Scooter brought back to life in time for rally

AN old scooter has been given a new lease of life following a painstaking restoration to appear at Moffat’s Classic Car Rally last weekend. The Yamaha 80cc step-through motorcycle has been a long time resident of Moffat, initially belonging to the former owner of the Buccleuch Arms Hotel in the 1980s. But after falling off the scooter, the hotelier gave it to the Watson family where it was passed between relatives then sat in a garage for years, before it was rediscovered last year. Ruth Watson told the Annandale Series this week: “We were cleaning out my mother’s garage, and the scooter was the last thing in there when we were clearing the house out. So, my husband Sandy decided it would just go to the tip. “However, on the day it was due to go go to the tip our grandson Ruairi came round and said ‘please papa don’t take that to the tip’ and asked him to restore the bike.” Sandy soon got to work bringing the bike back to life, just in time to join the hundreds of other bikes and make its Moffat Classic Car Rally debut, even though it didn’t take part in the scenic rally. Ruth added: “Sandy restored the bike and got it going, we also found the original tax disc and the last time it was taxed was in 1984 and the family’s had the bike since 1981. “It took Sandy a good couple of months, working on it every day, to get it running and restore it, but all the parts are original. “Ruairi now has the scooter for when he wants to ride it when he’s a bit older. He likes the idea of it at the moment but I think he needs to build up his confidence first.”