A hero racing through Colne

Here at the Nelson and Colne boundary during the summer of 1953, we can see the main road in deep water as a motorbike and sidecar negotiate the flash flood waters. The gent on the bike-combo is Ronnie’s father Pat Wright, of Clifford Street in Nelson, who during the Second World War served on the North Atlantic and Russian convoys, winning a grand total of six medals for bravery at sea serving on the warship HMS Vanity.

Back home from the war, Pat worked for many years at H. W. Bannister’s cotton mill, Forest Shed in Trawden, first as a warpdresser, then later becoming a fully-skilled tape sizer.

Pat’s good friends and colleagues at the mill were Neville French and Brian Halstead, who both remember their years working with Pat as happy indeed.

Today, many will still recall Pat Wright on our local roads on his trusty motorbike and sidecar as he travelled to and from work.