The RX-8

unfortunately my father died of a heart
attack at the age of 61. That was the worst
day of my life, 18th July 1961.
“The most memorable time with my father
was the year before he died, when he won
the overall points championship at the
agricultural show with horses, cattle and
sheep. That was the height of his career.
“After my father’s death, all his friends
rallied round and gave my mother and I lots
of help and advice which helped to keep the
business going. During these years my
mother was a rock, and that was the time
when she and I formed the company A & D
Biles, which we are still called today even
though my mother passed away on
November 2nd 1988 at the age of 86.
However out of respect, I still trade under
the family name.”
David continued working in the knacker
business whilst also working for the Fat
Stock Marketing Corporation for 25 years,
and says that at this time of his life he was
extremely busy.
“During these years I built a really good
friendship with my brother in-law. We used
to do a lot of sport together. We used to go
car rallying, and I remember in the 60’s we
won the Daily Telegraph Trophy for the best
Isle of Wight Car. He even told my sister
once that he would rather fall out with her
than he would with me! We were there for
each other, I suppose”.
David courted his wife Diana for three years
after a chance meeting at the Channel View
Hotel in Shanklin. “Diana worked in London
at the time, and could only come to the
Island weekends” he says. “At the time this
suited me, because as a bachelor this gave
me all week to go out with my friends!”
“Diana was never allowed to miss the last
train back to London on the Sunday
evening... If she had not said to me when
are we going to get married, I suppose she
would still be going up and down to London
on a train even today. Even when she sort
of asked me if I would like to get married, I
wriggled. I remember we went to
Newmarket races and she asked me outright
are we going to get married. I suppose I was
about 30 then, and I said then, ‘No I’m not
ready yet, there’s a lot to live, so we sort of
called the job off’.
“Anyhow we did agree that if we met again
we would get married. Diana was a clever
woman so she sent a message via one of the
local girls that she was going to be in
London New Years Eve, and that she was
going abroad to work, so I thought she
might be going to America, because we were
not corresponding at the time. So I decided
that I would travel to London on New Year’s
Eve, although at the time I wasn’t sure
whether to go to London or see my mate in
Dorset. I went round the roundabout in the
New Forest about six times before I decided
to go to London.
Island Life - www.islandlifemagazine.net
I arrived at Trafalgar Square and still did not
have the pluck to pop the question. We
eventually got round to it two or three days
later. So I called grandpa in Nottingham and
told him he had better get the champagne
out, and he replied ‘We drank that a long
time ago!’, as he was fed up of being
messed about.
David and Diana finally married in 1965, at
Edwalton in Nottinghamshire. They still
have many good friends in Nottingham, and
see them regularly.
Within three years of marriage David and
Diana had their first child, a son named
Samuel (Sam).
“In those days Sam was a very modern
name. At the time there were two quite
well known Island characters with that
name - one was Samuel Watson the
auctioneer, and the other Samuel Mole the
famous butcher from St Helens who drove
carriages, both of whom thought I had
named my son after them, but I named him
Sam so I could shout it quickly - something
short. But because Sammy Mole thought I
had named Sam after him, he left him a
David pictured on Duke
with grandson George Biles
very valuable carriage.
INTERVIEW
After being brought up on his family’s farm,
Sam went on to study Land Management,
and subsequently became a partner in the
well known Island Estate Agents Creasey
Biles & King. He’s now now married and
lives on the Island with his wife and three
children.
A few years after Sam’s birth David and
Diana had Sophie, who is now 36, married
and lives on the mainland. Sophie is heavily
involved in carriage driving, in fact she is a
BDA Judge and has just written a book on
the subject of carriage driving. They have
just had the good news that she is expecting
her first child.
“I have had a wonderful life,” says David.
“There have been some ups and downs
along the way, we are a family that’s been
brought up by kindness and we have built
our business by that – more so than
perhaps by being realistic. To us, a deal still
is done on a handshake. Sadly those days
are disappearing. I like people and I still
live life to the full, and I am determined to
enjoy every minute of every day”
Picture: County Press
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