Fleetwood Tram Sunday 19 July
Fleetwood Tram Sunday ended up being a day of extremes in many ways. The run to the River Wyre pub meeting place was quite pleasant for some who had glorious sunshine all the way there, whilst others had to contend with appalling rain. Brian Stanford for instance set off from Oldham in very heavy rain and then had to turn round due to difficulty in seeing where he was going. He never did manage to get over to Fleetwood and missed a great day out. Most of us managed to arrive without getting too wet.
As far as I can remember The River Wyre pub has been the usual meeting place for the last 10 years, we usually
get to see many of the other vehicles and bikes attending the event making their way into the town. A collection of 13 Goldwings and their owners left the pub car park around 9:00 am to make the short journey into Fleetwood and the display area outside the Euston Hotel. Once through the checkpoint it was a slow ride through the centre of town along the high street to the promenade and our display area, on more than one occasion we were asked to switch on our hazard warning lights. Well that was it, most strobe lights came on and horns sounded to make everyone aware we had arrived.
The display area was quickly filled with a number of solo, trike and Jimmy Ryan’s combination. It’s been a long standing tradition that you park up quickly and then make a mad dash for breakfast. The café, just around the corner serves a seriously major breakfast for less than £5.00 a head, including toast and Tea. Most of us managed the big breakfast but Bill Squires, under orders from Barbara to stick to his diet, bugged out and stayed with the bikes. I won’t tell you the rubbish he ate during the rest of the day.
By the time we had returned from breakfast Goldwing numbers had swelled to 21 bikes on the arrival of our friends from Pennine Wings and a couple of late arrivals to the party. Visitors to the festival started to mingle with the bikes and ask questions of their owners. Weather was really kind with plenty of sunshine, few clouds, and no rain. Lots to see during the festival with trams, buses trucks and even a Chinese dragon in the mix, amazingly the local Lifeboat Crew teamed up to drag the lifeboat through the town. It looked incredibly hard work, in the sunshine, pulling on ropes dragging several tonnes of hardwood lifeboat behind them. Risk assessment nightmare if you ask me.
The nearest stand to us was the local Owl sanctuary that had brought several large Owls and predatory birds with them
for display. Amazingly they even had a large Russian Steppe Eagle which attracted many visitors and photographers. Stuart, being Stuart, convinced the handler to bring the birds over to the Goldwing stand for a photo shoot. The Eagle looked fantastic sat on a Goldwing and the large Eagle Owl’s plumage was stunning. Bill Squires was a little unnerved about the Eagle’s razor sharp talons and his seat covering, but thankfully both birds caused no damage whatsoever to the soft seat and backrest. Stuart managed to blag himself the handler’s glove and posed with the Eagle for pictures. I must admit the combination of Eagle and Goldwing did go together very well indeed. It was a great experience getting so close to these very impressive and majestic creatures.
The day began to wind down around 4:30pm with a few members taking the opportunity to make a quick getaway and avoid the traffic, our charity, NW Air Ambulance, did well with all the collection tins receiving donations during the day.
On the way home Ken Smith, one of the Pennine members, picked up a rear puncture and had to pull over on the side of the road, he couldn’t have been in a worse position for dangerous traffic. Jackie helped him push his wing off the road and into a nearby farm entrance. Luckily he had breakdown cover. Ken very kindly sent an e mail thanking those who stopped to help him move his Goldwing out of the way; he finally got home around 8:00 pm that evening.
On the whole, probably the best Tram Sunday we’ve been too for many years.
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dave and toni | Jul 6, 2009 | Reply
we are coming 2 this cos i wanna ride a tram and have a nice day by the seaside
Bob Summers | Jul 11, 2009 | Reply
Well you will certainly get to ride a tram. Fleetwood being the home to the oldest tram system in the world. As for the seaside, have you been to Fleetwood before?
Bob
Bob Summers | Jul 13, 2009 | Reply
Looks like passes for Tram Sunday have been issued as I received mine in the post today. Fear not if you don’t get one, nobody to date has been asked for one or turned away, especially as we arrive in a large group anyway.
See you all on Sunday.
Bob
barry | Jul 18, 2009 | Reply
got the sunscreen packed, got the raincoats packed,Fred Talbot wasnt very sure what the weather will be like tomorrow,I think he covered it all! About to go out for the butty stuff now although there is a very good chippy in Fleetwood, yum yum!
Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow
Barry and Lesley
dave and toni | Jul 20, 2009 | Reply
Hi again – what a fab day out at Fleetwood on Sunday. Full of surprises and ups and downs. The weather for one – early morning very dark and gloomy but bright, thought we would try our new helmets and visors (they are chrome just like the stig on BBC top gear) The weather held off until on the M55 then it came – through my rainbow chrome visor it was multi coloured rain drops beating against the visor at about 85mph (cos I was in a little hurry) anyway we arrived and being myself drove passed the turning and went down a no entry sign to park up with the gathered gang. Also we were wearing our new jackets which had been embroidered in Southport that very week (the extra patches arrived Monday morning awaiting stitching on by wife!!!) Making our way to Fleetwood was a short hop from the River Wyre pub and we were duly assigned a car park space – by the toilets and seats!! (Writer well chuffed a park bench all great..) Anyway I digress as the rides and attractions were got up and running a brew and biscuit was taken. after a little while people began to appear and look at the assembled bikes/trike/sidecar – the PR job had begun in earnest answering questions about various subjects ( 2 many to list) Breakfast was taken by a few of the members who had been able to last out without food until mid morning. As we approached mid day the weather improved and the sun was beginning to shine, the organ to our left had been playing passable tunes which helped to create a sea-side atmosphere, in the background a jazz band was playing later on in the day. The big parade came next Toni took snaps as did I which will appear on the website later. There seemed a never ending line of folk wanting pictures of various members of family sat on or stood by bikes/trike/sidecar. the box began to rattle to the sound of money (I hope) which was great- we had a visit by 2 birds of prey, an eagle and owl – see website photo album
the handlers were great and again pictures were took, by the on looking public. Toni got a mini biggles teddy, it cost £5 from air ambulance stand – as the afternoon passed on more and more people came and the atmosphere was a typical British seaside town. Your writer did not venture too far away from the car park just to ensure the public did not harm our bikes and set off alarms. Around 4, 30 ish we began to get ready for the trip home – Toni surprised me by wanting to ride without her helmet (well we can cos ….I know u know we’ve got 3 wheels nuff said) and she did so ALL the way home having a spot of tea on the way home which rounded off a great day with the wings. BUT the morning after….. both of us have a mask, white around the eyes where our shades had been and a red face where the sun had caught will look at my brass keep sake with fond memories of a great sunny British seaside day out – many thanks to all at Fleetwood who made the day good. Hopefully going again next year??? – please. This short epistle to The Corinthians ends.
Ian | Jul 24, 2009 | Reply
I had a great day and enjoyed chatting with fellow riders from both Goldwing North West and Penine Wings.I picked up some good tips on riding and general care for the bike.
Due to being a bit late I missed out on the breakfast but made up for it through the day(Burgers Chips etc.)I try to keep on a balanced diet so I ate standing on one foot!!!!
Thanks to Jimmy Ryan who informed me about the colour of my bike meaning something in the States(I wont repeat it)and can’t work out if he was joking or meant it.
see you all soon
Ian and Lesley