Interview
“Everyone just
carried on eating
their food, I
suppose that death
down there was so
common, it was just
a part of life.”
tides, Les was quickly convinced that
this picturesque Island was where he
wanted to stay.
He moved into a bedsit in Sandown,
and after 18 months of sea wall
building, decided that he was ready for
another challenge.
Silver service
That came in the form of hospitality
work at the Broadway Park Hotel in
Sandown – initially in the kitchens,
but before long he’d progressed to
working as a waiter and then later was
promoted to head waiter.
“Imagine coming from a mining area
– this was all new to me” he recalls. “I
didn’t even have a clue what a kitchen
porter was before I started at the hotel!”
But he loved working in the ‘posh’
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tourist hotel, and ultimately became
responsible for a team of waiters from
all over the world.
“My three best ones were from
London – they all turned up in sports
cars!” he laughed.
“We worked hard but had a lot of fun,
and when it came to my stag do, we all
went away for three days in Chelsea...”
The girl who had won Les’s heart was
Pat, an office worker who’d moved to
the Island from Bournemouth.
Once they were married Les was
poached by a neighbouring hotel,
the Melville Hall, as its bar manager,
responsible for big functions.
“I doubled my wages with the tips I
got there” he says, “and that helped us
a lot when it came to buying our first
house in Brading”.
It meant though, that he was working
‘mega hours’ which didn’t leave much
time for a home life, and so he started
casting around for another change.
The call of coal
His next job was to be an echo of his
early life – although above ground this
time, as manager of a Co-op solid fuel
depot.
It was whilst working there that he
was to meet the late Phil Legge, the
Island blacksmith who went on to
develop the popular tourist attraction
Brickfields Horse Country.
“Phil had just moved to the Island
from Herefordshire and I helped him to
get started. We remained friends until
he died” he says.
Becoming friends with Phil also
encouraged Les to fulfil his lifelong