Talks,
Social Runs, Film shows, Quizzes,
Road Trials, Coach Trips, Displays, etc. No.222- Jan2009
Dear
Member,
Happy
New Year to all our readers – so the saying goes.
Here
we go into 2009 and with any luck the weather will be a lot better than
2008. I
trust that you’re all getting your bikes fettled for the Spring run on
the 5th
April. Funnily enough that won’t be my first run – the NACC have a Run
around
the Vale on the 1st March, starting from
Cowbridge common as usual –
so, if you have a gutless wonder in the shed, get it out for St David’s
day –
and if you haven’t got a tiddler and fancy coming on the run then come
and chat
to me and I’ll loan you one of mine. After that, on the 29th
March,
I will be riding over Bristol
way in the Ray Cordy Memorial run. I don’t think that it’s competitive,
but it’s
well worth supporting, for sure.
We
have a problem in May with the date of our Seaside Run.
I’ve found out that the Bristol
section, due to their tardiness in not booking the
Failand Hall, have had to move the South
West Coast
run date and they’ve landed it on the 17th May
with our Seaside Run
and another event that some of our members are
thinking of attending, the Weymouth week. I did play hell with the
Bristol
section over the
date move and more so the fact that they didn’t tell us. I found out
purely by
accident. The solution for us is to move the Seaside
run to the 10th May and that will then give us
the option of riding
in the South West Coast run the following weekend – or going to
Weymouth
for their riding
packed week. Our AGM approved a date change and after checking the date
of the
Gwent Sections Girder Fork run – our Seaside
Run will now take place on the 24th May, so
please make a note on
your calendars.
Also,
looking at the calendar, we have a problem in September as the
Saundersfoot run
is on the same weekend as the Isle
of Wight
Scurry. This clash probably will only affect Terry H and me as we seem
to be the
only section members to attend either – anyone going to prove me wrong?
The
Section dinner on the 14th Dec seems to have
gone off ok, with quite
a few people saying that they had a good night. It was nice to see some
visitors from the West South
Wales Section and
they were very complimentary about the evening and the food.
The
Boxing Day run to the Lamb and Flag at Wick saw a record turnout – near
enough
35 bikes I reckon. It was a bit cold but very gratifying to see so many
out on
two wheels. The New Years day run to the green Dragon at Llancadle was
not so
well supported, maybe only 20 bikes – but then the temperature
was down below zero. Who was
riding the scooter? Nice looking machine, I must say. Hope we see it
again on
one of our events.
Lately
we’ve been busy compiling the Section calendar for 2009 using the same
tried
and trusted format. Well, it seems to work ok, but if anyone has any
ideas?
Please say so. Otherwise we carry on as before.
The
New Year kicked off quite well for me – I bought a new bike, a Moto
Morini –
the sad part is that I’ve had to promise the household management that
I’ll
sell my 1975 Honda 400/4 – anyone interested, will there be a stampede?
It is a
nice bike after all. Come and talk to me but don’t leave it too long as
the
bike has to go, mainly for the garage space, which is desperately tight
now
that my Jeep is back in residence.
The
other news for the start of the New Year is that I become the VMCC
President
Elect in April to become the club President for the year 2010/2011.
That’s
going to be a busy time for Jeannie and myself with loads of visits yet
to be
planned. My girl is none to enamoured with me being the club President
until I
told her that Madam President gets loads of flowers – I think that
might have
swayed her, fingers crossed. I was nominated by five of the clubs past
Presidents and it would have been difficult to turn down with that lot
pushing
me to do the job. Colin Seaton, from the Cotswolds Section is to be the
Immediate President and will take office at the club AGM on the 5th
April.
At
our recent AGM I’m so sorry to say that we witnessed some unacceptable
behaviour which amazed me and left me lost for words. We did, however,
re-appoint our officers and discussed the subject of having music at
our annual
dinner – by majority the meeting decided not to have music on that
evening.
The
other thing that was decided is that we are to hold six mid-week
evening runs
during the summer. The idea is that a pub is nominated and on that
evening
everyone leaves their homes on a two-wheel machine and aims to arrive
at the
pub by about 8pm. The venues (pubs) will be scattered around the Vale
of
Glamorgan and will be different for each of the designated runs. This
means
that some times you would only be riding 5 miles to a venue whilst the
next
time it may be 20 miles. The other advantage is that there is no set
route –
you decide on which route you intend to travel – so, no VMCC permits
etc are
needed. Likewise, if you wish,
you can ride a modern machine that would not normally be eligible for
VMCC
events. As we won’t be restricted by any officialdom – I would think
that even
the odd non-member would be welcome. The only thing that I’d say is
that we do
not wish these evenings to be swamped by modern bikers, so, please
don’t go
inviting too many non-members as this would spoil the whole concept of
it being
a club evening event.
These
evening runs will take place on Wednesday evenings. Sorry if some of
you have a
problem with a Wednesday but whichever day we pick, someone will have a
problem
with it. So, for 2009 we are going to hold six of these evening runs –
on: -
29th April
27th May
24th June
22nd July
19th August
16th September
The
venues will be announced a month
or so before the appointed night – but put the above dates on your
calendar and
give the idea some support please. After all we had 35 bikes out on
Boxing Day
– let’s aim for that number on each of these evening runs. No excuse
about the
lights on your bike – if they’re fitted and the bike has an MOT, then
they
work.
Whilst
talking about the section calendar – I have confirmed with the Somerset
Section that the spring Shepton Mallet Autojumble date is the 28th
Feb – they have had problems in booking the site this year and the date
was
listed in the calendar as 7th
or 14th March – anyway, it’s not; it is
definitely the 28th
Feb.
One
matter that has been raised lately is that of non-members and these
comments
exclude those few Norton Owners club members who attend our meetings.
Anyway, we
have an ‘open door’ policy regarding our Monday meetings and that’s
fine.
Anyone can come along and see if they like us and what we do. Each
January,
when I attend Allen House for a Management Committee meeting I usually
obtain a
list of all the paid up VMCC members in our catchment area – and – on
looking
around our meeting room on times, it is not too difficult to see those
who are
not paid up VMCC members. Everyone is welcome; of course, but after a
suitable
period, if a
non-member continues to attend our meetings etc. they really should
join the club,
don’t you think? This is a gentle nudge to those who know who they are.
Bruce
tells me that he’s recently bought a war-time Triumph 3HW and that he
intends
to use it on the road and also have a go at racing it. Bruce feels that
the
bikes current front brake and forks will not be up to the job of racing
so; if
anyone has anything a bit more heavy-duty please let him know.
Apart
from my Honda 400/4 being for sale my brother has a very nice 1999
Suzuki
Burgman scooter to sell – genuine mileage of 6876 and to quote my
brothers own
words it’s only had three OAP owners and has been well over
serviced
by them all. It’s been dry
stored all it’s life, only used in the summer months and is still as
good as
when bought new. The bike will cruise all day at 70 on the motorway so
it is no
slouch. Let me know if you’re interested.
There
are two other bikes for sale by Pierre
in Belgium
and they are his 1950’s BMW - I think it’s an R50 or R60, not quite
sure on
that one but it is a very nice bike and very much like Geoff T’s BM.
Pierre is
also going to sell his 1982 Bonneville
– another faultless machine which just happens to have a GB
registration, so,
if you think you might be interested let me know and I can put you in
touch.
Just
as I’m about to finish this newsletter I’m told that Barry, our
Chairman, has
resigned his position. So we now need to elect a new Chairman. Whilst
thinking
about a new Chairman it would be a good idea to elect a few more
ordinary
members so as to enlarge the committee. The reason that I’m suggesting
this is
that 2011 is our section’s Golden Anniversary year and after chatting
about it
to another member recently it is obvious that we need to start brain
storming
and planning the 2011 celebrations pretty soon. Consequently it would
be good
if we had a committee of the four officers plus, say, another 4, so as
to get
the ideas formed for what we intend to do. Any volunteers? I hope so.
Even
better – any ideas.
Finally
– the section calendar is finished and if you haven’t got a copy – come
and ask
please.
Bill
P
