Despite the weather forecast we had a good turnout for the August club night with 19 members attending. It was good to see Gabby again, and with one or two regulars missing it was good to see you all. Vic was the only one on a bike, and as it turned out the rest of the evening was dry. That did mean the usual short ride out was abandoned and I do apologise. Best to ignore the forecast in future.
We had a busy July, starting with a tour of the Tendring peninsula, thanks to John Swan and his extensive local knowledge. I travelled roads I had not seen before, and we even made it to Jaywick. Five of us enjoyed our lunch on Clacton sea front.
Six members attended the Maldon club BBQ, which was up to scratch as usual. Several of us belong to the Colne Valley Classic Vehicle club, and the BBQ clashes with our annual bike show so we are torn between the two events.
We had our annual meeting with the East Suffolk section at Manningtree, with Phil once again taking us on an interesting route via the Hythe, not somewhere we usually go. Ten of us turned up so we did our bit, outnumbering the Suffolks which now appears to be the norm. On a sad note, Bill was with us last year, and it was one of his last outings.
We had a real treat with eight of us taking up an invitation to see a Rolls Royce Merlin being installed in a Bentley inspired chassis. We were all impressed with the standard of work, as well as the enormity of the task, and are hoping to return one day to see it up and running. Very Impressive all round.
Several of us attended the Pre65 scramble at Gosfield. With three of our members involved in riding, I went along to Marshall for the day and Colin and Christian turned up as well. Despite the weather, and a very tricky water splash section, I for one had a very enjoyable day. Those taking part did get rather muddy by the end of the day. If you like to hear large four strokes on full song, I can thoroughly recommend this as a day out. I have to say some of the two strokes are also very impressive. And of course it's totally politically incorrect!
Our monthly lunch meeting was at the Bull, Blackmore End and nine of us sat down. The numbers were down a bit as one or two regulars had more pressing things to get on with. Colin mentioned at the club night that we were continuing our support for the air ambulance for another year, which I think we all agree is a worthy cause.
We have several events coming up for August with one coming up next week on the sixth so keep an eye on the events page. There are also several Pre65 events taking place, again on our events page.
With several of us belonging to both clubs, we also have the usual regular invitation to take part in events organised by the Hadleigh Classic Bike Club, and details of those can be found on their website. I shall miss one or two events for various reasons but I hope to see you on some of them.
Gordon