The September club night went quite well,with the weather not detering nine members and a guest going for a burst around the country lanes before hand, arriving back to the Alma with just minutes to spare for 7-30 start of the meeting. Because of the rain the landlord had us all in the covered beer garden at the rear. George has written, thanking him for looking after us.Having lead the run, I went back home, leaving Colin to do the honours. Nothing personal, honestly! I understand it was a good evening with some 21 members attending and 2 guests,with 14 turning up on bikes. Both Christian and Kevin turned up on Matchless machines, and Vic was on his AJS,and all three had come a good distance in the rain. The green lane group are off to Wales for a few days on the 14th,and when they get back I hope to organise a daytime ride before the end of the month. Christian gave us an update on the Hadleigh club activities. Kevin has offered to do a calender for 2021 so if you have any photos that would be suitable, please get in touch with Kevin. Good to see Peter as well,and he was sensible enough to come by car,as did a few others.Hopefully we may be able to continue a bit longer with this club night format, so watch this website and your e mails for the latest info. Gordon
Just to thank Paul Davies for organising a very popular and socialy distanced fish and chip run to Mersea Island last week. It looks like you all had a good evening and the whole event was very well planned and executed. Gordon
A quick message to confirm that the club night on this Wednsday 2nd September, will take place at The Alma at 7-30 pm. The arrangement will be as last month with the area at the front of the Alma reserved for us from 7-30. I shall be leading a short ride around the lanes leaving Church Road promptly at 6-30 pm, in order to get back for 7-30. looking forward to seeing you there .Gordon
George and I have just visited the Alma and we have made a reservation for our next clubnight scheduled for Wednesday September 2nd on the basis that the July clubnight was well attended and you all appeared to enjoy it! The arrangement is the same as the last time,from 7-30, for 30 people,we have the front of the Alma, with bike parking alongside but Im sure a few more wouldnt cause a problem. You come as before entirely at your own risk. I shall lead a ride before the meeting,leaving Church Lane as before,leaving promptly at 6-30,to get back for 7-30. I have run the route and it should take just about an hour. As you come along to the Alma,at the London Road end, it says the road is closed but its closed past the Alma so you can get there from London Road. You can also get there on the back road that leads to church lane passing the cricket club which we left on last time.Looking forward to seeing you all. Gordon
Details of the ride for Friday 14th of August. Friday Shudy Bike Meet, Near Haverhill CB21 4QZ. Leaving the Alma at 5pm. A gentle jog along the A 604. Colin has posted more info in the clubnight report. Gordon
It was lovely to see you all at a clubnight after all this time. It would have appeared that the planning on behalf of the landlord at the Alma,and ourselves went more or less as we had hoped. I thought we had made it clear that the ride would have to leave on time, because of the need to be at the alma for our booked slot at 7-30,and that we would be leaving from Church Lane. Several of us got it right and we left promptly at 6-30, as I had riden the route the day before at around the same time and it took about 45 minutes, which gave us a bit of le way for getting back for 7-30. I understand a few of you went for a ride on your own because we left so promptly. It didnt matter, and perhaps as there were several of us riding,we may have to leave in two or more smaller groups next time. I didnt stay for the meeting and I do apologise but I have explained why. I hear the evening was a great success, with 25 members and two guests enjoying themselves. Its a relief to see such support after what has been a very strange time. If all goes well, we should be able to repeat the process for our September clubnight. There are a couple of things in the pipeline meantime. One is a ride to the Haverhill area to a bike meet on Friday 14th, suggested by Julian, and The details will follow here soon. The other is a socially distanced fish and chip run which is at the planning stage at the moment with Paul is using his local knowledge to negotiate an arrangement to finish in Mersea. To keep up to date please keep an eye on the website and read Colins e mails! Gordon
At the moment, our clubnight next week on wednesday 5th is still going ahead as previously planned , but clearly, in view of the way things are going, there could be new rulings put in place quite quickly, particularly as pubs have been mentioned. We should also like to make it clear that your attendance is entirely at your own risk. Im looking forward to seeing you all,but we all still need to be careful. Gordon
Good news at last as we can announce our club night on August 5th at the Alma. Colin has negoitiated with the Alma and we have been allocated the space in front of the pub with the new seating arrangement. The landlord has done a lot of work making sure its as a safe as it can be and we look forward to seeing you there for 7-30. Colins straw pole suggested that at least 20 of you were up for it and they can accomodate up to 30 of us. I shall be leading a run starting promptly at 6-30 to be sure we get back to the Alma for 7-30. Assuming we get enough riders , we will be using the drop off system. To avoid congestion on the road outside the Alma, I would ask that you gather for the run in Church Road which is the first left, just past the Alma. I wont be staying after the run, because,being of a certain age,we are limiting our socialising to our family, who are all having to work. I hope you will all have an enjoyable evening and that we can resume our normal activities before too long. If anyone has a ride or a visit they think we can do,within the current guidelines,without a lot of risk, do let us know. Looking forward to seeing you all. Gordon
Unfortunately the relaxing of the rules hasn't come in time for our July clubnight. However, David, the Landlord at the Alma, has completely revamped the Alma in anticipation of the new rules so that his customers will be able to have a drink while remaining in a safe environment. You can see what he has been up to at the Gazette. https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/1854020.alma-pub-copford-transforms-car-park-beer-garden. We are hoping to have a meeting with David in the next couple of weeks to see what we can do. It would be good if we could hold our club night on Wednesday August 5th. We may need your help to get an idea of the numbers of members who would be likely to attend, so watch out for Colins e mails in the next couple of weeks. If it is feasible to run the club night, we will reinstate the pre meeting ride. I will keep the website up to date so keep an eye on it as well. Gordon
There are still no official club activities coming up in the foreseable future. With the current relaxation of the rules, I would rcommend that you all visit the BMF website and read through the recommendations on riding by The Coalition of Motorcycling Organisations, which the BMF is one,using the link provided on the BMF site. Its only common sense really but at least if you are stopped you can say you are following proper guidlines. Lets hope we can all get together before too long. Gordon
Another month has passed by with no official club activities, except for Colin's daily news. Clearly we will not be able to hold our club night at the Alma this Wednesday June 3rd, and we have nothing planned for the club at the moment.There have been some interesting anecdotes amongst the daily drivel, and a lot of interest in visiting some of the places mentioned within the "confessional tales". There has also been some photos of some nice bikes, and shirts! Keep the stories coming in, because if nothing else it has revealed some interesting behaviour of some of more elderly and respectable members in years gone by. I'm admitting to nothing but I will confess to having been a bit of a hooligan when I first got my hands on my old Rocket in 1965.
Now that there has been some easing of the social distancing rules for the rest of us, there is maybe some scope for a bit of riding, but its really down to commonsense. Personally I don't feel comfortable about going for a ride at the moment, despite the strong urge to do so. Sitting in the garden listening to the large numbers of bikes going past, particularly over the last couple of weekends, doesn't help. Don't forget we are affiliated to the BMF, and its useful to keep an eye on their website, www.bmf.co.uk for up to date information and advice. They warned of a two week purge on speeding, but it certainly hasn't made any impact on the traffic here.
Also for those of you with MOT expiring, Sean Davies Motorcycles has been up and running for several weeks, during the lockdown, and they always makes our club members welcome, so don't forget to support them over these difficult times. And they have an efficient collecting service locally if you cant get it to go! Lets keep our fingers crossed that things improve enough in the next few weeks ,we can all get back out on the bikes. Gordon
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