This document, written at the beginning of March 2010 after a couple of conversations with Betty Lumley, charts initial investigations into the John Lumley Affair. It is also based on information gathered from a number of sources, including whistleblowers amongst the club membership, and refers to the estimated £1 million motorcycle collection removed from John Lumley's home sometime between his death and funeral and before his trustees were able to carry out an inventory and valuation of the contents of the house and garage. This was one of the documents contained in the Vincent HRD Owners Club Executive Committee case "sumary" [sic] prepared on behalf of the club management by Honorary Secretary Andrew Everett, charged with building a case for expulsion against two of the principal whistleblowers amongst VOC members.
On 4.3.2010, Tom and Betty Lumley confirmed the following nineteen individuals as being involved in the clearance and dispersal of her late brother-in-law's motorcycle collection, consistently described by Betty Lumley and all of John Lumley's "friends in the Vincent club" as "parts" or "bits" and in very poor condition with not a single complete or even near-complete motorcycle in the whole collection.
Dick Wheeldon: VOC Executive Committee member and Spares Liaison Officer. Also a member of the VOC’s North Kent Section. Graham Smith: VOC Executive Committee member and MPH Editor. Also a member of the VOC’s North Kent Section. John Kennedy: VOC Joint-UK Membership Secretary. Also the Section Organiser of the VOC’s North Kent Section. Dawn Kennedy: VOC Joint-UK Membership Secretary. Also a member of the VOC’s North Kent Section. Paul Adams: VOC Executive Committee member and Information Officer. Also a member of the VOC’s North Kent Section. Arthur Farrow: VOC Technical Drawings Manager. Also a member of the VOC’s North Kent Section. Tom Farrow: Member of the VOC’s North Kent Section. Son of Arthur Farrow. John Phillip: VOC Overseas Management Secretary. Also a member of the VOC’s North Kent Section. Gill Phillip (Married name Ashton): VOC member. Daughter of John Phillip. Tom Bull: Member of the VOC’s South London Section. Brian Hill: Member of the VOC’s North Kent Section. Derek Sayer: Vincent HRD restorer. Also a member of the VOC’s South London Section. John Sayer: Section Organiser of the VOC’s South London Section. Eddie Glover: Member of the VOC’s South London Section. Bob Harris (Bill Harrison): Member of the VOC’s North Kent Section. Misidentified and described by Betty Lumley as a neighbour of John Lumley. Mike Pocock: Member of the VOC’s North Kent Section and of the owners of the land on which the VOC’s annual Hever Rally is held. Peter Allen: Colorado-based VOC member. Also Colin Jenner’s brother-in-law. Robert Watson: Canada-based former VOC Executive Committee member and MPH Editor. Colin Jenner: Owner of Vincent HRD specialists Conway Motors. Also a member of the VOC’s North Kent Section. Of these nineteen individuals, the following had been positively identified in March 2010 by the Executors of the John Lumley Estate as recipients of ex-John Lumley motorcycles and parts.
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| Dick Wheeldon: Ignorant of Probate Law? |
Dick Wheeldon
In possession of John Lumley’s 1938 Vincent HRD Series A Rapide, registration number GWL 422 and the 1934 Vincent HRD Model PS “AXN 459”, embroiled in the Nigel Seymour-Smith sub-scandal. Mr Wheeldon was also logged selling several motorcycles, including an Ariel Square Four, which may be the machine mentioned in the research notes reproduced in the VOC EC case summary, as well as various spare parts through eBay under his user name “hrwd499”. In addition, Mr Wheeldon’s son sold a 1929 Scott, registration number UT 4742, identified as an ex-John Lumley motorcycle, through eBay in August 2009. This complete machine has since turned up in Australia. So much for the claims that there was not so much as a single complete motorcycle on or in the whole of John Lumley's property when Mr Wheeldon and his fellow VOC executives and officers, aided by several members of the club, cleared the place out.
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John and Dawn Kennedy: a Rapide for £500. No wonder they're so happy. |
John & Dawn Kennedy
John and Dawn Kennedy did not in fact receive John Lumley's Series C Black Shadow for £500. They received his 1951 Vincent Series C Rapide, registration number LXO 17. This machine has matching frame and engine numbers and a V5 issued in 1983 in the name of J S Lumley. A donation of £500 in the name of Mrs Dawn T Kennedy was received by The Hospice in the Weald from Tom Lumley on 28.4.2009.
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VOC Information Officer and eBay vendor Paul Adams: first port of call for grieving relatives asking about that old Vincent in the shed. |
Paul Adams
In possession of John Lumley’s 1954 Vincent Series D Black Knight, registration number YPA 819. Engine and frame numbers match. This machine may have been registered as UTO 327 before John Lumley acquired a V5 for it in the 1980s. The number YPA 819 also seems to be linked with another ex-John Lumley Vincent Series D motorcycle in the possession of Bill Harrison. Messrs Adams and Harrison live in Swanley, Kent. Paul Adams has also been observed selling rare Vincent HRD spare parts on eBay.
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| Tom and Arthur Farrow with the ex-John Wright Montlhéry Black Shadow acquired from the Tigger Alldus Estate |
Tom Farrow
In possession of John Lumley’s 1921 Scott, described as a mixture of two Scott motorcycles, comprising a 1926 engine. His father Arthur Farrow denied receiving anything from the John Lumley Collection but did not respond when asked if his son Tom Farrow had received an ex-John Lumley motorcycle.
Gill Ashton
In possession of John Lumley’s 1956 Vincent Firefly moped, registration number KUD 993, which has both the old RF60 log book and a V5 document in J S Lumley’s name. Gill Ashton is the daughter of VOC Overseas Membership Secretary John Philipp.
Tom Bull
In possession of John Lumley’s 1937 Vincent HRD Series A Comet, registration number DJH 661. Claims it to be an “incomplete collection of parts, some of which are in poor condition or damaged”. However, DJH 661 has been described elsewhere as a fairly complete rolling chassis with the engine out and Mr Bull tried to exchange it on or around 23.4.2009 for a motorcycle worth £20-25,000.
Brian Hill
In possession of John Lumley’s 1938 Vincent HRD Series A Rapide, registration number CSV 582, which is logged in VMCC files under its original number EUC 574. A donation of £1,000 in the name of Brian Hill was received by The Hospice in the Weald from Tom Lumley on 28.4.2009.
Derek Sayer
In possession of John Lumley’s 1938 Vincent HRD Series A Meteor, frame number M667, engine number D1729. An “S Sayer” is identified as being in possession of an ex-John Lumley Vincent Series C Comet consisting of non-matching frame and engine components.
Eddie Glover
In possession of John Lumley’s 1952 Vincent Series C Comet registration number MYW 574. The V5C is in Mr Glover’s name and the Comet is the subject of a Statutory Off-Road Notice or SORN.
Bob Harris/Bill Harrison
In possession of John Lumley’s 1955 Series D Black Shadow. Mr Harrison gives the registration number as YPA 819, also given as the number of the ex-John Lumley 1954 Vincent Series D Black Knight in the possession of Mr Harrison’s friend and neighbour, Paul Adams. This machine has matching frame and engine numbers and is covered by a receipt giving the number as YPA 819 and bearing a signature: J S Lumley.
Colin Jenner
In possession of John Lumley’s 1938 Vincent HRD Series A Rapide, registration number DNK 713, John Lumley’s 1925 Brough Superior SS100, registration number KH 161, and John Lumley’s 1934 Vincent-HRD Model W. A donation of £2,000 in the name of Mrs A C Jenner was received by The Hospice in the Weald from Tom Lumley on 28.4.2009.
Other recipients of ex-John Lumley motorcycles identified by the Executors in March 2010 included:
O H Stickler
In possession of John Lumley’s 1949 Vincent HRD Series B Rapide, registration number KLW 718, with matching frame and engine numbers. Like all of the other recipients of ex-John Lumley motorycles, Mr Stickler suggests that the motorcycle is, in effect, an incomplete wreck. A donation of £500 in the name of Mr O H and Mrs J Stickler was received by The Hospice in the Weald on 24.4.2009. Harry Stickler is a member of the VOC’s North Kent Section.
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| Michael Bushell: In The Dark |
M Bushell
According to a source at Thackray Williams, Michael Bushell received John Lumley’s 1930 Scott Squirrel, registration number UB 2379. Mr Bushell's father publicly stated on the Scott Owners Club internet forum that his son had been left this motorcycle in John Lumley's Will. Michael Bushell was John Lumley’s accountant and is mentioned in the “Scott Connection” section of the blog. A vintage motorcycle enthusiast whose father is a senior official of the Scott Owners Club, Mr Bushell stated when contacted that he was unaware of John Lumley's motorcycle collection and unaware of any problems relating to the John Lumley Estate.
M Wheeldon
Received John Lumley’s 1930 Scott Squirrel, registration number UT 4742, although he is not on record as having supplied registration details to the Executors. Mr Wheeldon is the son of Dick Wheeldon, who is on record as claiming that there were no Scotts or Brough Superiors amongst the motorcycles he admits to removing from the late John Lumley’s house. Wheeldon Jr states that he sold this motorcycle through eBay in August 2009 for £4,650. UB 4742 was subsequently sold in Melbourne, Australia for $7,500 AU in August 2010.
Peter Adams
Received a mid-1930s Scott from the John Lumley Collection, which he states he sold for £235 at the Kempton Park Autojumble in November 2009, without recording the details of the buyer. Peter Adams is the son of VOC Executive Committee member and Information Officer Paul Adams.
S Sayer
In posssession of an ex-John Lumley Vincent Series C Comet consisting of an unrelated engine and upper and lower frame members. Is "S Sayer" another of the adult children of VOC officials and leading members involved in the John Lumley Affair or is this just a spelling mistake? Answers on a postcard, please.
R Clark
In possession of John Lumley’s 1945-registered Scott Squirrel, registration number GYM 850.
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| Norman Walker: House Clearance Expert? |
E N Walker
Norman Walker disposed of John Lumley’s library, collection of scientific instruments and astonomical equipment, as well as other items. Mr Walker has opined that none of these items were worth anything. Norman Walker heads the VOC’s Kent & Sussex Section and was present in the late John Lumley’s home during the clearance organised by VOC Executive Committee member Dick Wheeldon. Failed to mention to the Lumley family his attemped brokerage of £300,000-worth of John Lumley motorcycles to VOC member Hugh McAllister but has claimed that he told Betty Lumley: "If we gave you £100,000, we'd be robbing you". Read more about VOC official Norman Walker here.
A C Sandford
In possession of a 1929 Norton CS1, registration UL 6914. Mr Sandford stated that he purchased this Norton from John Lumley on 3.11.2008. If this is the case, then Mr Sandford's name should not really be on any lists related to the irregular clearance and dispersal of assets from the John Lumley Estate.
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Ex-MPH Editor Robert Watson |
Of the nineteen individuals identified in writing by John Lumley's next-of-kin in March 2010, Graham Smith and Robert Watson vehemently deny receiving anything as a result of the dispersal of the John Lumley Collection. Described by several VOC members as having been present at John Lumley's funeral, Canadian Robert Watson, a former Editor of MPH and VOC Executive Committee member who maintains close ties to the club's North Kent Section, denies being there.
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| MPH Editor Graham Smith |
Graham Smith, the current Editor of MPH and a member of the club's Executive Committee, refused to discuss "family assets" when contacted by telephone and asked if he had received anything from the John Lumley Collection. Mr Smith has made a number of statements placing him in The Hospice in the Weald during John Lumley's final hospitalisation and also in John Lumley's house during its clearance by Dick Wheeldon and other VOC officials and members. One of Graham Smith's young sons, who was awarded the MPH Young Pen of the Year prize, contradicted his father in front of witnesses at a VOC General Council Meeting, when Graham Smith stated that there were no complete motorcycles in a room in John Lumley's house. Smith Junior piped up and told the assembled company that he had seen three complete motorcycles there. Readers can see photographs of three complete ex-John Lumley motorcycles on this blog site: the Model PS, the Model W and a Scott Squirrel. Graham Smith is also involved in the Nigel Seymour-Smith Model PS Affair.
To date, just twenty-one of the late John Lumley's motorcycles have been traced. Still missing are three Vincent HRD Series A singles, a Velocette KTT racer, an Ariel Square Four, which may have been sold by Dick Wheeldon through eBay, the second Brough Superior SS100, a couple of Rudge singles, a Douglas, the extremely rare Coventry Eagle Flying-8 and more than twenty lesser makes and models from the 1950s and 1960s. There has been very little focus on John Lumley's large stock of rare spares and accessories, although four of the individuals named by the Lumleys have recently been trying to persuade specialists in the vintage and classic bike world to value quantities of prewar Vincent HRD parts they admit came from John Lumley's house.
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| VOC Chairman Tim Kirker: Blames John Lumley |
Half of the eleven-strong Executive Committee of the Vincent HRD Owners Club are involved in the John Lumley Affair, either as prime movers or as accessories after the fact by dint of their attempts to cover the matter up and silence members attempting to hold elected officials and appointed officers to account. The management finally published a statement in response to this blog as well as questions raised about the John Lumley Affair on a number of websites not under the control of the VOC management. Whilst tacitly admitting in their statement, signed by VOC Chairman Tim Kirker and Secretary Andrew Everett, that probate-related laws had been broken, the VOC management placed the blame for this on the late John Lumley.
In other words, John Lumley got them all into trouble with the authorities because of his ignorance of "the nuances of English probate law". None of the twenty people whom the VOC management state were involved appear to have known anything of probate law either, despite the fact that two of the prime movers were, respectively, a former director of a leading patents company and a former policeman.
According to the Kirker-Everett statement on behalf of the Vincent HRD Owners Club, "a list was compiled for the purpose of distributing gifts of machines and parts to his friends. This was signed by John and witnessed. (The executers [sic] of the estate, Thackray Williams Solicitors, and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), are aware of this list.)" The published minutes of a General Council Meeting of the Vincent HRD Owners Club on 5.9.2010 record Dick Wheeldon's statements regarding this list:
"As a beneficiary of Lumley machines who has been actively coordinating matters with the Estate Executor/Solicitor, Dick Wheeldon, Hon. Spares Liaison Officer, explained to the meeting the events that took place, from a couple of weeks before John Lumley’s demise, and since. For 40 years John Lumley was a member of the North Kent section, many had known him through his interests in sprinting and Series ‘A’ machines. John had organised donations from the section to build the section sprinter, which he looked after, for the section, and which was the only complete bike at his residence. During March 2009 John, while in care, was visited frequently by several of his VOC friends. On one such occasion Tom Lumley (John’s older brother) made a point of speaking to Dick and Bill Harrison. Tom produced a list, made by John, stating he had decided to give away the bikes and spares. He requested that Dick and Bill organise collection of the listed items from John’s house and distribute these as per John’s wishes. Dick and Bill agreed to the request. Nineteen people were on John’s list, of whom eighteen received bike related items. At the time, Dick advised Tom that all the items were not at John’s house, but that at John’s request, a substantial amount had been stored at Dick’s own house for the previous twelve years, and that these constituted some of the items on the list. Dick was clear on the point that the motorcycle related parts were in the main, cleared from John’s house prior to his death. On 7th April John died. Subsequently many of the recipients of items from John’s list, decided that it was appropriate to make charitable donations to the hospice where John had been in care or to a cancer related charity."
"As a beneficiary of Lumley machines who has been actively coordinating matters with the Estate Executor/Solicitor, Dick Wheeldon, Hon. Spares Liaison Officer, explained to the meeting the events that took place, from a couple of weeks before John Lumley’s demise, and since. For 40 years John Lumley was a member of the North Kent section, many had known him through his interests in sprinting and Series ‘A’ machines. John had organised donations from the section to build the section sprinter, which he looked after, for the section, and which was the only complete bike at his residence. During March 2009 John, while in care, was visited frequently by several of his VOC friends. On one such occasion Tom Lumley (John’s older brother) made a point of speaking to Dick and Bill Harrison. Tom produced a list, made by John, stating he had decided to give away the bikes and spares. He requested that Dick and Bill organise collection of the listed items from John’s house and distribute these as per John’s wishes. Dick and Bill agreed to the request. Nineteen people were on John’s list, of whom eighteen received bike related items. At the time, Dick advised Tom that all the items were not at John’s house, but that at John’s request, a substantial amount had been stored at Dick’s own house for the previous twelve years, and that these constituted some of the items on the list. Dick was clear on the point that the motorcycle related parts were in the main, cleared from John’s house prior to his death. On 7th April John died. Subsequently many of the recipients of items from John’s list, decided that it was appropriate to make charitable donations to the hospice where John had been in care or to a cancer related charity."
So here we have yet another version of the story of this oft-cited list of who was to get what from the John Lumley Collection. According to Dick Wheeldon, Tom Lumley gave him a list made by John Lumley. Late in February 2010, Betty Lumley had discussed this list, first saying that she had composed it with John Lumley in the hospice but then offering a slightly different version of the story in an email dated 4.3.2010.
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| The List: not in John Lumley's writing. Not even the signature? |
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| John Lumley's signature: not too hard to forge |
As for Dick Wheeldon's assertion that John Lumley had stored the majority of his collection in Mr Wheeldon's house since 1997, those who knew John Lumley, inasmuch as anyone could 'know' a such a solitary, reserved man, and who had been in his house between 1997 and April 2009 would be obliged to conclude that the John Lumley Collection must therefore have been far more extensive than indicated by the forty or more motorcycles and the shelves of spare parts occupying four entire rooms of John Lumley's house, to say nothing of the items in the garage, all of which took some twenty people several weeks to clear, according to the statement published recently by the management of the Vincent HRD Owners Club. Several weeks to remove twenty-one carefully stored motorcycles and some spare parts from a house? Furthermore, the VOC EC statement describes Dick Wheeldon as storing John Lumley's stuff in his shed. One is compelled to wonder how large Mr Wheeldon's shed is.
Let's look at the chronology as related by Betty Lumley in the course of several telephone conversations, a chronology she did not dispute despite being given every opportunity to revise or retract the statements she made under interview conditions.
7.4.2009 John Lumley dies.
8.4.2009 Betty Lumley gives Dick Wheeldon, accompanied by Bill Harrison, the keys to John Lumley's house.
Betty Lumley gives Dick Wheeldon the famous 'list', without retaining a copy.
Betty Lumley was emphatic that she did not give Wheeldon the keys before John Lumley's death. According to a letter from Thackray Williams, Betty Lumley told the Executor in March 2010 that she gave Wheeldon the keys the day after John Lumley's funeral. It is not terribly relevant as it has no bearing on the fact that a bulldozer was driven through probate laws. But let's look at this statement all the same.
21.4.2009 (a) John Lumley's funeral takes place.
(b) Questions are already being asked about the collection.
(c) Dick Wheeldon tells several parties that the bikes have already gone.
23.4.2009 Tom Bull tries to swap the ex-John Lumley motorcycle he received for a £25,000 Vincent Special.
24.4.2009 The Hospice in the Weald receives £500 from Mr and Mrs Harry Stickler for a Series B Rapide.
28.4.2009 The Hospice in the Weald receives other donations via Tom Lumley.
1.5.2009 Deceased Estates Notice for John Lumley published in The London Gazette.
4.6.2009 First mention of an ex-Lumley Series A Rapide in MPH, written in the first half of May 2009.
The VOC EC statement suggests that it took Wheeldon and up to twenty accomplices "several weeks" to remove and disperse the John Lumley Collection. So when, precisely, would this operation have taken place? After John Lumley's death? Or before it, as he lay dying in the hospice? Given Betty Lumley's on-the-record statements about the house keys, it is likely that the removal and dispersal of the motorcycles, parts and other items from the house occurred after John Lumley's death on 7.4.2009. Given the Tom Bull incident, Wheeldon's statements and the timings of the charitable donations, it is likely that the operation was concluded before or around John Lumley's funeral on 23.4.2009.
Betty Lumley stated on the record that she visited her late brother-in-law's house with his solicitors and saw all of the "motorcycle parts". The solicitor handling the file for Thackray Williams has written that she was not accompanied when she attended her late client's house and that she saw no motorcycles or motorcycle parts. Her firm published the Deceased Estate Notice in The London Gazette on 1.5.2009, three weeks after their client's death. So the solicitor's visit would have taken place sometime between 7.4.2009 and, allowing for the fact TLG is a weekly, the beginning of the last week in April, soon after John Lumley's funeral on 21.4.2009. In other words, John Lumley's house was stripped clean by Wheeldon and his friends during the fortnight between John Lumley's death and funeral and the first of the Lumley machines was being touted by a lucky recipient within two days of John Lumley's funeral.
It is reasonable to conclude, given reported conversations at the funeral and in the days following it, that all or most of the John Lumley Collection had already been removed from the property before the funeral. At one stage, Dick Wheeldon told the VOC's General Committee that most of John Lumley's collection was in his garden shed because of limited space in John Lumley's home. Dick Wheeldon must have a very large garden shed. Perhaps the "motorcycle bits" Betty Lumley recalled seeing - "in cupboards, under beds, on shelves, everywhere!" - during her visit with "the solicitors" were part of the large collection of spare parts, new and used, that John Lumley had also amassed and which have disappeared. And yet, the solicitors have no recollection of seeing any motorcycles or motorcycle parts during this visit. Meanwhile, the head of Thackray Williams, Simon Thackray, suggested in writing that the motorcycles and other items were collected from his late client's home several days after his death and that everything
And then there is the official statement from the Chairman and the Secretary of the Vincent HRD Owners Club, Tim Kirker and the tireless Andrew Everett, attempting to place the blame on the late John Lumley because, they allege, he was ignorant of "the nuances" of English probate law. Perhaps the Executive Committee of the Vincent HRD Owners Club should engage Simon Thackray of Thackray Williams, who appears to believe that there is no such thing as probate law and that it is perfectly in order for people to troop into his deceased client's homes and help themselves to a million poundsworth of assets without producing any documentation that trumps the Will entrusted to Thackray Williams.
Phillip Vincent is said to have cautioned his US agent Gene Aucott against selling Vincent HRDs to "any Tom, Dick or Harry". An Old Harrovian and Cambridge alumnus, Mr Vincent was a very image-conscious man who saw his product as the Bentley of the motorcycle world. Quite what he would make of the individuals claiming to represent and protect his legacy as officials and officers of the Vincent HRD Owners Club is not hard to guess, given his background and breeding.
The plot just continues to thicken, Never realised that Peter Allen is related to Jenner. He bagged a A-twin & a W. That all makes sense now why Jenner was in about. Just realised that he's Stateside, Surely he'll have to pay import duty to get these bikes into the States??
ReplyDeleteI've read enough, Just thrown my VOC renewel in the bucket!
Bryan Phillips has said this is the worst crisis to hit the club in fifty years. He has also said that a couple of the officials named might well be facing criminal charges. Everyone involved in removing the bikes from the house and those who received them should be charged in an ideal world with theft and receiving. But it looks as if HMRC has worked out a deal with the Estate, so that HMRC get their money. They have decided to let the perpetrators keep the bikes as "gifts" instead of returning them to the Estate. This way, the taxpayers get their cut of this part of the Estate and the heir's wife escapes being charged with probate-related offences alongside the people whom she allowed into her deceased brother-in-law's home. The independent assessor who has cast-iron credentials has valued just those bikes traced at more than £400,000, which suggests that the £1 million estimate relating to the bikes and the parts is not excessive. The lack of anger on the part of the heir and his wife about not getting their dues worth as much as the house after taxes leads one to wonder if Wheeldon, Jenner and the others made payments to the Lumleys that have not come to light. It would not only explain the lack of anger on Betty Lumley's part but also the evident determination of the perpetrators to hang onto their ill-gotten gains. The following members should be thrown out of the club: Kirker, Everett, Wheeldon, Adams, Smith, the Kennedys, Philipp, Farrow, Sayer and Walker. Bryan Phillips should be retired as President and made an Honorary Member because he has presided over the growth of this culture of dishonesty and when they finally got too arrogant and greedy, with this Lumley case, he not only did nothing about it but participated in the shabby crucifixion of members who refused to remain silent and let it pass. It is also inconceivable that Phillips was unaware of the origins of the Model PS he gave to the club in the name of Nigel Seymour-Smith.
ReplyDeleteWheeldon & Farrow should be removed from all ties with the running the Spares company. Does make you wonder if there will be any back door deals going on there aswell?
ReplyDeleteFor a time, Tim Kirker aggressively promoted the Spares Co to the point of banning other dealers from VOC events and travelling to the US on expenses-paid trips for which the VOC picked up the tab. The replica Shadow was supposed to be the prototype of a low-level production run. Several builders were approached, including Patrick Godet, who was going to build them. Of course, since they screwed it up, they've been denying all of this. They claim the Shadow cost less than £30k and paid for itself at auction. Oh yeah? Try and buy the parts from the Spares Co and build one yourself for £30k. Nice for Kirker, though! He had the motor in his Comet for months. The same Comet he got from an elderly widow for £600 when it was worth £6,000. Backdoor deals? Probably. Why did Ray Huxley refuse to sign off on their accounts? Why all the trouble over the accounts, running for several years. So what has Uncle Festus (Farrow) got to do with the Spares Co? Don't tell us they've made him a director!
ReplyDeleteThe Black Shadow did not go to the Kennedys. But John Newson who owns Oxney Motorcycles in Tenterden got a Black Shadow sometime around the time the Lumley bikes were being distributed. A few months ago, someone asked John about this Shadow and he said there were probate problems with the family and the value of the bike. John often does business with Dave Jenner, who is Colin Jenner's brother.
ReplyDeleteWhat's going on here then with this Blackshadow?
ReplyDeleteAm I right in suggesting that this Shadow has landed in Colin's hands for next to no money and then passes it to his brother to dispose off?
So who pockets the massive profit from this sale then???? Sure that money will never see a charity. I've spent a good few pounds over alot of years at Conways. Can anyone verify the situation of this Blackshadow? If this turns out to be the case there will be no way in hell I'll be putting any cash to Jenner in the future.
If you read it all, you can see that the Lumleys said that Jenner was slung out of the hospice by them. But he still ended up with about half a million quids worth of John Lumley bikes that he's admitting to, in return for a two grand donation to the hospice. How did that happen then? How did he get these bikes if the family had thrown him out of the hospice. Did he cut a deal with Wheeldon?
ReplyDeleteGraham Smith got one of the Series A singles. So did Arthur Farrow's son.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if the VOC membership is going to reduce in numbers after December?
ReplyDeleteWhat, exactly, is so 'prestigious' about the Vincent OwnersClub?
ReplyDeleteAny person can join...simply send in your money and they will send you a cheesey membership card and the club publication... The MPH ( which is not much since Robert Watson left the Editorial chair) and an order form so that you can purchase the regalia, wear the tee shirt
and tell real owners what is wrong with their bike at any ralley that you attend
In order to advertise in the classified (Floggers Corner) one must quote his 'Membership' number as a securiety measure to prevent "unscrupulous" individuals from having access to member's information... but it ain't that difficult to obtain your very own, personal membership number...see paragraph above! For many years after my falling out with j weber (onetime editor) I held membership in several assumed names.
The Forum is for the most part a silly time waster...and gaining members only access is very difficult even if one is actually a member.
Attend any important Motorcycle show and you will find Club Members passing out Membership applications to all and sundry passersby like bible tracts.
It was my experience, back in the days that I travelled extensivly in England, that anyone could just ride, drive or walk up to the entry marquee at any VOC Ralley..pay a guest or non-member admission charge and enjoy the event just like a prestigious member...
So I ask "what , exactly...?"
Dave Rosenfield
Join the North Kent Section and enter into the Inner Circle! Bargain's galore!
ReplyDeleteIf Dick Wheeldon had most of Lumley's stuff in his shed from 1997 to 2009, how come Lumley was storing the Sprinter? Why didn't Wheeldon store it for the North Kent Section? Oh yeah, right, silly me! Wheeldon had no more space because he was looking after Lumley's bikes. This is bad for the club but only because the membership stood by and let these crooks crucify the handful of honorable members who decided to take them on. That is shameful. I don't want to be in this club anymore.
ReplyDeleteJust spent over a whole hour reading this after seeing it mentioned in MPH so curiosity did get the better of me!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great shame, Alot off hard work by many members has been put into the club. I've also met many very genuine people over a good number of years aswell.
As someone has noted, surely a 'Vincent HRD Enthusiasts club' could be formed for the people that would like to break away?
It would be great to see Roy Huxley, Prosper,Charlie & BMS on the EC if it was formed.
No smoke without fire as they say, I rest my case.
Allen does not have any of the bikes that seems to made up by some one,just like Watson in Canada getting some of the bikes and Jenners brother did not have any black shadows (in fact he passed away last week) ,A huge amount of what is written in this blog seems to hear say and fiction.
ReplyDeleteSome of you people need to go to adult literacy classes. No wonder your Vins are off the road most of the time, because you can't read the instruction manuals. You mean some of the COMMENTS "seem to be hearsay and fiction"? The blog itself seems quite well-researched and supported by a fair amount of hard evidence. I can't see where the writer himself states that Peter Allen or Robert Watson got any ex-Lumley stuff. He seems to have received a list from his sources and checked the names out. Peter Allen drew attention to himself by getting in Charlie Cannon's face on the JTAN VOC forum and Allen is Colin Jenner's brother-in-law. Wouldn't surprise me if good old Colin got the lion's share and shipped it out of the UK. A reader suggested that a Black Shadow in John Newsom's possession came from Lumley's collection via Dave Jenner.
ReplyDelete"Allen does not have any of the bikes that seems to made up by some one,just like Watson in Canada getting some of the bikes and Jenners brother did not have any black shadows (in fact he passed away last week) ,A huge amount of what is written in this blog seems to hear say and fiction."
ReplyDeleteWith morons like this shilling for the management, who needs enemies?
I heard that Peter Allen was taking care of some ex-Lumley bikes for his brother-in-law Colin Jenner. Jenner admitted to an A Rapide, a Brough SS100 and the Model W but I also heard that Lumley had sent him some of the bikes before he went into the hospice because he wanted them done up so his brother would get more money when they were sold. That would explain the melt-down in the hospice when Jenner was thrown out by the Lumleys and also why, in spite of that, Jenner still ended up with the Lumley bikes he admits to having. He and Wheeldon were also heard talking about spares from Lumley's place at the Special GC Meeting where Cannon and Keating were expelled for blowing the whistle about all of this. And where Jenner, Farrow and Adams get the rare Lightning spares they were tagged selling on eBay and through Conways?
ReplyDeleteLumley had a C Shadow. I think the reg no had LGC in it.
ReplyDeleteI was asked by Arthur Farrow at the Waterfall IOM if I wanted to join the club( I am a lapsed member) I said no.
ReplyDeleteArthur Farrow got both of Tigger Alldus's Vins from one of Tigger's girlfriends very soon after the funeral. Tigger's Rapide recently surfaced in Australia with the Montlhéry Shadow's old number NRO 365 in the same area as the John Lumley Scott that ended up out there. Wonder how much Uncle Festus (Farrow) paid Helen Armstrong for the bikes she had no legal right to sell him. It's a pattern isn't it. with these VOC management types?
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