I believe they where surprised by how much older I looked after less than two years away. Unfortunately
I experienced the start of premature hair loss. I would imagine this is no big deal when it typically starts in your 40s or 50s and you likely are established socially in life. But when the first signs occur in your late teens, it can be a little more of a concern.
I have always loved to dance. One night I went to a night club and there was a long line up, waiting to get in. Most of the patrons looked to be in their 20s with some late teens and some early 30s. I was 22, well below the mean average. When I finally got to the door a burly bouncer stopped me entering and said " Sorry Sir, this club is just for young folks" I asked "Well how old do you think I am " His response "I don,t care how old you are, you ain't coming in here" ended my plans for the evening.
This set the precedent for several years of prejudice I endured, often in lesser degree, until I visited Thailand. My first trip there I was overwhelmed by how they revered the elderly and happily welcomed gays. One evening in Pattaya, while dancing up a storm with my handsome young dance partner, I thought back 50 years to the night I was refused entry and wondered how many of those younger looking patrons, in that line up ( Now in their 70s and 80s) could handle the intensity of this upbeat dance activity.
Some people in other parts of the world may consider it immoral or weird for a man in his 70s to be dancing, or anything else for that matter, with a man in his 20s. Guess what. I really don't care. I am very happy to seize on opportunities that may be presented in my later years and not dwell on opportunities I may have missed in earlier years, when even then my interaction was deemed inappropriate.
Mum was still teaching at Warmington and Dad was still working at Brampton gardens.
It was my intention to return to Canada in 6 months, but it actually took me 10 years. How time flies.
As I only planned on being there a few months and wanting to earn some decent quick cash, I took a job at Perkins Diesel in Peterborough. I don't like factory work, but figured I could handle it for a few months.
The hard part was changing shifts. We did two weeks days then two weeks nights, which is hard on your system. I worked a machine that screwed bolts into an engine block (very noisy). One day after lunch break I walked up to my machine and fired it up. But I was a couple of minutes too early, so the silence on the factory floor was shattered first by my machine then immediately followed by a shriek from all the other workers as it was not time to start yet. Such is the work enthusiasm in a factory.
Meantime the cycling club was building momentum. There where now quite a few more riders, most noteworthy, Ian Reid and Geoff Saunders, working towards national prominence. Early in 1960 the three of us started training together. Needless to say I started to get the bug again and cycling aspirations began to change my Canadian plans.
I decided to defer my return to Canada for awhile, and see how far I could take the cycling.
In the Spring we started 10 mile time trials on Tuesday evenings. The course started near the Oundle station, out through Elton, turning at the bottom of Elton Hill, then back finishing on Ashton Rd. Geoff consistently came in fastest.
On Sundays 25 mile trials started, often on the N4 course at Thrapston, which went out to the Brampton Roundabout and back.
A club house was acquired at Denford, where meetings and social events where held.
When it became apparent I was not going to make it back to Canada for awhile, not wanting to work in a factory environment any longer, I took a night job pumping petrol at the service station opposite the Norman Cross Hotel. Not finding this too inspirational after a couple of months secured a job with Stedmans roses on Castor Rd. outside Peterborough. Most of my work was grafting buds onto rose stocks to propagate new bushes, for a salary of £10.00 a week
2 or 3 evenings a week I would leave the rose nursery on my bike and meet up with Ian and Gueff along the Oundle Rd. for training runs. We would ride from Alwalton down the A1 to Brampton roundabout, back through Thrapston to Oundle.
I started to pick up other gardening work, one of my Customers was Mr.Cook a well known Peterborough car dealer. (London Motors on Oundle Rd. Peterborough, later to become Cook Auto) I enjoyed looking after his garden and also took on his neighbour Mr.Maris, at Alwalton, then Mr.Cook's mother's garden. I also started doing quite a lot of work for another Cook (no Relation). Don Cook who took over the Farm on Broadgate after Mr.Oakley died.
There used to be a hotel on the other side of the A 1 from Norman Cross Hotel. It's once splendid gardens had become overgrown. I was contracted to dive in and reclaim some of the original splendour. I enjoyed that kind of work, where you could make a huge improvement, in a short time, with high energy largess.
I also started growing produce etc. using the land and the greenhouse Dad had put up behind the bungalow.
He was growing sweet peas still on some of the land.
Mr.Cook gave me a good deal on a little Bradford van, which made transportation for work easier.
Don Cook had brought a 10 acre field, just below "Highlands". He asked me if I wanted to go into partnership with him and start up a nursery. He would finance working capitol and I would work and manage the project.
It seemed like a great opportunity, so I accepted.
In this shot you see the 3 bay Dutch Light greenhouse we brought for £760.00. and the yellow Ford van (new) for £520.00. This was my first employee Ken Butler from Tansor.
Behind the van you can see the packing shed. We poured a concrete pad, on which we assembled a prefab similar to the one Mum and Dad bricked around. I re arranged the windows to give good light for a packing bench and corner office.
I brought the boiler and cast iron pipes from the green house in Oundle, which ran both sides, the length of the house.
The first Winter was extremely cold, down to about zero F. so I had to drive out late at night to stoke the boiler up
We a;so grew chrysanthemums, which you see being propagated here from cuttings and fressias in the pots to the left.
We received a government grant to lay the concrete road. We did the work ourselves and the concrete was for free.
We extended it a couple of years later, when we expanded the glass area as seen below.
Not sure what Ken is doing in the foreground.
Don Cook was a very fair man. Despite my inexperience in business he never interfered, but would give advise. He always did what he promised and I have nothing but respect for him. He built a nice bungalow next to the nursery in which he lived with Nip Clapham who I went to school with at Warmington primary.
I would take them to the wholesale market at Leicester, or sometimes Coventry or Northampton. I also supplied a few shops around Leicester
I started a market stall at Wellingborough, which was good for selling small or misshapen tomatoes, plus we grew some lettuce and other produce and flowers. Later I started attending produce auctions in Wisbech to augment stock for the market.
I did not have much time for social life, but did go down to Leicester occasionally with Paul and Maurice. They owned and operated a greengrocers shop in West St. Oundle. I sometimes supplied them with produce. We would go to a gay pub in Leicester and later a dance club. They brought the property from Mrs.Newitt, who owned the Ship guest house across the street.
Mrs.Newitt is another story. She was always very friendly and cool with Gay men. She also was very good with our cycle club and allowed us meeting space at one time and every year laid on our annual dinner.
She had a property on the South coast and a couple of times I went down with her to do some garden renovation work. The bungalow on the property was occupied by a couple, but she was trying to obtain vacant possession. Then she suddenly disappeared and I don't believe the mystery was ever solved.
At some point we went through a name change to "Oundle Velo"
Once we hauled in 3 race wins in one day, with Gueff winning a time trial, Ian a road race and I won a lesser category road race. In the S.E. midlands championship road race Ian was second and I was third.
My time 4 Hr.17 min 45 sec. was a club record, which I understand stood for a couple of decades. I think I could have got under 4 hours if I had stuck with it, but as is often the case I became distracted, or overextended, depending on your point of view.
We used to travel to races in the van, which became a familiar site at events.
About this time I met Anne Millington, whose boyfriend (later husband) John Strangward also rode with us. Anne rode many miles perched on the engine hump of the Ford van, as we toured around the race circuit. One day she asked if she could borrow the van to move some things to her apartment. It came back with the side creased. Oh Well ! At least nobody was hurt.
An absolutely devastating accident around this time befell Ian and his partner, Lucy. They where both riding her scooter when they crashed and Lucy was severely injured. She suffered brain damage and other disabilities, that effected her speech and mobility.