The next bit...

As I was getting more into biking, I started going to rallies, never too far, Skipton in Yorkshire was about the furthest north and possibly Bristol to the south. I stuck mainly to the Midlands, Dean Forest, Heart of England and of course our own Golden Eagle MCC rallies.

Early days and Tiger Cubs.....

This is the famous (Not) Gravediggers biker gang from the Tettenhall/Penn areas of Wolverhampton, I'm the mean moody one in the striped shirt with John Boswell (TT Racer) next to me, cousin John Bates and on the right, little Rob. Looks to be all Triumphs we were on then, my little 200cc Tiger Cub is in there somewhere.......

Biking memoirs of the Haddock - In the beginning...

Haddock?
Yes, that became my nickname from the moment I met Speed and all the other reprobates that rode motorcycles in the late 60's. It was just a play on my surname (Caddick) but it sounded good to the others although I would have preferred something a bit more dashing...anyway I best sort some photos out and give the brain a stir to see what floats to the surface, memories fade when you're 2 weeks off 65.....😃

My biking days started off even before I left Secondary School in Bilston. My close friends introduced me riding old bikes around the council garages, then over the old Golf Links off Prouds Lane. At the time you could buy running scrappers for a couple of quid, old Francis Barnets, Lambretta LD's, many types of mopeds, but my first real on the road bike, bought for my 16th birthday, was a Lambretta Li 150, it was a Mod's scrot, complete with about 14 mirrors, front rack, back rack, non working spotlights, Union Flag side panels etc, very similar to the one in the photo which I nicked off the net, but mine wasn't in the same condition......

But I soon felt the need for a motorbike, not a scooter as all my mates rode real bikes.......
So I badgered them into buying me a bike, which they did....a Honda C200 which was only 90cc.....but it was better than a scrot, I rode it for a year going backwards and forward to Bilston College, till a little light blue Hillman Imp decided to pull out right in front of me...😖
This collision wrote my bike AND the Imp off as I hit him dead centre and caved in the side of the car, this left me with a bad knee and the plastic shard of visor down my throat as it went through my cheek, requiring 20 odd stitches.....I looked like that scary Scarecrow in the film of the same name. Here is a similar C200...

I was then relegated to a Honda 50 step through as a stand in till the insurance money came through...Doh! Same as in pic...

Don't forget, I'm still only 16 here.......but this is where the bike craze really started....I swapped the Honda 50 for a BSA Bantam D7 3 gears from a bloke at the factory where I worked, Spencer Steels at Fordhouses, a bit similar to one in the pic below...but mine was much scruffier, no shiny chrome tank for a start, I think mine was Dulux gloss...........

I then graduated to Triumph Tiger Cubs, lots of them, dad's garage was crammed with them, all cheapo ones which cost between a fiver and 25 quid, but my first Cub came from Grays down Cleveland Street, a proper legal bike, all 200cc of thumping highly stressed 4 stroke powerhouse.....see pic below. Again, this is a superb example, mine was identical in colours but was well used.....

During this period of my motorcycling days I owned many, many bikes, far too many to picture here but my collection included BSA C15's, a Garelli 6 speed, many Villiers engined bikes, both single cylinder 2 strokes and twin cylinder 2T ones. I had a nice DMW 2T 250cc bike which I sold to my brother Russ (In the photo below on his Bantam) but he was knocked off it on the way to a rally with his girlfriend on the back, the bike was written off but apart from Jane's knacked ankle, they were both ok.

I reckon I've had about 12 BSA C15's altogether, sometimes 2 or 3 at the same time in the garage, here's a photo of the model..

When the family moved from Bilston to Tettenhall Wood, I used to hang around with biker friends and family, we formed a group and called ourselves the Gravediggers, or Diggers for short. We used to meet at the Mermaid and also at a members house down Grove Lane, very posh......here are a few pics. This one below is when we were setting off for a run somewhere, probably Wales. L to R....Kelvin, Janet Bates, Phil Reeves, little Jenny Bates (rip) and yours truly, Greasers all......

This one is taken outside Kings Barn, Grove Lane the house belonging to Jon Styles's family, the others being Angie Posterns, Mervyn Srodzinsky, John Boswell (Ex TT rider) Maxine, John and Janet Bates, Diane Butcher, Jon Styles myself and a kid who used to hang around with us, I'm sure he had a scrot......

Another one from outside Kings Barn, John Bates, Jon Styles and Phil Whitehouse.

John Bates messing about, a tin bath for a sidecar