Born in Birmingham in 1927, Desne started work in the general office at the Velocette factory around 1947, later becoming secretary to Percy, Eugene, Peter and Bertie Goodman.
At one time she was running the general office as well.
It was at Velocette that Desne met Geoff, who’d travel to the factory from his Velocette dealership in East Sheen. After the Velo factory closed in 1971, Desne, with service manager Bill Sewell, went to work for Matt Holder, who had bought the Velocette name and spares.
In 1972, Desne and Geoff married and she moved down to East Sheen to help him run his shop. Geoff and Desne ran the business together for 20 years until 1992, before 23 years of happy retirement in the village they’d moved to near Evesham, with Desne looking after the garden, the house and Geoff.
Richard Adams
