They are gone now, those times. We all live in different times now and Leslie (that is how we called him and it was a good name then), the youngest of the brothers, has been the first to leave. The memories, though, remain with us. There are old names, old happenings, the old family and the energetic approach to life's journey.

Les was certainly energetic. Horses gave excitement until he tried motorcycles. Then he bought a Velocette 350 from Hamish Mc Innes (the mountaineer) for 35 pounds, took it for a first spin near Chryston, left the road at a high speed and ended up at the far side of a farmer's field- to the great amusement of his loving and caring family including, I recall, myself. That machine was later christened " the fastest 350 in Lochaber" by a Gaelic speaker who made the mistake of asking Les for a lift.

At the bottom of deep Loch Eck, in Argyll at the approach to Cowal, I believe there is still one of our father's cars. The unofficial record from Glasgow to Cowal was almost broken but for that one corner at the edge of the water. I don't know how Les explained the loss of the car.

And there were the "scrambles" motor cycles that Les raced with our father towing the bikes there and encouraging Les to quite respectable results in one of the toughest sports ever invented. He started with a Matchless 350 which he tried to tune but was a beast and far too heavy. The piston melted after one tuning attempt, I recall. Then they got a Greeves, which was a winner.

Les showed engineering talent with his motor cycles, but his early days with horses likely led him to his career as a veterinarian. In addition, he had a quite different skill as a member of the High School of Glasgow pipe band. He was a sensitive piper and had a large repertoire of the old marching tunes. I still recall them well. When one is learning to play the pipes, your immediate family knows all about it! But he was, indeed, good at it.

As we grow older, perhaps the old days are remembered more fondly. On my first trip back to Scotland from Canada, Les and I sailed Muir's sailboat from our old waters at the Holy Loch through the Kyles of Bute, Loch Fyne and the Crinan canal to Lorne. The weather was beautiful , with light winds, and we enlivened the proceedings with water-skiing at Oban.

These are nice memories from long ago. We remember them dearly as we do our brother Les.
Bryce Porter
(5316 Marine Drive ,
West Vancouver- if anyone is visiting they are welcome)