PRODE & JOY One careful owner
When I left school in 1961, I got an apprenticeship at British Insulated Callender’s Cables in Prescot, Lancashire. Living in Widnes, I could easily cycle the seven miles across country to get to work. After a year, I was sent to BICC in Helsby, Cheshire; more like thirteen miles each way. Too far for me to cycle. A motorcycling uncle had a spare, 1954, plunger-framed, maroon 250cc BSA C11G that my parents (quite out of the blue) suggested I should use for transport. What a turn-up that was. I was overjoyed at the idea. I’d ridden pillion with this uncle a few times and loved it.
So I learned to ride – and loved it more, passed my test in 1963 and then traded the C11G in for a lovely red BSA A7 500cc twin with a full dolphin fairing. About this time I ‘found’ a girlfriend who came from a motorcycling family. Her dad was a despatch rider with the Royal Corps of Signals in WW2 and had owned a B33 sidecar outfit before his Ford Anglia. Her brother rode an always-immaculate BSA A10 with a Swallow sidecar. He was a member of the Warrington BSA Owner’s Club. So I joined, changing my relationship with my motorcycle from a means of transport to a way of meeting new people and making new friends.
Being a member of the BSAOC changed my life in a big way; motorcycling became my ‘life’ – Sunday runs, camping weekends and club nights meant that there was never a dull moment. We attended our first Dragon Rally in 1964 and did quite a few more after that.
Our nearest BSA dealership was
