Keswick Lad

Earlier this week I was at Silverstone race circuit to meet up with an old friend, former motorcycle world champion ‘Rocket’ Ron Haslam.  Ron and his family run a fantastic race school which had to move this year because of the closure of Donington Park.  Donington was being re-built to host the F1 car grand prix but the bid failed leaving the track half-finished and unfit for racing.

After several successful years Ron’s race school was suddenly left homeless and without a track.  But his wife Ann saved the day by negotiating a transfer to Silverstone.  On a purely selfish note, Silverstone is a bit of a trek and nowhere near as good for taking pictures of bike racing.  Nothing against the circuit but it is a car circuit, it has lots of room and is apparently very fast – but Donington is about 20 minutes from my Nottingham base and easily makes great bike shots.

I doubt any of this matters to Ron, he just loves bikes and racing.  Ron is from a little village in Derbyshire and I hope he does not mind me saying this but I do not think he was very interested in school.  Ron was always going to be a racer and that was his career, nothing else mattered.

He became a superstar in the sport and travelled the world – but he never changed one bit.  Ron won three World titles, four British championships and raced in almost 110 GPs.  Although the guy is a legend he is still the most helpful person I have ever seen with other racers.  Ron will help anyone with a bike.

As you may have read on earlier posts, some ‘famous’ people have been a bit of a let down – but not Ron.  If you attend one of Ron’s schools he will be there.  He will be racing around the track and helping everyone from the youngest kid upwards.  Ron always has time for a photo or an autograph – too much if you are trying to get him to do something !

If you are a bike fan and love racing then I can thoroughly recommend the Ron Haslam Race School.  They will look after you whatever standard you are, you can go as fast or slowly as you wish.  There is no pressure at all to race, they just want you to enjoy your day and be safe.  I hope I still hold the record for the slowest lap round Donington on a 500cc race bike.  They will also teach you control which might just save your life on the dangerous roads away from the track.  All the equipment is provided and if you are really brave you might be able to buy a pillion ride with Ron – if you dare !

You might also bump into his son, Leon, who is currently second in the World Superbike Championship.  Leon regularly visits the school when his own work and golf commitments allow.  The school is most definitely a family business.

Ron also runs a course for young riders where he teaches basic road craft.  He shows the kids how to stop and corner with total control.  He is not trying to teach them to be ‘boy racers’ but he is making sure they are safer when they do venture onto the open road.

This week Ron had TV commentator Martin Brundle and former racing driver Derek Warwick at his school.  As they arrived the weather changed for the worse and the track was soon wet.  Ron kept warning them that bikes do not handle like cars in the wet but they ignored him – until Warwick was sliding along the tarmac just after his bike !

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As a press photographer I get to travel a lot and I spend a lot of time in hotels – some good, some not so good.

On Friday I travelled down to Cardiff to see a Paul McCartney concert.  The former Beatles legend was playing at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday night.  I stayed in the Village Hotel on the outskirts of the City.  It is a modern hotel with its own leisure club and it looked very impressive on the internet.

As I walked into my bedroom I was met by the hotel magazine which was on the bed and already opened to show the Friday special offer – ‘Burger Me !’ which was ‘burger and chips in The Victory pub from 5pm to close for only £2′. It sounded too good to be true.

It was a beautiful summers evening and so I decided to walk down into the nearby village.  I had a few drinks and wandered back into the hotel just after 10pm.  By now I was feeling a little peckish – I remembered the ‘special offer’.

As I walked into The Victory pub I noticed the staff were all wearing their ‘Burger Me’ T-shirts.  I ordered a pint and asked for the burger offer.  “Sorry Sir, the offer is finished – we stop serving food at 9.30pm” said the lady behind the bar slightly apologetically.  I said: “The offer said close – is the bar shut ?”  She apologised again and said there was nothing she could do.

So I took my pint and retreated to my room – next stop room service.  I phoned down and asked what food was available.  “Sorry Sir, we are closed.  I might be able to get you a sandwich or I can bring you a take-away menu” said the very helpful night-porter.

I went for the sandwich.  Five minutes later the night-porter bought me two packs of motorway service station style sandwiches for the very reasonable price of £5.  He assured me he would pass my comments on to the duty manager and they would contact me in the morning.

Next morning I was woken by the maid trying to clean my room before 9am – my fault for not putting out the sign.  But I did lock the door and put the chain on !

The rest of the day was fantastic with Macca producing a world-class concert.

I got back to find the maid had removed most of the towels from the room and forgot to replace them.

Sunday morning I popped down for breakfast all ready for a quick drive north in time to see the England match.  I walked through reception and was stopped in my tracks by the queue for breakfast.  Now breakfast is self-service in this hotel, everything is ready and waiting.  All the staff have to do is clear up, reset the tables and give out tea or coffee.  There were at least six staff on duty but I queued for at least 20 minutes for a table.  At least six tables were empty but the staff were not clearing them.

I finally made it into breakfast.  I ordered my tea and collected some orange juice.  The tea arrived and I filled my mug.  Then I was off to collect my full English.  As I tucked into a fine breakfast I went to pick up my tea and noticed it was gone.  The staff had cleared away my breakfast mid meal !

I asked a waitress where my tea was ?  She then looked at me as if I was completely stupid and then wandered off returning with a new pot of tea and a mug.  No apology,  juice or milk.  I asked again for milk.  This came a few minutes later still without any apology.

I realised it was now time to return to England.  I checked out and mentioned a few problem but the receptionist just gave me the manager’s business card.  I think it was clearly time for me to Burger Off back home to Nottingham !

To make matters even worse it appears that  I was overcharged by £10 on my bill.  The manager is now ‘investigating’ and will get back to me – I hope he is a little more efficient than his staff.  Expect an update in a few weeks !

Update:

28th June 2010, 9.48am – The hotel manager emailed me to tell me he was ‘investigating’ my comments and he would get back to me.

30th June 2010, 10am – I am still waiting for his response…….

1st July 2010 – I have a reply from the Manager.  I should not have read the magazine that was left on my bed and opened on the page showing the offer or the T-shirts worn by the bar staff – I should have read the flyer he has now sent me.  The housekeeper will now provide ‘corrective action’ for the towel problem.  The delay at breakfast was all caused by Paul McCartney – too many guests were staying in the hotel.  There was no error on my bill despite my booking receipt and final bill differing by £10.

It is a good job I have always been a fan of Basil Fawlty !

8th July 2010 - Another letter has arrived from the Manager.  My booking receipt is wrong – the staff made a mistake and charged me £10 less than the receipt stated.  It was ‘human error’.

They were making mistakes before I arrived !

The clocks go forward this weekend – summer is just around the corner – the serious golf season has arrived.

After trudging through snow, ice and mud this winter I can now enjoy some sunshine.

Well that has been my thoughts each morning as I lounge in bed watching the breakfast news with the sun beaming in through the blinds.

Then, she appears, the witch of doom who delivers the weather forecast and dashes all my hopes.

Every day this week she has told us it is going to be horrible today but getting better tomorrow.

Do I bother to get out of bed ?

Dare I risk a trip to golf or should I stay at home and avoid the impending storm ?

The answer should be simple, if the BBC say it is going to rain get onto the golf course – I cannot remember the last time their forecast was correct !

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Nothing much surprises me in life any more.  In my job I have seen most things from disasters to freaks of nature.  The variety makes the job so interesting.

But I must admit it does get to me that our new breed of TV and media sports pundits all appear to be the blokes who never quite made the most of their talent, if they had any at all.  Suddenly these guys are telling our modern stars where they are going wrong.  It seems to me that failure and scandal gets rewarded in TV these days.  John Terry and Ashley Cole must be next in line !

A few days ago Chris Waddle, the man who bottled more penalties in big games than most, was complaining about Theo Walcott.

Now I remember Waddle as the bloke who looked like he was in pain every time he stepped onto a football pitch.  The head was down and he looked like it was all a big chore.  He was so ‘one footed’ it was unbelievable.

Waddle also missed penalties in the World Cup semi-final and a few other big games.  The last time I photographed him he was playing for Worksop Town in front of 500 people and three dogs.  The same Chris Waddle this week told us all how he spent hours working on his ‘weak side’.  It was a shame he never took penalties, or pelanties as Waddle calls them, with his weak side right foot !

Then we have Stanley Collymore, the man who was world class with a fire extinguisher and then developed a passion for ‘dogging’.  Stan was actually one of the best players I have ever seen but he could not handle the pressure.  What a waste of talent, but at least he had some.  How can he criticise people after the mistakes he has made in his life ?

Garry Birtles is another former superstar.  He might have won two European Cups with Nottingham Forest but he is best remembered by some for failing to score a goal for months after signing for Manchester United.

I have photographed Garry several times, including during his failed stint as manager of Gresley Rovers.  On our first meeting he brought out all his medals and trophies.  I said I had seen him play a lot.  He gave a big smile and asked which games.  “The first 30 odd at United,” I replied.  The smile disappeared instantly !

Cheeky cockney chappy Jamie Redknapp is another fine example.  Why do Sky employ a man who struggles to speak good English ?

The latest to join the line of ‘experts’ is good old Robbie Savage.  Now I like Robbie as a footballer – he gives his all, and fans, like me, enjoy seeing that – but Robbie ‘the expert’ leaves a lot to be desired.  I had the pleasure of photographing Robbie for his début newspaper column last year

Robbie arrived late, as usual for a footballer, with the opening line: “I have got five minutes, what do you want ?”

“We need some pictures for your new column.  I need some portraits and then what ever you are going to write about,” I said.

“I don’t know what I am writing about,” replied Robbie.

“It is your column, what have you talked about ?” I said.

“No idea.  Just take a few pictures,” said the football expert.

Sports star to TV star in one easy sentence !