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NIgel Manning-Morton
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Stephen Packer
Sep 21, 2021, 11:29:55 AM9/21/21
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Nigel never posted here. I doubt many (if any) knew him. I met Nigel when I was about 13 at a cafe (Brillig Arts Centre in Bath FWIW) and we got on well. Went to various early gigs with him in he 70s, mostly punk bands at the Bath Pavillion and I remember going to see Motorhead with him in Bristol.
I mostly remember the summers of 1980 and 1981 when we discovered mopeds and motorbikes and the freedom it gave us. He was fast and fearless, I was just a little fearless until it was too late. He also had the gift of the gab and was always chasing after one girl or another. On one of these pursuits he borrowed my Suzuki GT250 and hammered it to Winchester and part-way back; on the return he holed a piston. We knew nothing of oversizes so he went and bought a standard piston and fitted it at the side of the road. Sadly it had been overbored (I think to +1.0) so it didn't last long until the piston shattered when I was riding it some days later. Ah well. I think it's fair to say that Nigel helped me start building a toolkit and learning how engines worked.
We worked together in the kitchen of a Bath restaurant in this period and had a lot of fun, including being caught at a girls boarding school in the middle of the night. I say caught but Nigel managed to slip away. I managed to get dragged down to the police station and locked in the cells. We spent some time 'roadying' for a local band and hanging around the pubs that would serve us. Nigel was always a lot more gregarious than I (hardly a high bar).
I eventually went off to university^w poly but we'd moved in different circles and drifted apart a bit, Nigel got a whole lot more serious about bikes doing some production racing and working as a courier, eventually setting up his own company about 40 years ago (Dataline). He also had a Laverda Montjuic by then which I was very jealous of (and I think also a Moto Morini 3.5 which allegedly he still had).
When I was 21 at the easter break of my poly first year (I 'lost' three or so years in my teens) I managed to get involved in a bike crash on a visit back to Bath; I broke my left leg pretty well (Tibia but high impact and compound fracture). I came around in the trauma ward in hospital next to a friend who'd been there for a week or so (Nick; he'd broken both legs, an arm, lost his spleen (I think) and sundry other things). We both got moved to an orthopaedic ward and Nigel came in to have some scaffolding fitted (he'd crashed a CB550-4 into a car and left his knee cap in the road and on the door pillar some weeks previously.) We had a great time, I don't think the nurses were so happy but we were smoking, drinking, having our friends in and just basically making the most of our situation. We got segregated at the bottom of the ward on our own away from the other patients.
Nigel got out of hospital before me and once I was out he used to occasionally drag me out to the pub; he could drive (with limited legality I guess) his fiesta van. Our crutches would fit in the back and we'd hop out when we got to the pub. After a while we went to the hospital (once Nick was off traction) and would smuggle Nick out as well, so that was three 'crips' in a fiesta van with a collection of crutches in the back turning up to various biker bars around bath in the mid 80s.
I got busy from the late 80s and worked like a dog for about thirty years. I bumped into Nigel occasionally, used to drink at his pub sometimes (he had a pub for a few years as well as the courier business and was involved with restaurants- again with our mutual friend Nick who was in hospital with us in '85). Whenever I saw him the years dropped away and we'd both reminisce about the shit we got upto when we were young.
I heard in late 2019 that Nigel had got stomach cancer, I went to see him in his office and we had a long chat going back through the years. I tried to arrange a meal with Nigel, Nick and their partners but due to Covid it didn't happen.
Yesterday I went to Nigel's funeral.
One of the blokes speaking at the funeral imagined Nigel arguing with St Peter that 57 years wasn't really enough and St Peter going through the book, looking at the life he'd led and deciding that it most certainly *was* a fair allocation of experience, if not time.
RIP Nigel.
I mostly remember the summers of 1980 and 1981 when we discovered mopeds and motorbikes and the freedom it gave us. He was fast and fearless, I was just a little fearless until it was too late. He also had the gift of the gab and was always chasing after one girl or another. On one of these pursuits he borrowed my Suzuki GT250 and hammered it to Winchester and part-way back; on the return he holed a piston. We knew nothing of oversizes so he went and bought a standard piston and fitted it at the side of the road. Sadly it had been overbored (I think to +1.0) so it didn't last long until the piston shattered when I was riding it some days later. Ah well. I think it's fair to say that Nigel helped me start building a toolkit and learning how engines worked.
We worked together in the kitchen of a Bath restaurant in this period and had a lot of fun, including being caught at a girls boarding school in the middle of the night. I say caught but Nigel managed to slip away. I managed to get dragged down to the police station and locked in the cells. We spent some time 'roadying' for a local band and hanging around the pubs that would serve us. Nigel was always a lot more gregarious than I (hardly a high bar).
I eventually went off to university^w poly but we'd moved in different circles and drifted apart a bit, Nigel got a whole lot more serious about bikes doing some production racing and working as a courier, eventually setting up his own company about 40 years ago (Dataline). He also had a Laverda Montjuic by then which I was very jealous of (and I think also a Moto Morini 3.5 which allegedly he still had).
When I was 21 at the easter break of my poly first year (I 'lost' three or so years in my teens) I managed to get involved in a bike crash on a visit back to Bath; I broke my left leg pretty well (Tibia but high impact and compound fracture). I came around in the trauma ward in hospital next to a friend who'd been there for a week or so (Nick; he'd broken both legs, an arm, lost his spleen (I think) and sundry other things). We both got moved to an orthopaedic ward and Nigel came in to have some scaffolding fitted (he'd crashed a CB550-4 into a car and left his knee cap in the road and on the door pillar some weeks previously.) We had a great time, I don't think the nurses were so happy but we were smoking, drinking, having our friends in and just basically making the most of our situation. We got segregated at the bottom of the ward on our own away from the other patients.
Nigel got out of hospital before me and once I was out he used to occasionally drag me out to the pub; he could drive (with limited legality I guess) his fiesta van. Our crutches would fit in the back and we'd hop out when we got to the pub. After a while we went to the hospital (once Nick was off traction) and would smuggle Nick out as well, so that was three 'crips' in a fiesta van with a collection of crutches in the back turning up to various biker bars around bath in the mid 80s.
I got busy from the late 80s and worked like a dog for about thirty years. I bumped into Nigel occasionally, used to drink at his pub sometimes (he had a pub for a few years as well as the courier business and was involved with restaurants- again with our mutual friend Nick who was in hospital with us in '85). Whenever I saw him the years dropped away and we'd both reminisce about the shit we got upto when we were young.
I heard in late 2019 that Nigel had got stomach cancer, I went to see him in his office and we had a long chat going back through the years. I tried to arrange a meal with Nigel, Nick and their partners but due to Covid it didn't happen.
Yesterday I went to Nigel's funeral.
One of the blokes speaking at the funeral imagined Nigel arguing with St Peter that 57 years wasn't really enough and St Peter going through the book, looking at the life he'd led and deciding that it most certainly *was* a fair allocation of experience, if not time.
RIP Nigel.
Buzby
Sep 21, 2021, 12:30:13 PM9/21/21
to
Stephen Packer wrote:
>
> Yesterday I went to Nigel's funeral.
>
> RIP Nigel.
>
> Yesterday I went to Nigel's funeral.
>
Agreat eulogy.Commiserations
siwilson
Sep 21, 2021, 2:20:17 PM9/21/21
to
I don't have the writing skills to do the same amount of justice to one
of my best school mates. We had some good larks on mopeds. I recently
found out he had died. I'd been looking for him for years but some how
he kept off the internet. I knew he'd moved to Greece but I just
couldn't track him down, then finally, I found his funeral notice, he'd
died suddenly in 2009. Only 49 FFS.
--
/Simon
Pipl
Sep 21, 2021, 4:20:36 PM9/21/21
to
On Tue, 21 Sep 2021 08:29:54 -0700 (PDT), Stephen Packer
<stephen...@gmail.com> wrote:
> [...]
--
-Pip
<stephen...@gmail.com> wrote:
> [...]
>Yesterday I went to Nigel's funeral.
>
>One of the blokes speaking at the funeral imagined Nigel arguing with St Peter that 57 years wasn't really enough and St Peter going through the book, looking at the life he'd led and deciding that it most certainly *was* a fair allocation of experience, if not time.
>
>RIP Nigel.
Nice write-up
>
>One of the blokes speaking at the funeral imagined Nigel arguing with St Peter that 57 years wasn't really enough and St Peter going through the book, looking at the life he'd led and deciding that it most certainly *was* a fair allocation of experience, if not time.
>
>RIP Nigel.
--
-Pip
petrolcan
Sep 21, 2021, 7:11:35 PM9/21/21
to
In article <676c5ddd-c2ac-482c-9a9b-
3962ee...@googlegroups.com>, Stephen Packer says...
> RIP Nigel.
Lovely write up.
Sorry for your loss :/
3962ee...@googlegroups.com>, Stephen Packer says...
> RIP Nigel.
Lovely write up.
Sorry for your loss :/
Ben Blaney
Sep 21, 2021, 11:58:36 PM9/21/21
to
On Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at 11:29:55 AM UTC-4, stephen...@gmail.com wrote:
> RIP Nigel.
Sounds like a brilliant bloke. Sorry he's gone. Happy he ever existed.
> RIP Nigel.
Sounds like a brilliant bloke. Sorry he's gone. Happy he ever existed.
Champ
Sep 22, 2021, 6:48:55 AM9/22/21
to
>When I was 21 at the easter break of my poly first year (I 'lost' three or so years in my teens) I managed to get involved in a bike crash on a visit back to Bath; I broke my left leg pretty well (Tibia but high impact and compound fracture). I came around in the trauma ward in hospital next to a friend who'd been there for a week or so (Nick; he'd broken both legs, an arm, lost his spleen (I think) and sundry other things). We both got moved to an orthopaedic ward and Nigel came in to have some scaffolding fitted (he'd crashed a CB550-4 into a car and left his knee cap in the road and on the door pillar some weeks previously.) We had a great time, I don't think the nurses were so happy but we were smoking, drinking, having our friends in and just basically making the most of our situation. We got segregated at the bottom of the ward on our own away from the other patients.
>
>Nigel got out of hospital before me and once I was out he used to occasionally drag me out to the pub; he could drive (with limited legality I guess) his fiesta van. Our crutches would fit in the back and we'd hop out when we got to the pub. After a while we went to the hospital (once Nick was off traction) and would smuggle Nick out as well, so that was three 'crips' in a fiesta van with a collection of crutches in the back turning up to various biker bars around bath in the mid 80s.
Lovely, lovely eulogy, Steve. Much of it made me smile, but I left
>
>Nigel got out of hospital before me and once I was out he used to occasionally drag me out to the pub; he could drive (with limited legality I guess) his fiesta van. Our crutches would fit in the back and we'd hop out when we got to the pub. After a while we went to the hospital (once Nick was off traction) and would smuggle Nick out as well, so that was three 'crips' in a fiesta van with a collection of crutches in the back turning up to various biker bars around bath in the mid 80s.
this in as I can just imagine the 3 of you hobbling into various pubs.
Sorry for your loss
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk
I don't know, but I been told
You never slow down, you never grow old
Stephen Packer
Sep 22, 2021, 8:22:53 AM9/22/21
to
On Tuesday, 21 September 2021 at 19:20:17 UTC+1, siwilson wrote:
> I don't have the writing skills to do the same amount of justice to one
> of my best school mates. We had some good larks on mopeds. I recently
> found out he had died. I'd been looking for him for years but some how
> he kept off the internet. I knew he'd moved to Greece but I just
> couldn't track him down, then finally, I found his funeral notice, he'd
> died suddenly in 2009. Only 49 FFS.
49. Fuck, that's no age at all. Life's short.
> I don't have the writing skills to do the same amount of justice to one
> of my best school mates. We had some good larks on mopeds. I recently
> found out he had died. I'd been looking for him for years but some how
> he kept off the internet. I knew he'd moved to Greece but I just
> couldn't track him down, then finally, I found his funeral notice, he'd
> died suddenly in 2009. Only 49 FFS.
WUN
Sep 22, 2021, 9:51:41 AM9/22/21
to
On Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at 4:29:55 PM UTC+1, stephen...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> RIP Nigel.
Indeed. Of all the Nigels who could have died, he sounds like one who
shouldn't have.
Nice eulogy, thanks for sharing it.
--
WUN
>
> RIP Nigel.
Indeed. Of all the Nigels who could have died, he sounds like one who
shouldn't have.
Nice eulogy, thanks for sharing it.
--
WUN
Ben Blaney
Sep 22, 2021, 10:33:43 AM9/22/21
to
On Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at 6:48:55 AM UTC-4, Champ wrote:
> Lovely, lovely eulogy, Steve. Much of it made me smile, but I left
> this in as I can just imagine the 3 of you hobbling into various pubs.
In 1999, I was in plaster and so were two of my best mates (me: motorbike crash, broken left arm; Dave: jet-ski accident in Thailand, broken leg; James: fell off the roof of a car, broken right arm). We walked into a pub, and the barman just said "fucking hell", and without a moment's hesitation, completely deadpan, James said "plane crash".
> Lovely, lovely eulogy, Steve. Much of it made me smile, but I left
> this in as I can just imagine the 3 of you hobbling into various pubs.
jeremy
Sep 22, 2021, 10:58:36 AM9/22/21
to
In article <676c5ddd-c2ac-482c...@googlegroups.com>,
stephen...@gmail.com says...
> RIP Nigel.
Very nicely written, a good story. But with an unhappy ending.
This "the years dropped away" - exactly as it is when I get together with
my oldest friends.
I'm a similar age.
--
jeremy
stephen...@gmail.com says...
> RIP Nigel.
Very nicely written, a good story. But with an unhappy ending.
This "the years dropped away" - exactly as it is when I get together with
my oldest friends.
I'm a similar age.
--
jeremy
Champ
Sep 22, 2021, 11:15:49 AM9/22/21
to
Champ
Sep 22, 2021, 11:17:04 AM9/22/21
to
On Wed, 22 Sep 2021 15:58:32 +0100, jeremy <jerem...@gmail.com>
wrote:
>This "the years dropped away" - exactly as it is when I get together with
>my oldest friends.
I think this might be a common experience - it's certainly the case
with me
wrote:
>This "the years dropped away" - exactly as it is when I get together with
>my oldest friends.
with me
Buzby
Sep 22, 2021, 12:02:33 PM9/22/21
to
Sarah R
May 25, 2023, 1:43:35 AM5/25/23
to
Thank you Steve for your recollections of Nigel. I only just found out Nigel has gone after seeing a Dataline van and looking him up. In 1983 or thereabouts Nigel was a customer at Crescent Filling Station just behind the Royal Crescent in Bath, where I worked as a pump jockey to pay my biking costs. He was a lovely guy and one day asked if I would help him take a piece of artwork over to Bristol on the bike. It was A1 size, and I sat on the back to hold it, gripping with my thighs like a well behaved pillion. It was not too bad till we got onto the dual carriageway towards Saltford, but on the Keynsham bypass it was like trying to manage a square sail, the bike was hopping all over the place. An experience I have never forgotten and often reminisce with biking mates. Nigel rode with aplomb, and the artwork was duly delivered in good order.
I didn't know him well but he was a lovely fellah and I am sad for his loss but happy he lived a full biking life (as have I).
RIP Nigel, may your wings also have wheels.
Sarah
I didn't know him well but he was a lovely fellah and I am sad for his loss but happy he lived a full biking life (as have I).
RIP Nigel, may your wings also have wheels.
Sarah
Stephen Packer
May 25, 2023, 1:45:12 PM5/25/23
to
On Thursday, 25 May 2023 at 06:43:35 UTC+1, Sarah R wrote:
> Thank you Steve for your recollections of Nigel. I only just found out Nigel has gone after seeing a Dataline van and looking him up. In 1983 or thereabouts Nigel was a customer at Crescent Filling Station just behind the Royal Crescent in Bath, where I worked as a pump jockey to pay my biking costs. He was a lovely guy and one day asked if I would help him take a piece of artwork over to Bristol on the bike. It was A1 size, and I sat on the back to hold it, gripping with my thighs like a well behaved pillion. It was not too bad till we got onto the dual carriageway towards Saltford, but on the Keynsham bypass it was like trying to manage a square sail, the bike was hopping all over the place. An experience I have never forgotten and often reminisce with biking mates. Nigel rode with aplomb, and the artwork was duly delivered in good order.
Heh, sounds like something you wouldn't forget in a hurry!
> Thank you Steve for your recollections of Nigel. I only just found out Nigel has gone after seeing a Dataline van and looking him up. In 1983 or thereabouts Nigel was a customer at Crescent Filling Station just behind the Royal Crescent in Bath, where I worked as a pump jockey to pay my biking costs. He was a lovely guy and one day asked if I would help him take a piece of artwork over to Bristol on the bike. It was A1 size, and I sat on the back to hold it, gripping with my thighs like a well behaved pillion. It was not too bad till we got onto the dual carriageway towards Saltford, but on the Keynsham bypass it was like trying to manage a square sail, the bike was hopping all over the place. An experience I have never forgotten and often reminisce with biking mates. Nigel rode with aplomb, and the artwork was duly delivered in good order.
> I didn't know him well but he was a lovely fellah and I am sad for his loss but happy he lived a full biking life (as have I).
> RIP Nigel, may your wings also have wheels.
>
> Sarah
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