Former junior cyclist ‘Chick’ in search of long-lost island pals
A MAN who claims to have been the island’s fastest junior cyclist in the 1950s is keen to make contact with people he used to ride with more than 70 years ago.
Raymond ‘Chick’ Gammidge, 84, now lives in Bolton, but has a long-standing relationship with Guernsey through family and friends, and visited the island frequently in his youth.
It was during this time that he excelled as a cyclist.
‘I used to come over every summer for the Guernsey versus Jersey inter-insular. I think I was 15 when I broke the Guernsey junior 25-mile race record,’ he recalled.
He was also adept on three wheels, and said he also held the junior tricycle 25-mile race record, albeit with one slight caveat.
‘I was the only one competing in the tricycle races. I remember one year being on the boat coming over to Guernsey and I got lifted off the boat while sat on my tricycle.
‘There were crowds of people for the races, but no one else was racing in the tricycle event, only me.’
Born in Scunthorpe in 1939, Mr Gammidge first visited Guernsey in 1940 with his family just before the German Occupation began.
‘We would come to see the Hoolahan family, but on my first visit we were told to leave the island because of how imminent the German arrival was.
‘My father and mother met on the island, and my uncle was Sid Gardner.’
Mr Gardner, who at one time worked for the Guernsey Press, was a popular comedian and performer in the island and known as something of an impresario too.
A retired former professional drummer, Mr Gammidge has been in Guernsey on holiday over the Christmas period – his first visit since the 1980s – and was keen to reconnect with old cycling friends and rivals before heading back to the UK at the weekend.
‘I was just interested to know if anyone from back then was still around, it’d be lovely to hear from them.’
