Tributes in the Bristol Evening Post: ---------------------- BIKERS SAY THEIR FINAL FAREWELL TO HAROLD FOWLER 10:40 - 06 September 2006 Motorcycle hearse: MORE than 200 bikers took part in a cavalcade through the city to mark the death of biking legend Harold Fowler. Mr Fowler, founder of the motorcycle dealership bearing his name, died last week aged 94 following a brief illness. The bikers, riding both classic and modern machines, followed his coffin in a special sidecar hearse from his funeral at St Bridget Church in Chelvey, near Backwell. The 100-yard cavalcade drove round Temple Meads roundabout past the Bath Road showrooms, where it was applauded by staff in their distinctive blue uniforms and biking enthusiasts lining the pavements. The procession then went on to South Bristol Crematorium where an interment ceremony took place. Fowlers' sales supervisor Simon Hawker, 32, from Horfield, was one of those who watched the procession. He said: "It is a sad day, because he is a legend in Bristol for what he did with his business. "But this is what he would have wanted because he was so enthusiastic about everything do to with biking." Mr Fowler joined the family business in 1927, a few months after his parents opened their first bicycle showroom. He built the business up to be one of the city's best-known firms. He was a well-known scrambler and trials rider in the 1940s and 1950s. Mr Fowler leaves his wife Eileen, two daughters Stephanie and Gillian, seven grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. -------------------- GENTLEMAN HARRY WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO HELP 10:40 - 08 September 2006 Reading the Post tribute following the death of Harry Fowler, of Fowlers Motorcycles ("Fowlers boss dies", September 1), gave me a reminder of an incident unlikely to occur nowadays. On one occasion, in the early 1950s, I was travelling to Wincanton on my motorbike with my son. We got as far as the outskirts of Shepton Mallet when the bike came to a sudden halt. It was necessary to leave it in a nearby pub car park and search for a public telephone box. I made a call to Fowlers, which at the time was in Grosvenor Road, and Harry Fowler answered. Explaining my problem, he said that being Saturday all the staff were busy, so it was difficult to send anyone out, but he would come out himself within an hour and a half. True to his word, he arrived and loaded my bike onto the recovery van. He told me and my son to sit in front, and asked us where we lived. Harry then took us to our home and, with the effort he had made, I asked: "How much?" He refused to take any money but to phone Fowlers the following Friday, he then proceeded to return to his business. I phoned the following Friday, asking for Harry, who told me the bike was ready for collection at the workshop opposite. Remarking I could not be able to collect it until 6pm, when the workshop would be closed, he promised it would be left outside for me to collect. Harry was happy to accept that I would return the next morning to settle the bill. What a gentleman. Ron Broomfield, Hartcliffe.
