Sandra Chapman: Isle of Man, a land of motorbikes and memories

It was the early Sixties. Times were changing fast and we wanted to be out there keeping pace.

We hadn’t the money for Spain or Italy. Those exotic places needed a boyfriend with cash and they weren’t exactly plentiful. But I had one who was into cars and motorbikes. The Isle of Man was as far I was going to get with him and so it was to be. Funds didn’t stretch to a 4 star hotel, but a B&B sounded just fine. Except it was a pretty tatty establishment.

This week I was back on the island trying to find that tatty hotel, but it’s no longer there. The Isle of Man this week has been drenched in hot sun, and all those hotels of the past are now luxurious places to stay.

A large percentage of their staff are foreign, speaking good English and helpful beyond belief. Cars costing six figure sums flash around the streets and luxury yachts fill the marina. All I wanted was a flash of Michael Dunlop roaring around the TT course. That was all I got, something happened and Michael was forced to retire at the end of the first lap of his race.

Wherever I go I can’t help keeping up with the outside world and one headline `Energy bills will devour the state pension’ brought me back down-to-earth. Was I not going to be able to afford to come back to this lovely island where motorbikes reign and main street parking is free?

And what about the gorgeous dogs romping around and the fabulous cat wearing a very fancy collar who took a shine to me? Perhaps she could smell cats off me since my own two treasures have very recently passed on to cat heaven.

The article declared that almost three quarters of the annual state pension will be eaten away by soaring energy bills next year. Pensioners, it said, would have just £3,000 left to live on per year once bills are paid.

Dame Esther Rantzen is not at all happy about how pensioners are going to be affected. She has declared it as ‘victimisation of the elderly’ and accused Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the two contenders for the next PM job, of totally ignoring the elderly. Esther, bless her cotton socks, describes us oldies as ‘a valuable part of the human race’. Somehow I don’t think Liz and Rishi are getting too heated up about the plight of the elderly. Those without a private pension to see them through are going to suffer. Other notable figures are pleading with the politicians not to let the elderly population down.

How will the Isle of Man, for example, survive without its annual elderly holidaymakers who come here in their droves? The TT may no longer exist since huge numbers of biker holidaymakers are well into their 60s and 70s. Maybe Dame Esther should run for Parliament. We shouldn’t forget that the Isle of Man was the first country in the world to grant votes to women in 1881 thanks to the efforts of one Sophia Jane Goulden the political activist and mother of Emmeline Pankhurst who in turn went on to fight for women in the UK to get the vote. That happened in 1918 so we have a lot to thank women in the past for. The Isle of Man is very proud of that point in its history

The island has had its sorrows too. How could any of us forget August 2, 1973 when the Summerland fire disaster took the lives of 50 people, 12 of them children. The oldest to die was 70 years. Some good came from that disastrous fire. It led to massive changes for entertainment establishments. Today the unfortunate people who died in the Summerland disaster are remembered in Douglas’s lovely memorial garden.

This is a very different island to the one I first visited with a motorbike-mad boyfriend, who eventually became my husband. Today it is full of families, restaurants, good shops and entertainment. And, of course, motorbikes by the thousa