Introduction to the Isle of Man

People often ask me why I'm so interested in the Isle of Man so here is my own recollection of how it all started.
All of the early part is from memory with diaries becoming more used as the TT-period started (and continued!..)

Many people don't know much

After many years visiting the Isle of Man to watch both the TT and MGP races as well as at other times and having almost exhausted Lynette & Mark's hospitality, a place to call my own was sought.

After many false starts which prompted some people to question my commitment, I eventually found a place I liked in Onchan - just outside Douglas.

While it is extremely close to Douglas and has full use of the facilities offered, it does have its own village and commissioners - who set rates _lower than those of Douglas. For a lecture on this, including possible ways to keep Onchan-ites out, ask any Douglas resident! (ha ha)

School journey

It all started in 1967 when I was in my last year of primary school.

Each year, the school organised a school journey for pupils in the senior class, just before they left for secondary school. This journey was paid for in installments by the parents over the school year which, when considering I was the eldest of five, must have been quite difficult for my parents but for which I thank them immensely!

This year, the trip was to the Isle of Man. As always, all pupils going on a school journey were required to complete a project about the destination. Various contacts with the IOM tourist board were made (by the school, I believe) and supplies of leaflets arrived.

Like all the other pupils, I had completed my project, swotting up on all the areas shown in the timetable, which had been arranged in advance by the school.

From memory, we were to stay in a hotel in Ramsey, overlooking Mooragh park but I cannot remember the name. Trips were arranged to Castle Rushen, Laxey wheel, Point of Ayre lighthouse & Mooragh park boating lake amongst others which have sadly been forgotten over the years (but probably included Peel castle, ...).

As the day approached, my Mum washed, ironed & packed the necessary clothes and bought special things which I didn't appreciate at the time such as toiletry bags, after all, being the eldest, I was the first to go on a school journey and she obviously wanted me to enjoy myself.

On the Friday before leaving, all pupils were examined by the school doctor to ensure they were fit enough for the trip.

When I was examined, I was devastated to be told I couldn't go because I had bronchitis!.
I couldn't believe it and insisted we asked our own doctor, Dr. Shaw in Eversholt street, who unfortunately agreed with the school doctor. I went home pretty unhappy (?) while all the other kids prepared to leave early on Saturday morning.

Thanks are due here to my aunt & uncle, Vera & Des, who offered to take me on holiday with them & their children, my cousins Steven, David & Tony, at Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey - not quite the same as the Isle of Man but an island nevertheless!. That holiday was memorable for a couple of reasons: It was the first time I went 'cockle-ing' and ate any form of seafood and I was taken to the doctors at the site after I developed a rash under my arms to be told I suffered from Ecxzma.

It was also the first time I remember sitting in a Holiday-camp hall drinking pepsi (or Coke, the distinction wasn't obvious in those days).

I don't remember how those days passed at school or even if I was at school during this period (thinking about it, I probably wasn't as all the teachers must have been on holiday - in the Isle of Man!). I seem to recall a date of 25th May but that would have been the start of TT practise week & I don't think a school would arrange a trip during this time - that would be a real nightmare!

After the party returned, the only thing that sticks in my mind was an argument with my 'best-friend' at the time, Terry McCarthy, about how the time was told using the clock at Castle Rushen in Castletown. This clock only has a single hand which indicates the hour; the minutes are estimated from the position between the two hours but Terry told me I was an hour out i.e. the hand was between 10 & 11 so I estimated the time at about 10:20. Terry told me it was 11:20 - "that was how you read it. I was there...". Looking back, this was a pretty harsh way of telling me I hadn't gone on the trip but school children are not known for their subtlety.

My first visit

It wasn't until 1978 that I actually managed a trip to the Island.
It was a holiday with a very good friend of mine called Phil Cranfield whom I met on a cruise with the Scouts to Scandinavia in 1971.
We remained friends after the cruise and I often mentioned the disappointment over the school journey of 1966 so one evening in the pub we agreed to would visit the Island & I made all the necessary arrangements.

On Sunday 8th October, I left home to drive to Phil's house in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. We drove straight to North Wales where we stayed in a village called "Llanarmon-yn-lal" at a private house called "Tyn Llan" The house had no indoor plumbing, an outside toilet and, in the morning, the lady of the house left a jug of water & a bowl outside the bedroom for us to wash.
Despite these minor 'setbacks', the hospitality was tremendous (despite it being in North Wales - oops!) and I remember breakfast time being very nice although I can't remember exactly what it was, only that she was extremely accommodating when I told her I was a vegetarian.

The other thing I remember about the stay in Wales was the drive we took into Mold & up onto a hillside.
It was memorable because of the smell of coal & sight of smoke from all the coal fires and London was a smokeless-zone.
Another nice thing was the local pub (which we walked to). I can't remember the name or location but it had a really old cash register (till) that was sliver plated and had a paisley pattern. I also remember some of the locals being friendly and something about a collection or raffle but no more detail - I really must try to locate this area on a map one day.

Monday, 9th October 1978

We left at 08:00 next day & drove through the Mersey tunnel to the ferry. It was the first time I had been through the tunnel.

First encounter with the IoMSP Co.

As the ferry was supposedly fully booked, we had to put our name onto a standby list but managed to get on the 11 O'clock (or thereabouts) sailing, arriving in Douglas at 14:45. I don't remember much about the crossing except that the sea was a bit rough.

As part of the reason for visiting was to check out every pub in the Good Beer Guide, we started by going to the Groudle Glen hotel to see if we could book in as Bed & Breakfast (cos the Good beer guide said they did B&B) but they were either full or closed for the season.
We drove back into Douglas and stopped at the Queens Hotel on queens prom. We started speaking to the people behind the bar and I bought a set of cards showing the various pubs of the Island.
They also suggested we try the (now defunct) Peveril hotel - right opposite the ferry terminal - for B&B. They did have vacancies and as a special luxury after having no shower or bath in Wales, we booked into a en-suite room.

Weirdly, the only other two things I remember on that first day was buying shoe polish (of all things) from "Kellys" the (now also defunct) shop near the top of Summerhill, (Onchan, at that time pronounced on-chan, as in "Channel" not onkan) and driving along a long, straight road back towards Douglas (which I now know as the Whitebridge road).

We left the hotel around 18:00 and went for an Indian meal, bought some postcards (real tourist stuff!) and went to explore a few pubs including the New Strand Inn (now combined with the ex-Legs of Man into Casey's), The British (radically changed), the Wheatsheaf (now known as the Corner House and changed radically), the Ridgeway (now closed) and two others whose names I only found out recently - one at the end of Athol street (now an office) and another one which had fire-hoses as handpumps. I later found out (in 1992) that it was called the Albion then & now named the Rovers Return (after the football club the owner, Martin Brunchweiler, supports - not coronation st!).

We returned to the hotel & I had a bath before going to bed.

Tuesday, 10th October 1978

Today we did the tourist bit by visiting Laxey and taking photographs of the wheel before driving up to Ramsey. Spent lunchtime in the Crown, the Central and the Bridge.
Next place on our tour was the Point-of-Ayre lighthouse. Although the tourist season was finished, we managed to get a visit to the top of the lighthouse.
During the visit, I overheard a Morse transmission & managed to read a couple of the letters. This seemed to prove to the lighthouse keeper that we were quite interested and he proceeded to show us parts of the station visitors were not normally shown including the engine room & the compressor room (for the fog-horns).

Continuing our exploration, we drove to Andreas, Kirk Michael and onto Peel.
From the Marine Hotel we called the Station Hotel in Port Erin to book a room for tonight and watched Star Trek before driving south, in thick fog.
After booking into the hotel, we went walk-about looking for more of the pubs from the Good Beer Guide.
Although the Falcons Nest is in there, it only sells keg beer so we didn't bother having a drink (snobs!) and just went back to the Station Hotel where we stayed talking to a few people, including a guy called Mohammed who was studying air-traffic control and we managed to blag a visit to the control tower of Ronaldsway airport for the next day.
I went to bed, pretty much the worse for wear that night!

Wednesday 11th October 1978

The next day we became tourists again, taking pictures of Port Erin & Bradda Head before driving up Bradda Head & taking pictures of Port Erin! A quick trip to Port St. Mary followed by the Sound and back to Castletown to meet Mohammed who took us to Ronaldsway.
The visit was very interesting & I remember seeing the RADAR screens and going to the roof of the control tower but not a lot more.

After taking Mohammed back to Castletown, the rest of the day seems like a pub-crawl (obviously before the strict drink-driving laws!) including the Glue pot, the Union and the Victoria before picking up the car and driving to the Ducks Nest (very Manx! - the driving, I mean). Dreswick point before another collection of pubs - the WhiteStone in Ballasalla, The Foxdale Hotel (Baltic), the Crosby before going - via the mountain road across sheep-grids and in sleet to Laxey where we stayed in the Glen Hotel which had recently closed for the season & was being run by the nephew of the two ladies who normally ran the place. I found this out later in the evening when we were drinking after hours - legally, as we were residents.

Phil had gone to bed in a room which had been specially made up by the nephew as, as I have already mentioned, the hotel had closed for the season.

Thursday 12th October 1978

After leaving the Laxey Glen Hotel, we drove to the Bungalow and walked to the summit up, what looked like, a straight path. After a photo-shoot (see pic), we decided on the easier route down - following the electric tram lines. Total journey time: 2½ hours.
After visiting the northwest of the Island, visited Tynwald and headed for Douglas, stopping in the Highlander for a drink.
Once back in Douglas and confortably installed in a pub (the Bridge Inn followed by the Prospect hotel) I rang and asked if it was possible to have a look around. The answer was an astonishing "yes".
We were met by Mike Reynolds, who at that time presented the 13:00-16:00 slot but is now the Production manager (and later it turns out was married to a good friend of Naomi's!) I can't remember if we were actually shown around the station or just spoke to him.

After another failed attempt at a drink in Port Soderick (it was closed for winter season) and a drink in the Douglas Head Hotel, [Thinking about this now, we must have used Marine Drive to get between the two places - something we're not likely to be able to do in the foreseeable future] we booked into a small private guest house next to the Prospect Hotel. Once again, this was officially 'closed for the season' but we must have had nice faces, or something..
A last look around at Summerland, Laxey (Coach & Horses and Mines Tavern) before back to Douglas and Terminus Tavern, Albion and, finally Ridgeway(?)

Friday 13th October 1978

On leaving the Island, we were stopped by the police as we queued for the ferry and searched. This was part of a new anti-terrorist action introduced to combat the IRA.
I was slightly concerned as we had 4 cameras (my 'instant' camera, Dad's more professional camera and cine-camera & Phils camera) + a couple of beer glasses with the Okells logo on which we were given by the guy running the Laxey Glen Hotel (but which the Police would probably think were stolen) but nothing was said. In retrospect, it really was an anti-terrorist check which can only be good for the protection of the U.K. mainland and the IOM's impartiality.

My First TT

After I had passed my motorcycle test in January 1982, a guy I worked with called Phil Little & his crowd from Potters Bar (where he lived) asked if I wanted to go to the TT at the end of May 1983. I agreed and it was all arranged by Phil & Mike Pine. The night before we left, I stayed @ Phil's parents' house in Potters Bar. We left early the next morning & rode to Liverpool to catch the Ferry. Phil, Mike, Dave ?? & his girlfriend, Alison. On arrival, we rode along the prom to find the Grasmere hotel, situated just below the lift going from the prom to the Flacon Cliff Hotel.

Booking in, Dave & Allison had a double room to themselves (although it wasn't ready when we first arrived and they were given a temporary one) & Mike, Phil & I shared a room. This room had three beds but was obviously only a twinroom. There was so little room in there that two people had to stay on their beds while the third got washed & dressed! The shower was down the hall but didn't work very well, there was a night-light right outside our room which stayed lit all night and there was a constant drone from the kitchen extractor fan. The furniture wasn't much better. Mike stood on a set of drawers to open the window & they promptly collapsed! The phrase "M..F..crash..I" was born & still remembered today.

We suffered this for two nights then on the Friday we went to Ramsey and got soaked on the way back. We tried to dry our clothes in the hotel room but it was impossible. We even asked for additional heaters but the hotel staff were less than helpful. This was the final straw so we went to see the Manager & asked for our money back so that we could find a better place. He refused and quoted various laws about how much we had to pay etc. etc. so we went to the Tourist Board & explained the problem. Unfortunately, they said he was within his rights & that all we could really do was write to the tourist board and complain. Despite this, Phil & I went off to try & find another hotel and came up with the Sefton on Harris prom. Even though we had already paid for one hotel, we thought it was better to pay again & have a good holiday rather than suffer the present hotel.
So we moved.
And had a great time.
The Sefton had en-suite bathroom, great restaurant, two bars & private parking. The only thing we didn't have was a nice view as the room faced the cliff behind the hotel but this was a minor price to pay.
It was also the first time I had used my newly-aquired Diner Club card.

My first lap

I only remember one thing about my first-ever lap of the TT course.

For some reason, we came onto the course at Hillberry (although I doubt this information now that I know more about the area!) did a lap & pulled in when we reached Hillberry again.
I wondered why we had pulled in until Phil pointed out that we were back where we had started.

It was during this trip we started to use the "New Strand Inn" which we 'adopted' as a meeting place. This was partly due to remembering it from my first visit in 1978 and becomes significant later on.

Accomodation problems

During 1993 fearing outstaying my welcome with Mark & Lynette Byrne, especially as they now had Max to look after, I decided to intensify my search for a house on the Island

I had been casually looking for a place for about 2 years and the subject had become something of a joke amongst the group...

"..oh yeah.. Robert's looking for a house again is he?..."

Arriving in the Island one February, I visited a number of new houses in the current development areas but never really saw one I liked or in an area I particularly wanted to live in.

During a conversation with a mortgage broker on the Island, (co-incidence or what? :)

So, on 25th April 1994, I became the proud owner of my own property in Birch Hill.