Traditionally it takes place on the Sunday immediately preceding Easter. The 2012 Wirral Egg Run will be no exception, taking place on Sunday 1st April. Several thousand participants are expected to take part in the event.

Participants gather on motorcycles at New Brighton and ride a 20 mile pre-determined route to Clatterbridge hospital. Once there, they deliver their Easter eggs for children in Wirral. Whilst the donation and delivery of Easter eggs forms the core iconic tradition of the Egg Run, the more significant aspect is now the delivery by participants of cash donations to the Wirral Egg Run charity.

Spectators line the route and can also contribute their donations. Official Wirral Egg Run collectors are present at New Brighton, Clatterbridge and along the route. Separate fund raising events are held across the Wirral, co-ordinated under the auspices of The Wirral Egg Run Committee.

See their website for full details.

A fabulous event and a cracking (sorry!) good day into the bargain! We meet on the East Lancs Road in the first lay-by on the left, having turned off the M6 at J23 and heading for Liverpool. Please be there and ready to leave by 09:00, as this is a very popular event and likely to be extremely busy if the weather’s good.

Full details can be found on http://www.goldwings.org.uk/, where you can also find details of our very own Southport event later this year.

Both events promise to be a great time for Wingers, so go and check them out where you’ll find full details of both events.

Please note the stipulation that we cannot use horns or sirens on the parade itself – the Police are ok with our lights, but will take action against anyone making a racket!

The dates for 2012 parade are 21st -23rd September and the venue for the weekend is the Prince of Wales Hotel right in the middle of town on Lord Street. The accommodation package is an amazingly good deal with rooms costing £77.50 per person for Friday and Saturday nights (two nights) and include your breakfast and evening meals. Single rooms are also the same price. Wingers can extend the weekend break and add further nights to the package at £30.00 per person per night. How good is that. Ring Maria Broderick at the Hotel on 01704 536 688 and book your accommodation, quoting booking code GOPR2109.

The usual format of parade and best lit bike competition will take place along with a static display during the day. There are still a couple of locations to be finalised but the Police and Marshalling is already arranged with the full support of the Council. All we need now is the weather. Trust Jeff has got that sorted also.

It’s Sunday night as I type this and the first ever Llandudno Light Parade has been and gone for this year. But what an absolutely fantastic event it turned out to be. The sun shone, the crowds thronged and even the nice Welsh policemen pitched in to help make this a memorable weekend.

But rather than me rambling onabout it, here’s a copy of the e-mail I sent to the guys in Goldwings North Wales earlier tonight.

Dear All at Goldwings North Wales

Thought that it would be very remiss of me not to write and say just what an absolutely brilliant event the Llandudno Light Parade (1?) turned out to be.

It was wonderful to see the way in which everyone involved, the Organisers, Attendees and the Llandudno people themselves really entered into the spirit of the event and I’m really pleased to report that I personally was unaware of any animosity of ANY description from anyone throughout the whole weekend. This was truly an event where the key element was simply to have fun, and loads of it.

The response from the crowds before, during and after the Parade was almost overwhelming and I think it’s safe to say that they would probably be more than a little disappointed were you not to stage the event again in the future. Even the traffic played ball, some drivers electing to wait at junctions (even they had right of way) to allow the Parade to pass in its entirety.

All of us from Goldwings NorthWest agreed that it had been a truly enjoyable event, and I personally feel that you took up the baton from the BLP magnificently, especially given the somewhat limited time in which you had to prepare.

So, take a bow, and let’s look forward to more events like this in the future!

Ian Duxbury

Chairman, Goldwings NorthWest

and I’m absolutely sure that those who attended will be only too keen to put their side of the story in the comments fields below.

Incidentally, I understand that the event raised over £2700 for the RNLI, a pretty magnificent achievement for a first time, so again, many congratulations to all of you who made it possible!

So, it’s over to you……..

Following on from the lively discussions at this mornings meeting, I have spoken to Dave Turvey, (Chairman, Goldwings North Wales) and have established the following

Unfortunately, the date for the LLP this year has already been agreed with the Council and the other parties concerned and as such, can’t be altered. Had the date for RTTW been known prior, then the Organisers would have selected an alternative, but this wasn’t possible as the RTTW date was only announced after the LLP details were finalised.

The idea of alternating a Light Parade between Goldwings North Wales (Llandudno) and Goldwings North West (Southport or Morecambe) was proposed, as suggested at this morning’s meeting, and was very warmly welcomed by Dave. He had already had a similar suggestion proposed and felt that this could be a mutually beneficial arrangement for both clubs, offering a change of venue and also giving each team of Organisers more time in which to prepare.

So, the good news appears to be that the Southport Light Parade may become a reality – but remember that Jeff will need help and support from his fellow club members, so start having a think about rolling up your sleeves and pitching in to make it happen!

So, could all those of you interested please let us know at the next meeting, or if you can’t make it, via the comments section on this post. The sooner they know if enough people will come, then the better chance they have to make it happen.

And, don’t forget that we’re always looking out for new things to get involved with, so if you’ve an idea for a run out or event, let us know!

Eureka, I have found it.

The very first visit to the Island Classic Vehicle event turned out to be a really good day. The highlite was just as we left the Swallow Hotel at the start of the run. Ted immediately left the pack and pulled up on the side of the road. Luckily Bill informed us on the CB that Ted had a problem, almost instantly he was back on the air telling us all was well and we carried on to Lytham St Annes. It wasn’t until half way through the day Ted was spotted brandishing a lump of twisted scrap metal and proudly telling everyone he had found it. I would have kept that quiet myself but anyway turns out the piece of junk was something that had fallen off his bike on the previous run out and Ted seeing it fall away said goodbye to it, expecting never to see it again. At least Ted was a happy bunny for the rest of the day. As for the Island Classic Vehicle event, it would appear this is an annual affair and was in its 10th year. Amazing you can take part in so many events and miss the ones on your doorstep. Weather was kind and the two café’s on site were both visited in the name of research.  The charity did rather well, due mainly to the fact that no other collection buckets were on view and the visiting public delighted in seeing the Goldwings on display. The display of vehicles was top notch with a wide variety of cars trucks and bikes to see. Suffice it to say we have an invite for next year. See the pictures from the show here

Friday nights "best light bike" competition

The organisation of the Light Parade for 2009 has proved to be the most complicated to date. I wont bore you with the detail but it was certainly an uphill climb for those involved.  Thankfully everything is now in place from the accomodation, entertainment, police and the light parade on the Saturday night itself.

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.