I was sitting in the shiny new coffee palace in Crosby the other day when who should walk through the front door to share this ‘warm space’ with me for a couple of hours but none other than Dot Tilbury MBE.

She was immediately able to point out the many features of interest nearby that held special memories for her.

Across the main road in Bromet Grove was her childhood home until the family moved all the way to Glen Vine.

Looking through the window whilst enjoying our refreshments, Dot pointed to the bowling green which she recalled previously being tennis courts in which her interest in that sport was awakened.

Nearby, the bowling green is a welcome addition of a range of new playground equipment. Up the steep hill is the former Marown old school, which Dot attended alongside others from the area including the person she sat next to, now Captain of the Parish Charlie Fargher MBE.

Dot had fond memories of the dinner lady Ollie Skillicorn and remembers the head teacher Mrs E.E. Kelly.

he sports field adjacent, though on a slope, was the site of netball, football, country dancing and more.

She told me about the nature walks that the children were involved in which gave them a good grounding of their surroundings.

At the back of the school was a garden in which the children were actively encouraged to get involved.

Her dad Percy and the late Harold Leece from Greeba originally prepared the gardens for pupils to use when they went to the school.

As Manx as the hills with a well recognised voice and sense of humour, Dot Kelly, as she was then, has many happy childhood memories.

She has a brother Peter whom I remember from school as ‘Tank’ Kelly and a sister Pat who passed away last year.

Both her brother and dad Percy played football for Marown and her mother Jean came from Newcastle after the war.

Dot asked her mum what it meant to her coming from a large city to the island and the reply was ‘you just get on with it’ perhaps the approach of a past generation.

Talking of which, Dot like so many recalls getting a bike off the tip. If a wheel was needed for a go cart she would go and see if Reggie Kissack (Derry’s dad) had one as he didn’t chuck things out that may come in useful.

Dot told me about how they would go at Christmas time to see Auntie Do Creer and Tom her husband.

Her auntie would say ‘I’ve forgotten the milk’, then go outside the house and come back dressed up as Father Christmas putting on a deep voice to give out presents.

She would eventually come back to the bungalow with a pint of milk and be disappointed that she’d missed him!

She also remembered her Nanna Kelly giving everyone a special big present.

Like a number of places around the island the local youth club,also visible from our warm space was a special place.

She told me about Johnny Gelling’s rock ’n’ roll band playing and being excited when Charlie Fargher asked her ‘are you dancing?’ to which she agreed only to be told ‘oh good thanks, can I have your chair?’

She told me about cycling with her friend Josephine Ellis all the way to Laurel Bank to watch the TT.

Later they would return home when hungry or thirsty.

Like so many of our generation enjoying the freedom of long summer days.

Nearby was a track in Eyreton forest where children could ride their bikes off road.

Dot was particularly fond of horses as a girl so adopted a tree shaped like a horse and equipped it with stirrups and reins and ride away on her imaginary steed.

She did get to ride a real horse now and again at Skye Hill Pony Trekking. She was asked ‘can you ride?’ to which her response had to be yes, otherwise she would be given the slowest one available!

Also at Ellerslie Farm, when Mike Godfrey was farming, his daughter Ann had a horse and Dot was given the donkey to ride.

She did have her cousin’s riding jacket so she looked the part.

She also recalled the gymkhanas at Peel. Another event organised by Johnny Gelling at the youth club was a square dance and the feast on offer was hot dogs, a new delicacy at the time.

It was alleged that Artie Garrett consumed 26 of them (if true, surely a Guinness World record!)

Dot attended Ballakermeen and Park Road and was keen to pursue tennis, however the first two lessons were more for novices. One how to throw the ball in the air to serve and one about the construction of the racquet, which were too much for Dot. She wanted to get on with the action so lost interest.

Her mum was also interested in sport, being island champion at bowls. Before the war when she lived in Newcastle she went out on a Sunday on her Bates cycle and covered up to 100 miles before returning home late afternoon for Sunday dinner.

After that she was called up into the ATS before meeting Percy, Dot’s dad.

During the summer holidays when aged about 12 Dot would wait for the bread to arrive from Kermode the bakers in Onchan, make sandwiches and, with Peel girl Rosie Kaneen (now Morrison), would travel by bus to Peel and spend all day in the swimming pool at the far end of the promenade.

A proud boast was that she once beat Isle of Man Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Alex Jackson in a gala in Peel. It was in the blowing-up-balloons race followed by a quick swim!

Dot attended the Methodist church opposite our coffee venue.

She told me about the church on the main road between Crosby and Glen Vine where rose queen events took place but the Methodists didn’t have one.

She recalled Wendy Kirkpatrick bringing her pony and trap to transport the rose queen and I think wishing that her church could have hosted a similar event.

When her family moved from Bromet Grove, the Leonetti family moved in.

She sometimes joked with Marco Leonetti that this made the two families blood brothers and sisters as the Kellys had ‘warmed’ the house up for the new occupants before moving to Glen Vine.

Like so many of us who were able to witness the duels between Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini, Dot remembers these exciting times.

She also met Mike Hailwood at the Crosby pub when he returned to once again contest the TT. Like many of us, as soon as she could do any work she did.

Indeed, in her teenage years she would wait on at 3 Laureston Terrace, one of the hundreds of boarding houses catering for the thousands of visitors to our island at that time.

The property was owned by her father’s brother Eddie and his wife Mary.

She remembers they never stopped working with breakfasts, dinner, tea and sandwiches at supper time.

Again like lots of us Dot told me how they used to go to the Bathurst Street chippy with a bowl to bring chips back. I remember doing that at the Hope Street chippy, a real treat!

Much as Dot is proud of the land of her birth, London in the swinging sixties, with its bright lights, music and as a fashion trend leader, was the place to be for the younger generation and Dot was no exception.

She had two great aunties in London prewar and one of them still lived there, near Wimbledon.

Both had been dancers in theatres like the Windmill so she approached Auntie Edna to see if she could stay with her for a little while until she got established.

Auntie Edna confirmed she could stay for a week or two and that was it, the next chapter of Dot’s life had commenced.

She started working in the toy department of Harrod’s at Christmas and stayed for three years.

She recalled that the pay wasn’t good but had lots of fun.

Dot worked on the telephone as an enquiry officer and was referred to by a customer as the young lady with the funny accent.

One time she wanted to go home at Christmas to see her family and was told there may not be a job for her on her return.

She decided to risk it on the basis that there may be a job when she returned and there was!

At Christmas the toy department expanded into three large rooms and it was an exciting time.

She told me about a glamorous fashion show that took place in the store with all the music of the sixties accompanying it.

Whilst watching the models one of them glided down the catwalk to what was to become her favourite record and remains important to this day ‘I Heard it Through the Grapevine’ by Marvin Gaye.

Dot told me of conversations she had in the Harrod’s food hall about a particular Manx delicacy when she felt a bit homesick.

I was able to tell Dot that she obviously did a good job with the counter staff.

About 40 years later I asked the person on the counter which she recommended, Manx or Scottish, both available on sale. I’m pleased to say she gave the correct answer about juicy Manx kippers!

She also recalled meeting a very suave customer who came into the store after a rocking horse he ordered had gone astray and fortunately things had been resolved. None other than Peter Sellers!

After Harrod’s Dot moved on to Peter Robinson’s, a long-established fashion department store in Oxford Circus.

In 1965 the Top Shop brand appeared in London for the first time in the basement of the premises.

She was engaged as a supervisor and within two weeks was promoted, aged 21, to manager of the accessories department.

This was all about the time of flower power and hippies and Dot, with Manx boyfriend Nat, remembers attending the 1969 ‘Stones in the Park’ outdoor festival on July 5.

Between 250,000 and 500,000 people were at the festival which had a free entry!

Dot told me she couldn’t believe that a can of Coke cost her 50p.

At Christmas time in Peter Robinson’s they had a big party and cabaret with the big number being Big Spender, which most people recall as a Shirley Bassey classic.

On this occasion Maizie Williams who worked with Dot covered the song and she went on to great success as part of Boney M.

She appeared on the Isle of Man some years later and remembered Dot’s kindness when they met again.

Her homeland called Dot back in the early 1970s and in 1975 she joined the Isle of Man Post Office. Employed in the philatelic bureau as a postal officer, she also spent time on the counters, TV licensing, wages and other areas.

At that time 40 people were employed by the bureau and it was an all-manual operation.

Shortly after being employed Dot was one of a number of the team that went to exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles.

The philatelic bureau was a great success. In the late 1990s Dot was promoted to manager of the bureau with her long-standing colleague Maxine Cannon as deputy.

I asked Dot about which of the very successful stamp issues over the years she remembered most.

‘There were many obviously but the Bee Gees issue was certainly up there,’ she said.

Thanks to contacts with the late Bernie Quayle and others Dot and Janet Bridge were invited to the opening night of Saturday Night Fever in the Minskoff Theatre in Times Square, New York.

They met the Bee Gees in the afternoon.

From the island a total of 10,000 of the stamp issues with the CD of Ellan Vannin were sold out.

Another great issue was the Paul McCartney stamps. Both he and George Harrison had Manx relations.

Thanks to Howard Parkin and The Agency the extraordinary millennium issue gained world attention as stamps were released live at one minute to midnight, at midnight, and one minute after midnight.

At the launch at the Palladium the goody bag for journalists included a kipper each!

Other memorable issues from the many which gained world attention for the island included The Snowman, Harry Potter, Concorde, George Formby and The Lord of the Rings.

As a girl, together with friend Josephine Ellis and her family, Dot regularly took part in the Sunday school eisteddfods taking place around the island including recitation, dialect, spelling bee, general knowledge etc – another thing I have in common with Dot as my Uncle Jack used to be one of the organisers of the Buck’s Road eisteddfods and I took part!

These may have given her some grounding for the entertainment part of her life.

She first visited the Gaiety aged seven or eight and was immediately taken by it, especially the Spanish dancer fire curtain!

Who can forget so many fun occasions, whether it was with any one of a number of others performing together such as Ian Qualtrough, Geoff Corkish (look out you are on my list!), Kenny Radcliffe or Dot as the fairy at the top of the Christmas tree with the dangly legs in the Christine Wild Panto?

After Derry had his bad accident on the mountain, Dot stepped in to MC the Purple Helmets show at Onchan Stadium.

An ambulance went around with a pair of legs sticking out of the back and she convinced the crowd it was Derry!

She’s worked with Steve Colley, Norman Wisdom and hosted a number of royal visitors. Together with Geoff she has hosted the very successful Fashion for Life events for Isle of Man Breast Care. Look out this autumn for the next Breast Care fashion show!

Then there’s the cycling!

After the late Alex Forrest and John Purvis started the weekly cycling at the NSC perimeter track with Dot on board, Alex very sadly died suddenly and John needed to pursue his business interests so Dot, together with a great team of Nat, parents and friends, has been the dynamo that with a team around her has made great things happen.

RL360 started its sponsorship in 1994 and are still involved.

From 14 young people then to simply hundreds now, such a success story.

Mark Cavendish started when he was nine and so many others have, at some time, been on the conveyor belt to great things in the sport including Peter Kennaugh, Mark Christian, Anna Christian, Christian Varley, Lizzie Holden, Amelia Sharpe, Mathew Bostock, the Walker brothers and on and on!

lInducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame in 2009.

lAwarded the MBE in 2009.

lAwarded the Isle of Man Newspapers Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, presented by Olympic Gold medallist Peter Kennaugh.

lIn 2013 winner of the Bidlake Memorial Plaque (other recipients include Reg Harris, Beryl Burton, Hugh Porter, Chris Boardman, Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins).

lCycling Weekly Local Hero in 2019.

Last word from Dot …. ‘Life’s all about having fun!’