The RX-8

Memories of an
Island life
As the third generation of well-known
Island farming family, Newport-born David
Biles is a storehouse of colourful memories
– from bidding on cattle at the age of seven,
to his days as the Island’s knackerman, his
car rallying exploits and the terrifying days
of WWII. He shared some of them here.
David was born in 1935 in Newport, six
years after his only other sibling, sister
Joyce Pattie.
Their father Harold was a local farmer and
knackerman, his mother Annie a hardworking
farmer’s wife who pulled her
weight in the business, and was known on
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occasion to have cut up half a ton of pet
food before breakfast. At that time the
family lived at Devonia (now called The
Birches) on Forest Road, next to what is
now Snows BMW Garage.
One vivid memory of these early days is
leaving his tricycle in the middle of the
road, where the local baker ran over it.
David remarked “I don’t leave things in
anybody’s way anymore. I learnt my lesson
the hard way at the age of four!”
David was always encouraged by his parents
to get involved with the community and
mix with people – in fact, at the tender age
INTERVIEW
of just four, he was dispatched to be an ice
cream boy, (stop me and buy one), in
Newport Carnival.
During the war, the current Snows( BMW)
was a factory where Mosquito’s (wooden
aeroplanes) were built, so the Biles’ house
was commandeered as an office for the
Chief Engineers. This meant they moved
into their old family home with his
grandparents at Trafalgar Cottage, Union
Street, where David was brought up, in
those days the telephone no was Newport
79, a bit different from today.
He recalled how, in those days, parents were
very different. In terms of explaining things
to their children: “I remember on one
occasion I asked my father a question, and
he turned round and apologised and said to
me, ‘I’m sorry David, have I not explained
that to you?”
“My father used to take me everywhere
with him. I was bidding for cattle at the age
of seven. He would poke me on the foot
with his old stick when it was time to stop
bidding. I also remember he used to send
me off to farm sales to buy old harnesses
that were not used anymore after the war. I
used to have to clean it up and then sell it
again, and that’s how I learned the skill of
bidding. Although I still have a lot of what I
bought then still stored away in a shed.”
David has vivid memories of the war as a
child, and can remember that most of the
time at home they slept in what they called
“table shelters”.
“I vividly remember when Moreys were
bombed, and because our house was built
properly, I remember the thick plate glass
from our windows flying everywhere”.
He also recalls watching the fighter planes
battling it out, and loved watching the
pilots come down with their parachutes
open.
David’s early school days were spent at the
National School, Newport, (which is now a
block of flats) and at the age of eight he
went on to Ryde School as a weekly boarder.
He was accompanied to the school by his
friend Terry Wood, whose father used to
own The Bugle Hotel in Newport.
“One vivid memory of Ryde School was the
night before D-Day. I remember seeing the
Solent and Spithead full with boats, in fact
you could almost have walked to
Portsmouth, there were so many boats! You
couldn’t see water. I woke the next morning
to find it empty, not a boat in sight. That
was a fantastic memory”.
David admits he was not a great lover of
school, and at the age of 13 his parents
were told by Ryde school that they didn’t
think they could take him any further, so he
returned to King James School, and became
19