Ron Loversidge and Philip Edmends reunite

Ron Loversidge and Philip Edmends reunited in Rochdale

Rochdale’s intrepid duo, Ron Loversidge and Philip Edmends, who drove a car to Barcelona and back in 12 days during the 1950s reunited for Ron’s 80th birthday.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/138/community-news/109172/ron-loversidge-and-philip-edmends-to-meet-up-60-years-after-epic-car-journey

In 1957, the Rochdale couple hit headlines when they drove a 25-year-old Austin Seven by the name of ‘Genevieve’ to Barcelona and back in 12 days.

Ron moved to Australia in 1960 and the duo lost contact until ‘sometime in the ‘80’s’, when Ron and his wife, Jill, returned to Rochdale and tracked Philip down. They’ve remained in contact ever since.

The pair have remained friends since they met at Lowerplace School and lived close to each other on the Turf Hull Estate.

“We used to do lots of cycling together. We even bought the same bikes on the same day and we dressed alike; we were like twins,” Philip recalled.

Ron, who was a motor mechanic at the time, bought Genevieve for £25 after he had serviced the car many times at Deeplish Garage. He was the second owner of the car and had it for a few years after the feat.

The duo remembered: “We used to do it up at night and had a straight through silencer on it so it sounded like a Ferrari. We had cyclist tents on the roof rack.

“When we were in Paris, someone tried to steal the luggage off the top. We were asleep in the car and we woke up when we felt it rocking. They didn’t take anything; they ran off when they realised we were asleep in the car. They left their wirecutters behind though.

“It was eventful right through France. We stayed in Le Front de Mer, but it wasn’t a holiday place then. It was a little fishing village and we camped down there.”

The 12-day round trip covered 2,400 miles and the duo didn’t even get a puncture. They said: “The only trouble was the dirty petrol, but it drove like a dream.” As the headlights on the car didn’t work, the ingenious solution was to install a couple of spotlights on the front.

Ron commented: “We could only use them for a few minutes at a time because they drained the battery.”

They recalled being fined 10 pesetas for by a policeman ‘in the pouring rain’ for driving the wrong way down a one-way street. Ron said he thought the policeman was selling raffle tickets.

The duo have many fond memories of that trip, undertaken when they were just 19 (Philip) and 20 (Ron), but have no plans to recreate their infamous journey.

Philip said: “It just wouldn’t be the same if we did it again. The roads are unbelievable now; they were better then - and it was a brilliant little car.”

Ron added: “I don’t fancy roughing it.”

Ron moved to Melbourne a few years after the trip from Darwin in Lancashire, as he had several relatives who also moved out there. He paid £10 for his flight, which were a weeks’ wages, and was one of the first to fly over on one of two Boeing 707 planes.

He met wife Jill, moved to Melbourne from New Zealand in 1969, through friends 35 years ago. They recently spent eight years travelling the roads around Australia in a motorhome, towing an Austin Ten behind them and both enjoy playing golf ‘three or four times a week’.

Philip did his National Service for Royal Signals in 1958-60, which took him to Catterick in Yorkshire and Chester before being stationed at the NATO base in Germany.

Ron failed the medicals for National Service as he was ‘underweight and only 5’2”’. He added: “I shot up shortly after that.”

Philip cites his National Service years as some of the best of his life, saying: “It was a good time. The captain used to have these motor rallies at weekend and plan routes for the forces to be out with the cars.

“You had German, Dutch and English all serving there. We used to go with the Dutch lads and go to Belgium.”

After his National Service finished, Philip moved back to Milnrow. He met his wife Pat at a party in 1967. They married just two years’ later in Rochdale and currently live in Shaw.

Philip finished his apprenticeship before taking on several jobs over the years, including working at Bannister and Fitton Electrical Repairs on Milnrow Road, GL Adamson’s on Yorkshire Street as a radio and television engineer. He most recently worked for Seddon Atkinson as an autoelectrician for 32 years until the firm moved to Spain.

They see Ron and Jill each time they come back to the UK; their last meeting was around six years ago, and the town centre has certainly changed in that time.

“It’s so different. The river is nice, and back home, when I tell people I’m from Rochdale, I tell them that’s where Gracie was from,” Ron said.

Ron and Jill will be flying to Ireland on Wednesday and staying there for approximately four weeks before returning home. They plan to visit Hollingworth Lake before they leave.

Ron and Jill have taken many photos of their trip to Rochdale (and previously Bruges and Cornwall), although Jill’s phone was lost on Saturday night in Milnrow after they visited the Free Trade Tavern. She hopes anyone who has found the pink Samsung S5 will return it as it has many mementos of their stay that cannot be replaced.

If anyone has found the phone, please contact the Rochdale Online Newsdesk:

news@rochdaleonline.co.uk