Girling brakes in the wet

[Ron Hayhurst]

Just while we are on this topic, it is also of note that all the ironing boards at one time had an asbestos mat on which to place the iron. Your nice clean clothes (and handkerchiefs!!) would have every chance of unwittingly receiving asbestos fibres. Those with much worn mats no doubt got a bigger dose.
Ron

[Peter Naulls]

Well the cause of the problem was nothing to do with brake shoes! 

My father at some point made a well intentioned modification to the little wheels that guide the rear brake cables. One of the cables had become wedged beside this resulting in very limited movement of the N/S brake lever. Quite why it was only apparent in wet weather I don't know, perhaps the fronts get wet and the effectiveness of the rears becomes more important. 

Although is is now sorted it is very apparent that I need to go through the whole system optimising the way it works. I did the same thing on my special years ago and it is still paying dividends.

[Bob Culver]

Hi Peter
Thanks for reporting the outcome. Very often such topics just fizzle. I suspect the explanations are similarly unexpected.