Mike Naish: “I wish to introduce you to the ACU Southern Centre Rights of Way Officer and Grass Track Steward, Keith Lee”.

Mike Naish: Where do you originate from Keith ?

Keith Lee: “Well, I was born in Okehampton where my father was a Police Officer. It was a sporting family and I readily took to all sports but excelled in Boxing, Tennis and Squash to County level.”

“I had about one hundred fights at middleweight including contests in the RAF, and won the South West Championship in Devon and also for the RAF in the Inter Services contests. I played tennis to county level and on one memorable occasion I actually beat the Wimbledon champion, Virginia Wade. I had been picked to carry the Olympic Torch during the Olympics held in Britain in 1948. I ran from Kingskerswell to Torbay carrying the Olympic flame for the opening of the sailing. It was there that I met Virginia and we had a game of tennis in which I beat her. I have to say she thrashed me the next day on a return bout!

MN: What was your first Motorcycle and your first Trial ?

KL: “I was stationed in Plymouth during my time in the RAF, I was on the maintenance of Sunderland flying boats. I went to Greens of Plymouth and bought an ex-WD 350cc Royal Enfield side valve with a box sidecar. I paid £10 for it. With Eddy Haines and Bill Pemberton we went practising with it, in solo form, up on Dartmoor. At this time I was teaching in Okehampton. Of course in those days there was nothing to stop you riding over the moors.

My first Trials bike was a 1954 round frame, 197cc DOT with the heavy Earls front forks and swinging arm suspension. I bought it from Kings of Oxford. I took it from Okehampton on the outfit to an Exmouth Trial on Woodbury Common in the mid 50s. The trial started at the Half Way House as I remember. Everybody laughed at me for having a swinging arm and said I would never get any grip, so after the event I took off the back end and grafted on the rear end of a grass track bike to make it a rigid. Then I sold the DOT after putting the swinging arm back and moved to a 197 DMW. I won my first award on it at the Mortonhampsted Trial in April 1956.

Sometimes I did not use the outfit for transport and after one Otter Vale Trial at the Hare and Hounds I clipped on a pair of cycle lights to ride home in the dark.”

MN: What bikes did you have after that?

KL: “In the early sixties we had moved to Exmouth and I bought a twin cylinder Triumph which I put into a Cotton frame and trialled successfully. I had done an apprenticeship as an undertaker and had learnt about coffin making, following this I started up a building firm, it was then in 1965 that I bought a Triumph Tiger Cub. At that time Sammy Miller was riding a Bultaco and I quickly realised that the Bulto was the bike to have. I had three or four in the 1970s moving from the 250 up to the 325. I liked to buy them in a crate so that I could build them up myself. If you bought them unassembled you did not have to pay Purchase Tax.

I rode in all the nationals of the time and one day I saw Nick Jefferies with a Honda 250 based on the XL Model. I tried it out and knew I had to have one so I got a Honda XL and converted it for trials. I loved that bike it really suited me. I had an early glassfibre tank from an Ossa which saved a lot of weight compared with the steel tank. I nearly won the Greybeards from Sammy one Year. The ‘Devonshire Dumplings’ all rode as a team that year. That was Brian Trott, John Born and Ivan Pridham and myself. On that occasion Sam beat me by one mark but only because he rode a muddy slot section twice on the first lap when it was easier.”

MN: When did you become a Steward?

KL: “In the mid 1970’s I was asked by Walter Baker and Jim Courtney if I would like to become a steward at competition events. I followed them to all events, scrambles, grass track and trials, so that I could become proficient in all disciplines. They were good teachers. I still am a grass track steward at the age of nearly 75.”

MN: What do you consider to be your biggest achievement ?

KL: “I had joined the ACTT, the Association of Classic Trials Cars which ran classic Long distance Trials for both cand bikes mainly in North Devon. I had a Norton Wasp outfit. which I had bought as a Rhind Tutt manufactured scrambles outfit with a Norton Wasp 900cc plus engine. I converted it to trials, and with my passenger Paul Collins in the 1990s we won numerous awards and the ACTT Championship  three years running. We also did some enduros on it and of course the Exeter trial.”

MN: And what for the future?

KL: “I gave up competing when the ‘BSE’ crises was on us. I sit on both the Dartmoor and Exmoor national parks committee to represent all motor groups. The problem with the new rights of way legislation is not going to go away and as a consequence I can see ever increasing problems in using Green Lanes, RUPPS, BOATS, Rights of Way etc which nearly all are becoming reclassified as no-go areas for all vehicular traffic. Of course it has not helped when all the unauthorised practising went on. Take ‘Simms Hill’ for example. We used to use it years ago about three times a year. We informed the local parish council and residents of the dates and times and we gave donations to help the Ilsington Church Roof fund. That was fine, but nowadays you get trail bikes practising every Sunday up and down, up and down and of course the village has changed, with people coming in from outside the area to retire and they just do not want the noise and inconvenience every weekend.

I will carry on for the time being and keep everyone informed through the Gazette as and when there are any significant changes.”

Thank you Keith for your time and I hope all goes well for you in the future. Mike Naish

More Mike Naish interviews HERE

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.

Richie Collins from Corpach, Fort William has been a superfan of the annual Scottish Six Days Trial. He is also a keen runner with Lochaber AC, so he is a fit lad. Richie has had Cerebral Palsy since birth, but that doesn’t stop him going to see his favourite, local sections every year! His Dad, Alan usually helps to get him to the sections.

Richie is also a keen runner and has taken part in many races with Lochaber Athletics Club as a para-athlete, in fact an athletics career that has covered four decades. He has represented Great Britain at two Paralympic Games and two World Championships, winning five medals, and held the World Record in both the 800m and 1500m for his classification, so he is no slouch.

Keep an eye out for Richie at the Scottish Six Days as he is always in the crowd, keeping a watchful eye on the performances, but now he will be proudly wearing his Trials Guru VIP cap!

See you at the ‘Scottish’ Richie!

Words: Mike Naish & Bill Hewitt

Photos: Ken Haydon; Mike Naish

The South West Classic Trials Association (SWCTA) was set up in 1983 when Pre65 trials were in the ascendancy. Its aim was to promote and assist in providing an ‘umbrella’ of knowledge and support to lay out suitable sections for the older bikes in local club trials. As a result the Classic scene in the South West areas of Devon and Somerset flourished and entries for local trials increased. As reported in the press at the time, the organisation of the Exmoor Classic Trial was the closest thing to a holiday in the highlands available for the older bikes. Centred around the holiday resort of Minehead, it meant the Dad could disappear off to Exmoor with his trials bike whilst the family made the most of a seaside break in an area with plenty to offer. During the three days of the event, there was a full programme of social evenings where riders, friends and organisers could get together for a noggin and a natter. The first SWCTA secretary was Neil Arnold who campaigned on a 250 Royal Enfield with chairman Bob Davis, an AJS enthusiast. Bob owned a restaurant in Minehead and as chairman kept them all in order.  With Colin Stoneman and Mike Palfrey and many of the current Pre65 riders they established a flourishing club. Many clubs up and down the country noticed the interest and copied the format and some two or three years later the Dartmoor Classic Trial was born. One of the enthusiasts who also ran the Exmoor for many years was Bill Hewitt from Stoke Canon near Exeter.

Bill was born in Flintshire in 1931 and moved to Exeter when he was four years of age when his father secured a job as employment officer for Exeter City Council. He was educated at the Exeter Technical School and after leaving got a job with Autoparts down by the Haven Banks and the river in Exeter. Bill’s career started back shortly after the war when he rode a 350 MAC Velocette in his first trial late in the 1940s before he was called up in 1952 and served his time in the Airforce with 6^th Flight, Y squadron. He did his training at Melksham and then two years as a mechanic at Dunkerswell, in all doing three years in RAF Transport. Bill managed to ride in at least one event at Broadhembury, on a 2H Triumph loaned from Ron Edwards of Cullompton, when in the RAF. Upon his demob it was Bill Boyce, from nearby Rewe, who enthused Bill to take up trials. Bill Boyce scrambled his ‘Mabsa’ in the summer along with Maurie and Reg Squires and kept fit in the winter by riding trials. His enthusiasm rubbed off on the newly married Bill Hewitt and he acquired a 197 DOT, and after a year or two he graduated to a BSA Bantam, a marque that he rode most of his life.

Bill was ever the enthusiast and spent a lot of his spare time modifying and fettling his bikes during the evenings and weekends, and the logo on his bike reflected some of his thoughts as it read: ‘BSA – Made in England-Ruined in Stoke Canon’.

Bill also keeping fit with line dancing with his wife at the local village halls where he got quite a reputation.  In fact Bill, according to a photograph in Derek Wylde’s column in TMX News, was ‘A dab hand on the dance floor and a dab foot in the stream’. The dab in the stream was somewhat of a feature of Bill’s riding as he is the first to admit, although he reflects that many a time he finished up underneath his bike. Never deterred he would always get up and with a friendly curse to the bike and section and then would carry on.

Bill was one of those unsung heroes, the clubman who was never going to be a consistent winner but who enjoyed his trials, and importantly put effort back into the sport by marking out events for his club, the Crediton Motorcycle Club. Later on when the South West Classic Club was formed Bill took over as entries secretary of the Exmoor Classic Three Day Trial at Easter, an event now coming up to its thirtieth Year, whilst also setting out the final days sections at Oakford near Tiverton. Bill represented the South Western Centre in Pre65 trials when teams would be formed to ride against the Wessex Centre. Together with Brian Trott, Ivan Pridham, Paul and Steve Hodder, Mike Palfrey, Dougie Williams, Vic Burgoyne and others, a good weekend’s needle match was always held in the Mendips and Bill very often would shine with a good ride on the limestone outcrops.

I first met Bill early in the early 1960’s when he sold me an ex-Brian Slee 250 BSA. If I thought that Brian’s expertise was going to rub off on me I was to be disappointed, but it gave me a lifelong friendship with Bill that lasts to this day. Moving to Bristol where I worked at Rolls Royce, we would always call in to see him wherever he was working with Devon County Council. We might practice at the sewer works at Stoke Canon or call in to the council yard in Exmouth with the kids to renew times. One year on the way to Cornwall for a week the car expired just outside Exeter. I gave Bill a call and immediately he gave me his car to continue our journey and he repaired our car during the week for us to pick up on the way home. It was the nature of the man who would help you without a second thought.

After a few outings in the trail bike class, Bill finally gave up riding about ten years ago saying that ‘he had been cured’. Cured that is of the affliction that affects a great many of us, that is the affliction of being a trials rider. That patently is not true of Bill from the myriad of photos that adorn his walls to the piles of trials magazines that he reads and the avid way he wants to know all about the trials scene and the riders that still come down to ride and enjoy both the classic Exmoor and Dartmoor trials in the Westcountry. Today at 81 unfortunately Bill is mostly confined to his bed and is on oxygen to assist his breathing, but he still has a strong spark for life with a twinkle in his eye, and enjoys a good laugh. Pat his wife of fifty-one years with their three girls still dote on him and administer his every whim, isn’t that right Bill? Of course there are and have been many others that have administered the comings and goings of events within the SWCTA and Bill Hewitt has just been one of them.

Finally during the run up to the millennium, Bill was honoured to be asked to erect a plaque onto the millennium stone donated to the village of Stoke Canon, and that sits on the village green. The plaque marks the importance of the stone and the turn of the century and the millennium and its impact on the village.  This he did for his local community, but Bill has his own thoughts on the usefulness of the monument for the village which he expresses in graphic Anglo Saxon terms. Yes Bill had not mellowed through the years but to my mind he was the salt of the earth and I am glad to be able to have called him a friend. –  Mike Naish November 2012.

‘Bill Hewitt by Mike Naish’ is the copyright of Trials Guru and Mike Naish.

More interviews with Mike Naish HERE

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.