Drive It Day/Ride Out - 27th April 2025

Hi Everyone,

The Drive It Day/Ride Out took place yesterday, starting from Home Bargains in the Hythe with a lineup of 9 Bikes and 11 people. This quickly turned into 8 Bikes and 10 people as Keith decided to take his own route at the Traffic lights, he must have been “in the zone”. The remaining took a lovely route in glorious weather through Clacton, Holland on Sea and onto Walton on the Naze Marina, thanks to Peter Roberts taking the lead.

We made it to the Restaurant and parked up in a row, being the first to arrive – not that it was a race. Tea’s and coffee’s were had and as we sat there, the Motor Car clubs started to arrive and I must say there was some lovely vehicles, MG’s, Mercedes, Lotus’s and 1 old and special Ferrari, which Mike ( Fey ) and I believe was a Dino.

After some time we all started to drift home and for some it was more eventful that others. Keith ran out of fuel and had to be rescued by Paul and Kim. Even though Paul had been the good Samaritan, his bike decide to break down in Mersea and in trying to bump start, he fell off the side and the bike fell on him.  He is rather sore as you would expect having had a Honda 550 Four falling on you.

Here are some pictures of the day.

Drive It Day Ride Out Pictures

 

 

April 2025 Club Night

 

Due to a miscalculation of dates, myself and Caroline were unable to attend due to being in sunnier climates. However, Shaun kindly volunteered to hold the fort with Kim.

Shaun led the ride out for the first run out of the year, 4 classic and 8 modern bikes rolled out of the Cricketers for the run, we did not want to do a long run due to the darkness coming in around 20:00. Off we proceeded past the Almar Pub and through Smith Green carrying on to Tiptree petrol station where the King and Queens eyes blinked as Keith had to open his rusty hinged wallet to put a small amount of petrol in. As we left heading towards Feering it started to look slightly dark so Shaun switched on his lights, 10 seconds later a lot of spitting and banging and the old triumph was feeling unhealthy then stopped. He gave her a kick and she started, but only to do a couple of hundred yards with the lights on, turned the lights off and she was fine.  This is where the evening ended for Shaun a very quick departure before it got to dark, of which he does apologise for and YES it was dark by the time he got home. He did not know he knew so many people as they were flashing their lights at him all the way home. He hoped everyone else enjoyed the rest of the ride out and conversations back at the Cricketers.  To mimic Shaun, Keith had similar trouble on his way home. It appears they both know a lot of the same people as he too was being flashed. What a popular pair.

As a reminder the club has been invited to participate in a “Drive It Day” on the 27^th April. This is a good opportunity for a Club run and ride out.  More detail will be sent on where we will meet and what time, so please keep the date in your calendar.

Finally, Mr Kevin Lee was available to receive his well-deserved trophy for all his efforts and participation throughout the year. He has been a vital part of the ride outs, playing tail-end Charlie sweeping up the confused and dazed when wondering which direction to go, this includes myself on one occasion.

Subs have started to be collected for this year. I know a few were unable to attend, but there is still plenty of opportunity for a Bank transfer or May club night. Still £12, so good value.

 

March 2025 - Club Night

At last, the weather seems to have changed and the days are getting longer. They say the Brits are obsessed with the weather, well perhaps it is really just Bikers that are constantly looking up at the skies thinking can I get the bike out and not get wet and have to clean it again. It might be better weather and longer days but it was still too dark for a pre-meeting ride-out. Although there was much talk about arriving on bikes, no one did and who can blame them as its still gets chilly at 22:00.

There were 24 attendees and 4 apologies for the March club night, not a bad turn out for the early part of year. Its always a quite time but hopefully things will start to pick up from now. We are organising our annual Coach Trip and currently have 2 options on the table: The Triumph Factory at Hinckley and the Crich Tram Village Motorcycle Day. We are trying to organise the trip during the first part of the year as previously it’s been almost on top of organising the Christmas Meal. Most don’t seem to mind which we choose. I will email the other Essex and Suffolk Sections of our plans in case they wish to join us on our outing. The more the merrier.

The Section has been invited to participate in a “Drive It Day” on the 27^th April. A local restaurant owner as opened the Harbour Lights restaurant in Walton on The Naze and through contacts with our Section has invited us along with some other local Car clubs. The Event will start in Colchester and proceed to their restaurant for some lunch. If anyone wishes to pre-order a meal, that can be arranged.

Next Month’s Club Night is Subs night and Kim will be coming round to collect. We are keeping subs at the same price as last year and will again look to see where we can use this to give back value to the members. We did use it last year to subsidise the Christmas Meal for members so we will see what we can do this year.

The Kempton Auto jumble is on this weekend ( 8/9^th March ) and quite a few members will be going. Keith Pottinger will have a stall full of shiny thing to purchase so hopefully he will be busy.

With the weather improving ( again Bikers and Weather obsession ) we hope to start to organise a few rides, more to come.

This Thursday (13^th March) our old section leader and his wife are celebrating 60 years of marriage. We would all like to congratulate Colin and Jane on their special anniversary.

 

Have a safe March and avoid the pot holes.

 

 

 

Febuary 2025 - Club Night

We last all met on the 8^th Jan for our Christmas meal and that seems like a very long time ago. This grey drizzle appears to have been hanging over us for an extended period, which feels like a long time since being able to ride the bikes. The good news is that the days are finally starting to get longer and hopefully brighter. The Feb club night was attended by 22 members, which was pretty good, 3 of which were guests. One of which was from Mersea Island. This location seems to be rich pickings for the club having already got several from that location. There were 5 apologies: Paul, Kim, Colin, Ian and Brian and we look forward to seeing them in March. 2 club members had milestone birthdays, Ian Wentworth was 50 and Jacobus Wells was 70. Congrats to them both on their special day.  We still have 1 Club award to present, we will do separately as the winner has been busy moving house.

 

A new year brings the chance of another Coach trip. I have suggested couple of options: The Triumph Factory Tour (Factory Experience)  or the Crich Tramway Village Motorcycle Day . We are collecting ideas from members but are looking to organise the event in July, rather than later in the year, to give us a Summer and Winter event. Next meeting is on March 5^th, where we hope to finalise and start to arrange the coach. Let’s hope for dryer weather soon.