Congratulations on winning January 2014 MOTM Steve! How does it
feel to be our exclusive Member Of The Month and having your name up in lights?
It's
humbling, mind blowing, exciting and terrifying all at the same time. As you
all know, I'm not the loudest guy around here so I'm not used to being the
centre of attention but this means more to me than you could know. In my years
of Primera ownership, it always pained me that I never managed to win COTM, it
was like the one that got away and eventually became absolutely unachievable.
Getting this award is both unexpected and treasured, thank you!
In my very own COTM feature from October 2007.. I wrote the
following (in my ending thanks and shout outs): "Sticking with the Staff
Team.. Steve (Stevie-Boy), he does much much more than any of you will ever
know for this club and rarely gets a mention for his tireless efforts. One day
I'll write a book and the truth will out but until then, trust me when I say my
thanks and appreciation for Steve is mahoooosive!".. Well 6 years since
writing that out, I finally get to write the book and fook me, it's been long
time coming! Are you nervous LOL?
Should
I be?! Seriously, we have over 41,500 account holding members in this club and
I'm being singled out for a feature, I'm not nervous about that, I'm deeply
proud that the club owners hold me in that level of regard. I appreciate your
words hugely but honestly, if I wrote the book of everything NPOC has done for
me, it would be bigger!
We’d love to find out about you the person. Please tell us about
yourself and what you get up to, away from the NPOC.
Well,
I'm now just turned 39 years old, Geordie boy living on my own in the Lake
District at Stevie Towers. I spend as much time as I can with my best friend in
the world, my little 7yr old daughter Kayla. I actually met her mum through
NPOC back in 2003. I'd never have my little Kayla without NPOC, see how this
club keeps giving to me?!
I
work for a large corporate organisation in a software division, I run all the
technical support side for the EMEA region. This involves playing with servers
and web applications, dealing with clients with any problems they have,
supporting the internal teams with any needs they have and just generally
sorting out anything that comes up, IIS, SQL etc. Very busy, challenging, often
frustrating but it keeps me in whips and jumpers.
My
interests have changed a lot over the years, been less into the cars lately,
had spells of being big into kickboxing, bass guitar and running. Now I'm
addicted to buying clothes and into lifting heavy things up and putting them
down again. Back in August I started weight training and I'm obsessed with it
now completely. If I'm not training, I'm eating or failing doing those I'm
reading about it. I really don't like the commonly used 'skinny' word that I
have been called oh so many times through my life, that's the driver for
changing myself. I'd opt for svelte or slender instead! I'm changing that
though, new body under construction, working for that killer ripped physique,
watch this space!
I
absolutely love music, listen to it all the time, more likely to be listening
to music at home than the TV on. Too many genres and artists to mention but I
do particularly love a bit of 80s and particularly electronic, synth pop and
all that.
Some
of you may remember I was raving about being engaged at the start of 2013.
Unfortunately that was ended by just April that year. The move over to England
was just too big for my then partner who lived in France and it was all called
off. Very saddening of course but things move on and I would always wish her
all the best with her future (even though it would have been much better with
me ha ha). So I'm single and very much available! Completely house trained, can
cook, independent, apply within.
How did you find the NPOC forums and are we any good? Would you
happily recommend the club to other Nissan Primera owners?
I
found the club in the typical way of searching for an answer to a question and
finding a forum topic in my search with the answer. I can't for the life of me
remember what I was searching though. Are we any good? Well I'm still here ten
years later if that helps! Have recommended before and will do again wherever
possible.
You’re an NPOC Legend Member here, our absolute highest award we
can give any member and the very fact that there are only a handful of Legend
Members, should point out just how exclusive this group is! You were awarded
NPOC Legend status, for all your hard work and commitment to the club as a
Staff Member here. NPOC Legend status comes with FREE and full membership for
life BUT you choose to still pay £4 per month for your membership, hence why
you are an NPOC Legend Elite Member. Why do you pay for membership, when you
have been given free lifetime membership?
Getting
the 'Legend' status was such an honour, like you say there are only something
like six of us with that, Legend Elite is a badge I wear with great pride. The
club has given me so much over the years, I wouldn't be able to accept the
offer of free membership, even though it's a cracking offer, I'm happier paying
in. I could understand someone maybe retiring from the club and taking the free
membership just to pop in now and again and see what's going on, but not a
regular. What I do take you up on though is the meet discounts and I'm sure if
you look at the JAE discounts and freebie at Ace, I probably broke even anyway.
The club must pay out a huge amount in discounts across the board annually so
having paying members is a must!!
Besides,
the monthly payment is a pound a week, who wouldn't happily pay a pound a week
for everything that goes on here?
So we know you're an NPOC Legend Member, a Staff Team member (I
think we bagged you for the Staff Team around 2005?), you've been here since
2003 and have celebrated 10 years as a paying member!! You've probably owned
more Nissan Primeras than most of us on here! So let's have a look at the
previous Primeras please sir. Give us all a chronological break down, with a
lashing of photos and specs:
I've
done it all haven't I Shaun, got all the t-shirts! Okay the ones I have owned,
let's do this! First up was a silver P11 1.6Si. My only hatchback as this was
before I even knew they came in two shapes, not counting the estates. I loved
this car, most of the changes were quite minimal such as GT skirts, powerflow
exhaust, K&N filter, colour coding the black bumper areas and discreet
touches. This was my first proper venture into modifying so I was learning the
ropes with this car really. I got interested in audio with this car though and
blessed it with Focal components, lovely Pioneer HU and RF 15" sub and it
rocked. Also, myself and Kev Shek (Skymera) built the front bumper in his spare
room, we were the first to do that cut the top section off another bumper and
graft it on mod. I say we, Kev built it, I watched with great skill and
precision. Such good times, great memories.
As
was always going to happen, I craved more power and moved on to a silver GT
saloon. This car was lowered. big exhaust, Infiniti VC, nice alloys, window
tints, wing vent, DVD player and screen in the centre console, filter blah blah.
Lovely car, looked so fine. Sold this one because I needed some boost in my
life. I loved the modding around this time more than ever, it was exciting. I
used to hook up with a guy called 'Fraychild' from G20.net to buy Infiniti
bits, was always great getting them in the post and then fitting! Don't know if
he is still on the scene but he was a cool guy!
I
should mention the ten 2.0SRi saloon that Natalie had at this time, we
basically owned that together as we were together, I drove it to work all the
time. Lovely car in white, had exhaust and filter, sounded lovely, drove
lovely. It always pained her that I basically made her sell this so that I
could have a 200SX!!
I
had some time out with other models and briefly came back to a nordic 144
Sport+ saloon. Didn't modify it at all, hated it to be honest. Didn't have it
long before swapping it for an S13.
Next
one was the red GT saloon. Had a huge spec list in NA guise, doubt I would
remember it all but here goes some of it. White 18" buddy club wheels, big
Brembo brake kit, tein coilovers, JWT S3 cams, that big carbon air intake,
header, remus exhaust, lightened fly and pulleys, battery in the boot, Defi
heads up display and linked in gauges, very snappy clutch, red bucket seats and
custom front bumper. We shall talk about stage two of this car later!
Last
up was the red 144 wagon. This was my late entry back into Primera world. I
bought this with the idea of a VE conversion, P11 front end swap, massive
killer wheels and slammed and dammit I wanted COTM. Plans changed and I decided
this wasn't the right quest for me and sold her on, still in the club. This one
had different wheels, JDM spoiler, JDM back lights, Nismo backbox, bumper
spats, custom front bumper and lovely plasma dials!
What was your favourite out of all of them and why?
That's
such a difficult question, they all had their pros and cons. I have to say my
favourite was the first phase of the red GT. Such a beautiful looking and very
sorted car. Was so quick and every angle of this car was taken care of, it had
all the best of parts and was a very well respected car in the club. It was incredible
to drive, those coilovers were something.
What got you into a Nissan Primera to start with, was it on the
list of cars to own back in the day, or a chance encounter?
I
was rolling in a Ford Mondeo 2.0GLX at the time which was actually a very good
car and had a nice little five character private plate already on it which made
me feel like a boss. Turns out that as an owner, you're supposed to look into
oil levels and on a trip to the local shop one day, the oil light came on and
within ten seconds the car stopped and never worked again, completely seized.
Thanks for the advance warning. An expensive lesson, I sold it for £80. My
friend who lived next door was a big fan of the Primera and urged me to get a
GT as my next car. They were still expensive at that time and as a cheaper
alternative, I saw the silver Si in the Auto Trader very local and went to see
it.
The
owner was quite a large chap called Barry. On the test drive, I commented that
the car felt pretty quick and handled nicely for a 1.6 and Barry told me that's
because 'it's a sports injection'. With those lush words cemented in my mind
forever, I bought the car and never looked back. Who wouldn't have?!
Do you think the Nissan Primera modification scene has changed since you
were more involved?
Yes
sure. There were more cars to choose from in newer condition and back then it
was largely buy a GT, lash a load of good quality proven mods on and job done.
Now, there are more turbo installs, VE has become slightly more prevalent and
my favourite, people are not scared to buy a non GT model and go to town on
that. As it becomes harder to find something in banging condition, more people
are thinking hey, why not buy a sorted SE with more standard spec anyway and do
the GT bits to it? Bingo, good call. The more time goes by, the more things
have been done already and this means people have to look outside of the box to
impress and that's great for everyone.
What would it take to get you back into a car with the Nissan
Primera badge on? Are you hoping (like the rest of us) that Nissan will bring
back the Primera brand, or is there a current Nissan Primera that could entice
you? Didn't you used to get wood thinking of a Cobalt Ten?
It
would take a pristine P11 saloon shell and some heavy duty power inside to be
honest. That's either boosted or screaming VE. I don't want them to bring the
model back, I think it should be left where it was. You know with TV and films,
when they bring something back, it's never the same, we just hanker over what
it used to be. It took many of us this long to accept the P12 and many still
don't accept it, we're not ready for a P13!! Yes, I used to love the ten loons
in Cobalt, beautiful! If you remember, I was more obsessed by wanting a cerise
saloon and then you ended up actually getting one and doing it big style, major
props for that!
So moving on... After all of those awesome Nissan Primeras, today
we find you driving a Nissan Juke. How did that come about any why?
Well
there were some others between which we'll come to soon but yes, I now drive a
Nissan Juke and I really like it. I just fancied a new car with no problems,
something I could just get in and drive and also wanted a bit of modern diesel
economy. I was paying out circa five hundred quid a month fuel on the Lexus and
figured for that same money I could have a new car and run it. I had a near
brush with a BMW 330D, I was also massively tempted by a 730D. After all that
calmed down, I was very tempted by a Toyota Prius or a Toyota Auris Hybrid but
in the end, the Juke won out for me, even if it does look a little bit like a
frog!
I'm no Juke hater by any means!! I could easily be persuaded by a
white Nismo Juke! So whilst we touch on the subject of your Juke, hit us all up
with a spec for this one please and let's see some piccies too. We are all
Nissan fans in here.
I
was sorely tempted by the Nismo but remained sensible and stuck to my plan and
went with the heavy oil. This one I have is a 1.5dCi Tekna which means it has
enough toys to keep me interested to make up for the lack of brutal power. It
has keyless entry and push button starter, auto wipers and lights, nice screen
with bluetooth and USB audio, reverse camera, cruise control and I just
generally like the funky styling. Only modification is that I bought the black
wheels for it pretty much the day I got it.
In between the Primeras and the Juke, you've owned a few other
cars, tell us about them.
Yes
indeed. After the silver GT, I made a change to a burgundy S13. Just a few mods
like exhaust, filter and dump valve but such a great car, I loved it!!
The
next non-P was another S13 but this time, bit more modded. It had a bunch of
HKS parts on it and it sounded incredible. It wasn't perfect by any means but
that just adds to the charm, this is possibly the favourite car I've ever
owned, I felt so great driving it and the noises, maaaaan the noises!!
After
that was a Volvo S40 T4. I loved this car, it looked great, it was lowered,
lovely exhaust, filter, dump valve etc, made lovely noises! Our life
circumstances changed and we sold this and bought the Mazda 6 MPS, otherwise
we'd have kept this one, it was super!
I
had spells of two cars at the same time for a while after that, so yes MPS came
next. No modifications, just out of the box 256bhp of boosted treat! Absolutely
awful on fuel though!
I
had an Almera 2.2dCi SXE at one point also, lovely car that was. Insanely
economical but pretty quick and torquey too.
I
had a need for something very cheap at one point in between cars and Ant called
me up one day to say a relative was getting rid of an N14 Sunny 1.4LX. Fitted
the bill perfectly, nipped up and collected it and I loved that little thing.
Lovely car because it was so cheap and cheerful that I got the modding bug back
and just had a really good laugh getting all the GTiR bits for it!! Start and
end pictures here before moving it on.
Then
came the MX5. I had wanted a soft top for years and finally decided to get one.
Loved this car, was a special edition with LSD, lovely red leather and whatever
else. I added a K&N typhoon kit to it which made wonderful noises!
Eventually this just sat in my garage as a weekend toy that never got used.
I
decided to get shot of both my cars and go back to having one. This meant I
fancied something a bit different and a bit mad. A mate at work suggested I
should lord it up and get a Lexus LS400 for some automatic luxury goodness. I
decided he was absolutely right and bought this lovely dark blue luxury cruise
liner. It was my first ever auto car and it made me laugh every time I drove
it. Huge comfy chairs, electric everything, 4.0 V8 engine, lovely big smooth
luxury barge. Only problem was the economy whilst hilarious, did get tiresome
after a while. She loved a drink that girl.
After
that came 144 wagon so yes, that brings us all up to date into the Juke!
So we can all establish that you have owned a load of cars in the
last 10 years LOL! Do you find it hard to stick to just 1 car for any sort of
time, or do you get easily bored or just fancy a change? What comes next
for you?!
I'm
a vehement believer that it's fine to change your cars. There are so many
lovely treats out there, why just stick to one? Have a go of as many as you
can, just try not to lose too much money along the way. If you find one that
you can't live without then fair enough. For me, I keep changing my mind, it's
just like that. One week I want newness and economy, the next week I want old
skool and big power. I really would operate better as a two car person but I
had that and don't want it again at this time because I can't be bothered to
bring the other car out of the garage, it wouldn't get used as I found with the
MX5. I've basically decided to try and rotate on a 1/1 basis. One year with a
sedate car, one year with a mentalist car. Might work.
Already
decided the next car should maybe be something stupid. I'm 40 next year, single
bloke, could be time for a Skyline R33 GTR. I change my mind often though so it
could easily be a Supra TT, RX7 or Nismo Juke. Could equally fancy another S13
or try a 14a and I'd also really love a PS13. In reality I should buy a clean
P11 GT and buy an investment property but that won't make nice noises. If there
is a nice clean P11 VE up for sale when the time comes, who knows. That VZR N1
that G has floats my boat! Ideally a GTR or PS13 though but it's all just talk
until it happens so erm yeah.
Now it must be noted that this is not your actual 1st time being
featured. The other time was more a feature about the awesome club spirit that
forms the very basis of our successful club here. Here's a reminder of that
feature:
http://www.npoc.co.uk/forum/april-2006-stevies-engine-swap-p11_topic3109.html" rel="nofollow - - http://www.npoc.co.uk/forum/april-2006-stevies-engine-swap-p11_topic3109.html
Whilst it was based on your car and yourself, thinking back to the
feature.. What will always stay in your mind?
The
feature I would happily have not had! So many things stay in my mind about that
time. It's all documented in the feature but for anyone that doesn't know, I
drove my red GT into the Irish Sea. Specifically, a road that the tide comes
over, I drove into that. I forgot that my air intake was routed straight
through to the lower bumper and was actively sucking all the time. It sucked
the water straight up and of course the inside of my engine became wetter than
an otter's pocket and hydrolocked.
That
was my own stupidity and as the feature states, four guys from the club (Lurch,
Ant-Dat, Nabber and Disco) came to my place under their own steam and performed
an engine swap for me. I'm not mechanical with cars at all, I'm a 'pay someone
else' kinda guy and this day was just beyond anything I'd known before. Where
else could you get four strong mechanical guys turn up at your place and swap
your engine out and not charge you a penny? Seriously, think about that!
The
thing that sticks in my mind is friendship. What a fantastic day we had, it was
such a laugh, Nabber and I were even talking about it just at Ace in December.
Friendship, community spirit, selfless acts and laughing sums up that day. I
think about it from time to time and it mostly just makes me laugh but it was
very emotional too to receive that level of treatment.
I
got a lot of stick in the club afterwards for killing my car and rightly so, it
was all in good spirits and very funny!
Is there any rumour that you now own a Nissan Juke for it's road
height and the fact that no puddles can trouble you anymore hahahaha?
Strangely
enough yes, but for other reasons! I'd been using the MX5 for work and it's so
low down, trucks were pulling out in front of me sometimes. In really bad
wet weather, I'd often not be able to see because of spray and I'll be honest
and say there were journeys to work where I was actually scared because the car
was being pulled to the side or nearly wiped out by trucks. With that in mind,
I did want a higher ride height and to avoid those motorway puddles!
The car in that feature from April 2006, is sadly no longer with
us - BUT as some of us Old Skool members will remember, following that
incident, the car went on to have major engine work done, involving some top
shelf parts and a mighty dollop of boost! We see the old number plate P11 GTT
(which stood for GT Turbo) now proudly displayed on Mad Maru's Nordic and
rightly so, as he also ended up with the monster engine as well. I never really
did understand why you bailed on the original project, so much hard work went
into building the engine and car and then you had a few niggles and kinda lost
heart. So tell us all, what actually happened and do you regret selling her on?
You
know, I should never have tampered with that car when it was in original guise.
Just me wanting more power as usual. It was a very different time of my life
and I was in a family and money wasn't freely available.
However,
it was a completely unmissable opportunity. Back then, I used to bend Ant's ear
daily on MSN, talking about ideas and what I could do to take the car further.
We were already discussing a Pulsar swap to the point where I was just about to
buy the full front clip and then this major break came up. Ant had been
building an engine for Kev (phat-gadgy) to a serious spec, some major money and
time had gone into this build. Kev had a change in his life at that point and
needed to bail, Ant set up the deal with Kev and I stepped in and bought
everything including Kev's P11 to use as a daily whilst mine was being worked
on. The build continued as planned with the difference being it all went into
my car, superb!
I
was naive in how much money it would take to get that car where I wanted it.
You've already spent a fortune but you still just need one more silicone hose,
and one more this and one more that, it never ended. This shot is taken on the
night before JAE 2006. I was picking her up from having the bumper job
completed, we'd fitted it two minutes before this picture. So this is the way
she looked before the turbo look. If you remember, I basically broke the car
before going turbo though. I sold off the brakes, the wheels, the defi system,
the engine mods, exhaust, coilovers, all of it. Started with nigh on a
standard car for the turbo build.
The
end though, came just after the car got mapped, that was supposed to be the end
of the problems and to start enjoying the car. It was actually the beginning of
the end. I had run out of money and put the car on hold until I had a spare
£500 to pay for the mapping. Fellow club member Daz (Lurch) wouldn't take no
for an answer and wired the money into my account on a loan basis to get this
done straight away as we were all desperate to see what this car could do!
Another example of what NPOC has done for me over the years right there!!!!
Natalie
and I drove down the other end of the country, had the car mapped and stopped
at a services on the way back. When we came out, it wouldn't start. It hadn't
been mapped for hot starts and we were sat there after the expense of the
mapping, the hotel and all the travel in a car that wouldn't start. She was in
tears and I knew instantly, it had to go. That's why it ended, there was
nowhere else to go from there except to sell. How could I sit there and say
yes, we need to go back down to the other end of the country and arrange more
mapping and more travel and more hotels and more parts? No, it had reached the
maximum level of what was reasonable when in a family situation and it had to
go.
The
car was sold to Rich as you know and what he got was a fabulous start for what
he has managed to achieve. In hindsight what he got was a plot of land with
wonderful foundations built to the highest standard, what he has achieved is
building the dream house on top of that. I don't regret selling it for one
second because at that time in my life, I wasn't able to finance what the car
needed. Longer term though sure, would have been great to get the enjoyment out
of that build.
There
are loads of pictures here that I knocked up into a little video ages ago if
anyone is interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUuwY6hOQRI" rel="nofollow - - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUuwY6hOQRI
Time for the quick fire question round!
What makes you smile?
Amazing
car noises, my daughter, being in lurve, but mostly lady boobies (you did ask!)
What makes you sad?
Unnecessary
drama
Tell us something we don't know about you..
Tricky
question, I tell you guys everything! I've only ever been to one other
country, France and that has been four times! Used to be a raver, was a regular
on the early 90s scene in Newcastle and Scotland. Those were the days of
dancing all night, now I can barely be arsed to sleep all night!
Your favourite colour?
Red
Your lucky number?
21
What will it say on your gravestone?
Originally:
Canny Lad
Subsequently
Vandalised: Geordie Wanker
Your favourite drink (any)?
Nice
cup of splosh, milk one sugar
Celebrity and Non Celebrity Crushes?
Cameron
Diaz. She's so lovely, it's just beyond ridiculous. Watch 'The Holiday' and
tell me you wouldn't marry her on the spot. On the other part yes two, but
no chance you're getting that out of me, this site is public!
Your sub £10K second hand dream car would be?
Depends
what mood I was in on the day. Skyline R33 GTR but possibly Sapphire Cosworth
or a MK2 Escort. Once you remove the 8k scene tax from the MK2 Escort
though, you're left with a very old basic car for a lot of money! Growing up,
things around me were Ford and the Cosworth was the ultimate so that will
always sit in my mind. Ooh hang on, a lovely red Evo 6 Tommi Mak, now there's a
spanner in the works!
Your sub £30K second hand dream car would be?
Ouch
tough call. Well, it would be between an R34 GTR and a Honda NSX. I have much
love for both of those cars. I'd love the NSX so badly but feel with cash in
hand I'd probably take the R34.
If you could steal the keys to someone else’s car (on NPOC) for 1
day, which car would you steal and why?
I'd
take GTT, I've never been out in it and I want to know how it feels!
What’s been your favourite Club Meet (Regional or National) of all
time and why?
I'm
calling JAE 2013 for this one. Such a lovely group of people, I felt really
relaxed at this meet, four days of enjoyment and friendship and as usual, the
legendary time with Nabbs and Col. Two of the loveliest gents you'll ever meet
in your life and they'd do anything for you but honestly, they do make me cry
laughing. We were all worried before the event that numbers were down but what
an amazing time together.
I
love it how partners come along are quickly adopted into the club and become
just as part of everything as the person they came with and this was hugely
evident at JAE, Laura is a steady at meets with yourself, Rocker Kev with
Linda, Kris and Gemma, Phil and Terri, all lovely and all part of the family
now. Who knows, maybe one day I'll turn up with someone!
After not seeing you out for a while, we saw you at a whole bunch
of meets in 2013, all enjoyed? First ever Ace Café Meet too?!
Yeah
I took a lot of time away from meets, I'm quite a shy lad in person and I just
struggle to walk up to people and say 'Hi I'm Stevie, what's your name' etc. I
find it hard to have a conversation just because of feeling a bit anxious but
I've come further with that and really enjoyed this year. I still find it
difficult so I don't meet half the people I'd like to but this year I did Japfest2,
a North East regional meet, JAE, Peterborough and yes, Ace Cafe!
I'd
always saw Ace Cafe as too far to travel but it's really not, fantastic
weekender! I always had the memory of Ace as that video of Andy Batch
leaving the car park in Evo, that short video was always Ace Cafe to me. After
ten years I went along and was delighted to see Andy was there, just brilliant.
Tell everyone who has never come out and joined us at a Club Meet,
why they should..
It's
the community element, once you meet people, it adds a face to the name and it
boosts your activity on the forums massively. This club is like a massive warm
cuddle, allow it to embrace you and it will hold you close and give you love.
I
can think of three people instantly who joined pretty recently, Maximus Rob,
Nordic Michael and P10 Zed who came out to meets and have instantly become part
of the club like they'd always been around, all doing new things and bringing
fresh enthusiasm and that's absolutely vital in any club. That's the way it's
done!
So 10 years of NPOC life WOW!... That's a lot of years matey!
There's been some very good club memories and moments in the last decade. Do
you have a defining one? Was it the epic (life event for me personally) LEJOG
fundraiser that yourself, Matt and me took on, the events surrounding the April
2006 feature, or something completely different?
So
many to choose from, such a long time and such great times. I'd like to talk
about four though for sure.
LEJOG.
Where do you even start with that? I should briefly talk about what that
was for anyone who doesn't know. My then partner Natalie had breast cancer at
the age of 31. I approached the club and said I'd love to do a charity event to
raise some cash for an organisation called CancerCare who had been so lovely to
us and the club was all over it. Myself, Matt (Blue) and Shaun did a charity
drive from Gosport to Lands End, to John O'Groats and back down to Gosport, non
stop taking turns driving my Almera. We raised over £1800 and it was tough, brutal,
exhausting but utterly magical. I keep trying to talk Matt back onto the forums
and I feel hopeful he'll return in 2014, love you man!
Everyone
who sponsored us, everyone who came out and met us on the way to wish us well,
the guys up in Scotland (Ant and Gizz) who saved us and gave us so much
support, PDPA who was out at crazy o'clock to meet us and still up all night
wishing us well online afterwards, I particularly remember getting texts in the
early hours from Jonny Young wishing us well, it was so special. If I think
about that weekend it brings a tear to my eye. We blogged the whole journey, we
even had a real time GPS location tracker on the blog so everyone knew where we
were at. Life event, absolutely. As Shaun knows, I periodically talk to him
about doing another one, maybe one day with the right purpose and a momentary
lapse of sanity!
In
the early days, I have fond memories of meeting up with Gav, Liam and Rhino
over at Kev Shek's place and just chatting and messing with the cars on a
Saturday night. That led to a great friendship that remains to this day,
mates for life with Kev.
I
loved the day when my friend and I drove over to Revolution in Gateshead to buy
some car bits. I was in my Si, he was in his GT and who should pull up but
Danny (Skint). We knew him off the forum but not in person so as he pulled up,
I said, 'Are you Skint?' Back came the inevitable 'not yet, but I will be after
I come out of there'!! That led to another fantastic friendship but sadly he's
not around on the club anyone, miss you Danny! That day though, yet another GT
pulled up and this was the completely unknown Nordic Les! We told him about the
forum and he joined up of course.
Fourth
was JAE 2006. I'd turned up late as I got lost on the way down! I was
parked right at the edge of our plot and was feeling a bit down about that
really. The weather was awful and when it absolutely lashed down, NikC hopped
into my car to keep me company and we chatted whilst it rained. We got on
so well and from that, another friendship spawned that still lasts now. We chat
often and we're great friends, that was such a great time!
Stupid question I know, given the fact that you are an NPOC Legend
and die hard NPOC'r and long time Staff Team Member but NPOC for life,
regardless of what car you ever find yourself owning?
It's
always NPOC for life. The motto of the club is members first, cars second and
that is why everyone who doesn't own the car anymore is still here. I always
join the forum of any car I own because information is a great thing but I
never find the community element anywhere else.
I'm
a paid up member of the Juke forums but haven't been on there for a few months,
I'm on here every day. This place goes way beyond cars, this is where my
friends are and this is where the great things happen.
Talking about you being a Staff Member here, is this something you
truly enjoy LOL? I know at times it can be hard work and I also know at times,
I can even be hard work too! But would you rather be a front of house normal
member, or is being in the back of house bunker, where it's at?
I
love it, absolutely love it. I knew from the very early days of Kev Shek being
a moderator and having those mysterious 'magic buttons' that I wanted to be
involved more and I thrive on that, not being part of the team would make it a
very different experience for me. So, if you ever sack me I'll hunt you down,
seriously!
I'd
like to think I'm a fair moderator, I always play to the rules and to keep
harmony. Back in the day I had a few run ins with people as we all have but I
grew up and hopefully that comes across in my style of moderating. You'll
always get someone arguing the case at some point and even being a little
heated from time to time but that's all part and parcel. It's like being a
doorman without ever having to deck anyone! It's a great forum to moderate, one
big happy family.
The
Facebook group on the other hand is another matter! Moderate on the forums and
people usually say 'yeah, fair cop'. Moderate on the Facebook group and you get
FCKKK YOU ADMIN etc, it's a very different ball game where people are much more
aggressive.
We all read the debate in the December 2013 COTM about my decision
to change the name of our monthly feature to "Member Of The Month"
and also change the criteria and so on.. You've always been straight up with
me, which is why you're such a valuable member of the Staff Team, I appreciate
you're our very 1st MOTM winner and I know this won't make you hold your tongue
or be biased either.. Did I make the right call in changing things around here?
Or should I have left it as it was?
Yes,
you know full well that you get the truth from me as I see it, no bias here! My
very initial reaction was not great, I was worried for the people who spend a
lot of time and work aiming for COTM, it was a very sought after award and held
in massively high regard even after running for ten years. After thinking about
it rationally, I think the decision was absolutely the right one. The feature
is actually very similar to a COTM feature anyway, the features always had more
about the member than people realised.
I
may have never won one, but the feature was special to me because I wrote quite
a lot of them, another great thing to be involved in.
The
main thing here is that you've opened up the pool of who can win this award and
that's a wonderful thing, everyone should be on their toes now! Everyone who
could win before still can, nothing has been taken away. That's key here, can't
say it enough, nothing has been taken away. Will be interesting to see what the
members think.
And as we come to the end of this virginal feature and you get to
say your thanks and shouts.. I just wanted to end with a lil' something from
me. A MASSIVE thank you Stevie, for all the hard work you have ever done here
at NPOC. A lot of the ideas and changes we have ever put in place here, have
either come from you, or been shaped with your help. You give your time here
for free and you have always worked tirelessly to keep the NPOC forums running.
You've had some cracking whips over the years and I've had some cracking
memories and times with you! You're one of my closest online friends and one of
my most cherished offline friends too. Thank you!
So over to you Stevie and many thanks for telling us all about
yourself and your cars, past and present! Congratulations once again for
winning Member Of The Month for January 2014! Please end this feature, in your
own words and feel free to thank anyone who’s made this one possible.
Thanks
so much for this feature, I'm really honoured and delighted to get it and
really appreciate the recognition and nice words. Sometimes you just have to
forget being modest and quiet and just stand up and accept the praise that is
being sent your way, now is that time!
I'll
try to keep this as short as I possibly can. Some people will absolutely need a
mention but it's impossible to mention everyone, for anyone I forget that
deserved a mention, I'm sorry. Not often you really get a full chance to thank
people, so yeah let's have it!
Major
thanks to NPOC as a club for being so awesome and to the club owners for
allowing me to be a big part of the place. Standing by me in my younger days
when I was a bit more spring loaded and always recognising that there was a
good team member in me, I'm proud to represent the club in any way possible.
I
want to thank friends new and old really, everyone that makes the meets so
special or has become a friend outside the club, both include G, Ade, Gaz,
Laura, Dyp, Gemma, Kris, Alex, Tom, Gizz, Roy, Tim, Nabber, Col, Geordie Chris,
Katie, Rich and Caroline.
Big
thanks to NikC for all his friendship and the laughs we've had for years.
Big
thanks to Ant for all his friendship and help over the years, all the hours
we've spent discussing crazy plans and even making some happen!
A
great big 'get your ass back' to the good guys who have drifted away over the
years. Matty Blue, Danny Skint, Big Daz Lurch, Shunky, Ridcullly and of course
Disco needs to be around more!
Thanks
to all friends online and off the club, you all make this a great place to be.
I love it when people come to visit me at Stevie Towers so hook me up on that!
The Lakes are a relaxing place to be, seriously. Thanks for reading this feature
and indulging me in talking about my little life!
Huge
final thanks to Shaun for being one of my best friends on this Earth. Every
club needs a Shaun. A guy that can lead from the front, organise, make things
happen, turn a club into a community and we are all extremely lucky to have our
Shaun. I could talk for hours about him but for now, 'love you maaaan' should
suffice.
So
anyway, ten years service....where's my watch? I'll put my order in,
Swiss Automatic please!