
the legshields has ‘Old Shy’ on it, pulling in a chock with his father’s pit hat above it. The right-hand side has a ‘Dudley’ (a miner’s water bottle) on the top and the Kinsley Drifters SC patch below it, a club formed in 2020, of which Wayne is a founding member.
On the mudguard is an image of a miner and pit pony and there’s a sad image of the bunkers at Kinsley Drift being demolished on the toolbox door. Alfred, ‘Old Shy’ can once again be seen on the kick-start sidepanel ‘wi’ t’mucky face’ and Wayne’s mam can be seen on the other panel.
Altogether, a nice well thought-out composition making the use of personal and generic material for reference.
BLACK GOLD
The engine was more or less left untouched, as Wayne says it runs fairly well with the 190 SR on; but the scooter is, as yet, still a work in progress and will continue to evolve over time. The most important thing for Wayne and Kyle was for the scooter to be actually finished to such a standard that Alfred, ‘Old Shy’, could actually see what they had produced in his honour and as a mark of respect for him and his life as a miner.
UNITY IS STRENGTH
As an ex-miner myself, I know of the bond that still binds us all together; once that coal dust is inside you, it remains forever, literally and metaphorically, and as such, it was an honour to get stuck into this project. Ex-miners are still looked after by the National Union of Mineworkers, so where better to use for a location for the shoot than at the beautiful Miners’ Hall at the union’s head offices in Barnsley.
A call to my old mining colleague and NUM General Secretary, Chris Kitchen, to explain what we required was all that was needed and everything was taken care of. They made it a special day for all of us, but especially for Alfred, who to be fair isn’t very shy and jumped at the chance to get in on the act and have his picture taken sitting on the scooter that is a tribute to his working life.
The NUM comrades even brought out the old Kinsley Drift banner to use as a backdrop for the picture and presented ‘Old Shy’ with a book, A Century of Struggle, a book of pictures of Britain’s miners from 1889-1989 and guess what? Alfred ‘Shy’ Marshall was in it!
All that was left for Alfred to do now was to celebrate wi’ a pint – and why not, he has definitely earned it!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS – WHERE DO I START?
Thanks to Wayne for allowing me to use the scooter for the feature; Kyle for pushing the idea for the theme in the first place; Tracy for being ‘Old Shy’s’ chauffeur; and Alfred himself, for having the spirit to carry on the best he can under difficult circumstances – a gentleman and an inspiration.
Thanks to Chris Kitchen, young Chris and Paul Darlow from the NUM for the use of their facilities for my photoshoot, their help and making our day so special, and the continued work they do to support the ex-miners, their dependants and communities.
Power to the People!