Hadleigh Olympics will remind me of our special bike race for the Queen (From Echo)

Hadleigh Olympics will remind me of our special bike race for the Queen

11:00pm Friday 27th August 2010 in

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IT was a roaring success. There’d never been anything like the 1952 event and there hasn’t been anything like it since.

We will have to wait another couple of years for anything like it to happen again, when the 2012 Olympic mountain biking event is staged at Hadleigh’s Salvation Army farm.

But those old enough to turn back the clock more than half a century will surely recall the incredible, first-organised mass motorcycle scramble on that same hilly and challenging terrain back in 1952, followed by more on several May and August Bank Holiday Mondays.

They were launched to mark the accession to the throne of Queen Elizabeth. And today they remain fresh in the mind of the man who was a main mover behind the then daring series, Peter Watkin.

Now 80, living alone in a Westcliff flat, he is surrounded by trophies and memorabilia galore gathered through his own daring escapades on two wheels and, later, four.

He recalls: “I was competitions secretary of the Southend and District Motorcycle Club when Queen Elizabeth succeeded her late father.

“We thought a scramble would be a good way of marking that special time in our history. With a colleague, Sonny Absalom, we decided to approach the Salvation Army to see if we could use their land on the Hadleigh downs.

“Sonny’s mother was a member of the old Benfleet Council and she persuaded others to support our project.”

Peter and Sonny approached Colonel Bell, then in charge of the Farm Colony, and talked him into agreeing to the project.

“We agreed to pay £200 to the Salvation Army for each meeting we staged there,” Peter says.

He says: “It was a massive effort by club members and supporters, involving the printing of thousands of posters, programmes and publicity material. We hired tents and marquees.

“Rex Byford, of the well-known Rayleigh firm of builders’ merchants, hauled stakes and masses of rope to the site so we could mark out the course and keep spectators out of danger. We had special outfits for gatekeepers, stewards and programme sellers.”

Thousands turned up for the first of several scrambles. One event, staged on a Whit Monday, was televised by the BBC. Peter recalls: “The commentator was the wonderful Murray Walker.

He was very laid back.”

However, it turned out Murray was better at sport commentary than geography.

“He simply assumed the event must be at Hadleigh in Suffolk,” recalls Peter.

“He stayed there overnight, in a hotel. Early next morning, when asking directions to the scramble site, he learned there was no such event taking place in Suffolk. After hurried calls and checks he had to dash to our Hadleigh, here in Essex!”

Peter’s love of motorcycles began long before he was old enough to drive on public roads. He went on to run several businesses and garages in and around Southend. Alongside his active business life, he chalked up triumphs galore as a sportsman. His successes included becoming the first National Autocross Champion of Great Britain in 1967.

He later moved to rally cars and, in the Eighties, teamed up successfully with son Paul, who inherited his love of car racing.

Towards the end of his careering career on wheels, Peter also took part in several stock car events.

Now he drives a small saloon locally, sedately, the dashing, daring, dangerous years behind him.

He Peter laughs.“The Hadleigh Olympics are costing a fortune and there’s a huge bureaucracy involved. We did it all on a shoestring, by ourselves, just a couple of lads.”