Jim Whitehead has sent us these memories of Steve: I can confirm that chap in the pic servicing the BSA WXF 388 is the foreman Steve. He was x-RAF and he told me he was trapped under a plane that was being rearmed and the bomb trolley was upturned and he was doused in petrol, and one of the 'erks' offered him a light for the cigarette he always had in his mouth! The air turned blue with his reply.
I liked Steve a lot and he was a good foreperson. He rebuilt a 350 G3LC comp Matchless for me after I thrashed it and the crank-pin fractured. It was such a sweet engine after he balanced the flywheels perfectly.
He resided at Roehampton in a flat and used to upset the people underneath him when he used to test his fishing gear off the balcony, as he used a large nut as a weight and they were afraid he would damage their windows! When I first met him he had a gigantic Matchless V twin attached to a monster sidecar and he allowed no one to touch it. He replaced that with a Mk 1 Ford Consul that had to be started with a spare battery in the boot wired directly to the starter motor. It had some kind of wiring fault that he could not cure and he was too proud to admit defeat and have it sorted by a specialist!
| Update June 2010: We have been contacted by Harry's son who tells us that his dad is alive and well, 90 this year and living in Sussex with his wife Grace. They have been married 67 years in July. |
Read more of Jim's memories of Steve
Mick Barton also has memories and a picture of Steve
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