Stu Thomson was and still is a trials rider. Son of a motorcycling Mum and Dad he was brought up in the trials faith.
Stu and his brother Peter, rode in the Lanarkshire Motorcycle Club as a youth before taking up Downhill Mountain Bike competitions in which he was managed by none other than Steve Peat (another son of a trials rider!).
Stu on his 125 Gas Gas Contact in 1995 when a youth rider in Scotland.
Stu’s parents are Richard and Bobbie Thomson, who were stalwarts of the Avon Valley MCC. They were TT race fans and at one time owned a Norton Commando, which Bobbie rode as often as husband Richard.
Richard Thomson rode trials from around 1974 to 1980, riding the Scottish Six Days Trial four times between 1976 and 1979.
Stu’s Dad Richard was a keen trials rider. Photo: Jimmy Young, Armadale.
Stu is now married and lives near Stirling and is an accomplished film producer, running his own company CutMedia who have produced many films with Danny MacAkill (Imaginate), Guy Martin and Dougie Lampkin (Tundra Trial).
Here is a clip showcasing Stu’s most recent work…
Six Days in May – CUTMedia
Article copyright: Trials Guru / Mofffat Racing, John Moffat
Photos: Copyright – Jimmy Young, Armadale & Mrs. Bobbie Thomson
Continuing our series of articles of Scottish off-road personalities ‘Great Scots’, we now are pleased to bring you the story of Tommy Robertson.
Tommy Robertson (200 DMW) on Inshriach (also known as Creag An Eilein) in the 1953 Scottish Six Days Trial. A section that Robertson himself helped discover and was put in the event.
Tommy Robertson is a well-known name known to many of the more senior competitors and enthusiasts in Scotland.
He was a time-served joiner by trade and worked most of his life with D. B. Gunn (Builders) Ltd of Edinburgh, which was established in 1949, rising to ‘foreman joiner’ with the firm.
He was a life-long member of the Edinburgh Southern MC, a club that was established in 1924 and met in ‘The Southern’ bar, a public-house in 26 South Clerk Street in Edinburgh’s South-Side, hence the name.
Tommy Robertson on his AJS 350 16MC at a trial at Westfield near Bathgate, West Lothian around 1951.
Tommy was not only a keen trials rider and no slouch on a scrambles machine either as he was runner up in the Scottish Championships in 1954 to Ludo More.
Tommy Robertson scrambling an AJS
He also rode in road hill-climbs which were popular just after the war.
Tommy Robertson on his Triumph Twin at the Bo’ness Hill Climb on 9th August 1947, the helmet is the Edinburgh Southern MC which was worn by club members in ‘speed’ events.
Thomas Robertson served in the British Army during the Second World War in India and Burma, but it was never a subject that he could be drawn on to discuss in conversation, this may have been due to the senseless atrocities that occurred on the so called ‘Burma Railway’.
Tommy Robertson on Kinloch Rannoch in the 1953 Scottish on his Edgar Brothers supplied 200 DMW
Robertson’s peers were many of the best Scottish riders of the era, Geoff Smith; Jimmy Hutchins, Jackie Williamson to name but three.
A life-long sporting motorcyclist, Tommy’s favourite event was without question the Scottish Six Days Trial and indeed Tommy was a club scout, who investigated sections for the Edinburgh & District organising club.
Tommy on his 350 AJS in the 1951 Scottish Six Days on his AJS. This is ‘Kinloch Hourn’, no longer used, it was a long climb into the hills from Loch Hourn down in the valley. A breath-taking photograph.
In the 1970’s Tommy Robertson was the ‘number-plate official’ for the event, He issued the riders’ metal number plates at the weigh-in at Gorgie Market and took them from the riders at Blackford Hill, returning their deposit at the event finish, up to 1976 when the event moved to Fort William the year after and riders had to make their own numbers.
Arthur Lampkin gets his 250 BSA ‘weighed in’ at the 1961 SSDT. Tommy Robertson is on second from the right, looking down examining paperwork.
Tommy was also a machine examiner, who painted the daubs of special paint on the sealed items for the SSDT at the Gorgie Weigh-in.
In fact Robertson was one of a team of section scout riders who discovered and reconnoitered ‘Inshriach’ , also later known as Creag An Eilein near Aviemore on the Rothiemurchus Estate which was used from 1953 to 1967 before National Park status for the area forbade it’s future use.
Tommy Robertson (AJS) on the famous Devil’s Staircase at Lochailort in the SSDT
Tommy served for many years on the management committee of the Scottish ACU and being a tradesman, in those days who had no pay when off work due to a sporting injury, was the prime-mover to get rider’s insurance cover as part of their entry fee established with the then specialist motor-sport insurers brokers CT Bowring & Muir-Beddall.
Tommy and his wife, Mary had a son, Ian Thomas who also rode in trials, and was also a member of the Edinburgh Southern MC, like his father before him. The family home was at Bonnyrigg, near to Edinburgh in Midlothian.
Tommy Robertson was a very quiet, reserved individual with a commanding knowledge of the sport in Scotland. It is safe to say, when Tommy Robertson spoke, people listened to him carefully. One of the old-school competitors and officials who said little, but knew a great deal!
Tommy at home on his vintage AJS in the 1980’s, the bike still owned by his son Ian.
Trials Guru wrote: Many riders were encouraged to join the Southern and take up either scrambles or trials and in fact my late father T. Arnott Moffat was one of them.
Peter ‘Jock’ Wilson … a great friend … a great man ~ By Renee Bennett.
Jock Wilson on ‘Cheeks’ at the Clayton Trial in 1962 on his specially built ultra-short-stroke AJS 350. (Photo supplied by Patricia Wilson)
When I think of Jock Wilson, it reminds me of the fantastic Thames Ditton motorcycle dealers, Comerfords, AJS trials machines, Bultaco, the Scottish Six Days and a top Home Counties based trials rider who went on to take charge of the British International Six Days Trial Trophy Team for nearly 20 years.
Peter Cameron ‘Jock’ Wilson was born in Scotland on 12th January 1934 at Oakbank, Bridge of Balgie, Glen Lyon, Perthshire. The Scottish Six Days was practically on his doorstep as the ‘Meall Glas’ section was only ¾ mile from his front door.
Jock on his short-stroke AJS in a Sidcup 60 Trial. Comerfords Sales manager Bert Thorn is following in the background.
There is the main reason he was such a good trials rider ~ with all that practice ground, he just had to be good!
‘Jock’ as I’ve always known him, started his working life as a lumberjack, then a spell in the British Army doing his national service at Aldershot, then marrying his wife Pat and moving to London to live permanently.
At Aldershot, Jock was in the Royal Army Service Corps or RASC for short, his commanding officer was Captain Eddie Dow, but he also met many of the factory trials and scrambles stars of the era who were also doing their national service. Riders such as Roy Peplow, John Giles and many more.
He took up employment at Arthur Cook Motors in Kingston-Upon-Thames and then the well-known motorcycle dealership, Comerfords based in Portsmouth Road, Thames Ditton, Surrey which he joined in 1957.
Jock started at Comerfords as a motorcycle mechanic in the workshops, soon progressing to workshop manager. When he became bored with that, he moved into sales under Sales Director, Bert Thorn.
1965 Scottish Six Days on Callert, riding the ex-Sammy Miller Ariel 786GON, which Wilson owned and rode for several years. The machine is now in Italy.
Jock’s specialty was modifying AJS trials bikes, cleverly making them lighter and more powerful. Gordon Jackson, Gordon Blakeway and Gordon McLaughlan rode AJS machines as a team in those days and Jock even named one of his sons after the trio.
Gordon Jackson of course won the 1961 SSDT on his factory AJS (187 BLF) with just one ‘dab’ ~ Amazing!
Jock went on to manage the British International Six Days Junior Trophy and Trophy teams. His knowledge gained by riding in the ISDT many times himself on AJS and Triumph machinery gave him a valuable insight into this part of off-road sport and was a very highly thought of manager by the riders and the ACU. He actually cut his teeth initially by managing the Scottish ACU squad in Sweden in 1978.
A Scottish ACU presentation of awards ceremony at Perth in 1980. From left: Margaret Allan (SACU Chairperson); Ron Wright (SACU Trials); Alex Phillip (Clubman TT winner 1948); Robbie Allan; Charlie Bruce (former Scottish racing champion); Tommy Milton (SACU official); Anne Allan (wife of Vic Allan) and Jock Wilson, ISDT Team Manager.
When Comerfords eventually took over the importership from Rickman Brothers of the Bultaco brand, Jock was soon in charge … supplying dealers and operating a first class spares service.
When Jock left Comerfords, some many years later, he started his own business importing the Italian SWM trials and enduro macinery in partnership with Mick ‘Bonkey’ Bowers, which became equally as good as the Bultaco brand and very popular.
Jock and Bonkey set up a countrywide dealer network which included former World Trials Champion, Martin Lampkin.
After SWM stopped producing motorcycles, Jock went self-employed working from his home in Tolworth, fixing and tuning bikes and repairing damaged wheels, as he is an ace wheel-builder.
Nowadays, Jock is retired but still works a little on classic bikes in his spare time. I speak to him regularly and it’s always a pleasure.
Jock has always been a friend to me, to my late father Wag Bennett, and to my children Charles (who runs a busy London motorcycle shop) and my daughter, Julie.
I owe Jock a debt of gratitude for the support and help he gave me over twenty five years of trials riding.
Thank you Jock Wilson … Renee Bennett, Plaistow, East London.
Trials Guru: Jock Wilson, so named because this was common place for a Scotsman living and working in Southern England at the time, became one of off-road motorcycle sports’ most respected characters. Jock was a very competent mechanic and a serious trials competitor. When he was with Bultaco UK, he was responsible for setting up the contracts with the Comerfords supported riders in both motocross and trials. Wilson was mentor to Greeves rider and fellow Scotsman, Vic Allan when he moved from Aberdeenshire to Thames Ditton to ride for Comerfords in 1967. Allan then went on to ride for BSA briefly, during which time he crashed heavily at the Italian GP on his factory BSA breaking his hip and was sidelined for several months, during which time BSA closed the Small Heath competitions department. Allan then reverted to race for Comerfords on the Spanish Bultaco and became British 250cc and 500 cc Motocross champion in 1974, riding the Pursang models in both classes.
Mike Holloway on Mamore in the 2005 Pre’65 Scottish. Photo courtesy of Iain Lawrie, Kinlochleven.
Well known Pre’65 rider, Mike Holloway, elder brother of trials rider Joan Westbrook, has passed away on February 13th 2015 after a short illness.
Mike was a supporter of the ACU Sammy Miller Trials Championships over the years and had ridden in the 2014 series on his rigid AJS. For many years he campaigned a spinger Matchless, always a lover of the heavyweight four-stroke Plumstead singles.
His interment is at St Margaret’s Church, Horsmonden, Kent on the 6th March at 11.30am.
Sincere condolences to Mike’s family.
Mike Holloway on his Matchless on Loch Eilde Burn in the 2005 Pre’65 Scottish. Photo courtesy of Iain Lawrie, Kinlochleven.
Supported by Trial Mag & Classic Trial, the Highland Classic has proved popular with riders of both Pre’65 and twinshock machines.
After only five days promotion, the Inverness and District Motorcycle Club annual Highland Classic Two-Day Trial is now full up at the 130 rider maximum.
Held on the picturesque Alvie Estate, near Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands, the event celebrates ten years as a two-day affair. This year the guest of honour will be Bill Wilkinson, the last British rider to win the Scottish Six Days on a British built Greeves machine!
Now surely a victim of its own success, it was the ‘brain-child’ of club Chairman, Malcolm Smith who has been a long standing trials rider and regular observer at the SSDT, the event started as a one day trial back in 2004, elevated to a two-day event the following year to make it worth the stay for riders south of the border.
It is a Pre’65 and twin-shock event combined with two routes to choose from for all classes.
The event was publicised in Classic Trial Magazine as part of a sponsorship deal and the event has been building in stature over the past three years when the club decided to have a special guest annually.
Previous guests have been Yrjo Vesterinen in 2013 and Dave Thorpe in 2014.
The trial is held on the shooting estate and will be on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th June 2015.
If you wish to help by observing, please contact IDMCC club secretary David MacKay by e-mail: secretary@idmcc.co.uk
For the lucky 130, here is a from the saddle view of Alvie:
Alison Devine, Secretary of the ACU Trials and Enduro department has decided to hang up her pen and notepad after many years with the sport’s governing body at their Rugby headquarters, she leaves the ACU this Easter.
She has been a well-known voice at the end of the phone to many who use the ACU’s off-road services.
Alison, see photo below with John Collins, Chairman of the Trials & Enduro committee, Director and Vice-Chairman ACU; receiving an advanced gift as recognition for her input to the ACU.
Trials Guru wishes Alison a happy departure from the ACU this Easter.
Alison with John Collins. Photo courtesy: Mick Wren, ACU T&E Committee member.
Release: Mid-March 2015, get yours free of UK postage NOW at £19.99!
Currently on ‘UK pre-order offer’. A donation from the books free proceeds will be made to the ‘ACU Benevolent Fund’ – a registered UK motorcycle sport charity – for the benefit of members and riders who have fallen on hard times. The more copies that are sold… the better!
Help us donate as much as possible to this very worthy cause, for the benefit of our sport, from our sport!
Motorcycle Competition Scotland is definitely a book for the motorcycle sport enthusiast, it covers probably the most exciting era in Scottish motorcycle Racing; Trials; Motocross and Enduro. Over 100 pages, fully illustrated by some wonderful photographs, some never seen before, taken by both professional and amateur photographers of Scottish motorcycle competitors in action.
The Putoline – Classic Dirtbike show takes place February 21/22, 2015 at the Telford International Centre, Telford.
Originally the Wrighty Classic Off-Road and Racing Show, organized annually by Alan Wright, the well-known Midlander trials rider who rode for Texaco-Heron Team Suzuki in the seventies, Alan has taken a well-earned retirement and handed over the reigns to Classic Bike Shows, part of the Mortons Motorcycle Media group.
The main sponsor is Putoline Oils UK.
It’s now very much more than just another show with special guests, on-stage interviews and a chance for old friends to meet up annually.
Trials Guru will be there and most likely visiting the Trial Magazine/Classic Trial stand during the weekend.
Advance tickets are now sold, so it’s pay at the door.
Please say ‘Hi’ – See you there!
Three times World Champion meets eleven times British and twice European trials champion! or – Vesty meets Sammy! at last years show with Sammy’s 1966/67 SSDT winning Bultaco, now owned by Vesty! Photo: Mortons Motorcycle Media.
Photos: Iain Lawrie; OffRoad Archive; Bob Dunwoody; Sammy Miller Museum.
In 1996 Sammy Miller MBE took over the run-down premises of an old farm at the Bashley Cross Roads, New Milton and converted the barns into a modern, prestigious building with picturesque surroundings. It is now accepted as housing one of the finest collections of fully restored motorcycles in the world, including factory racers and exotic prototypes.
At the end of 2004 permission was granted for an extension to the museum which now allows it to house over 500 exhibits. The museum was further expanded in 2021.
Sammy Miller MBE and his wife, Rosemary.
Sammy’s life has always been dedicated to motorcycling. As a young boy he followed motorcycle racing in Ulster and then went on to compete and win his first race meeting in 1953.
Sammy Miller (NSU) at the Ulster Grands Prix in 1957 chats with sponsor Terry Hill – Photo: Bob Dunwoody
After a well documented period on the Road Racing Grand Prix circuits he switched to trials, at first building his own trials bike, the 197cc SHS (Samuel Hamilton Special) in 1954.
Sammy outside his first shop in New Milton (Photo: Sammy Miller Museum Archive)
He then went on to develop the world famous Ariel trials machine GOV 132 for the Ariel factory before moving on to Bultaco in 1964 , changing the face of trials in 1965 with the Bultaco Shera T, and then on to work for Honda Motor Company in 1973 to design the world championship winning trials machine. He is still active today, but in his beloved workshop where the sign above the door reads: ‘Another Day in Paradise’.
Sammy on his ‘GOV Replica’ Ariel HT5 on Grey Mare’s Ridge in the Pre’65 Scottish Trial. Photo: Copyright Iain Lawrie, Kinlochleven.
Unlike most other museums this is more than a static collection to be dusted and polished at regular intervals and displayed like butterflies with pins through them. This is a live museum, for whenever the opportunity presents itself these machines are run in classic bike events of one kind or another. There are many clubs which now organise open days and exhibitions at Sammy’s museum.
The exact replica SHS of 1953 which Sammy Miller built with a 250cc Matchless rigid frame and 197cc Villiers engine, which he rode in his first SSDT in 1954. Photo: Iain Lawrie.
Many of the racing machines are still fully competitive and capable of giving a good account of themselves in high-speed parades. Like any good museum the contents are changing constantly. Virtually every new acquisition represents a full-scale renovation with the attendant difficulty in finding missing parts or replacements to exchange for those that are badly worn. Apart from the motorcycles on display you will also see many interesting artefacts, all of which represent a link with motorcycling of a bygone era.
The Off-Road section is extensive and captures the past. There are many unique and rare machines to behold, one of which is the Talon Mickmar trials machine which was a prototype. There are also Jawa ISDT machines from the mid-seventies, and even the long track championship winning machine of the late Simon Wigg.
History Preserved:
The late Gordon Jackson putting the finishing touches to his factory 350cc AJS at the 1962 Scottish Six Days Trial in Gorgie Market, Edinburgh – Photo: OffRoad Archive.
Sammy managed to locate the 1961 SSDT-winning AJS (187BLF) ridden by Gordon Jackson when he recorded the famous one dab victory on the Grey Mare’s Ridge section.
Gordon Jackson’s factory AJS 187BLF in ‘as found’ condition, seen here at Sammy Miller’s ready for restoration.
The machine was in poor condition and in boxes but Sammy restored it back to its original specification, much as it had been ridden by Gordon Jackson in 1961.
The Gordon Jackson AJS 187BLF rebuilt and ready to go with Sammy at his museum.
Sammy was both delighted and proud to exhibit both GOV132 and 187BLF at the Scottish Six Days Trial in 2011 to celebrate the events 100 years.
SSDT Centenary 2011 – Two of the most famous trials machines, of all time – 187BLF (350 AJS) which won the 1961 SSDT ridden by Gordon Jackson losing only one mark. GOV132 (500 Ariel) Sammy Miller’s famous machine that won the SSDT (1962 & 1964) – Photo: Iain Lawrie.
The museum houses the finest collection of fully restored motorcycles in Europe, including factory racers and exotic prototypes, plus memorabilia spanning seven decades of motorcycling for sport and for pleasure. There are over 400 rare and classic motorcycles on display in four galleries.
Sammy with the AJS Porcupine racer
During all this he has still found the time to restore many rare and exotic machines to concourse condition and perfect working order. These he kept as a private collection until 1980 when he opened up a museum so that the public could have a chance to see and hear them.
Friendship and mutual respect, Sammy Miller MBE and Bernie Schreiber at Sammy’s workshop at New Milton. (Photo: Bernie Schreiber Collection)
He even took some abroad to many locations, including Australia and New Zealand, so that they could be seen by as many people as possible. One of Sammy’s Museum exhibits is now on loan to the new FIM Museum in Switzerland.
The Talon Mickmar which is on permanent display at Sammy Miller’s Museum at New Milton. (Photo Sammy Miller Museum Trust)
Some years ago now, Sammy placed the entire collection into a ‘Trust’ to enable it to be kept together for future generations to experience and admire. There is no one more dedicated to motorcycling than Sam. He spends ten hours a day seven days a week working, promoting or restoring motorcycles.
And it’s much more than a museum, it houses Craft Shops, the Bashley Manor Tea Rooms, Sammy’s Pit Stop and has Alpacas, Donkeys and Goats for the amusement of children of all ages!
The museum is open pretty much all year round and for me is a must to visit if you have not done so already. For more information please visit: Web: www.sammymiller.co.uk – Mail: museum@sammymiller.co.uk – Tel: 01425 620777/ 01425 616644. Sammy Miller Museum Trust, Bashley Cross Roads, New Milton, Hampshire, BH25 5SZ
Sammy Miller MBE outside his world famous museum at Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire with his Trials Guru ‘VIP Winners’ special edition cap. (Photo: Sammy Miller Museum)
Sammy Miller MBE – Motorcycling Achievements
11 times successive British Champion.
Twice European Trials Champion – the forerunner to the World Championship.
13 times successive Hurst Cup winner.
18 times successive Walter Rusk Trial winner.
5 times winner of the famous Scottish Six Day Trial.
7 times winner of the World’s most arduous trial, the Scott Trial on the harsh and unforgiving Yorkshire moors.
Winner of over 1482 Trials events.
9 Gold medals at International Six Day Trials.
Irish Motocross Champion.
Irish Sand Racing Champion.
Winner of most Irish Road races, including winning the North West 200 and the Leinster 200 three years in succession.
Third in the World Grand Prix Championships on a works Mondial
Sponsor of the British Classic Trial Championships.
2007 inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in the USA.
2009 awarded the MBE for services to motorcycle heritage.
2014 – Named FIM Legend – 2025 inducted into the FIM Hall of Fame in Switzerland.
2025 – RAC Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
2025 – Trials Guru website awards Sam with one of only ten exclusive white Trials Guru VIP Winner caps!
Trials Guru’s, John Moffat has interviewed 11 times British Trials Champion, Sammy Miller on many occasions.
References:
Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum & Trust Catalogue – Obtainable from the Museum sales office. Sammy Miller Museum Trust.
Sammy Miller and Trials Guru’s John Moffat catch up at the Classic Dirtbike Show at Telford in February 2016 – Photo: Fiona Watson
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