This is an event which we normally attend, and usually provides a wide selection of vehicles and entertainment to enjoy. This year, however, entry is by registration, and we have been very fortunate to have been given the chance to attend as a club for a very nominal fee. To register and obtain a pass, I need your registration number details.

Although some of you did supply your registration numbers to me at the last meeting, I really need to know numbers (and bike reg’s) by the end of next week. So if you haven’t already, can you please let me know either by posting here or at the club barbeque whether you want to come along for a sunny day out by the seaside!

Scorton vintage and country fayre is now well established as a favorite entry in our calendar. This years event takes place at the usual site on 18th & 19th June. The rally comprises various collections of steam engines, vintage engines, classic engines and modern engines. Also featuring aero engines, Military, motorcycles, tractors and commercials. Lawn mower racing, Fairground rides plus many many more. Auto Jumble, food hall, model and crafts tent, Amusements plus many more stalls. 2011 sees the return of the Purple Helmets Display Team.

This is a camping weekend for those wishing to display their Goldwings to the general public, so if you have a tent, caravan or motor home and want to take part you must download your entry form and make sure it is returned in time to the event organisers. They are quite strict on entry to the event on the day, if you don’t have a pass you will have to pay the entry fee and leave your bike outside. No fun at all.

For those who camp over the weekend we normally gather together on the camping field and form our own little village, so to speak, with a central area dominated by gazebos and bar b cue’s. Its a great weekend with lots of activity in he central arena and plenty of things to see and do.

 motor home, towing not one but two GoldWings, was Jim and Chandra who we hadn’t seen on the GoldWing scene for quite a while. They arrived with a rather splendid motor home and trailer set up for their GL1800 and GL1500 GoldWings. It was also good to see John & Olive Taylor who had arrived without their GoldWing, due to John’s injured arm, but seeing as they had a pass they were allowed onto the exhibitor’s site without an actual exhibit. Good for you John. So by early evening 4 motor homes, 3 caravans and 1 trailer tent had all arrived and set up on the exhibitors camping field.   

Good to see Jim & Chandra again.

The evening was spent watching the event unfold and a tide of exhibitors arrive and set up their individual stalls and displays. The event field slowly took shape as cherry pickers, cranes and tractors erected fencing and moved the larger exhibits into place. Meanwhile lots of wine, beer and spirits were being drunk in a noisy corner of the field that will be forever England. Or maybe not, Jackie held audience for those wanting to see the England Algeria world cup game but within 30 minutes of kick off more fun was being had in the gazebo village and the pitiful 0-0 final result was hardly noticed.   

Saturday morning started early with our happy band of wingers slowly coming to life and getting their GoldWings onto our allotted display area. This year we had pride of place opposite the main event ring and outside the beer tent, not bad considering the main motorcycle display area was well away from the central display arena. Pete Rogers arrived early to spend the day with us and was already on display and sampling the magnificent bacon butties as the rest of the group parked up. We managed to get the GoldWings North West banners erected and the 12 bikes and trikes organised without too much difficulty.   

The amazing John Colley

The morning was spent relaxing around the camp site, visiting the trade stalls and seeing the many classic vehicles and displays around the show, that was until 11:00am when we had our turn to ride the GoldWings around the central display area, whilst our very own Stuart Ormerod provided a tirade of suitable commentary to the delight of the show master, who had no idea about GoldWings, and the entertainment of the crowds. Chandra, who had only ridden Jim’s GoldWing once before, had a real baptism of fire as she rode around the ring several times in front of hundreds of spectators and the personal commentary from Stuart. She did remarkably well. The main arena was in use throughout the day with the highlight of the show being Steve Colley, a motorcycle skilled riding show, the things he does with a Gas Gas trials bike have to be seen to be believed. He ends up riding around the arena and climbing over his van on his bike with no front wheel or forks, how does he do that?   

Saturday evening started with a bar-b-cue with everyone enjoying the last of the day’s sunshine and having a great time in the gazebo village. We also promised to do a short light display in the arena after dark. Which at this time of the year is quite late? We were met with the site of a stunning Tractor Pulling machine which was driven by two Rolls Royce Griffon engines, absolutely amazing stuff. As it got darker the flames coming from the 24 exhaust pipes light up the entire arena. Our puny LED lights just didn’t seem to hack it. The ride back to the camping field was met with more interest as our fellow campers came out to see the spectacle.   

It was a late night when Ian & Lynette Duxbury left the party for the short ride home and the rest of us went to bed.   

Sunday was a very similar affair, but today the public came in their thousands. Attendance was at record levels as the weather did its stuff and the car parks got steadily busier, it really was a very busy show. The club display attracted quite a few interested motorcyclists with questions about the GoldWing and the club in general. The big success of the day was meeting a couple who had introduced themselves two years previous at Fleetwood Tram Sunday, they had both now purchased motorcycles, one of them a Pan European and the other a rather splendid GL1500 and were intending to join the club at the earliest opportunity. Success!   

Ted Rogerson, tired but victorious.

Sunday was also for visiting members, Graham Brookfield, Roger Fogg and Cheryl both arrived during the day to say hello and see the show. The premier moment of the day however was confirmation that our GoldWings North West RBLR1000 miles team had safely completed their ordeal and had all returned, tired but jubilant. Ted Rodgerson, representing the team, turned up at Scorton to raucous applause from the guys. We immediately informed the organisers what they had achieved and promptly had Ted in the arena for a couple of celebratory laps and applause from the crowd followed by an explanation of the RBLR Poppy appeal. It was a proud moment, congratulations to all the team.   

The show started to wind down around 4:00pm as those who had to be at work the following morning packed up and made their way home. Quite a few had already decided to stay for the Sunday evening. The remaining party enjoying a Jacobs join bar-b-cue from the remnants of several fridges and remarkably a huge feast appeared from almost nothing. It was a very pleasant end to the best Scorton show so far.  

See the rest of the pictures in the Scorton 2010 gallery

After a few years of charging exhibitors an entry fee  the organisers of Sandbach Transport festival have reverted to a free entry policy,  accordingly we fancy attending the festival again on Sunday 18th April. The day revolves around a town centre display of everything from Steam engines to push bikes followed by a parade of vehicles around the town. Its a great day out and a chance to  show off early in the season. Download the entry form from here. Applications must be received by 31st January 2010

Meeting at Poplar 2000 truck stop at 8:45 am for a 9:00 am run into Northwich

This years Thundersprint event  in Northwich will take place on 9th May.  The bike show will be held on the Saturday 8th May in the town centre and The Thundersprint will be on the Sunday 9th May. We visited the Thundersprint last year and were seriously impressed with the event and the weekend in general. If you have any interest in motorcycles what so ever you must see what goes on in Northwich.  Knutsford Honda, the main event sponsor for 2010 have invited Federation clubs to attend the event and display their Goldwings in the main sponsors area. Honda UK will have their roof unit and a full range of current Honda bikes on view. Saun Davis, manager at Knutsford Honda said “the more Goldwings the better” . This is a great opportunity to park up right next to the action and be in the centre of the event throughout the day.

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

over by the far end of the runway. The bar was noisy at night and the public toilets left little to the imagination by Sunday afternoon. The motorcycle display area was very well attended with several stands representing clubs that had split from their main organisation and formed into smaller more focused groups. Sounded quite familiar, personally I felt the event had a larger number of bikes and a wider choice of interesting machines on display. As usual we all had a splendid time during the evening with lots of fire water being drunk. In fact Jackie passed round some form of refreshment which when spilled on Frank Goodmans jeans promptly bleached the colour out of them. Christ knows what it did to the liver.
It was good to see Barry, Jimmy Melia and Ted braving the conditions and staying over with us on the Saturday night in small tents. Barry had a few probs with his leaking mattress but in the end all three survived the ordeal. Thanks for making the effort chaps.
It was great to welcome a new member at the event, Alan signed up on the Saturday and spent the weekend with us. His bike is a mint 1988 GL1500 he bought for no money at all. Why don’t I find these bargains? Welcome to the club Alan, join in as much as you wish, the more you get involved the more you will benefit.
Happy to see Graham Brookfield from Lancs & Lakes parking up with us and taking the time to have a chat, I know he had a good day on the trade stalls, thanks for paying us the visit Graham. See you at the Light Parade muster point in Pontins.
I hope everyone had a good time, you can guarantee we will have it on the agenda for next year.

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.

with hope in 1’s heart for sun we all carried on about our various business. along side the bikes/trikes were 2 greasy spoons (diners to the educated) which smelt OK at first but after 7/8 hours annoying and the damned wheelie machine kicking off with the howl of a strangled Kawasaki sport bike engine. so there you have it 2 annoying things in the background – but we are bikers and found something else to do like walk (yes folks David did walk) round the various stalls – under pain of death from the wife who is now a PhD in psychology – we had a couple who were manic depressive ( why us we are fun loving couple!!) but we were to promote bikes and trikes but after at least 1 hour of medical depression stories we were drained, that and “how much to buy this trike mister?? (sign is being printed as i compose my tale) to compound matters it rained several times so after each shower several members were seen wiping down bikes/trikes to make them gleam in the dull afternoon. I have picture proof that men will wield a duster to clean in my pictures which i took. Being sat down on the greasy spoon chairs armed with my camera took some good shots of the day (Bob how do I upload these to the site??) so to continue this epistle to the romans – at the end of the afternoon there was a presentation to the vintage bikes who got various sized trophy’s for what I do not know, anyway dear reader you got this far well done you!! the best bit of the day was getting out – yes all you solos boys got out through that gap great but when you have got 3 wheels it becomes difficult – so the three trikes went off on a jaunt round and round Heaton park looking for a guy with a key which eventually we found and duly released the trikers from impending prison in the park. “Flaming Orange” and I were left going down the M6 and we peeled off to the A580 for a hot drink, meal,and home which completed  the day. One last point woke up this morning and actually missed the smell of the greasy spoon and that screaming bike. I can be contacted at …….room 505 at the house for the bewildered. thank you. P.S. some unwashed mass told his mate if he brought a trike he would put a reliant badge on it – excuse me a Honda trike is not reliant !! for a first attempt the day was good 8/10. here endeth the first epistle……

Saturday dawned to glorious sunshine as 12 Goldwings set up on the display line adjacent to the beer tent and next to the Fish & chip van, what a turn up for the books.  The crowds appeared in their thousands and we even had the opportunity to display the wings in the main arena whilst our Chairman took the microphone and  provided a riveting commentary on the riders and their machines. There appeared to be no end to his talent and just as the mic was handed back, to the relief of the viewing visitors, he remembered he hadn’t told everyone about his own wing and demanded the microphone back for a further tirade of blarney. The weather had decided to turn nasty by this time and the rain fell with a vengeance, a hasty retreat to the beer tent ensued and everyone stayed nice and dry. Bill Squires turned up around 2:00 pm on his return from the Mosel trip, saying that he had had perfect weather all the way until he got to Scorton where it started to rain. Everyone was pleased to see him and awaited to here his tales of daring doo around the camp fire later in the evening. The day ended with the obligatory bar b cue and drinking of  various potions.  A really good day.

On Sunday we welcomed Graham Brookfield from Lancs & Lakes, who had made the trip over to see us. We had a good morning chatting over old times and generally putting the worlds to right. Weather was again wall to wall sunshine with plenty of suntan cream being applied today. The event stalls were visited with great interest and lots of goodies purchased. We had another good turn out of wings including Teds GL1100 and Niels GL1200. Barry and Lesley brought their dog with them which turned out to be the biggest thing you had ever seen, the public loved it, especially the kids, which it could have eaten in a single bite. I eventually had to ask them to move on as no-one was taking any interest in the Goldwings. You have to make tough decision being a Chairman now and again you know. The day ended with nearly everyone going home, except for Judy Goodman and our Chairman, both had decided to stay the Sunday night and leave early on the Monday. I can tell you we had a lovely evening at the pub in Scorton and we sat out until early morning drinking the remains of the weekend.

Thank you to everyone who attended this event. I know I had a great time and from all the comments I’ve heard I think you all did too.

At 12.25, we moved into position and led out the procession. The only slight fly in the ointment was that the police officer leading us didn’t want to go any faster than a speed just below that at which you could get the clutch fully out in case we “lost the band” (his explanation). As we were going uphill at the time, this caused an awful lot of clutch slipping, warm Wings and tortured clutch fingers! We managed to get round this to a degree by letting him get some way in front, then taking a run at him! As usual, the inhabitants had turned out in force, and there was much waving, horn-blowing and everyone having a generally good time of it all.

Completing our circuit of the town, we then moved onto the event field and lined the bikes up for display and later judging. Talking of which, when the Mayor and his wife came along to perform this task, his wife was heard to express the opinion that she wouldn’t mind a ride on the back of Jacci and Graham’s trike. Before we knew it, Jacci had press-ganged Graham into action and he found himself chauffering the good lady on a tour of who knows where! Luckily, he did bring her back, and judging by her broad smile, she thoroughly enjoyed the experience. So, if I see our Mayor trundling round on a trike, I know who to blame!

Judging over, the results were announced………

3rd place            Brian’s combination

2nd place           Dave Bolton’s 1800

1st place             Steve Fox’s 1500

If you could have seen Steve’s face when he realised that he’d actually not only won something, but a 1st to boot, it was an expression of total disbelief and shock! But win it he had, so Well Done Steve!

A great way to wrap up a very enjoyable day.