The February clubnight was well attended, with some 30 members and one guest. And four on Bikes which is always a good sign. Colin brought us all up to date with the goings on in January. It was agreed to do a daytime run into the depths of Essex on February 19th. We will venture in the Maldon direction, where John Walsh has kindly agreed to meet us,and to give us the benefit of his local knowledge and show us some of the sights,as well as a good venue for lunch. Leaving the Alma at 10-30. It also looks as if we might get to see and hear the merlin project in march if steve can arrange it. If it happens and you havent seen it before its really a must do! WEe also need to arrange a ride for March.We have also had a very generous invite from the Essex Section of the VMCC to their Bluebell Camping weekend at the Museum of Power, Langford,running from Wednesday April 15th until Monday 20th. Camping is not compulsory but there will be a ride every day and we as a club,have been invited to take part in all of them. The only restriction is that they would like the bikes to be more than 25 years old.I will post the details of the runs on the events page. If you do want to take part just let me know and I will forward the details and booking forms. If there is lunch involved, you need to book the food in advance. I hope to have a go at one or two myself, and you can go on your own or with friends if you have any! The thursday run looks interesting as there is both a road run and an off road run ending at the same venue. Gordon
Our January club night was well attended, and one member came on a bike, and managed to dodge the rain. Good to see the Alma wasn't damaged too much and that lots of the locals had lent their help and support to get it back up and running, the same day it was damaged. There were the usual announcements, and David Lane gave us a brief rundown of some of the important bikes he had owned and worked on over the years, including the replica of Steve McQeen's Triumph from The Great Escape. I did get to sit on the Thruxton Bonneville he mentioned, but missed out on riding it. The owner brought it to the Donkey & Buskins when he was in the UK.
Our December Club Night was well supported with 25 members and 2 guests, and we all enjoyed a good evening with sandwiches & mince pies, courtesy of the Alma landlord.
Colin ran through the usual, and I apologised for calling off the ride on the 26th because of the weatherI hope to go for a ride on Saturday 14th December from The Alma leaving at 10.30am weather permitting.
Colin then told an interesting tale involving our late member, Russell and his association with the USAF, and his books. In view of that we need a rethink on what to do with the books left to us.
We have our evening on the 18th December at The Alma when we thank the landlord and his staff for their hospitality through the year, and all are welcome.
Steve is organising a green lane event so keep in touch with him if you want to go along. I still manage to get the section notes into the jampot, but they are mostly retrospective, although I see the deadline has been extended. We have the next Club Night on the 8th January, and the Awards Evening on the 15th and it's not too late to sign up.
We are looking for suggestions for rides and visits for 2020, so do let us have your thoughts. Merry Christmas. Gordon
Just a quick update.Sorry we postponed the ride on the 26th, but the weather forecast prove to be accurate, and we would have got wet! Club night next wednesday,and we hope to see you all. Dont forget to return your trophies. We have a couple of potential day time rides for december. Lots of other things going on in December so keep an eye on the events page if you want to come along.Lunch meeting this Saturday.Everyone welcome. Gordon
Good to see you all at last night's club night. The new landlord at the Alma made us very welcome arranging the space for us, and even buying a club T-shirt,as well as making a donation to the club funds. Let's hope we can keep supporting him in return. About 28 of us heard Colin run through the October events, and the other parish notices. There were even some bikes in the car park!
We managed one ride out to Pin Mill, and the off-roaders had a day out and Vic rode at the Marks Tey Pre-65 scramble, and recieved an award for attending all the rounds, so well done. Paul also distributed the latest clothing order, and kindly delivered mine as I left it behind!
This month's runs will be daytime runs, leaving the Alma at 10.30am - weather permitting. I don't mind a bit of rain but I'm not so keen on frost and snow! If it looks like bad weather, contact me for information. On the 12th we will finish up at the cafe in Great Yeldham, just up the Toppesfield road, and on the 26th, we should finish up at Wrentham for lunch, after a quick visit to Lowestoft. Steve will organise an off-road event if enough of you let him know you would take part.
Just a quick reminder that the next lunch meeting is November 2nd at The Granary Restaurant ,Waldegraves, Mersea Island. Contrary to popular belief, you dont need a passport, and if your not wealthy, its OK as long as you dont want to stay! Our next club night is November 6th. The final lunch meeting for 2019 will be at The Horseshoes Inn Cockfield. Gordon
Just a couple of notices. Please bring along your photographs to enter the photo competition to the next Club night. And if you are coming to the awards evening dinner, provisionally scheduled for January 15th 2020, please let us know asap, so we can negotiate a good deal!
The section had a very busy September, with more than the usual number of events. I would like to thank John Swann, Chris Mac, Steve Toy and Julian for organising these events in my absence. Colin covered them at this months clubnight, and all were well supported and with evening and daytime rides, green laning and pre-65 scrambling, as well as the odd one or two spectating at Snetterton, we hope there is something for everyone in the club.
It's good to hear we have already hit the target for our BMF subscription for next year and that the Hadleigh Club has as well. We need to keep ourselves covered with the BMF, not forgetting they are lobbying on our behalf all the time.
It was decided that the January Club Night be moved from the 1st to the 8th to avoid clogging up the Alma on a busy evening.It was also unanimously agreed to hold an annual Dinner and Awards evening, and subject to confirming the date with New Times Tiptree, it will be held on January 15th. We would like to have an idea of numbers attending so please let us know ASAP, and any help in organising the event would be most appreciated. Don't forget to get your photographs ready for the photo competition.
Another good turnout for our club night with a car park full of bikes. I counted 25 and Im sure several more more had called in for a chat. About 9 of us accompanied Paul back to Treasure Island as he forgot to bring the free bike papers, and we gained two more in Mersea as we left the Alma a bit earlier than we should! 26 members and four guests at the meeting. We now have over 40 members on the books to keep us busy. Colin went through the club business as usual. We also had a chat with the new landlord and he is quite happy for us to continue to meet at the Alma which is good news.
Three members attended the Jampot Rally, and Steve picked up a rossette for his bike. George and I had an opportunity to go to the Moto GP that weekend so decided that was the better than going to the rally, so we went there and back, Saturday and Sunday, on two of the hottest days of the year.
Seven of us set out for the ride into Suffolk, and despite getting split up, had a good ride to Crown Street Motors, Lowestoft. Julian took a group of ten on a lovely evening ride around the lanes and finished at the Whalebone ,Finginghoe. Proving that you dont need to go too far to enjoy some good roads
We had a record number of motorcyclists at our August clubnight and we signed up a couple of new members which is always encouraging. Some very tasty motorcycles in the car park. A dozen or so riders had a quick blast around the Essex countryside before the meeting. The drop off system worked a treat as everyone followed the rules!
Colin did a quick run through the events of July which I covered in the last blog, and its good to see that most events are still well supported. The presentation to Bernie made the Jampot Magazine but they couldnt help themselves and managed to edit it! I did manage to get the Section Notes in but its a real uphill task.
This month I will be leading a run into Suffolk, which always has proved popular, as there are several places to visit along the way, including Cakefield Classics, Dragonfly, Crown Street Motors, and of course Stephanie's Cafe! That's Thursday August 15th leaving the Alma at 10am so we can fit it all in.
Just a quick update on club events so far this month. The July club night was well attended with 22 members. Five guests, and a few apologies. Ten of us ventured on the ride before the meeting. 22 bikes in the car park, with moderns outnumbered by Classics. I believe we recruited two new members. We arranged a couple of rides after asking for volunteers. Steve took us to Littley Green to The Compasses, on roads quite new to me and others. A good evening with 13 bikes and one guest doing the ride. Good food as well. Steve also guided those of us that were lost back to Tiptree!
John Swann took us on an equally interesting trip to Andrewsfield airfield, again on roads that most of us hadnt seen. Seven of us had a good natter over lunch, and we all rode back together to Earls Colne. The Green Laners had another run out on the 14th. I gather this is getting more support on each outing. Too messy for my liking!
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