Dear everybody,
For the second time during the last six years I have attempted to make contact with old Surbitonians and people in the surrounding areas and to share with everybody my wonderful memories of growing up there between the 1940s and 1960s.
Sadly it has not been possible without someone bringing up the tragic subject of my eldest brother who may have been a brilliant actor but whose troublesome personal life is best kept under wraps for the sake of others. Regrettably I must withdraw from making any further contribution to this website.
Peter Kenney
Comments
Following on from the comments by anthony I am the Malcolm Robertson he mentions and I can vividly remember turning up at the Tip Top cafe in the small parade of shops just before the Hook underpass. As i recall in the early days we did not wear crash helmets just aviator style goggles ( seems mad now) and as anthony says we would have a chat and then a fast ride down to the Tyrola cafe which was located just off Dorking High Street. Peter Kenney i am sure was riding a new Norton SS which I think was slightly less than reliable, and I would have been on my Triumph Thunderbird. The Tyrola always seemed to be crowded but I suppose in those days places to hang out were limited. Anthony is quite correct in that I did join the Police Force and became a traffic motorcyclist firstly in Surrey and then transfered to Norfolk and remained on motorcycles until 2002. I still have a couple in the garage and still enjoy riding, probably a bit more sedate now. Those days do now seem remote but are remembered with great affection and before legislation and health and safety drove into the lemming like state we are in to-day.
Pleased to hear from anybody with an interest at mj-robertson@hotmail.co.uk. I now live in Norwich.
Thankyou for your contribution to this Malcolm. And you remember my awful initial experiences with the Norton 650ss, in those days the state of the art 650, but known for things falling off and pistons breaking up. I managed to get it running very well indeed later on. There was such a huge following on motorcycles back then because before the laws governing what one could ride while on L plates it was possible to start off on say a 650cc or even a Vincent 1000cc and the local Comerfords shop by the long Ditton Recreation Ground sold all sorts of bargains. It was like an Alladin's Cave for teenagers. A motorcycle was a passport to new horizons even if they were every coffee bar and road side cafe near every fast bit of road as far as the coast. Who remembers George Henry's snack bar in St James' Road and Milos by the railway bridge in the upper Brighton Road with their juke boxes blairing out all the hits of the day. We didn't seem to have time for pubs at that time and besides there was no shortage of girls who wanted to get out and about on the pillion even in tight skirts and stilleto heels.
Were you the Pete Kenney that Anthony said was in Riverhill Riders?
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Yes that's me. If you like you can contact me directly on pak.2010@hotmail.co.uk