Scootering Magazine October 2018 Edizione posteriore

Just as I sat down to write this month’s welcome column, I was faced with the sad news that scooter luminary and LCGB legend Kev Walsh had passed away. Normally this column is the editor’s chance to frame some of the current content for the reader and convey the ethos of the edition. I was going to wax lyrical about the brace of Nosferatu customs we have, the ‘quick rides’ series Stan has started, the SCK factory race rep, and certainly Wild Thing being back with a bang. But none of that somehow seemed to matter at the time of writing, not with the news of Kev’s passing. A few months ago Scootering writer, and close friend of Kev’s, Stu Owen set to work on a collaboration with Kev, to chronicle his life’s work.

This would give Stuart access to Kev’s vast collection of historical documents, computer files and archive of thousands of previously unpublished photographs. We were of course delighted about this, and work had already enthusiastically started on this project when the unfortunate and distressing news of Kev’s diagnosis was first received. This took us all by surprise, but ever the optimist and determined to the end, Kev proceeded to invite Stuart to stay at his home for a few days while handing over the legacy of work to Stuart. The sheer wealth of knowledge and history was overwhelming; at one point Stu worried that he was going to run out of containers to carry the documents and photographs, not to mention storage space on his digital recorder as Kev regaled him with story after story. Even with the diagnosis, and knowing what was coming, when the news came that Kev had passed it was far sooner than we had expected, and it knocked the wind out of me...