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 A WORKINGTON man is flying back home from Australia later this month hoping he’s in time to meet-up with Workington speedway legend Lou Sansom.
Keith Tomlinson is staying with his daughter in Australia at the moment about 20k east of Melbourne, and knows Lou well since the time he rode for the Comets and was Workington’s first speeday superstar.
On checking the Getnoticedonline.co.uk website from Australia, Keith was delighted to see that his old friend was heading back to Workington.
Keith informs us: “When Lou first came to Workington he brought over with him his own mechanic, Steve Merchant. At a public meeting at Derwent Park they were looking for someone to take in Steve and look after him.
“He didn't have much in the way of funds so my mother offered him a room at her house. Steve moved in with my mam and dad and Lou used to come round on a regular basis.
“Not long after Lou also moved in with my mam and dad and she turned what had been her shop premises (corner of Vulcans Lane and Brown Street) into a sitting room and we ripped out the bakery oven from the bakehouse and made that a workshop for Lou's bikes.
“Lou and Steve became like brothers to me ( I was the Seaton policeman at this time) and I remember one occasion Lou, me and Jack Adams, who was the village PC at Clifton, tearing down to London and back in Lou's old Rover car to pick up a new engine for the next meeting the following day.
“Three of us took turns to drive there and back in about 12 hours.
“After Lou went home he never let a Christmas Day go by without telephoning my mam and dad and sending them some small gift. We still exchange Christmas cards, etc, and as I say, a couple of times I have gone over to his home in Morphettvale, near Adelaide. He has never changed and I will be sorry to miss the evening they are having with him in the Washington Central.
“Lou's dad was a butcher and he came over to visit him in England. He liked to play golf and so I took him to Maryport Golf Club for a round. He couldn't get over the fact that we were sharing the fairway with about a dozen cows and he took several photos to show them all back home in Adelaide. He said that they wouldn't believe him otherwise.
“Also I remem ber that my daughter and my mother went to Adelaide in 1979 for three months and stayed with Lou's dad.”
Keith hopes that Lou will still be here in west Cumbria when he gets back from Australia soon after the 40th Anniversary meeting at Derwent Park.
The retired police sergeant is staying Down Under with his daughter Julie and goes out there every year for five or six weeks.
A keen bowler with the Seaton club he calls it warm weather training for the bowls season which starts in April.
On a couple of occasions he has flown over to Adelaide to meet Lou and his wife Linda, who hails from Workington.
“I have been too busy this time running my 10-year-old grand-daughter here, there and everywhere to play tennis, or to training.
“She is ranked 7th for her age group in the whole of Australia and she is a member of the National Tennis Academy in Melbourne. On the 18th March she is going with to the National Institute of Sport at Canberra, where she will be wired up to a computer and her actions monitored and transformed into matchstick men like figures for training videos, etc,” he explained.
Lou will be taking part in a special event in the Washington Central on Friday, March 26th ahead of the anniversary meeting.
A chat show formula, followed by a question and answer session will feature the Comets legend and Getnoticedonline.co.uk’s John Walsh.
Tickets for that event are £5 and can be obtained from Tony Jackson, a close friend of the rider, on 01900 65963 or at Press and Practice (March 13) during the ‘meet the riders’ night in the Derwent Lounge.
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