A rare Douglas Vespa ashtray
Nigel Buxton recently emailed me some great photos and shared memories of his Vespa riding youth, see previous post. Now based in western Australia, Nigel formerly lived in Sussex, England and was friends with Frank Brookes and Reg Gardner in Mid Sussex VC, at the time they started up the Veteran Vespa Club. Nigel stayed in touch with club president Frank and paid him a visit in 2013 …
Hi Paul,
While trawling through some ‘old’ photos, I came across these – my visiting Pres Frank back in March 2013.
I had an ‘original’ VCB black & yellow scarf together with a Douglas souvenir ashtray, that I presented to him to add to his collection of memorabilia plus some cog badges too. It had been decades since we had seen each other & memories came flooding back – it was he & Reg Gardener [Mid Sussex VC aka “The Flying Friars”] who originally really gave me every encouragement to spread my wings & RIDE!
Regards
Nigel Buxton
Perth WA
Nigel (left) with Frank
VVC chairman, Roger Smith told me this story a while back but great to hear it from Nigel and see the photo of him together with Frank - thanks Nigel ; )