David Cain

I was born in January 1967 at the Jane Crookall Maternity Home in Demesne Road, Douglas, Isle of Man. I am an only child to my Mum Dot, and Dad Jim.

Above... a very cold early morning at Victoria Pier, Douglas Harbour!Waiting for the arrival of HMS Daring  This photo was  taken by my wife Rosemary with her Canon SX10is.

Hopefully now that my hands have been "fixed" I will get out and take a lot more photos around our little island... and maybe even further affield, if time allows!

My working life started at the Isle of Man Highway and Transport Board in October 1984. The 'Board' was later to be renamed the Department of Highways, Ports and Properties, and then in the 1990's the Department of Transport or DoT. It is now known as the Department of Infrastructure! 

My first role was Surveying Assistant, becoming a Trainee Civil Engineering Technician in 1985. I was involved in several 'major' road improvement schemes in the 1980's, Main Road in Onchan (including the new roundabout at Corkills), road widening at Red Gap in Castletown, and road improvements at Quarry Bends on the TT Course.

I left DoT Design Division in 1999 to join the Isle of Man Water Authority in the 'new' Planning and Projects Section. I have worked in the same section ever since, recently progressing to my current role as the Capital Mains Laying Team Supervisor, with an Assistant (Site Manager/Contracts Manager) and a Design Technician plus a team of 8 men affectionately known as the "Supergang".

My team are responsible for the laying of all new water mains, and the rehabilitation of pumping stations for potable water supplies throughout the island. I was involved in the new mains for the Water Treatment Works in Douglas, and the laying of the potable mains for all the properties in Sulby Valley as part of the new Sulby Water Treatement Works.

...and Play

I started rallying at the age of 17 - three days after passing my driving test. I was actively involved until recently. I have competed with two self prepared Mini GT's, 3 Talbot Sunbeams as a driver, and co-driven in many cars for an equally impressive number of drivers.

The picture on the right shows me co-driving the '0' (safety) car with my mate Mike Moffatt during a local closed road tarmac stage rally in early 2010.

I own a 1981 Talbot Sunbeam Lotus (Henri) - see below! This is a replica of the 1980 Lombard RAC Rally driven by Henri Toivenon and co-driven by my friend Paul White.  This car is my pride and joy, and is in full compliance with the 2010 MSA historic rally regulations.

More information about this car and several others can e found on my other website...

www.rallyiom.com

I am no longer involved in local motorsport. I made this choice in 2010 mainly due do a difference of opinion between myself and a local motor sport club committee member that took over the running of a local event after the long standing Clerk of the Course stood down. I have also little time for the bureaucrats running the sport and their many 'changes' to regulations including the uppgrading of official licenses. The MSA have made it impossible for me to upgrade my Scrutineer and Clerk of the Course licences without undue and totally un-necessary expense. Thank you MSA, for turning me against the sport I was involved in for more than 30 years, your loss - not mine.

AMATEUR RADIO

I have turned my back on rallying and hill climbs and reverted to another hobby that I used to spend a huge amount of time on - RADIO. Not the radio that you listen to music and the sports results or local news, this is AMATEUR RADIO.

I'm not going to explain all the ins and outs of Amateur Radio (or Ham Radio) you can find that yourself on www.rsgb.org amongst others, but there are several link bars at the top of the page you can use to view some of the stations that I have been involved in.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you like some of the images on this site - it is a small collection of many thousands of memories over quite a few years!