6: Wedding Bells

Wedding bells...

You may wonder why I'm showing a picture of Cyril Bolton (with Ian Grindrod?). It's because in 1978 I got married. I've no complaints, and after 42 years we're still a team, but the marriage, followed by a rise in the mortgage rate, killed off my rally driving for a while. Since I could navigate, I let it be known that I was available. Now you're probably thinking "I don't remember Bill navigating for Cyril" - but that's probably because you're not thinking of the BP Economy Run. Although there was timing, the results were decided on a combination of accurate navigation and best mpg. Cyril asked me if I'd do it with him (there was some publicity involved and perhaps it was beneath the dignity of other navigators!) and so off we went to the start at Stockport for a night's very steady driving through the Derbyshire and South Yorkshire lanes. EVERY competitor had an official IN THE CAR! He or she sat in the back and ensured that you stuck to the rules - no knocking the car out of gear going downhill, no coasting, etc. I quickly realised that part of my job was to let Cyril know when said official had nodded off! Of course, I'm not saying we cheated, but... we ended up first in class.

Barry Clark commented: Two really nice and witty guys I remember Ian saying to Walter Ainsworth “Don’t ever forget Walt, I taught you all you know about rallying, but not all that I know"


------------------------

A brief interlude from the Escort photos... around 1977 Clitheroe & District Motor Club decided to embark on a PR exercise, taking rally cars to village halls and schools to entertain and educate the public. It was a lot of fun and quite successful. Here you see the first two chairmen of the club (Trevor Roberts and me) about to be besieged by would-be Grange Hill types at Read primary school...

Then I added:  There's always a story. For some reason Trevor needed me to drive his Cooper S to Read. I took it over Pendle and, being used to Escorts, complained to Trevor when I arrived that it did nothing but understeer. Trevor explained to me how it should be driven - throw it in to the corner and instead of using the steering to correct, put your foot down and let the understeer do it for you. On the way home I tried, but it still didn't seem to work. Those were the days when people drank more and still drove. We stopped at the Red Rock for 2 or 3 pints, and, would you believe it, those drinks completely transformed the handling of Trevor's Mini!!

A couple of strangely juxtaposed comments appeared.  The first was from Richard Murtha, who said "Ah, the Red Rock - it was an interesting little place in its day," and the other from Alan Barnes (again!) saying "That must be a Criminal (sic) Advertiser photograph, judging by how many faces are on it." They’d be put up in the front window of the King Street office each Thursday so grannies and mums could come in and order copies featuring their loved ones.  Eeh, they were the days!

I had to add another anecdote - The best newspaper headline I ever saw was, you guessed it, in the Clitheroe Advertiser, and it read "NO CARS STOLEN AT RED ROCK PUB" - which may not strike you at first, but the more you read it, the more you have to ask "What on earth are they talking about?!?!" The answer lay in a piece the week before, when our top local paper reported on two cars being stolen from the pub car park. The landlord, incensed at the inaccuracy of the story and worried about the effect on his trade, contacted the paper, told them the cars had NOT been stolen (only tampered with), and demanded a retraction.

--------------------