A Trials Guru ‘section’ dedicated to Britain’s most famous of trials photographers, Eric Kitchen.

This is a special place of honour for a self-made individual who at heart is a trials enthusiast, who was a keen competitor, son of a famous speedway rider, a businessman and an accomplished photographer.

Trials Guru is extremely proud and privileged to have been permitted to display Eric Kitchen’s photographic work in articles and features. Eric’s photographic work dates back to the late 1960s. Please remember that every image of Eric Kitchen is his property and should not be copied or used without his express permission. Every image taken by Eric that appears on Trials Guru has been used with his full knowledge.

Words: Trials Guru & Eric Kitchen

Picture credits at end of the article.

Trials Guru: Tell us about your early life?

Eric Kitchen: “Well, I was born in January 1933, my sister Edna was two years older than I and my younger sister, Muriel was born six years later in 1939. My Dad, Bill Kitchen went to Australia to ride professional speedway and I attended Galgate Infants School, which was about four miles south of Lancaster. My family lived on the main A6 at Mainstone House, living above my grandfather’s butchers shop with three families sharing the four bedrooms. With the outbreak of war in 1939, it was a case of keeping your head down and helping the family with the daily chores through those difficult times.”

“I sterted my first job on 29^th July 1949, job working at the family garage in Galgate. The garage was a Triumph Motorcycle agency and one of my first jobs was working on JAP speedway engines and cylinder barrels, where I had to learn the correct procedures for fitting cylinder liners and then to bore them to the correct tolerance before finishing the process off by honing the bore to perfection.”

TG: What was your first Camera?

EK: “It was in 1952 when I visited Wright Wood Cameras in Ashton under Lyne near the home of Belle Vue Speedway. The proprietor, a Mr Wood, was the chief photographer at Belle Vue and so this was quite interesting as Eric already had speedway connections. I bought my first camera which was an Agfa Isollete and that put me on the camera collecting road!”

TG: How did you first get into trials riding?

EK: “In 1953 I bought a Norton 500T for £60.00. My first event was the National Red Rose trial which started at the ‘Towd Betts’ Public House high above the Lancashire market towns. I rode fifty miles to the trial and I won a First Class award. Everyone rode their bike to trials back then, that was the norm. A year later, I picked up a First Class award again.”

TG: You rode a Triumph in the SSDT?

EK: “Yes, our family business were Triumph agents, so I rode in both the 1953 and 1954 Scottish Six Days trials on a 500cc Trophy TR5 and gained my First Class awards.”

TG: Which club were you a member of?

EK: “I was a member of the local Westmorland Motor Club, we rode in convoy to the start of the Scottish in Edinburgh, and we left our bikes outside on the street at a hotel on Princess Street. Nobody even touched them.”

TG: Tell us about your own family?

EK: “I took a shine to a local girl called Ellen at the local Galgate football dance and I started to date her and on the 23^rd June 1956 we were married.”

TG: Like many young men of your age you did National Service?

EK: “Yes, in October 1954 I served two years National Service in the RAF 30 MU, based at Stoke Heath in Shropshire which was literally on the doorstep of the famous Hawkstone Park scrambles course. During this time my task was to fit reconditioned engines to Bedford military vehicles which was a laborious task, but one benefitted from. In 1956 I finished my National Service but before I was demobbed, the family garage was sold but the engineering side was kept on I came home to operate a vertical milling machine producing back axle balance beams for Atkinson Vehicles at Preston. In 1957, I started to look to the future as with a young family planned I wanted more security for them. I converted the Triumph to scrambles trim, which included the swap from rigid backend to a swinging arm with shock absorbers fitted. I discovered Telamite Friction Products, they made me clutch plates that ran dry. When I picked up the plates, I asked about a job with the company, they offered me a position as a sales representative and supplied me with a van, working from the Preston depot which allowed me to sell my Ford Anglia 100E and with the money I bought a new Ariel HT 500.”

“My son, Anthony was born in 1958 and during this period I still managed to compete in events and modified the Triumph to include Tiger 100 pistons to give it higher compression. I competed in the odd grasstrack event, but soon realised that even though it only cost £6 to enter it cost £25 to compete after all the expenses. Riding in a scramble, the throttle stuck wide open on my Triumph and suffered a massive crash which broke the frame and finished the machine off for good. I made the move to two-strokes when I bought a 250cc DOT which was then fitted with a modified fly-wheel courtesy of Blackie Holden in 1959.”

“In the early sixties, our family holidays were taken in the Isle of Man during the TT. My daughter Beverley was born in 1961 and I bought a new Triumph Tiger Cub.”

TG: When did you form EK Brakes?

EK: “With a young family to support and the job at Telamite going very well, in 1962 I was offered promotion and a move to the Bolton depot. I was always one to seek advice and most importantly listen to it, I was advised by a good friend never to turn down promotion at such a young age and especially with such a good company. With this in mind I decided to accept the new position and moved the family to Bolton. A nice three bedroom detached house was found and a deposit of £14.10s was put down on the house. I started the new job, which I enjoyed, but it meant a seventy-mile round trip every day until we moved into the new residence at Bolton. In the December I made a decision which would change my life forever. I knew the profit margins at Telamite were attractive and I made up my mind that I could do the job of distributing the products they produced just as well.”

“I made the decision not to move to Bolton and instead start my own company providing a brake relining service to the automotive industry. My uncle Jack was the next port of call as I needed premises to operate from and so he agreed to give me some floor space in the new engineering shop which was being built and also the use of the company van to deliver his parts. I agreed to work two mornings each week delivering machined parts to Atkinson’s in Preston in return for the floor space I needed to run the new company and EK Brakes was formed. My son Anthony runs it now as EK Motor Factors, the largest in the North of England.”

TG: What about your photography?

EK: “In 1963 I decided to stop competing in motorcycle competitions and focus on building up my company. I needed a new hobby and in 1966 I bought a Pentax SV. It was in 1970 at the TT that I bumped into Brian ‘Nick’ Nicholls on Crellin Street, he was covering the event for Motorcycle Sport and Weekly publications and was a very well respected figure in the motorcycle industry. I showed him some of my images. Nick quietly enquired who was I taking pictures for, but then soon realised that I was there just for a holiday and the picture taking was just a hobby.”

“I started supplying images to all the mainstream publications.”

TG: You have a soft spot for the SSDT?

EK: “I had competed in the SSDT and in 1970 I returned to attend as a spectator just to take some photographs. In the early seventies I purchased a Bultaco, registration number MEN 7H, and rode in a few local events and in 1974 I started sponsoring Mike and Chris Myers, the sons of Zeke Myers. I then bought a car garage in Morecambe in 1976 and became a Honda car dealer until 1990. I believed in what Mr. Honda was doing. The company had a strong philosophy and I truly believed in the direction they were taking, manufacturing well-designed and innovative products.”

TG: You began taking photographs for Trials And Motocross news right at the beginning?

EK: “Yes that’s right, Motorcycle News and Motorcycle were the main weekly motorcycle newspapers, but they had reduced their coverage of off-road events over the earlt 1970s and that left a gap in the market. In 1977, the Morecambe Visitor launched Trials and Motocross News with the Bob Clough as Managing Director and Bill Lawless as the Editor. It was Dave Dewhurst, who was the photographer for the Morecambe Visitor and also a trials rider, suggested to Bob Clough and Bill Lawless that they should talk to me with a view of supplying photographs for the new publication. I agreed and that was that!”

 

TG: Were there any highlights that stick in your mind?

EK: “I really enjoyed watching Doug Lampkin taking his first World crown in 1997 and watching him progress to his twelfth title. I also enjoyed when I was approached to become the official photographer for FIM World trials, a position I held until 2010.”

 

Trials Guru’s John Moffat has known Eric Kitchen for many years and has like many trials enthusiasts, admired EK’s photographic handiwork since T+MX emerged in 1977:

Moffat has had numerous conversations with ‘EK’ about trials and the sport of motorcycling and in particular the Scottish Six Days. It was during one of these conversations that Eric mentioned the name ‘Johnny Clarkson’, a name well known to Moffat as Clarkson had been a life-long friend of the family.

Eric’s first SSDT had been in the company of said John N Clarkson in the 1953 trial as they had consecutive riding numbers in the event and as was the custom, became life-long friends as a result. Eric regularly visited John whenever he was in the Brora area of north Scotland.

 

Bill Kitchen:

Bill Kitchen was a top class speedway rider, Eric’s father, a man of whom he speaks highly of and is very proud of – and for good reason. 

William Kitchen was born in December 1908 in Galgate, Lancashire and commenced his racing career in 1933 with the Belle Vue Aces, where he remained until 1939 when he moved to the Wembley Lions until 1954.

In 1946, ninety-thousand fans at Wembley Speedway witnessed a Mr. Archibald’s rocket-powered speedway machine being tested in the skillful hands of Bill who gave the bike rave reviews, praising its smooth acceleration!

In the period 1933 to 1953, Bill Kitchen was a member of the National League Champions eleven times.

Capped thirty times, Bill Kitchen amassed over forty appearances as an England International rider and rode in the Isle of Man TT four times from 1930 – 1933.

Prior to racing speedway, Bill had been a contracted racing motorcyclist for the Scott Motorcycle company of Shipley.

In 1950 Bill was Australian Three Lap champion in Melbourne, Australia. He passed away in May 1994, aged 85 years.

We are very grateful to Eric Kitchen for taking the time to tell us about his life.

Celebration of Eric Kitchen images:

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Photographs:

• Eric Kitchen
• Kitchen Family Archive
• Ray Biddle, Birmingham
• Jimmy Young, Armadale
• Jean Caillou, France

Apart from ‘Fair Dealing’ for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, no part of this article may be copied, reproduced, stored in any form of retrieval system, electronic or otherwise or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, mechanical, optical, chemical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the author as stated above. This article is not being published for any monetary reward or monetisation, be that online or in print.