Saints and sinners
As soon as his finances allowed, there was
no stopping Kev from getting his next
scooter.Heoften frequentedTomCollins
Motorcycles, which was full of all different
makes of two-wheeled vehicles. His eye
soon caughtaneat LI 150 done as an ‘S
Type’. It wasn'tagenuine one, but that
didn't matter,itlooked good and was a
head turner.This was soon to be his new
pride and joy,and finally meant being
back on two wheels again. The side panels
had the rider’sname, Dave Appleton,
written on them, which wasacommon
thing to do at the time. Jeff Collins, who
sold Kev the scooter,said he knew Dave
and so put Kev in contact with him.
Little did he know at the time that this
first meeting with Dave would change his
life forever.Dave wasamember of the
Widnes Saints SC and he invited Kev
along to meet the rest of the members.
The scene was set, with Kev ready to turn
up onWednesday at club night, eager to
impress on his ‘SType’ lookalike.
Unfortunately,hewas greeted with
laughs as once again the out-of-date LIre-appeared at the club. "I wondered who
was going to buy that old thing," said
Dave jokingly.Kev felt slightly bemused at
the reaction, but it quickly turned to one
of warmness as he was welcomed into the
club. Also present that night were John
Illing and Gordon Eves, who were to
become instrumental in shaping Kev's
career within the scootering world.
For now though, they laughed and
joked, sharingabeer and unaware of
what they wereallgoing to achieve in
the future.
Next time:Joining the jetset!
Words:Stu Owen
Photographs:Courtesy of the KevWalsh
archiveswrittenonthem whichwasacommonwtw
tarchivesNowamember of theWidnes Saints and Saracens sporting club, he always displayed the club banners on his Robin, which by the early
1970s had been transformed toamore normal colour.Being partofaproper scooter club meant getting involved in everything they did, even if
in this instance Kev didn’t seem happy with the prospect of doing so.Posing for the camera with the fake ‘S
Type’ in the foreground.