'' LEN'S BIKE"

I first met Len in 1988 when I was restoring my first Indian,  we immediately became friends. I visited him regularly, and we did the rallies together. I enjoyed his recollections of his early days of riding Indians. He had owned a "four" during the thirties,  but it was damaged whilst on loan to a friend. The 750 Sport Scout that replaced it had been on the stand at the motor cycle show at Earls Court, London.

Len was a nice man,  I never saw him angry, or have a bad word for anyone. He knew many people from both of the Indian Clubs, and members always made a point of speaking to him, it was a mark of respect he justified. Len worked on building sites into his eighties, he survived daily on three buttered rolls, bought from the bakers opposite, and a tin of Heinz vegetable soup in the evening. The weekend highlight was a meat pie and jacket potato, enjoyed with a lifelong friend Bill. Len did not eat fruit either, so it makes one wonder about the "five a day" we are supposed to need.

Len had a respect for all forms of life animal, and insects, and would go out of his way to avoid injuring or killing them. I was told that a member of his family had brought a crab in a bucket back from the coast,  Len got in his car and drove to Brighton to let it go in the sea. That would have been a ninety mile round trip. On a visit to see Len back in 2001 he told me that he was going to put the scout into an auction. Well I wasn't going to let that happen, so I agreed to buy it, and a deal was done. He did well out of this arrangement, he got the money and I still took him and the scout to the rallies. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Most people that knew Len refer to the Scout as' Lens bike', and I like it that way.

It is a fitting tribute to a man loved and respected by so many.

Jeff Willingham.