When we met up for our last mid week run it was perfectly clear that nobody had any ideas of where we were going for the day apart from Colin Smith. He had done his homework and said he would lead us on a comprehensive tour of Essex. And he did, to the tune of 140 miles. But there was method in his madness as he wanted to call at a dealers for spares. We proceeded on our travels and with the good weather we had a really enjoyable run arriving at Burnham on Sea for a leisurely lunch. Eventually we started our machines and they all ran but not necessarily in the right manner. Poor Colin’s Matchless decided to pop and bang and make a fuss. Indeed people in the main street were obviously alarmed as the noise was just like gunfire and while some found it highly amusing others quickly hurried away. On a lighter note the restaurant owner appeared and recorded the commotion on his camcorder. Nervertheless we all arrived home safely, including Colin, and I can report that his bike is now fixed and running smoothly.
Over the past few years the East Suffolk Section have invited us to meet them at Manningtree for an evening noggin and natter. This is always popular and a good evening was had by all. Thank you for the invite Dave. Going back some months I was asked by a member if I could organise a visit to Ken Wallis’s workshops near Dereham in Norfolk. This is the man who built and piloted the autogyros in the James Bond films. Eventually he gave us a date and off we went picking up members along the way. This is a man who has been involved in so many different areas of life from building a crude motorcycle when he was 12, working on AJS V4s as a young man at his fathers dealership, wartime service with distinction, world record breaking with hydroplanes and eventually building his own autogyros. He has a collection of more than 20 machines and numerous engines from Weslake, Norton rotaries, Rotax etc. After speaking to us about the autogyros, and his experiences he said it was time to take to the air. He nonchantly started one up, taxied to the end of his grass runway and set things in motion. After about 50 yards he was airborne, climbing ,diving and flying past taking photos of us taking photos of him and this from a man of 94 years old. Utterly amazing.