Was Newcastle the nearest B.S.A. dealer Bill?
No there were two near at hand, one in Berwick that mainly sold bicycles ( Chapell Brothers if anyone remembers) and Darling and Swinney at Scremerston ( about a mile south of Berwick).
Jim Darling used to race - late fifties I guess, stopped racing after an accident allegedly due to an extreme waisting of a valve stem for lightness, Tom Swinney was a bit too plumb to race I think but of the two was the best one to get a deal from, as in the sports fairing I bought for my Golden Arrow £18 pounds if I helped fit it from Tom who was not there when I went to get it so it was £19 from Jim because I didn't fit it just helped
However D&S was the place not to ride past as there was always a few lads in there with there bikes, it was through them I got the new frame and as sure as I can be going back half a century it came from BSA via British Rail to Berwick station where they picked it up in their garage truck, a neighbour with a van gave me a lift in to fetch it back with a new set of forks, new tank and rebuilt front wheel, £165 in total due to a coming together with an AJS on the A697 at Powburn, if I'm honest it was six of one half a dozen of the other both with just third party insurance so a case of mend your own, learn the lessons and get on with it.
but the complete strip down to install the new frame and bits taught me a lot about an A10 and even more about defensive riding.