Leslie George Sayce.

He was later known then as Les McDade due to his parents getting divorced when he was 2 years old.

Les was born at 29 Mayfield Road in the “Jungle” to Mary McDade on 19th Jan 1947 and his father Les Sayce was a survivor of HMS Barham in 1941 His father later went on to escort duty in the North Atlantic.

The picture was taken in the back yard of 24 Hillhouse crescent in 1963 and Earnock “Bing” is in the back ground.

Les went to Glenlee primary and then Earnock secondary and when he left school he worked as an apprentice joiner for Charlie Cornes at Limetree, then for Gibbons who were building “The Furlongs.’ He later worked at the Wagon works across from the Blantyre Industrial estate.

He then went to London and spent seven years doing joinery work. He was also a cross country runner attaining house colours for his school which was “Windsor boys school”. and served as a member of the combined cadet force of the Royal Artillery. He then joined the Cameronians, he was based in Germany for a year in 1962. Returning to Scotland in 1963 he joined the ATC at Hamilton barracks 2166 Squadron.

Les started spending much time in libraries reading poetry of Selfridge Sassoon and the usual building subjects pertaining to construction management and aeronautical physics. (mechanics of flight) – {He published his own work in 1978}

He then set out for the south of England and searched for his father, it took only a few hours to track him down. (in a pub) He went back to Scotland in 1972 for four years working as a Ghillie on the Mamore estate in Kinlochleven and a joiner on the housing schemes.

In the mid 70s Les went to Spain for a holiday and when he was in Spain, he met some lads from a NZ rugby club and they invited him over there, So in 1976 he arrived here in NZ and worked in the islands “Rarotonga” then Australia and in 1977 he met his future wife Jessie Stokes!

At this time he was playing guitar in the country clubs and dance halls as a solo performer In most circles he is known primarily as a guitarist.
He trained as a commercial pilot in Wanganui and Nelson and done the flying part in Auckland as that was his home club, he flew many types of aircraft mainly on charters.

In 1982 he suddenly started playing cricket and he went at it with a vengeance,his training regime was rugged as he was running around a Hill station farm rounding up lambs and in winter found him training with the rugby lads. He ended up a captain of a two day team and won sportsman of the year in 1986.

Last year Les moved from Auckland and is now living in a town (a country town) He has his dream home with a huge garden and his dream car and has not slowed down in the least.

Historic Hamilton would like to thank Les’s friend John Stokes for sending us Les’s story.