I recently received a letter from a TT fan in Midlothian Scotland addressed to ‘Mr D Cretney, Former Minister of Fun,Douglas, Isle of Man’.

Thanks to our friendly postman the letter was delivered and I have just responded.

The correspondent informed me he had just returned from a weekly visit to see an elderly friend who he described as a very sharp minded TT fanatic, like so many.

He told me his friend showed him his ‘achievement award’ which had been awarded to him a long time ago confirming he had attended at least 50 TTs.

He had the framed certificate which had been signed by me some time before 2006 (when I moved on from the tourism department) in pride of place.

I started these awards for long-time visitors to our island to show how much we appreciated their support whether at the TT or Manx Grand Prix or as regular visitors enjoying the special things about our island.

This one story indicates their value in goodwill and appreciation. In fact I have often met people visiting our island years after an award has been given to a friend or family member who have recognised me and taken the time to thank me.

Little gestures such as this go a long way to reward loyalty through thick and thin to our very welcome visitors and in time become individual talking points and may help to raise awareness or even encourage a new visitor.

I’m really pleased that these have been carried on by the next generation of public representatives.

I had the opportunity to co-host a three-hour show on Good Friday on Manx Radio with Chris Pearson featuring some 1970s and 1980s disco records.

It’s hard to imagine that I’ve been doing discos off and on for nearly 50 years starting at Allsorts in Wellington Street in 1976 – the island’s onlypurpose-built under-18s disco. This was among other venues like the Grasmere Hotel operated by the Henthorn family which had a lovely restaurant attached and did lots of late-night functions.

The DJ who first impressed me was the exuberant Jonny Silver in the original Cave who would jump up and down and hit his head on the ceiling.

My cousin John Cretney was the first mobile DJ in the island with Sloopy’s disco appearing at the Coach and Horses and Porthole Bar at the Fort Anne among other venues.

Here’s a few from across the years, let me know which ones you remember and any special memories… The Academy Ballasalla,MGM, 370 Disco Castletown with DJ Hovis Brown, Talons Port Erin, The Peel Castle, Jimmy B’s, Toffs, Whispers, Hawaiian bar, Studebakers, Nikki Dow, Dow Jones, the original Palace Lido where my memories include Bill Chrisp doing the tunes late at night. It was sad to hear he’s recently passed away.

Then the hi-tech laser disco, Little Caesars, Paramount City (what a great job the Quayle family are doing with this building), Champs at the Rutland, Imps at the now non-existent Imperial, Summerland roller disco and many more. I’m sure I have forgotten some names so please get in touch with your stories by emailing [email protected], phoning 333974 or mailing 12 Manor Drive, Farmhill.

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One of my favourite walks starts, depending on a number of factors, somewhere south of Castletown sometimes by Balladoole Farm or Gansey.

I then go around the Karran Quirk public footpath which always amuses me having spent time in Tynwald with two members with the same surnames and head into Port St Mary.

Up through the village and then left up the incline towards Cregneash.

Halfway up the hill a householder leaves a bowl of water outside which is always welcomed by my dogs Rosie and Ted.

We then always have a wander around Cregneash and stop to admire the Loughtans or heavy horses and occasionally the local farm cat stretched out in the sun.

We then head up the road towards Port Erin and very often just at Meayll we say good day to David Corrin who is sat in his car enjoying the beauty and tranquillity.

He recently relayed an interesting story which I share here.

He was sitting in his usual spot about 5pm on Thursday,August 25 when a few motorcyclists went past.

He noticed they all had German number plates and the last one had red leathers with the word ‘Dahne’ on the back.

He could see that they all headed down to the Sound and thought to himself how he remembered Helmut Dahne (pictured) riding long ago in the days of Mike Hailwood and others.

He recalled him being a very good rider and finished third in one race and that he always wore red leathers.

So thinking this person may be wearing the same outfit in tribute to Helmut Dahne he went down to the Sound to investigate further.

He saw the German bikes parked and seven riders lying on the bank overlooking Kitterland.

He saw the one in red leathers and he said to him: ‘I remember Helmut Dahne riding are you wearing those leathers in tribute to him?’

The other guys all laughed and said: ‘No it is him!’

David said: ‘I remember you riding and I’m sure you finished third in one race.’

Helmut responded that he finished fourth to Mike Hailwood in 1978.

This was one of the most famous races in TT history as ‘Mike the Bike’ returned to the Mountain Course mounted on the Sports Motorcycles Ducati winning the Formula One race.

David said: ‘You always rode a BMW’ and Helmut replied that in 1978 he was actually riding a Honda.’

He asked David: ‘Do you remember George Meier?’

To which David replied: ‘I don’t remember him but I know he won the TT.’

He was actually the first foreign winner of the prestigious Senior TT in 1939.

Helmut said to David: ‘Well these two guys sitting next to me are his nephews.’

Helmut went on to tell David that he lived in Munich and that his fastest lap of the TT was 114mph.

He said they were returning to Germany the next day and David said how pleased he was to have spoken to him as all TT riders are heroes of his.

Asked his age Helmut confirmed he was 77 which was a year older than David.

He shook hands with the famous TT racer and said cheerio to the other six and a few minutes later they rode off from the beauty spot.

According to TT records his other top results include third in the 1974 Production TT and second in 1984 and 1986.

Other famous German TT riders included Wener Haas, Ruppert Hollaus,Fritz Hillebrand,Walter Schneider,Helmut Fath,Max Deubel who I have met on a number of occasions, Siegfried Schauzu, Klaus Enders,Hans-Georg Anscheidt, Ernst Degner, Klaus Klein, Heinz Rosner, Helmut Luneman and Hans Otto Butenuth and of course the BMW sidecar machines were dominant for an extended period winning 25 TT sidecar races.

The manufacturer also currently holds the outright solo lap record at an average speed of 135.452mph