Title
Graeme Fuller Oral History Recording and Summary
Subject
Graeme Fuller
Description
An oral history interview with Graeme Fuller and a summary of the recording.
Creator
Graham Jeffery; Michael Romyn
Publisher
Kent's Sporting Memories
Date
Interview recorded on 7 February, 2020
Contributor
Graeme Fuller; Graham Jeffery
Rights
Kent's Sporting Memories
Format
MP3 (50:52); also available in WAV. Microsoft Word Document.
Language
English
Type
Audio recording and typed summary
Identifier
Graeme Fuller
Transcription
Kent’s Sporting Memories Oral History Summary
Interviewee: Graeme Fuller
Interviewer: Graham Jefferey
Date: 7 February, 2020
Location: Hythe and Saltwood Sailing Club
0:00 Name, place and date of birth (Graeme Fuller, Oxford, 23 March, 1948); moved to Folkestone aged five or six, and attended Harvey Grammar School; Graeme was not interested in sport at school, but excelled in a particular Cross Country race in order to leave school early and pursue his hobby of soapbox racing; Graeme’s family moved from Folkestone for his father’s work – he was a photographer who eventually set up his own photography shop in Tontine Street; Graeme describes his father’s career, including taking pictures of sporting activities in Folkestone, and explains how he got into photography when he left school, with the Folkestone Herald, before taking up with the family business due to his father’s poor health.
5:25 How his father’s ill health and lack of interest in taking care of himself motivated Graeme to stay active throughout his life; Graeme took up waterskiing in Folkestone in his early twenties, and quickly discovered he had a ‘knack’ for it; Graeme attended All Souls primary school in Cheriton, where he was the only one in his year to go on to the grammar – ‘I was a bit hacked off to be honest with you’ – and explains that he did not apply himself at school.
9:55 Graeme describes embarking on competitive waterskiing, including cross-channel races, and how this led to training to keep fit through running and playing football, to which he previously had an aversion – ‘the fitter you are, the longer you get to enjoy yourself doing whatever it is you’re trying to do…running’s the most boring thing…it’s tedious in the extreme, but it’s good aerobically, it keeps everything going.’
13:15 Graeme speaks about his initial plans upon leaving school – ‘for some obscure reason I was going to be a dentist…God knows why’- how he ended up as an apprentice at the newspaper, and how, eventually, working for himself allowed him the time to pursue his ‘action’ sporting endeavors; Graeme’s waterski racing, his pursuit to become National Champion – ‘for three years we tried and we came second each year for one reason or another’ – the sponsorship deal that came as a consequence, and some close scrapes at sea.
17:49 How he discovered waterskiing through working as a photographer, and how waterski racing helped him discover his competitive side; the vibrancy of Folkestone at that time – ‘there was a lot going on in Folkestone, Folkestone’s not like it is now…there was always something going on’.
19:55 The growth of leisure time in the 1970s; the prevalence of drugs in the town at that time; and how waterskiing was used as cover in drug smuggling across the channel; the first time Graeme saw windsurfing, in Folkestone, and his introduction to Barry James, who had set up a windsurfing school in Sandgate, and for whom Graeme had worked in exchange for windsurfing lessons – ‘Never looked back. Total sense of freedom…it was just the most amazing thing.’
25:25 How Graeme’s interest waned in waterskiing after he discovered windsurfing, getting involved competitively, and the tactics and intricacies of a windsurfing race.
26:55 Graeme recounts the joys of racing sailing, which he continues to do today – ‘It completely hooks you’ – and finding out he was a natural: ‘I was relatively small but quite strong.’; the Sandgate school was the ‘first in the country’, according to Graeme; he explains the growth of the action sport market, including the establishment of action sport shops and schools along the south coast and then around the country – ‘in the eighties it was massive, all through the eighties.’
32:15 Graeme on the popularity of the sport in the 1980s – ‘I had five hundred people in a race…anybody that had anything to do with sailing was trying to get involved with it’. Graeme’s involvement with graphics, printing, and production, and how this led to him creating and launching a windsurfing magazine, Windsurf, in 1980; organising windsurfing exhibitions, and his involvement in the windsurfing business.
35:55 How Folkestone has been historically creative; the art scene in Folkestone; the relative difficulty of windsurfing; the ‘riotous’ scene around the sport at that time.
38:55 ‘I’ve got this theory that adrenalin is the secret to eternal youth…it’s like a cure-all, it makes you feel better’ – how action sports, and risk taking, can stave off depression, and make your life less ‘mundane’, feel ‘reborn.’; memories of soapbox racing as a child, and playing in bombsites – ‘you made your own fun’.
43:45 Taking up mountain biking and snowboarding, and introducing these sports, among others, to the UK as a business; how many of the early pioneers of action sports in Britain have now died; the future of action sports – ‘the battle is to keep people off their screens’; his children’s (four girls) involvement with action sports, and the difficulty (rules and regulations) of accessing such sports nowadays.
47:35 Graeme’s relationship with, and fondness of, Folkestone; how he has very few regrets, his hatred of Harvey Grammar School – ‘you talk about bullying now, you’ve got no idea’ – and how his height fueled some of his competitiveness and achievements, in windsurfing most notably.
Interviewee: Graeme Fuller
Interviewer: Graham Jefferey
Date: 7 February, 2020
Location: Hythe and Saltwood Sailing Club
0:00 Name, place and date of birth (Graeme Fuller, Oxford, 23 March, 1948); moved to Folkestone aged five or six, and attended Harvey Grammar School; Graeme was not interested in sport at school, but excelled in a particular Cross Country race in order to leave school early and pursue his hobby of soapbox racing; Graeme’s family moved from Folkestone for his father’s work – he was a photographer who eventually set up his own photography shop in Tontine Street; Graeme describes his father’s career, including taking pictures of sporting activities in Folkestone, and explains how he got into photography when he left school, with the Folkestone Herald, before taking up with the family business due to his father’s poor health.
5:25 How his father’s ill health and lack of interest in taking care of himself motivated Graeme to stay active throughout his life; Graeme took up waterskiing in Folkestone in his early twenties, and quickly discovered he had a ‘knack’ for it; Graeme attended All Souls primary school in Cheriton, where he was the only one in his year to go on to the grammar – ‘I was a bit hacked off to be honest with you’ – and explains that he did not apply himself at school.
9:55 Graeme describes embarking on competitive waterskiing, including cross-channel races, and how this led to training to keep fit through running and playing football, to which he previously had an aversion – ‘the fitter you are, the longer you get to enjoy yourself doing whatever it is you’re trying to do…running’s the most boring thing…it’s tedious in the extreme, but it’s good aerobically, it keeps everything going.’
13:15 Graeme speaks about his initial plans upon leaving school – ‘for some obscure reason I was going to be a dentist…God knows why’- how he ended up as an apprentice at the newspaper, and how, eventually, working for himself allowed him the time to pursue his ‘action’ sporting endeavors; Graeme’s waterski racing, his pursuit to become National Champion – ‘for three years we tried and we came second each year for one reason or another’ – the sponsorship deal that came as a consequence, and some close scrapes at sea.
17:49 How he discovered waterskiing through working as a photographer, and how waterski racing helped him discover his competitive side; the vibrancy of Folkestone at that time – ‘there was a lot going on in Folkestone, Folkestone’s not like it is now…there was always something going on’.
19:55 The growth of leisure time in the 1970s; the prevalence of drugs in the town at that time; and how waterskiing was used as cover in drug smuggling across the channel; the first time Graeme saw windsurfing, in Folkestone, and his introduction to Barry James, who had set up a windsurfing school in Sandgate, and for whom Graeme had worked in exchange for windsurfing lessons – ‘Never looked back. Total sense of freedom…it was just the most amazing thing.’
25:25 How Graeme’s interest waned in waterskiing after he discovered windsurfing, getting involved competitively, and the tactics and intricacies of a windsurfing race.
26:55 Graeme recounts the joys of racing sailing, which he continues to do today – ‘It completely hooks you’ – and finding out he was a natural: ‘I was relatively small but quite strong.’; the Sandgate school was the ‘first in the country’, according to Graeme; he explains the growth of the action sport market, including the establishment of action sport shops and schools along the south coast and then around the country – ‘in the eighties it was massive, all through the eighties.’
32:15 Graeme on the popularity of the sport in the 1980s – ‘I had five hundred people in a race…anybody that had anything to do with sailing was trying to get involved with it’. Graeme’s involvement with graphics, printing, and production, and how this led to him creating and launching a windsurfing magazine, Windsurf, in 1980; organising windsurfing exhibitions, and his involvement in the windsurfing business.
35:55 How Folkestone has been historically creative; the art scene in Folkestone; the relative difficulty of windsurfing; the ‘riotous’ scene around the sport at that time.
38:55 ‘I’ve got this theory that adrenalin is the secret to eternal youth…it’s like a cure-all, it makes you feel better’ – how action sports, and risk taking, can stave off depression, and make your life less ‘mundane’, feel ‘reborn.’; memories of soapbox racing as a child, and playing in bombsites – ‘you made your own fun’.
43:45 Taking up mountain biking and snowboarding, and introducing these sports, among others, to the UK as a business; how many of the early pioneers of action sports in Britain have now died; the future of action sports – ‘the battle is to keep people off their screens’; his children’s (four girls) involvement with action sports, and the difficulty (rules and regulations) of accessing such sports nowadays.
47:35 Graeme’s relationship with, and fondness of, Folkestone; how he has very few regrets, his hatred of Harvey Grammar School – ‘you talk about bullying now, you’ve got no idea’ – and how his height fueled some of his competitiveness and achievements, in windsurfing most notably.