Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Forgot my wedding anniversary 32 years ago we got married and ended up in a field at Knebworth watching Lynnrd Skynnrd 10cc and then the Stones.Great wedding night!!!! But if you could have a night out with anybody,who would you choose? I think Keith Richard and Ronnie Wood would be good company What about you guys and gals?

Hi

Shakira..................yummmm............

All the best Brett

the ideal dinner party game eh !

bertrand russell

einstien

bill hicks

jesus (for the wine, i got shed loads of water)

freud

don whillans

My wife. 7 years & still good. Where the hells she gone she was looking over my shoulder when I started........

Blimey - that must have cost a fortune to have those guys play at your wedding reception.

Blimey, someone else who knows Don Whillans, is it the very same one.

Hard as nails

Dry as a bone

Great wit.

Only ever met him once, it was in Coventry at an evening for mad rock climbers and mad mountaineers, the sort of things I used to do.

Would have loved to have done a few routes with him

Still we can't have it all in life

However, still married to the same super lady for over 30 years

Yeah,remember marraige wasnt popular in those days,but we took a layer of wedding cake and gave it out to those around us and got comments like "you got married man??? Wow!!!! nice cake though!! "

yup that Ddon "the villan" Whillans, designer of the harness so popular it had a breakfast at "petes" in llanberis named after it consisting of a sausage 2 fried eggs all covered in tomato juice,So you can guess what happened if you fell in it. i want him at the dinner just cos he was a stroppy litttle bugger. This is after all the man who first saw C Bonnington at the roaches, bonnington was running away shouting for "some first aid, i Must have some first aid" , Whillans casually asked "whats up mate? have you got a plum stuck in your mouth?"

oh and can Jim the Southern ARO come as well cos he is a bloody good laugh

and if brett can bring some gas i sggest we will have a jolly old night !!!!!

Hadnt heard of Don Whillans before but sounds like he s good company!!

Ordered a book from the library "The Life of Don Whillans " by Jim Perrin.Should have it next week.

Hi 944 Bloke

Hope you enjoy the book.

I think Don teamed up with Joe Brown at the Roaches in Staffordshire. That's where I started many years ago. So the story goes that Don was on the same rope as Joe when they first put up a route on the Upper Tier which was subsequently named The Sloth. Reason for the name was that Brown spent so much time hanging and trying to exit from under the huge roof to exit onto the final wall that Don called it The Sloth.

For the time it was an awesome route and test piece for real "hard men".

What else from a man who was built like a brick s***t house

Never got the recognition he deserved, probably because he upset the establishment too much and smoked and drank himself to death.

His harnesses were great and saved me twice on falls

Hero

Enjoy the book

See you again, perhaps at Siversone or Donnington next year

Hi there Mymerak! I have to say I know next to nothing about climbing but since you and Gordon talked about this guy I have become intrigued ,sounds like a great bloke.Cant wait for the book to arrive now.Will let you know how I get on with it.Cheers for now. Regards John.

don was a bity of a nutter but with some of the great climbers of the 50's such as Joe brown, hamish mckinnes etc he did some bloody hard routes wearing equipment that today we wouold laugh at. The Sloth at the roaches was allegedly done in the wet, the basis for this being that the overhang would mean the rock below would be dry. ramshaw Crack at e3 is the most difficult thing I ever climbed, and I dont think there is a Whillans-Brown route that is ever easy, unless you are prepared to loose some skin with the fist jams and can be a bit thuggish the Whillans routes can be murder. There is a big dent under the start to Crab Walk direct at ramshaw awhich i think was made by me unsucessfully trying the first 2 moves on about 15 tries ! The man couldnt seem to resist a fight or a drink or whatever but he was a manchester plumber from the age of 14 and that wasnt a profession for the more cultured during the 40's and 50's !! there is also an authorised biograsphy of the man which makes interesting reading but missees out some of the more unsavoury aspects !! both books are a bloody good read.

portrait of a mountaineer
Ormerod, Alick, joint author.
[by] Don Whillans and Alick Ormerod

Hi John and Gordon

First of all John I am sure you will enjoy reading about Don W. There's a lot to go at.

Gordon, Perhaps I will get down your way next year for the Poole Harbour Festival. After all Paul Bird made it this year I believe.

My 993 Targa came from Chapelgate Porsche originally and it seems right and proper to take it back home for a visit!

Then we might be able to find an original spit and sawdust pub so that I can see if I can still finger jam my way along the cracks in the floorboards. Had to retire from rock climbing and Alpinism due to a young family; it seemed irresponsible to carry on.

My last rock route was "A Dream of White Horses" on Gogarth. Fabulous route but not one to fall off, especially in the overhangs above Wen Zawn! (See Hard Rock by Ken Wilson). Never did fancy slowly popping my clogs in a Whillans harness on a route where a rescue was impossible. I could never remember to carry jumars or prussick loops!

Brian

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