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WingSpan February 2015 1
Capital Wingers gather ready for their Christmas Light Run 2014
Vol. 36 No. 2 Issue 409
FEBRUARY 2015
2 WingSpan February 2015
DAVID SILVER SPARESUnit 14, Masterlord Industrial Estate,
Station Road, Leiston, Suffolk, IP16 4JD, United Kingdom
Web: www.davidsilverspares.comEmail: [email protected]
Phone: 01728 833020 Fax: 01728 832197
GL1800 ACCESSORIESSPECIAL OFFER
08A06MCAF00 / 08A06MCAE01GL1800 GOLDWING CD player and floating damper attachment kit.
£445.00
08L56MCA800AGL1800 GOLDWING fairing
pouch featuring quick release mounting system.
£39.00
08A10MCA800GL1800 GOLDWING rear weatherproof speaker
set, fits into the pillion armrests.£95.00
08P11MCA800HGL1800 GOLDWING premium quality pannier and
trunk inner carpet set. Trunk carpet designed for CD player. £49.00
Prices exclude VAT and P&P
WingSpan February 2015 3
WingNut Birthdays for February■■ Nancy Inman (Centre) will be 17 on the 5th
■■ Freya Hutchings (Hampshire) will be 16 on the 12th
■■ Bradlee Allen (Trent) will be 9 on the 13th
20th–22nd February 2015
The Forester’s Arms, Malmesbury Road, Leigh,
near Cricklade SN6 6RH
Camper van space, tent space or sleep in the shared big room
(bring your ear plugs, sleeping bags and airbeds)
IT’S HERE AGAIN – THE WHITE HORSE
Mike Alderson (Cowfold, West Sussex)George Bowden (Maesycwmmer, Mid Glam)Graham & Elaine Butler (Lincolnshire)Kipper Pilcher (Germany)John Frost (Plymouth)William & Florence Gilliham (Sheerness, Kent)Michael Hoare (Radstock, Somerset)James Nightingale & Kay Chandra (Stockport)Michael Price (South Shields)Stephen Carpenter & Marai (Scawby, Brigg)
WELCOME TO THE CLUB: If you are interested in visiting your nearest Region’s monthly meeting, phone up the Rep (see list of Regional Reps) or just turn up and make yourself known.
For more information, contact:
Claudi on [email protected]
4 WingSpan February 2015
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DAVID SILVER SPARESUnit 14, Masterlord Industrial Estate,
Station Road, Leiston, Suffolk, IP16 4JD, United Kingdom
Web: www.davidsilverspares.comEmail: [email protected]
Phone: 01728 833020 Fax: 01728 832197
WingSpan February 2015 5
ChairmanTIM BROOKSTuesnoad House, Bethersden, Ashford, Kent
TN26 3EHTel: 01233 820682email: [email protected]
General SecretaryJAnET CROSS14 Northview Road, Tadley, Hants RG26 3SWTel: (0118) 981 2311email: [email protected]
Acting TreasurerHELEn PERKInSemail: [email protected]
Membership SecretaryPAT HELM46 John’s Avenue, Lofthouse, Wakefield,
Yorkshire WF3 3LUTel: (01924) 824323 Mob: (07581) 040267email: [email protected]
International RepDunCAn MITCHELL9 Shavian Terrace, Kilwinning, Ayrshire
KA13 6BUTel: (01294) 553755email: [email protected]
Treffen Coordinator 1DAWn FARRuGIA28 Springvale Rise, Stafford ST16 1TETel: 01785 605064 / 07590202324email: [email protected]
Treffen Coordinator 2Position vacant
Events SecretaryMARK PHILIPSCisilion House, Guildford Road, Leatherhead
KT22 9UTTel: 07787 108578email: [email protected] or
Committee Member/Charity CoordinatorPETE FISHER14 Northway Crescent, London Park Est,
Mirfield, Yorkshire WF14 OLRTel: (01924) 521392email: [email protected]
GWOCGB ReGisteRed AddRess: edwards, Harmony House, 34 High street,
Aldridge, Walsall, West Midlands Ws9 8LZ
CO-OPTED POSITIONSWINGSPAN EDITOR: Keith Rigley 2 Elm Crescent, Charlbury, Oxon OX7 3PZ
Tel: (01608) 811243 E-mail: [email protected]/BMF REP: Andy Appleby Tel: 01204 411442 Email: [email protected] SECRETARY: Marion Rowden
HONORARY POSITIONSFOUNDER & FORMER PRESIDENT: Harry Ward (1929–2001)HONORARY LIFE MEMBER: Allan Foster Tel: (014577) 63038
12 Clayland Close, Hollingworth, Via Hyde, Cheshire SK14 8PF. Email: [email protected]
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: All material, information and images used in the WingSpan are the property of the originator and may not be reproduced or published in any way, shape or form without the written permission of the WingSpan Liaison Officer.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in the articles in WingSpan are the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the GoldWing Owners Club of Great Britain, its Committee or its members. No liability can or will extend to the Club in relation to the contents of such
letters and it is only on this basis that we can publish such correspondence. In addition, the GoldWing Owners Club of Great Britain has no knowledge of the condition or merchantability of any of the items offered for sale in this newsletter. The Purchaser must rely on its own enquiries.
KEEP YOuR REGIOnAL COnTACT DETAILS uP TO DATE
It is very important for Regions to keep the Committee (GenSec, Events Secretary, Membership Secretary) as well as the WingSpan Editor up to date with any contact changes. This is one of the duties
of Region Rep.
Please bear this in mind as we are getting close to the time when Regions are organising their Annual General Meetings.
6 WingSpan February 2015
Chairman’s ChatHi members, welcome to my report for February.
I started in this manner, as you are reading this report, because you have decided to re-join, support this great Club and through all of the difficulties of the past few months, put your trust in the National Committee.
A few (now ex-members) have decided to walk away, preferring to believe ‘conspiracy theories’, talk of a committee not will-ing to bend, setting meetings regarding “the way forward” into February to coax members into rejoining, exaggerated, false figures regarding costs being bandied around.
At the NC meeting in October it was identified that, with the continual reduction in members, in a relatively short timeframe, if nothing was actioned, our costs would exceed our membership revenue. As this was one of our normal management meet-ings, we could not give the sub-ject the time needed. I suggested that our February meeting be used purely for what has now become “the way forward”
As this is and always will be a members’ Club, the National Committee put out a request for the membership to get involved, put their thinking caps on and share their vision and ideas, for a better club. A cut-off date of 13 February was given so they can be discussed at the commit-tee meeting on 14 February and for the committee to formulate these, to bring to the members meeting on 15 February.
Quite a few ideas are coming forward, and you still have time to get your thoughts to Janet.
As predicted, most suggestions revolve around Treffen and WingSpan costs, but we are re-ally looking for, perhaps, more radical ideas, including the con-stitution, structure of the Club, management, IT, etc. You may just have a great unique idea.
As I mentioned in January’s report, the National Committee met on the 14th of December to discuss the 2015 Treffen, following Oakham being ruled out. There were four options on the table; The Ukrainian Youth Centre near Derby, Bill-ing Aquadrome, Kelso and the fourth option, not to have a Treffen in 2015!
Helen Perkins (co-opted Trea-surer and also co-opted Treffen Co-ordinator) had produced budget sheets for the three sites. These are worked out to a for-mula based on past attendances. All three sites were forecasting a loss. We even looked at further cost reductions at the Ukrainian Youth Centre, to run a no-frills, back to basics, Treffen.
The fourth option to forego the 2015 British Treffen was discussed fully. As Helen was only covering the Treffen Co-ordinator post until the AGM, it was uncertain if the Club would have, at least one, Treffen Co-ordinator in place and also April would be too close to the Treffen to plan.
No affordable site identified, we would be guessing atten-dance numbers (as always) and with fewer participants the fi-nancial loss could be disastrous.
Helen was confident that she could negotiate an affordable price from the Kelso manage-ment and volunteered to
ByTIM BROOKS
Chairman
organise Kelso if we decided to return there. The budget was examined thoroughly and with a few tweaks here and there, if we were to get a reasonable at-tendance, might just break even.
It was not clear if the mem-bership would want to return to Kelso so soon. It was decided to involve the Area Reps, post on the Forum etc., to try and gauge the membership’s view. We would not have time for a postal ballot and faced with the option of returning to Kelso or not host-ing a British Treffen 2015 most responses I have seen seem to prefer Kelso. A cut-off date, near the end of January was given to allow us to confirm a booking with Kelso, by a deadline of 31 January. As you read this, a decision will have been made so look on the website or Forum.
Now the less heavy stuff, who spotted my typo in last month’s report, where I mentioned the meetings on the 13th and 14th of February? Of course it should read the 14th and 15th.
Due to other family commit-ments, I didn’t get to the Classic Bike Show in Newark.
As I am writing this report on 6 January for February, the next few lines seem very odd.
Here we are, February, most of the winter behind us. Last chance to get the the Wing serviced, cleaned and polished in anticipation of a few warmer, salt free days, a chance to blow the cobwebs away and do what we do best … enjoy the ride.
WingSpan February 2015 7WingSpan February 2015 7
International ReportAt the beginning of a new sea-son I hear a few Club members ask why are we members of GWEF and what we get from it.
I suppose it’s a fair question, the key benefits to GWEF Club members are:• At least half price inscription
cost at GWEF events• To be able to take part in
organised GWEF tours• A touring calendar of over
20 events in all locations throughout Europe where you can visit in a safe, friendly environment
• The offer of a friendly helping hand should you meet with a mishap on your travels
• Access to GWEF website where you can view all member Clubs’ websites and download all sorts of useful information
• The STA award system in-cluding cards, patches and certificatesAnother crucial benefit is the
attendance of overseas GWEF members at our Treffen – on average in excess of 200 people (125 bikes). Without the sup-port of these additional GWEF members, our Treffen purely on financial reasons would definitely be a no-goer.
GWOCGB are the envy of all the other GB based Clubs because they have this unique partnership with the European GoldWing Clubs through the Federation. Twenty plus individ-ual GoldWing Clubs all working collectively to promote friend-ship and cooperation within the GoldWing fraternity. This surely,
on its own, is worth our Club being a member of GWEF.
GWEF Costs• 0.50 cents per membership;
2014 (710x39p) £277• 0.55 cents per bike inscription
at Treffen (453x 43p) £195Some members may say that they don’t travel overseas so they get nothing from GWEF. I’ve heard many members also say that they don’t do Regional events or Wing Dings but they still join our Club for the simple reason they genuinely want to associate with other GoldWing riders and being a member of the Club allows them to do that.
The GoldWing is one if not the best touring motorcycle in the world so it’s not uncommon to find that in USA and Europe the majority of events are about riding your Wing and meeting friends. In GWOCGB you also have the advantage of being able to attend local regional events and meetings offering social and alternative events throughout the year, all this is possible because we choose to ride a GoldWing motorcycle.
I am standing for re-election as your International Represen-tative at this year’s AGM and I hope with your permission and lasting support I will be allowed to continue to represent our CLUB at international and local level, I am totally committed to ensuring that our CLUB responds to the current internal and external challenges and continues to be one of the top
GoldWing Clubs in Europe.To those members who have
re-joined this year and to new members, I hope I have helped to partially explain just a few positive examples of what is available within the GoldWing fraternity and being a member of our Club. Let’s us all help to change the current attitude from “what do I get” to the more positive approach of “what can I do for our Club”.Please have a think about this and in your own way try to do something positive to help our Club face its challenges and hopefully we all through our individual efforts can collec-tively set our Club in the right course to re-attain the status as one of the top Motorcycle Clubs in the UK famous again for its stalwart character, camaraderie, understanding and friendship.
Please remember to ar-range for any GWEF challenge trophys to be available at the CLUB’s AGM. If you are not attending, please arrange to give them to a member who is attending. I received only a few at the Treffen. Remember the practice is to auction the trophies at the AGM, giving everyone who had attended a particular Treffen a chance to own a trophy. The takings of the auction, as usual, will go to the Club’s Charity.
ByDUNCAN
MITCHELLInternational
Rep
Classic & Charity ReportCharity ReportHi folks. Well the spending spree is over and the season is not too far off, so get the bikes out for a clean and check ready for a good year of Winging.
The charity is still moving up (albeit slowly). We had a dona-tion from Essex Wings of £30 in lieu of Christmas cards, thank you, also a donation from Trent Wings for £25, again in lieu of
cards. Other Regions said they would send a donation instead
ByPETER FISHER
GWOCGB Classic Section
8 WingSpan February 20158 WingSpan February 2015
Hi allA warm welcome to new mem-bers that have not seen this MAG/BMF report before and to let you know every month there will be an update on what is the latest info regarding motorcycle safety and news from four main clubs below. All being well I will be at our Club meetings and al-ways happy to answer any ques-tions or help out with anything related to our affiliated clubs.
NABDThe National Association for Bikers with a Disability is a Reg-istered Charity, open to anyone with an interest in motorcycling. Our aim is to help get disabled people to enjoy independent motorcycling, however they came by their disability, whether by accident, through illness, or from birth. There is a common misconception that you have to be disabled to join the NABD. This could not be further from the truth – we welcome, indeed we rely upon, able bodied people to help carry out our aims, of as-sisting Disabled Bikers to get on the road under their own steam.
MAG (Motorcycle Action Group)MAG is basically a libertarian organisation that exists to protect motorcycling from any unsympa-thetic legislation that threatens the pleasure of motorcycling. Beyond that we have taken responsibility for promoting a better motorcycling environ-ment through local lobbying on convenience issues such as bus
lane use, congestion charging and parking facilities. Safety is a major headache for MAG as the measures proposed by ill-informed campaigners frequently conflict with the unfettered enjoyment of motorcycling whilst failing to provide real solu-tions. MAG has taken on board safety issues, principally through providing intellectual and financial support to the founders of Bikesafe 2000 and via road safety advice published in our bi-monthly newspaper Streetbiker and more recently The Road.
MAG – National Chairman, John Mitchell, recognises pas-sion and looks at VAT:
I understand that everyone – myself included – is passion-ate about MAG and if mem-bers weren’t that passionate, MAG would disappear into the ether and not really stand for anything. However, MAG has to move on: stop looking back-wards, trying to change things it cannot change, and do what it does best – fighting for riders’ rights: which it has been doing rather successfully since 1973.
MAG is facing some massive issues out there at the moment. Plans for a 4th Driving Licence Directive are underway (after DLD3 was implemented last year). We’re fighting for justice (and getting) more access to bus lanes, and we have the Justice/SMIDSY (“Sorry Mate, I Didn’t See You”) campaign.
I’m talking to families who have lost loved ones in SMIDSY incidents where the background
to the case has left more ques-tions unanswered and doesn’t put the CPS in a good light. One case in particular is being re-ferred to the Serious Case Review Board because of the shambolic way in which it was dealt with by various agencies.
Lately, thanks to Leon and Lembit, we’re making consider-able headway with the DFT, putting MAG’s viewpoint across to those who determine roads policy, including the motorcycle test. Oliver Rose, the new York-shire Regional Rep is organising a working group of instructors to see if there’s anything that can be done with the testing regime.
The General Election is com-ing up of course, and that – in some ways – has brought parlia-ment to a standstill. This has put the Sentencing Guidelines Consultation into causing death by driving back to late this year.
On the subject of our Justice Campaign an email came to me this week, via Julie, our excellent executive officer, at MAG’s cen-tral office, from a year 11 student in Kent, who is working on a citizenship project at school. Both his parents ride motor-bikes and he feels that more people need to be aware of our campaign. He has asked MAG for any advice we can give him, so he can get the message across to his peers and a wider audience
MAG/BMF Report ByANDY APPLEBY
GWOCGB MAG/BMF
Officer
of cards – still waiting!Steve Cross gave me £50 for
all the help with his GL1000, thanks Steve.
The total now stands at £1,322.50. Please keep the do-nations coming in as this is the Club charity … and the soldiers need it.
Classic ReportThe Classic Section did the very cold and wet Newark Classic on the 3/4 of January, a good turn-out and my thanks go to Jack, Mez, Chris, Steve C and Steve P, also Peter B for their support. I hope you have all thawed out by now!
Our next do is the Bristol Classic at Shepton Mallet on 7/8 of February, then Manchester Classic on 28/29 of March.
Don’t forget, if you own an old GoldWing then you are in the Classic Section with lots of help with any problems.
Keep it upright.
WingSpan February 2015 9WingSpan February 2015 9
about the SMIDSY issue.Another success this month
has been the new corporate member Supatracks Limited. They have asked MAG to pro-mote a reasonable petition, which calls for VAT exemption for all motorcycle related safety equipment. An EU consultation in 2012 was looking to ditch the VAT exemption for helmets, which, considering most items of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) are exempt is quite strange. The petition is at:
http://epetitions. Direct.gov.uk/petitions/70433.
Supporting this petition does not mean that MAG is support-ing the introduction of compul-sory protective equipment – far from it – it means that people have a better choice in what the use, if they want to.
MAG’s message is getting through. We are seen as the country’s most effective riders’ rights organisation let’s keep it that way – John
BMF (British Motorcyclists Federation)With over 140,000 members the BMF is Britain’s largest rider group. Our aim is simple – to promote and protect the interests of the road rider by representing the riders’ interests, where and when it matters. Formed in 1960 against a backdrop of tabloid press tales of ‘leather jacketed hooligans racing around our streets’, a group of right-minded enthusiasts, (mainly from the big motorcycle clubs of the day) decided that with strength lying in numbers, they would form the Federation of National and One Make Clubs (FNOMC). A name that didn’t exactly trip off the tongue, but it was a start.
THINK! ‘Never too good’ cam-paign a success. Published on 5 January 2015 by Gill:
Analysis of THINK!’s ‘Never too good’ campaign (reported by the BMF here) http://www.bmf.co.uk/news/show/think-
youre-never-too-good-to-be-a-better-rider which ran between August and October last year, has shown improvements in at-titudes towards further training.
The film series showed World Superbike Rider Chaz Davies completing further training with comedian Alan Davies and a group of eight regular riders.
The key message (you’re never too good to be a better rider) was clearly understood among riders and the campaign was well received by the biking community. Of those polled, 66% agreed they liked the style of the videos and 45% said the videos made further training look like fun. The campaign also received lots of positive comments on the THINK! BIKER Facebook page.
Graeme Hay, BMF’s Gov-ernment Relations Executive, commented: “I was delighted to see that this THINK! campaign was so well received by many riders. I am sure that the very different riding background of the contributors kept many of us interested in this important message and Alan Davies is always very funny.
We will be featuring ad-vanced training in the spring edition of Rider magazine, along with updates on our continuing work on the wearing or removal of helmets on petrol station forecourts, the London Ultra-low Emission Zone charges and the next FEMA meeting.
FEMA (The Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations)The Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations (FEMA) is the representa-tive federation of motor-cycle (comprising all powered two-wheeled vehicles) users throughout Europe. FEMA represents the interests’ of citizens’ national organisations at the European Union and agencies of the United Nations.
FEMA’s primary objective is to pursue, promote and protect the interests of motorcyclists.
17 Dec 2014 – Swedish motorcycle vision 2.0:
The Swedish Motorcyclists Assoication (SMC) has presented ‘The motorcycle vision 2.0’ in English. The Motorcycle Vision 1.0 was presented at the Ty-lösand Road Safety Conference 2008 for the first time. The aim was to introduce the motorcy-clists’ views on the targets in Vi-sion Zero and how they should be achieved. Six years later SMC releases the Motorcycle Vision version 2.0, updated on the basis of statistics, research, new knowledge and experiences.
The Swedish Motorcyclists Association, SMC was formed in 1963. Early in our history the members started to realize the importance of working with road safety, the need to educate members, authorities and decision makers in order to influence decisions and gain focus on our needs.
SMC has for example re-quested a helmet law, compul-sory dipped headlights and a separate motorcycle license. As early as 1973 SMC began offer-ing voluntary advanced training for motorcyclists. Thus, SMC has for over 50 years pursued a Vision Zero – with our own goals, in our own way and with our own methods.
Click here to read the docu-ment: http://www.fema-online.eu/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=413&cntnt01returnid=15————Don’t forget to check the GWOCGB Club forum for the latest info in the MAG/BMF section. The forum also has up-to-date news on motorcycle news and safety in the Biker’s Corner section.
Always be able to stop in the distance you can see to be clear “on your side of the road”
10 WingSpan February 201510 WingSpan February 2015
What To Do With A Year Of Your Life
Our official Club Archivist Peter Rakestrow with the
story of the cutaway GoldWing engine he displays
About five years ago I had a phone call from Graham Walkey, a member from St. Austell in Cornwall. “Hi Pete, you don’t fancy another Gold Wing to work on do you?” I said, not really Graham I just haven’t got the room. “This one has been outside for 14 years, with a little polish it should be alright, you can have it – we don’t want anything for it!” Let me have a word with my brother and see if he has room in his garage. I rang my brother and he said that’s fine, so I rang Graham back and said I’ll have it, please send me some photos. “Great I’ll bring it up on my trailer”.
Well, one Saturday in early February 2010 Graham, along with his brother Malcolm, turned up at my brother’s house with this “pristine” (yeah, right) 1976 GL1000K1 on the trailer. Morning Graham and Malcolm I said, Graham then said: “We had to remove the callipers to get this thing to move and then it was a struggle”. I went outside to see what I’d been given. The sad old GL1000 on Graham’s trailer was just a mess, there was a hole in the frame under the
left hand side cover about three inches long, it had just rotted away, Graham said, “Ah, put a bit of filler in that, give it a paint and nobody will know!!”
On the front mudguard, the chrome wasn’t too bad; but the mudguard itself was nowhere to be seen! So we all manhandled the bike off the trailer and pushed it into my brother’s garage where it then stayed for another two years.
The story about the owner of this GL1000 was that he’d been out on the bike for a ride
(but must have been having problems with it), came home, parked the bike up outside on its side stand, covered it up and went inside the house, saying to his wife, that’s it I can’t manage that bike anymore, so that’s where it stayed. Then, I believe, a couple of years later he died and the bike with the weather became uncovered and was just left to rot.
In 2012 my brother Mark and I were at the Bristol Classic Show in Shepton Mallet where I was helping with the GWOCGB
WingSpan February 2015 11WingSpan February 2015 11
Classic stand, just down from our stand was the CX club and on their stand was a CX500 engine cutaway, Mark said to me, “Why don’t we do that with the GL1000 engine? We could make a better job of it than that”.
In late 2011 Mark had started to strip the bike just to see if anything was any good … let’s just say not much was. The engine was seized, one spark plug had broken-off in the head and when the oil was drained out of the engine about 4 litres of water came out first, as for the cooling system there was no water to be seen! On cylinder
no 3 the head gasket was gone (this is why I think the owner was having problems with the bike); also the barrel is badly pitted. So that’s why the engine won’t turn if the internals are rusted to hell.
At one point I did think it might just be the piston rings stuck to the barrels (as we’d taken the back cover off and inside that didn’t look too bad), Mark then spent hours and put lots of Coke down the cylinders trying to get this to turn, every time I went to his house I’d go in the garage and try to turn the engine, but to no avail. We thought it was moving, but
think it was the bolt on the end of the crank tightening up, this went on for weeks. Then one day we were in his garage giving this one more go (we couldn’t do anything until we got it turning). So I got my large ratchet with the right socket
12 WingSpan February 201512 WingSpan February 2015
on it and said here goes (even with Mark hitting the top of the piston with a hammer and bit of wood), it’ll either turn or the bolt on the end of the crank will shear. Our luck was in that day … it moved. I said to Mark “it moved”, no it didn’t he said, I said “yes it did”. The engine did turn a bit, and then stopped again, more force was exerted and it turned again, we did this for about an hour making sure it won’t tighten up again.
Now it was about September 2013 and over the next couple of weeks we totally stripped the engine and cleaned up everything. The internals, after being degreased, are like new, the only bit of damage is to a small part of the chrome on the flywheel, which is badly pitted; this must have been in the water.
The next job was to decide how we were going to start to cut this engine up, the point to the exercise was to have an engine that you could see the internals all working and not just an engine with holes in it. Fortunately I do have some pictures of Gold Wing engines that Honda have cut away, one being a GL1200 that Honda used in their American advertising campaign back in 1984, this was the one that we
were going to copy, although we could only see the front of the engine, so had to improvise when it came to the gearbox and rear. Also being careful not to cut things away that you then might need, one example of this is the left hand (as you are sat on the bike) cambelt tensioner, we’d cut away one fixing, but needed to keep the other. Behind this is number 2 cylinder in which you can see the piston, the fixing for the tensioner is a lot higher than the one on the GL1200 as the bore is longer, so it was making sure that we didn’t cut too much away. Deciding how we would do certain things was
done over lots of cups of tea and trying to visualise what it would look like.
As the engine took shape and we started to build it back up again (I don’t do things half measured, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly), so I said to Mark we are going to build this engine as if it was going back in a bike, that meant using gasket sets and things like that, I was paying so it didn’t matter to him! Originally the engine was going to be made into a coffee table, but I said that would be a shame as you wouldn’t see the gearbox unless you got on your hands and knees. So why don’t we put it into the GL1100 frame that’s in your shed, Mark said. That sounds like a good idea.
At one point we were trying to find a way of fitting a motor to the engine to get it to turn very slowly, we tried a motor inside the starter motor which did work until the valves started to open and it just stopped (back to the drawing board). By using the frame we could then make a shaft from a motor fixed to the frame that would turn the alternator and not look out of place. So once we had decided to go down that route, I came up with the idea
WingSpan February 2015 13WingSpan February 2015 13
of the frame mounted on a stand, to give the impression the engine was in mid-air. With the cylinders at about a metre high you wouldn’t need to bend down too much to see everything working, as it already was on my bench in my shed (museum, as Mark calls it) at that height. So it was decided that’s what we should do, the next thing was to design it and make it, which is what we did.
The stand was bent and tack-welded by Mark in his garage (it’s good having a brother that was a welder once), then brought back to my shed where the engine, along with the frame, was planted on it, just to see if it would collapse. Well it didn’t, so it was back to the garage to finish welding and cleaning up before it went to be powder coated. The bike frame was powder coated in a gloss black finish while the stand was in a chrome-looking silver finish.
This wasn’t a cheap project, not that I expected it to be, while hiring in all the expensive cutting equipment, finishing tools, paint equipment and expertise the £’s were just running away (in our dreams!). So we decided that a cheaper option should be applied, the tools would be simple. All we used on this engine was a small disc cutter, a hacksaw, drills and a couple of files, the only thing we had a company do, was finish off the cylinders on a milling machine as we thought we wouldn’t get the finish we wanted and also we had to cut through less than half of no. 2 cylinder’s inlet valve guide. Apart from that everything else was done by our own fair hands.
The main engine painting was done in-house using aerosols of silver VHT engine paint and then baked in an oven to get it to cure. The cuts
were colour coded to their purpose; blue for water, yellow for oil, green for petrol and red for the edges.
This project was a lot of hard
work and took a lot of thinking about, but overall it has been very rewarding. If anybody else wants to do something like this. Good luck!
14 WingSpan February 201514 The Regions of the GWOCGBwith Regional Representatives and Meetings
ALBA WINGSRep: JANET MAWER T: (0141) 5849867 M: (07960) 087470 E: [email protected] Meetings• 1st Sun, 10am from Apr to Sept –
Shawlands Park Hotel, Ayr Road, Larkhall ML9 2TZ
AVON WINGSJoint Rep: ADRIAN SMITH T: (01761) 479248 E: [email protected] Rep: DAVE PRATT T: (0117) 9071328 E: [email protected] Meetings• First Sun of month, noon –
Lord Nelson, 58 Main Road, Cleeve, Bristol BS49 4NR
BORDER WINGSRep: DAVE HENDERSON T: (0191) 3857890 E: [email protected] Meetings• 2nd Tues, 7.30pm – Durham
Prison Officers Club, The Hallgarth, Durham DH1 3AX
BROADLAND EAST ANGLIAJoint Rep: TONY SPINKS T: (01284) 788297 M: (07775) 736046 E: [email protected] Meetings• The Park Hotel, Diss – Ring for
details
CAMBRIDGESHIRE WINGSRep: Position vacant at present
CAPITAL WINGSJoint Rep: RAY ‘Yetti’ BROOKING T: (020) 8884 1418 E: [email protected] Rep: CHRIS ‘Rocky’
SIDAWAY M: (07867) 971054Regional Meetings• 1st & 3rd Weds, 8pm – Railway
Tavern, 131 Angel Lane, Stratford E15 IDB,
CENTRE WINGSJoint Rep: RUTH BENNETT M: (07791) 930794 E: [email protected] Rep: WAYNE FARRUGIA M: (07772) 499068 E: [email protected] Meetings• Every other Weds, 8pm – Cradley
Heath Liberal Club, 60 Upper High Street, Cradley Heath, West Midlands B64 5HU
CHESHIRE & MERSEYSIDE WINGS
Rep: Position vacant at presentRegional Meetings• 1st Sun, noon – The Egerton Arms,
Hermitage Road, Saughall, Chester CH1 6AF
CUMBRIA WINGSRep: GAIL EWIN T: (01697) 475846 E: [email protected] Meetings• 2nd Sun, 10.30am (Nov–Mar)
– Dobbie’s Garden Centre, nr Carlisle
• 2nd Sun, 10am rideout (Apr–Oct) – The Red Rooster, Penrith
DEVON & CORNWALL WINGSJoint Rep: CHRIS EASTER T: (01822) 615262 E: [email protected] Rep: BILL BURKE T: (01752) 843704 E: [email protected] Meetings• 3rd Sun, 11am – Poldark Inn,
Delabole
ESSEX WINGSRep: COLIN ELLIS T: (01277) 655616 M: (07785) 512758 E: [email protected] Rep: MICHAEL ELLIS T: (01268) 285349E: [email protected]
Regional Meetings• 1st & 3rd Tues, 8pm – Rising Sun,
Sun Corner, Billericay
HAMPSHIRE WINGSJoint Rep: MIKE UPTON M: (07738) 091775 E: hampshiregoldwinger@
gmail.comJoint Rep: ALAN GARRETT T: (01264) 363608 M: (07796) 140083
E: [email protected] Meetings• 3rd Sun, 11.30am; Queens Head,
Titchfield
HERTFORDSHIRE WINGSRep: Position vacant at presentRegional Meetings• 1st Fri, 8pm – The Cross Keys,
Gustard Wood, Wheathampstead, Herts AL4 8LA
KELTIC WINGSRep: CARL SPOWART T: (01333) 450181 E: [email protected] Meetings• 2nd Sun, 10.30 – The Green Hotel,
2 The Muirs, Kinross, Perthshire
KENT WINGSRep: PETE FISHER T: (01304) 330390 E: stormchaser.24515272@
hotmail.co.ukAssistant Rep: BRIAN GILES T: (01634) 254526Regional Meetings• 3rd Sun, 12.30 – Wealden Hall
(upstairs), 767–773 Larkfield, Kent ME20 6DE
LANCS & LAKES WINGSRep: ALLEN WHITE T: (01422) 245130 E: [email protected] Meetings• 2nd Sun, 10.30 – Hartwood Hall
Hotel, Preston Rd, Chorley PR6 7AX (just off M61 at jct 8)
WingSpan February 2015 15The Regions of the GWOCGBwith Regional Representatives and Meetings
15
LINCOLNSHIRE WINGSRep: MARK (SANDY) SANDS E: [email protected] Meetings• 1st Sun – Phone Reps for details
NORFOLK WINGSRep: ROY PENN T: (01366) 324396 M: (07918) 820310 E: [email protected] Meetings• 1st Sun, Noon – The Chequers,
Church Rd, Wimbotsham, Downham Market
NORTH WALES WINGSRep: Position VacantRegional Meetings• Contact Gen Sec for contact
details
PENNINE WINGS (GREATER MANCHESTER)
Rep: GARY JACKSON T: (01204) 796138 E: [email protected] Meetings• 3rd Sun, 10am – Urmston Masonic
Hall, 15 Westbourne Road, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
• 1st Weds, Manchester Rugby Club
SHROPSHIRE WINGSRep: KERRY RIGBY T: (01691) 656252 M: (07763) 935612 E: [email protected] Meetings• 2nd Mon, 8pm – The Horseshoe
Inn, Uckington, Shrewsbury SY4 4UL
SOUTH WALES WINGSRep: VLARD CARTER T: (01443) 477068 M: (07730) 073978 E: [email protected] Rep: DAVE WEBSTER M: (07724) 607349
Regional Meetings• 2nd Sun, 6.30pm – The Barn,
Llantrisant
STAFFORDSHIRE WINGSRep: MICHAEL RUSHTON T: (01782) 761552 M: (07732) 508725 E: [email protected] Meetings• 1st & 3rd Fri, 8.30pm – The
Holy Inadequate, Etruria Old Road, Etruria, Stoke on Trent PT1 5PE
SURREY WINGSContact Gen Sec for contact
details
SUSSEX WINGSRep: RICH WOODLAND T: (01825) 769978 E: [email protected] Meetings• 2nd Sun, noon – The Alma,
Framfield Road, Uckfield
THAMES VALLEY WINGSRep: PHIL IRELAND T: (01635) 269141 M: (07736) 351226 E: [email protected] Meetings• Last Sun, 1pm – Royal British
Legion Club, Eversly Rd, Arborfield RG2 9PR
TRENT WINGSRep: ALAN and CHERYL
ROULSTON T: (01773) 856221 M: (07976) 523624 E: [email protected] Meetings• 4th Sun: Contact Reps for venue
TUDOR ROSE WINGSRep: CHRIS PARKINSON T: (01908) 642110 M: (07949) 617824 E: [email protected] Meetings• 1st Sun, 12.30pm – Yardley
Gobion Sports & Social Club
WESSEX WINGSRep: KEITH THOROGOOD T: (01202) 573208 M: (07533) 156829 E: [email protected] Meetings• 4th Sun, 11am – Bryanston
Social Club (a mile from Blandford)
WEST WALES WINGSJoint Rep: PHIL GRIFFITHS E: phillipjgriffiths671@btinternet.
comJoint Rep: VAUGHAN ROBERTS E: [email protected] Meetings• 1st Sun, noon – The White Hart
Inn, Carmarthen Road, Llandeilo SA19 6RS. Contact Reps to confirm
WHITE HORSE WINGSJoint Rep: ROGER COOPER T: (01793) 480023 M: (07977) 598053 E: [email protected] Rep: CLAUDIA COOPER T: (01793) 480023 M: (07875) 389872 E: [email protected] Meetings• Contact Reps for details
YORKSHIRE WINGSJoint Rep: TONY WALTON T: (01226) 290754 E: [email protected] Rep: HAZEL DENTON T: (07930) 579743Regional Meetings• 2nd Sun, 10am – Squires Cafe Bar,
Newthorpe, South Milford, Leeds LS25 5LX
16 WingSpan February 2015
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WingSpan February 2015 17
Alba WingsHi everyoneThere’s only been a few days weather-wise for getting the bike out, as most of the days have been bleak. We’ve had a fair bit of rain and it did wash away the salt away at the time, but as soon as you can blink, it’s frosty and the gritters are back out. Oh well, this will be the way of things for a while yet.
I feel at the turn of the year, everything should be turned up a notch to start gearing up for the coming year. Think the ads on the TV are to blame, with all the holiday destina-tions on show and blue skies everywhere.
The blue skies are what we should all be looking forward to in this country for every event we are all hoping to attend.
Alba members attended their annual Christmas Dinner Dance and had the usual great night. The hotel was an excellent choice, thanks to Carol K, yet again. She’s the Alba ‘Hotel Inspector’!!
The whole night went well, with the music being to every-one’s taste, and as there were other party-goers, that added to the enjoyment.
We had the obligatory raffle for the presents we all took, and as usual we had a variety of items. Some I thought should have stayed out of sight, but as you see in the photo below, David had other ideas.
A number of us stayed over-night as usual and I can safely say, once again, it was soooo good getting my breakfast cooked for me. Actually at
home, muesli is the normal breakfast with a cuppa.
The following day Alex, Betty, Duncan and I went for a walk round Ayr to do a bit of Christ-mas shopping. We did a wee bit, but since it was cold (freezing) we popped into a tearoom and had even more food. Well, a wee mincemeat pie and a cup of coffee. Thanks Alex, I’ll pay you back in kindness!
All photos in this report are of Alba Wings’ Christmas Dinner Dance
18 WingSpan February 201518 WingSpan February 2015
Once again it was a lovely way to start the festive celebra-tions. Thanks Carol, and thank you everyone; such great company, couldn’t wish for any better.
I’ll just once again wish you all the very best for 2015 and hope so far it’s been good.
I wish you all trouble-free riding.
Take care.Jinty x
Avon WingsDudesWe are well into 2015 now and sailing towards the summer and getting back onto the machines again. I did venture out over the festive period just to keep battery charged up as the trickle charger I bought at the last bike show seemed to last as long as the warranty lasted i.e. 12 months, but as I fitted a new battery only last year, it seemed OK with charge.
A guy was sitting quietly read-ing his paper when his wife walked up behind him and whacked him on the head with a magazine. “What was that for?” he asked. “That was for the piece of paper in your trouser pocket with the name Laura Lou written on it”, she re-plied. “Two weeks ago when I went to the races, Laura Lou was the name of one of the horses I bet on, I bought you those flowers with the
winnings”, he explained. “Oh dar-ling, I’m sorry,” she said, “I should have known there was a good explanation”. Three days later he was watching TV when she walked up and hit him on the head again, this time with a flying pan, which knocked him out cold. When he came to he asked, “What was that for?” “Your horse phoned”!
We recently had our AGM and finally we were able to get rid of Ninky Nonk and Pinky Ponk after so many years of them saying “we are not going for Reps next year” and then taking on the roles. So farewell to Ade Smith and Dave Pratt and we will miss this double act at our meetings in the future. With Ade you knew not to put the Sunday lunch on too early as his meetings were always huge value for money and every detail covered. With Dave the meetings were always straight to the point and mercifully
expedited with speed. When they were together a happy me-dium was created. I know that I speak for all in Avon and many other Wingers throughout the land when I thank them for all their hard work and dedica-tion to Avon Wings, for the organisation of our Wing Dings, arranging the bike shows, etc., and generally for keeping Avon Wings going.
So, out with the old and in with the new! Before I disclose who has jumped into the role of Avon Rep for 2015 I feel that I need to expand on an incident that occurred at last year’s Treffen, which has been dubbed “Phallicgate”. This was the incident which involved two members of Avon Wings adorning members tents with plastic phalluses, some would call them average but I thought them rather small! At the time of the crime both guilty parties
WingSpan February 2015 19WingSpan February 2015 19WingSpan February 2015 19
were actually on night security and both denied the charge. Since then, one of the culprits owned up and grassed up the other, who was none other than our new Avon Wings Rep for 2015 … Mr Chris Johns. So in order to put this dastardly affair to bed I can now categorically name the villains as Mike (old bill) Shaw and Chris (new 2015 Rep) and the sentence to be levied will be down to the other members of Avon Wings and may involve copious amounts of beer! I have enclosed photos of the “Phallic Two” so you can spot them on sight. Mike actually claimed in his defence that “A person of his stature and standing in the commu-nity could not have committed such a crime”. We believe that if you can stick your head up a chicken’s arse, you are either insane or a master criminal!
Onto events happening soon: By the time you read this we will have attended the Shepton
Mallet Bike Show in early Feb and photos will be forthcoming soon. In early May we will be en-masse at the Paignton Bike Weekend and then hopefully we will see all of you at the Wing Dings throughout the year with the finale British Tref-
fen in August.Best wishes to Chris and
Jenny Johns as new Rep and Treasurer and you know that you can rely on the support of all at Avon Wings for the year.
Safe riding to allThe Colster
The “Phallic Two”
Broadland (East Anglia) RegionFebruary already and spring is just around the corner – I jest!! However, back to the present time – December was an extremely busy month for the BEARs in the East. We had bowling practises interspersed with Christmas preparations – at least the mama BEARs were busy (nuff said!!!) and a pretty lively meeting in Diss. Anyone who was anyone was there and thus we had only one apol-ogy for absence. Tony reported that he had sent the report of our extra-ordinary meeting to all regional Reps and that he had received favourable com-ments from some of them. We discussed the way forward for Broadlands with regard to the WingSpan and the possibility of having our own copies printed locally and distributed amongst our members. The treasurer
took “loadsamoney” from folks as payment for our dinner and AGM in the New Year and thus he was a very happy bunny col-lecting the cash. Fifteen of us later retired to the bar and then sat down together for a Sunday lunch. The manager of the hotel didn’t turn a hair when extra lunch diners turned up but accommodated us at a long table within the bar area. What a star.
As it began to get dark (as it seems to these days at about 3.45pm) we all drove to Norwich to descend on Al and Pearl’s house ready for their Christmas lights switch-on which was timed for 6pm. My goodness but didn’t they work hard. We were greeted by elves, mother Christmas and of course, by the man in red himself. There was food and
drink in profusion and a plethora of raffle tickets
to purchase. All the profits from the event and from money in the pot from viewing neigh-bours of the lights during the festive season will go to Norfolk Lowland Search and Rescue. This is a countywide voluntary Search and Rescue Service for the people of Norfolk, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They as-sist the Police, the Fire and Res-cue Service, HMS Coastguards, the RAF Search and Rescue Ser-vice and the Ambulance Service. This branch is based in Norfolk but there are branches through-out the country and frequently cross county boundaries in times of national crisis such as the floods and tidal surges of late 2013. Later Pearl reported that £254.12 had been collected for the charity and they were thrilled with the amount.
We held our pre-Christmas
20 WingSpan February 201520 WingSpan February 201520 WingSpan February 2015
lunch at Diss on the 14th and what a good time we had. Emails had gone out to request clothing in PINK be worn by one and all. Except, that is, to Pearl whose email said the clothing colour was BLUE. So guess who arrived to find she was the only one in a blue sparkly dress. No, she didn’t beat anyone up but I bet words were later said to Al who arrived in a blue shirt to complement Pearl but then disappeared to reappear wearing a pink shirt!! As always the food was deli-cious, the wine flowed and the long balloons sent out a rude noise when released went hither and thither. It doesn’t take much to make us BEARs happy. Finally a hat was sent round for donations in lieu on sending Christmas cards and £56.27 was collected for our local charity. Thanks to a lot of generous BEARs.
At this time of the year one
gets into reflective mode as one recollects all that happened in 2014. One of the good things about being a member of our Club is the number of extra friends and acquaintances one makes. An example is that while chatting at a Wing Ding about helmet headsets and how they don’t work for riders on two bikes a passer-by mentioned that bike to bike microphones might solve our problem. We were VERY INTERESTED and the outcome was that we bought a set. The problem was that if one becomes separated from the lead bike at roundabouts or cars cut in one has to pull over as she has no idea where to go!! (Someone is always very patient and come and looks for me when he realises there is no red bike behind him!!). Now, how-ever, he can give me instruc-tions such as “second exit at roundabout” – and everything is ticketty-boo and we arrive
where we are going in a relaxed state of mind.
We started the New Year with our usual meeting in Diss and it was lovely to see everyone and wish them a happy New Year. Eight BEARs sent apologies and we know that four of them were still celebrating 2015 in their motor homes somewhere deep in the countryside. A discussion took place over the decision for the Club whether or not to put on a Treffen in 2015. The consensus was that if an event was to run at a substantial loss and/or put on with minimum of facilities/attractions then it was not worth running – shame really but one has to cut one’s coat according to the cloth.
Bowling practice dates and AGM/Dinnertimes were dis-seminated but any queries to Tony please.
No more for now. Ride safely – it’s a busy world out there.
Diane XXX
Devon & Cornwall WingsWe didn’t have a Tuesday Rendezvous on the calendar but decided we’d have one anyway. Maybe it was too short notice or people were already booked as only six turned out at the Lopes Arms in December but they had a good natter anyway.
Something new for us this year was “Santasonabike” in aid of two children’s hospices, both on the same weekend but one was Saturday and one Sunday – the traffic must have done a double take as all the Santa-clad bikers made their way along the A38 into Plymouth and the A361 up to Barnstaple. First off was the Little Harbour Hospice, which Bill reports:
“There must have been 70 bikes approximately, four Gold-Wings – Chris and Annie, Glyn, Trevor (a new GoldWinger) and me with Joseph (grandson) in the chair. All bikes were
decorated and, while here were a selection of ‘sketchy’ Santas, undoubtedly Glyn was the Santa of the Day. We rode from Lee Mill to Little Harbour at St Austell via Fore St in Saltash. At the hospice we had soup, rolls, coffee, etc. There was a raffle and both Annie and Joseph won prizes. Joseph won a trial gliding lesson which we will arrange for him to do in the spring.”
Then over to Chris for the following day:
“Glyn, Anne and Chris went to Exeter services to meet up with a group of “Santa’s on bikes” who were taking presents for the children and gifts for the staff at Little Bridge House, also known as Children’s Hospice Southwest, near Barnstaple. There were over 80 bikes and two cars. We stopped on the way up at Winkleigh for a
cuppa and then proceeded to the hospice. Once there we were treated to tea and biscuits and the presents were placed round the tree. On the way back we stopped at Winkleigh where there was a buffet lunch for the bikers. The weather was kind apart from a couple of short showers. There was a BBC re-porter there and Glyn and Anne were interviewed.”
Chris and Anne also appeared in the local Express and Echo newspaper, a really good day for a good cause. They all enjoyed themselves and claim to be waiting for next year already!
Then of course we had the opportunity to dress up for our annual Christmas party at the Hotel Bristol in Newquay, which is always such a good do. The ladies of the GoldWing club found that their hemlines were slightly below the average for the night as the other party go-ers had mostly taken the ‘little’
WingSpan February 2015 21WingSpan February 2015 21WingSpan February 2015 21
of little black dress fame to heart and hemlines were nearer the waist than knee in most cases – of course there were some fancy dress exceptions but we really did feel our age! It was great to all get together for a relaxed and enjoyable weekend.
The day of our meeting dawned still, dull and dry so what was our excuse this time for not taking the bike? Bill had talked us into a soiree after the meeting and whereas the tri-angle, tambourine and maracas would have fitted in a pannier the hi-hat cymbal, snare drum, stands and stool would not! As it happened by Okehampton it was raining and Cornwall was mired in cloud so low the windmills were hiding in it so we were glad we hadn’t joined Brian and Barney in braving the
elements (Barney even managed a motorcycle Christmas jumper under his high vis jacket). In the end members brought two
piano accordions, three guitars, numerous bodhran drums and a Jew’s harp so we had a pretty noisy session after lunch and everyone seemed to enjoy it as something a bit different. Anne and I had lessons on the accordion; Pete did well on the triangle and most tried to join in the sing-along. If we ever do it again some music and word sheets would definitely be useful!
At the meeting itself we dis-cussed the Wing Ding and that we need to do a stock take – apparently our stash is in a lock-up situated behind Crownhill Police Station – should be safe then! We also discussed trying to make more of a presence at general bike events such as the Santasonabike and Paignton Bike Festival with the aim of raising our profile a bit. Brian T volunteered to make a portable board that we can use to display photos and information. We are also trying to arrange a hotel weekend in March – watch this space but contact Wendy if interested. There was a long discussion about the Treffen questions sent out by Janet Cross – do we have a Treffen in 2015 or not? It is a sad state of affairs in our 35th year but we
D&C Wingers on the “Santasonabike” hospice visits
Musicians at the ‘soiree’ after the meeting
22 WingSpan February 201522 WingSpan February 201522 WingSpan February 2015
do need to be practical about these things, hopefully by the time this WingSpan is published we will know the answer.
Twenty-four of us then sat down for another Christmas lunch and once again The Poldark Inn did us proud, even though we haven’t met there
as often this year they are still happy to have us and accom-modate whatever we seem to come up with – proper busi-ness sense as well as very nice people, or maybe they just want the flowers and chocs we give them each year!
Wendy Rakestrow
Dates for February3 Feb: Tuesday Rendezvous
(bowling evening)
7/8 Feb: Bristol Classic Show at Shepton Mallet
15 Feb: Monthly meeting and auction
Hampshire Wings
Lancs & Lakes Wings
Hi allHope everybody enjoyed our Xmas/Annual Dinner at the Queens Head, Titchfield – full report and pics next month.
It’s the quiet time again at
Greetings!This is a short report this month (sighs of relief all around.) I haven’t had any reports as such of goings-on apart from what I have picked up on Facebook – that wonderful engine which connects us all.
Actually, considering the conversations I have had with GWOCGB friends up and down the country, it made me stop to think. If we hadn’t joined GWOCGB all those years ago we wouldn’t know all about Tim’s problems, all about Paul in Yorkshire and his growing family of grandchildren and what kind of Christmas he had had which prompted me to reply to the right person but I thought I was talking to someone else (blushes – hangs head in shame), or Jinty in Alba – hello Jinty, and Claudia and her wonderful photos, or what Lancs & Lakes have been up to and our friends in Centre Wings – it really is a big family, which spreads across the miles into GWEF.
Allen W, our esteemed Rep, has worked a miracle in the shape of his and Elaine’s extension. Well, they said an
the moment so not really a lot to report
but I did hear a rumour that a few Hampshire members did get out and about at the New Year, so well done to you, I hope you got the salt off before you put the bikes away!
extension but the photo
on FB looked more like a brand new house. So big that, unless my eyes deceived me, they had a double row of settees facing a wall where no doubt there is a large screen TV, and the dining table is ginormous. It all looks wonderful and Allen, you have done well to keep the Rep job on track with all that going on.
Allen P and I had a quiet Christmas and New Year. I was in the wars and my back went. The champagne on New Year’s Day took my mind off it though. There has been a lot of keyboard punching these last two weeks since we returned from Spain in an effort to get my latest tome from under wraps and out into the big wide world. (In fact, I am writ-ing this with only five and a half hours to spare.) Lots of bik-ing roads in Italy and fantastic scenery!
Reps/Open MeetingYou will be reading this in February. Won’t you? Early February hopefully in time to be reminded of a few dates.• There is a Reps and Open
Meeting on Sunday 15th February at the Holiday Inn
Well that’s all for now, I know it’s short and sweet but please if any of you have anything for the Span please email me with a short write up and attach some pics.
That’s all for nowPhil ‘The Fiddler’
Walsall. Don’t get mixed up with the Express by Holiday Inn, as I believe some did last time. Allen says if you put the postcode in the Sat Nav, you may not get accurate direc-tions. He says it is a very fun-ny junction, perhaps best to look at a proper map as well. Details are in the October WingSpan on the GWOCGB Web member’s area, but here they are: 20 Wolverhampton Road West, Bentley, Walsall, WS2 0BS, M6 Junction 10.
It is an excellent chance to find out what is really happening. Straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak and not third- or fourth-hand ending up with Chinese Whispers. Lancs and Lakes used to have a large turnout and were noted for a sea of red (shirts) taking up a couple of rows of seats. Actually I am thankful it is in Walsall and we can do it there and back on the day as I have another BIG birthday coming up the day before.
• Our meeting dates are now on the 2nd (second) Sunday of the month. Same venue. Same time. After February’s meeting (8 February), I should have more to report and not have
WingSpan February 2015 23WingSpan February 2015 23WingSpan February 2015 23
to resort to padding out with a bit of nonsense.
Join the funIf you are new to the Region, do come along and make your-selves known before the meet-ing so that you can be given a proper welcome. Last but not least, also visit GWOCGB website at http://www.gwocgb.co.uk.
Diary DatesSun 1 Feb: Monthly meeting,
10.30am Hartwood Hall HotelSun 15 Feb: Reps/Open Meet-
ing, Holiday Inn, Walsall (M6 J10) NOT J6 M1 as per Jan WingSpan
Sun 8 Mar: Monthly meeting, 10.30am Hartwood Hall Hotel
Sun 12 Apr: Monthly meeting, 10.30am Hartwood Hall Hotel
Sun 26 Apr: GWOCGB AGM,
11am sharp. Reps meeting 10am, details of where in Derbyshire in Janet’s write up in January
And then the fun really begins as ‘the season starts’. Don’t for-get our Wing Ding this year. The year won’t be complete without sampling our famous Lancashire hospitality by the sea.
Ride safe!Christine x
Wessex WingsDrusilla’s for Christmas Meal, Saturday 20 DecemberOrder of the day … Christmas jumper’s yay!! Everyone ap-peared to be in the Christmas spirit.
We arrived with Roy and Sarah, Keith and Lin were already seated, the rest of the gang slowly arrived, these being (in no particular order) Kerry and Shirley, Brian and Wendy, both with flashing jumpers, well Brian’s was, and Wendy had a t-shirt on with a flashing nose that went nose to nose with her jumper, Steve, and last but not least Harry and Fran. During the ‘hellos’ Harry was taking photos from his Polaroid camera, all good fun.
Finally the long awaited meal arrived … Ummm looks OK, I cannot speak for everyone but my mackerel was awful, very strong, oily and greasy ... this doesn’t auger well, some of us had clean plates, just got the starter wrong! Main arrived, plenty of turkey on the plate, things are looking up, veg ar-rives, knives and forks in hand, let’s dig in … turkey too strong,
and Roy picked up a piece of meat and it was hanging all
attached to … what? … skin … Yuk! Needless to say he didn’t eat anymore of that, oh well roll on the puds. Wendy and I had the lemon tart, OMG I like tart, but bloody hell, sucking a fresh lemon was less tart that the pud, Ross ate mine and Wendy’s went back and she had ice cream, apparently the Christmas pudding was very nice. So all in all not that bril-liant, but you don’t know till you try and we’ve tried ... say no more!
Secret Santa that was all very jolly, I had Glava my favourite, thank you Santa, Ross had a lighter, snood and a puzzle book, Roy had very similar ... lucky boys, Sarah socks and slip-pers, Linny her usual, Pringles and Ketchup, Steve biscuits, Kerry a ball scratcher ... !! Shirley a drop of something delicious that you add into alcohol, not sure what Harry, Fran or Keith got, but it was fun seeing what everyone had.
And finally Winger of the Year, Gill @ Bryanston did the counting, so it remained impartial. The award went to
Keith and Lyn. Well deserved both of you.
Lyn paid the bill, and we finally said our goodbyes, along with Christmas wishes.
All in all not the best place to eat, I personally wouldn’t rec-ommend it to anyone. As this goes to print, Linny informed me that when she and Keith checked the bill, which was itemised, they hadn’t taken the deposit off, when she phone and queried it they were very nonchalant, as if it happens all the time, extra profit for them I suppose. At the end of the day it was all sorted and Linny was £77 better off!!
To you all thank you for your company, here’s to next year, let’s enjoy 2015 and hope we all stay safe and well, and hope the sun shines on us for our wedding escort, Wing Ding, and whatever else is thrown at us bikes-wise.
Till next time …Annabelle x
PS: Our Wing Ding is 7–10 May at the usual place at Newlands, Charmouth. Hope to see you all there as it’s our 35th. For more information contact the Rep Keith.
Yorkshire WingsHi allWell there’s not a lot happening on the GoldWing front at the moment, I expect you are all polishing your bikes ready for
the new season. I don’t know about you but
Tony and I can’t wait; let’s make it a good one.
Since I wrote the last report we have had our Christmas lunch, which was well attended
and we raised £95 from a raffle and donations from members in lieu of cards.
We also had our New Year’s Eve Party, there were 15 Wing-ers and we all had a good time. It was lovely spending the New
24 WingSpan February 201524 WingSpan February 201524 WingSpan February 2015
Year with our Winger friends, we all had a late breakfast to-gether which was excellent.
On Sunday 15 Feb there is an open meeting at the Holliday Inn, Walsall at 11am the post-code is WS2 0BS. Please try to come along as we have some big issues to discuss regarding the club in general and our 2015 Treffen. For those of you that can’t make it please let Tony or myself know if you want any-thing raised and we will try our best to get you an answer.
That’s it for this month, hope to see you all soon
Hazel & HimDiary dates8 Feb: Meeting, 10am Squires15 Feb: Reps and Open Meet-
ing, Holliday Inn, Walsall 11am
8 Mar: Meeting, 10am Squires6-9 Aug: Yorkshire Wing Ding,
Grange Park, Wetherby
Yorkshire Wings New Year’s Eve party
WingSpan February 2015 25
26 WingSpan January 2015
Make the Most of your Affliation to the GoldWing
European Federation… visit http://www.gwef.net
for up-to-date details on:
All the Treffens around Europe in 2015
… and links to each of the 24 GWEF member clubs’ home pages
… bringing together
GoldWingers
from 24 countries
throughout Europe.
Est. 1983
TheGoldWing EuropeanFederation
■■ FOR SALE: Trailer tent Camplet Apollo, 2 bed plus kitchen built into tailgate, adaptable bench
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