In his column this week, former MHK David Cretney praises the Isle of Man’s sporting stars and relives the early days of night spot photography...

Well done Sir Mark Cavendish, now the greatest cycle road racing sprinter of all time. I have featured Mark here on a number of occasions and it was really exciting to see him take the record number of stage wins in ‘Le Tour’ previously on an equal number at 34 with the great Belgian rider Eddie Merckx. He had held that record since 1975 and Cav matched him in 2021. It was stage 5 on Wednesday that saw this historic event take place and it was lovely to see his young family join him on the victory platform after Mark took his 35th stage win. 79-year-old Eddie Merckx was also at the finish to congratulate the ‘Manx Missile’.

Starting like so many young cyclists under the care and supervision of Dot Tilbury MBE and her team in youth cycling we should all be very proud and thank all who encourage youth sport for the initiative, time, and support given to so many young Manx people to chase their dreams in whatever is their chosen sport. They in turn encourage the next generation to realise that anything can be possible with hard work and dedication. Only last week we witnessed Billy Harris at Wimbledon after his success in tournaments leading up which saw him receiving a ‘wild card’ entry at SW19.

Mark also has been so generous with the success he has achieved over the years to support a number of young Manx sportspeople to be able to compete and expand their experience and to help achieve their ambitions.

Good luck also to Yasmin Ingham who has been selected as part of the Team GB eventing squad at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Paris. Her dream for as long as she can remember together with Banzai her ‘horse of a lifetime’ is about to be realised at the highest level in her chosen sport. This follows her 2022 individual gold medal at the World Eventing Championships.

In fact, good luck to all our Manx competitors in whatever sport they compete. You are all great ambassadors for our island!

I thought I would remember a few things from the past this week that are no longer with us.

Who recalls the thrill of a new box of breakfast cereal to dig to the bottom of the contents to retrieve your free toy of whatever description? Or were you the patient one, waiting for the toy to emerge from the box? I certainly was in the former category, there was no way I would be waiting, even without any sibling rivalry!

Was this marketing aimed at the grown-ups looking to provide the healthiest breakfast offering? Not a chance! One of my daughters was also very keen to go for a ‘treat’ at a well-known fast-food chain on the basis of obtaining the latest free toy!

Another thing that has changed over the years is the size of the tin or now plastic tub of our favorite confection, often a special Christmas family treat. It seems though that this does not only apply to our Quality Street (other types available!) but most bags, jars, and containers. There is a fairly new word that describes it, ‘shrinkflation’… most things are slowly reducing in size and going up in price!

When we operated Moochers and Supercards we were often paid by cheque, then it moved on to bank cards. Also paid in coins for lots of things. Then the bank started charging for change being deposited and at that time a move to a post office to pay in. Now I can’t remember when I last received or paid in a cheque to the bank. In fact, I’m one of those people who gets caught out if I cannot pay by card for anything! Though there is a current fight back from some businesses with the ‘cash is king’ campaign.

Phone boxes… now being reused in a number of places for local libraries or to house defibrillators. It seems most, but not all people have mobile phones but I am old enough to remember putting coins in for a call and dialing by moving the dial around to obtain the number! Some people have old-style phone boxes as part of their garden furniture. Another thing I was equipped for as an MHK was to recall in my head telephone numbers for people who contacted me, some of which I can still recite today. I also had a small notebook and pen with me to note down problems and if I forgot I would borrow someone’s cigarette packet or bar mat to jot down details! An electronic essential for the busy MHK was a fax machine… does anyone have one now?

We live in an unstable world presently, it appears to be full of chancers. I understand all that, but trying to remember all the log-ins, passcodes, my grandmother’s cat’s name for some simple contact with various providers of services etc can be really tiresome!

Of course, as in many things life has a habit of coming around again… for years we had vinyl 45rpm singles and 33rpm LP records. Then came cassette tapes, 8 tracks, CDs and more and now vinyl once again is king amongst collectors. Who remembers 12” singles and various colored vinyl records? There is now at least one shop in Douglas ‘Sound Records’ which specializes in the much-loved original vinyl discs.

How about yo-yos and hula hoops? Are they still a thing? Skipping ropes certainly are for some in training for sports if not in the playground. I have seen hopscotch markings set out in various places on pavements and occasionally in the schoolyard.

When I was a boy traveling in my dad’s car I had to ask him to let me out from time to time as he was a heavy smoker. Cars these days don’t come equipped with cigarette lighters or ashtrays do they? I think not. How about when you went out for a night out and ended up at a disco only realizing when you got home how you stunk from the smoke in the venues? That in part led to the Roy Castle Foundation, a non-smoker all his life but succumbing to second-hand smoke.

I came from a generation prior to the use of calculators in school. I would have benefited as maths was not a strong point particularly algebra and logarithms, they were never of any use to me in the real world that I can think of. However, more study of percentages would have helped!

Finally, this time who remembers being at any of the night spots around the island and being asked if you wanted your group or couple photographed? You would then trot along the next day or so to pick up from one of the shops. The very same shops that you would drop your film cartridges in to get developed. An alternative was to send them off in the post and eagerly anticipate the memories being stirred only to find you had taken 7 photos of the left ear of your dog and the rest were blurred. So some things are much better these days!