Stan Pyke's Website

Welcome to my web site!

The purpose of this site is just to give me a presence on the web, where I can keep friends & family updated on what is happening in my life and hobbies. My hobbies include photography, model railways, and owning a couple of motorbikes and a caravan. They can also view a selection of my photos. I have now moved my web hosting to JustHost which gives me a lot more space available so will be increasing the size of this site as time and events allow. Before I was limited to five MB which meant I had to continually remove data to add new information. Now I am gradually puting it all back on again plus a lot more. As I now have the extra space I would like to add more information about the life and work of the salmon fishers who worked for the Tay Salmon Fishing company at the Kirkside Fishing Station. I can only find the odd snippet of information about them on the internet and feel that they deserve more recognition, so I will try to redress this over the coming years - Watch this space!

There are lots of photos on this site and most of them are links to either the subject or a larger image of the photo. Just click any image that you want to see in more detail - enjoy!

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My Dad's Page

Over the last couple of years I have been researching what happened to my father during his short life. The reason I know so little about him is that he was killed while being evacuated from Singapore in 1942 the day before the surrender. AS I was only 6 months old when he died I never had a chance to see him. As the years passed I kept wondering about him, what kind of a man was he, what were his interests, what kind of a life would we have had together, the list goes on and on. Unfortunately I will never know - the only thing I can do is try to find out as much information I can find. So I have started up a new page all about him which I will update whenever I find out anymore about him.

Click here or the link on any page to find out more.

In February 2009, with the help of Tan Hua Chiow (known as Major Tan, or just "the major" by all who know him) who lives in Singapore, we went on a trip to Pompong Island where my father was killed. We arrived on the island just before 11.00 hrs on Saturday the 14th Feb and I was swimming in the same part of the sea where my dad died exactly 67 years before. I will be adding a page on this memorable trip in the near future, so if you are interested please return shortly to read all about it.

I have just finished building two new pages about our trip out to Pompong Island. One is about the trip itself - Click here and the other about the planning carried out by Major Tan along with the input from David Hope - Click here . Click the links to have a look at them. I will be adding to them as I remember more details or get more photos from the others who were with me on the trip - so please come back.

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My Motorbikes

My latest bike is a 1991 Yamaha XJ600 which has a genuine 7000 miles on the clock and spent a lot of time lying about in garages and being neglected. It needs sprucing up and an MOT to get it back on the road. For its age it is a nice smooth bike on the road and I look forward to many miles on it. Got it MOT'd today, 14th July 2009, now to get some miles on it.

I have now sold the 1977 Triumph Bonneville T140J Silver Jubilee limited edition that I exchanged the BMW K100RT for it a at the end of July last year, a sort of birthday present to myself, if I needed an excuse for it. It was almost a basket case except that the engine forks wheels and a few other bits had been 'attached' to the frame. I had fun sorting out the many missing & incomplete parts required to get it back on the road. Well I got it back together and on the road for the first time since 1991, MOT'd it and had a few runs on it. It ran really well for a bike over 30 years old that had spent most of its life in boxes. You can see more details in the 'Bike' section, have a look!

I also have a 1978 Honda CB400/4F which I got because it is a nice light bike and it's a bike I have had a desire to own since just after they arrived in the UK way back in 1975. I have at last managed to get one which is in good condition and almost original so I might just show it at some of the Classic and Vintage shows up here in the North. I bought this bike on E-bay from a chap in Normanton near Wakefield.

A couple of years ago I got a K100RT as I didn't feel all that comfortable with the riding position of the more sporty bikes any more, must be an age thing or just me getting stiffer in my old age. The more comfortable position and slower driving of the tourer is more attractive and relaxing these days. It is also safer for my driving licence, the GSX1100f could accelerate so fast that you can be over the ton without realising it while just overtaking a few slower vehicles. You don't have to make that mistake too often at the wrong times to stack up the points on your licence.

The Trident I had earlier was taken off the road to have some work done to it. I had repainted the frame, tank, side panels and associated brackets. Also the engine had the crank reground, new main & big-end bearings, new pistons and a few mods to improve reliability. I also took the opportunity to make a new wiring system including a new solid state voltage regulator along with more fuses and relays.

There are some photos of them all my bikes past and present on the "Bikes" section of the menu. I have now sold them all except the Yamaha XJ600 and the Honda 400/4.

Click here or the link on any page to find out more.

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My Photo Page

24th September 2009, I have added some more photos on my Photo Pages and there are lots more to come as I get them scanned and sorted for the web. Most have been taken when Maggie and I were on various holidays and are mainly categorised as such. On the initial Photo Page you will see a list of the pages availably, click on any one you are interested in and that will take you to three small sample images for that subject. Click on either of them to go to that subject's page where you will then see all the images available, now click any image you want to see in more detail - enjoy!

Click here or the link on any page to find out more.

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Model Railway Page

I have now, at long last, added a couple of pages about my model railway layout with some details of the alterations and conversions carried out on a few of my older locomotives to improve their running. It is a good way of recycling the older models by fitting the better motors and drives now available. If you are interested have a look at my Railway page - enjoy!

Click here for my Railway page or use the link on any page to find out more.

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The Kirkside Salmom Fishing Station near St Cyrus

There are also articles and photos about the salmon fisher's bothy at Kirkside. This is where I was born and brought up until I was 9 years old. The old "Toorie Hoose" (Tower House in English) where I lived is no longer there, but with the aid of modern imaging I have replaced it, even if only for this web, back where it should be. The bothy at Kirkside where my grandfather and uncle both worked were run by the Tay Salmon Fisheries Co Ltd.

Click here for "Kirkside" or here for the "Salmon Fisher's" page. Alternatively use the links on any page to find out more.

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Our Caravanning Page

In September 2006 on the way back from a holiday at Redruth in Cornwall we collected our first caravan. It was an Elddis Elf, a lovely little caravan and it got us hooked on caravanning. A year later we bought a Sterling Eccles Onyz, a bigger van and the type with a fixed bed. But because it was too heavy for our Renault Laguna we also had to get another car to tow it.

Click here or the link on any page to find out more.

Links Page

Finally I have now added a page giving links to other useful web sites that I come across. These include web sites that cater for the motorbikes I have had, forums I found helpful while researching my dad's live and any other I feel would be of interest to anyone reading the pages on this site. If you have details of a site that you think may be of interest, please e-mail me with the information using the mail-to link below. There is also a brief description on how I built this site and my reasons for doing it this way.