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Also in the picture is Edith Haydon (Ian's mum) and Tinky their dog.

That's it, Graham Loram. Thanks for letting us all know. Isn't it awful when you know who they are but can't remember.

Fabulous, and it's great news to have Deryk's massive archive available for all to see. The 1964 Scottish was the first SSDT that I attended. I was just 17 at the time and having passed my driving test a couple of months earlier my Dad suggested that we go to the trial and watch, so together with Maurice Everett from Harpenden, Secretary of the Mid Herts Club, we went north from our Slough home to see the 1964 Scottish. As Deryk has reported so vividly, it was arguably the wettest week in the history of the trial, though some of the subsequent 36 Scottish Six Days that I have attended seem to me to have been pretty wet, though wet weather gear is much better these days than it was in 1964. I have two abiding memories of the '64 trial - apart from the weather. The first is of the eventual winner Sammy Miller getting into an enormous tangle on Foyers overlooking Loch Ness, with the poor picture I took at the time showing him leaning so far over the front wheel of his Ariel that his head was almost touching the front wheel. That picture has been published in the past, but I regret that I can't find the original in my poorly stored collection of pictures. However, I do have a few others which I will get scanned soon and will post on here. Secondly, together with Ralph Venables, the four of us were trudging up the steep hill to watch the Tyndrum sections; the rain was coming down sideways and the wind was howling across the hillside when Dad's umbrella was whipped inside out and blown across the mountain. "I see you're off to the office Bert" said Rafe, which may not seem funny now but at the time was hilarious. Tyndrum sections can still be seen from Tyndrum village if you glance to your left whilst heading towards Fort William, they were the twisting scar on the shale covered hillside up high to your left. Mike Rapley

Spectator spotting again. Pretty sure the first spectator on the left is Chris Hurworth of the Wycombe Club in the South Midland Centre and the third spectator squatting down is from the Moretonhampstead Club in the South Western Centre but can't for the life of me remember his name except that he was a friend of Gary Annaly.

Let me speak for the Lancs County MCC Normandale round on Saturday, August 2 at Brookhouse Brickworks. This will be a one route trial, i.e. every rider rides the same course. In the past we have been able to cater for all riders of all abilities on all machines eligible to take part in this series. Basically, we have straight sections, no tight turns and use a mixture of streams and muddy/rocky sections. Very old fashioned but that's the basic intention of this series. However, I have not ridden other rounds for a few years so can't speak for their events. If you want to judge how popular this trial is, when we ran in March we attracted around 140-160 entries; now that we have to run in mid-summer due to the landowner's requirements, we still attract about 100 riders (summer trials always get fewer entries than winter/spring events). You'll notice that our trial is on SATURDAY, that's because Westmorland will also be running a round of the same series on Sunday, the following day, so there are two trials of the same series on the same weekend with the locations less than 20 miles apart. I would expect Westmorland to run a very similar style of trial, though the land they use is very different. I was ACU steward at their event last year and though a few sections had some tightish turns, it was basically a very sound event and ideal for the style of trial expected in the Normandale series.

The "blinged" Bulto in question was totally standard except for being tarted up. I had little mechanical knowledge then, (in fact not much more now!) so changing things was not something I did. Just about every bike I've owned I've ridden as it comes, out of the box and still do. I may well have used Renthals and perhaps different grips but generally as standard as they come. My current Beta's only change is to the pilot jet and a different pair of footrests.

Sorry to have to disappoint you, but I don't know of any clubs in Scotland that cater for sidecars. You are about 30 years too late! The whole UK sidecar scene has diminished greatly, some 25-30 years ago it was booming but whilst there is still a British Championship series that attracts around 25-30 riders, there are not many other trials in which to take part, certainly none in Scotland that I know of. In fact even when the scene was at its best, I don't think there were ever any in Scotland. I rode as many as I could from '79 to '84 and never once in Scotland yet I live only 70 miles from the border.

The bike started off in life as a standard, metal tanked Bulto with silver frame and blue/silver tank; a 250cc but don't know what the actual model designation was. In those days, newly married and short of cash I couldn't afford to change my trials bike frequently so spent what cash I had tarting it up. I had the frame enamelled black and the tank painted red with white striping. I had the exhaust and a few other bits chromed in Exeter (I was living at Crediton at the time) and worked for a Volvo truck dealer on Marsh Barton Trading Estate. In fact back in October I was in Exeter and looked around for the garage where I worked; it's still there and has barely changed some 40 years later. But I digress. Back to the Bulto, I kept it for another year or so and then moved on to a 250 yellow tanked Suzuki and so on. Strangely, I don't actually remember much about this particular Bultaco, even though I guess I owned it for probably three years, maybe more.

Laird's December 20 posting showing Geoff Chandler is, I think, incorrect. I think it is of Arthur Dovey but I'm happy to be corrected, just my opinion.

Don't know who the rider is but that's Pete Remington in the background.

So, I have to dig out some Cotton pics of me now! Tomorrow sometime or maybe Friday!

This pic is of the last of the three Bultos that I rode, just after I had refurbished it, probably about 1976.

Have just found a suitable picture, it is of yours truly on my Montesa Mk V taken at a Devonport trial on October 31, 1971.

Managed it!!

Have just been sorting out a few pics, never posted a pic before so here goes. This is an ex-Roger Wooldridge Bultaco that I'm pictured on talking to my late Dad at the end of the Beggars Roost trial of 1968. ERRRR! Need to find out how to attach a picture!

Adding an extra condenser and coil was fairly standard practice for big events. I know that my Bultaco had such a modification for when I rode my first SSDT in 1972. I also remember carrying a spare throttle cable and clutch cable in my pocket, in fact I caused a near panic to my then girlfriend (now my wife) as I left the cattle market and was back within a quarter of an hour as I had forgotten to put the two cables in my pocket so then had to catch up the numbers that had started behind me and were by then in front a few miles up the road. Happy days! Again (see Montesa postings) I'll dig out some Bulto pics from that era and post on here. Sorry if they have to be of me - again!!

That's not a 348, more likely a Model V (five) b. I bought one in 1971 (I think) and found it very poor and sold it within six months and bought a brand new Miller Bultaco. I'll dig out a few pics of the Montesa (with me riding it I regret you'll have to put up with). Must check my dates as not at all sure I'm right.

Not only is that Bill Martin at the top of the cropped picture, correct me if I'm wrong but I think the other guy is Tony Bingley, and if I'm right, his son Gary has entered this year's Scottish and no doubt hoping he'll be successful in the ballot.

Let me tell you a story! Back in 1964 or maybe 1965, I bought a 250 Royal Enfield Crusader trials from a dealer called Bob Wilkerson in my home town of Slough. I rode it (very badly) through '65 and into '66 and probably early '67 before exchanging it for a 250 Cotton at Edwards Motorcycles of Hemyock, Devon (for by then I had moved from Slough to Devon). Once it was sold I had no interest in it until sometime in the early to mid 'eighties, when I was working at TMX, I received a phone call from somebody whose name I can't remember, saying that he had bought NBH 611 D, my old Crusader, and that he was planning to do it up. Rather foolishly, I sent to him an envelope which contained all the photos I had of the bike, together with the purchase documentation, expecting to receive it all back once he had perused it and made copies. Either my original envelope to him never arrived, or more likely he kept it all as original authentication for the machine, which probably gave it more value. The pages are still missing from my scrapbook and I rue the day that I posted off that envelope. I have no idea if NBH 611 D exists now, and if it does, who owns it. I have no desire whatsoever to own it again, but I would like to have the documents and pictures back, even if they are only copies. Does anybody out there know of the bike or indeed if it still exists? Contact me through the usual channels if you can help. Mike Rapley

Hi All, I can confirm once and for all when it was. It was taken on Pipeline (we all know that) in 1984. Alan finished in 24th place losing 28 marks - details obtained from Jim McColm's book Six Days In May, and it was the first Pre 65 trial with 76 finishers. Sammy Miller won with the loss of 2, second was Malcolm Rathmell on 4 with Martin Lampkin third on eight. The sections were Mam Brec (1 section), Mamore (5), Loch Eild Path (8), Pipeline (3) and Grey Mares Ridge (5). I remember trudging up to see the sections on Mamore but worried that I would be missing the main Six Days action, for I was reporting for TMX in those days and found it a lot of work covering both the Six Day action that day and also the Pre 65 action. The Pre 65 was held on a Tuesday to help take vehicles away from Achlain where parking was a real problem as so many spectators wanted to watch there.

Hi Deryk, I can definitely confirm that it is earlier than 1989. The person on the left spectating with a bald patch and a beard is me - Mike Rapley - and I shaved off my beard in 1987 when it went down a Polish drain. I went to the ISDE for TMX that year at Jelenia Gora and of course the Iron Curtain still existed. I wanted to shave off my beard but didn't dare as my passport photo showed me with a beard and I thought that if I shaved it off before I went, I might not be allowed in. I guess that I wasn't bothered if they wouldn't allow me out!!

Next time you use the brakes on that BSA, make sure I'm not in line - can't guarantee I can be as agile twice in a year!

Here's a tip, don't take thousands of pics from the same place, move around, choose a different section. Make it a rule never to take more than 8 from the same place, otherwise, they have plenty of action. Pity about the objectionable advertising linked to the site you are using.

Ben Wibberley's result must have been the best Greeves finish since Don Smith (or Bill Wilkinson).

Tuesday would be the best day. Go to Laggan Locks and see about 60 riders through. Return to the main road, drive up to the next main junction (passing the little shop on your left and buy goodies for lunch), left at that junction then in a couple of miles turn left into the forest , drive as far as you can then go to the Forest Gate sections, possibly only 200 yards from where you have parked and see about 80 - 100 riders through. Return to main road, take left and follow for 10 miles or so, left at t junction and then in 3 miles, Creag Lundie is on the hillside on your righjt. Stay there for the whole entry or until you have seen enough and take in Witches Burn on the way back in, reached by taking a right (left if travelling from Spean Bridge) at the Commando Memorial, follow that road and turn right at the t junction, but watch riders returning down that bit of road from Witches Burn. One of the few days where you can see 11 sections in a day.