Fishtail 447 – September 2017

It’s been a fairly busy period for the Thames Valley centre with four runs as well as the regular club nights which continue to be well attended. The first run was to the Popham Mega Meet on August 13 th where we had our usual stand by the marque. We were joined by members from Dorking and South Hants centres with 22 Velocettes on show. For this run we had a second starting point in Hungerford to encourage members from the west of the area to join the run and we were pleased to welcome Bill Janson on his very smart Viper. Wednesday 23 rd August saw 9 members visit the Army Air Museum at Middle Wallop. Very interesting display of aircraft used by the army and plenty of history too. Lunch was taken in the café before the return journey. Bill Janson led us on a very pleasant back roads route to avoid road closures on the planned route.

Our annual Seymour Charity run was held on 3 rd September with 7 hardly souls starting from Benson, stopping at Thame and then continuing on for 65 miles riding return back to the Waterfront Café at Benson for lunch. Rain was forecast for most of the run and this probably deterred some from participating. The old fire station part of the Hawthorn Works has been incorporated into the new housing development.

Our mid-week run on September 13 th was to Brookwood Military Cemetery near Woking. David Peterson led seven of us to the Cemetery where we visited the grave of his uncle, a Hurricane pilot serving with the Royal Canadian Airforce, who died in September 1940. A very moving experience and reminder of the many brave people who died serving their country. The run continued to Newlands Corner where we stopped for lunch.

We are approaching the end of the runs for this year and club nights will continue at the Cherry Tree where we hope to have some guest speakers for added interest, details to follow.

Fishtail 446 – August 2017

TV Centre had a stand at the Woodcote Steam Rally on the weekend of 8/9 the with ten bikes on display on Saturday. The stand attracted a lot of interest and Mick Kowalczuk’s Thruxton won the White Horse Cup for best bike at the rally. Well done Mick.

Our Show Off Your Bike Day on 15 th July started with a wet morning and this deterred some people from attending. We had thirty two bikes turn up and register for the show which was good considering the weather. The usual mixture of Velocettes and other interesting bikes were on display including Steve Boakes V twin MAC which attracted a lot interest. The winners of the awards were:

  • Best Rigid Velocette Norman Bailie 1939 KSS
  • Best Spring Frame Velocette Mick Kowalczuk 1965 Thruxton
  • Best Pre 1945 Non-Velocette Jon Dunsdon 1937 Royal Enfield S2 250
  • Best Post 1945 Non-Velocette Adrian Deasy 1954 Triumph 6T
  • Best Post 1972 Classic Chris Winsby 1975 Norton Commando
  • Arthur Lavington Trophy (Best Velo) Dave Sawford 1960 Venom Clubman
  • Ben Mallinson Cup (Best Cammy Velo) Norman Bailie 1939 KSS
  • Ben Harris Trophy (Technical Excellence) Steve Boakes Vee Twin MAC
  • Cherry Tree Shield (Most desirable bike) Steve Boakes Vee Twin MAC

Despite the wet morning we had a good day and many thanks to everybody involved in organising the event and the marshals, judges and staff of the Cherry Tree who provided refreshments throughout the day.

Sunday 30 th July saw nine TV Centre members joined up with the South Hants Centre for the Up the Downs Run. This is a great run across the Downs with a stop at the Calley Arms at Hodson where we had a good Sunday lunch. The “drop off” system worked very well and we all arrived at the Calley Arms together. Many thanks to South Hants for organising a great day out.

Sunday 6 th August saw six of us set out for the Sammy Miller Museum autojumble. Norman’s route avoiding Romsey and Lyndhurst worked very well. The weather was just about perfect for a long run and several of us found some useful bits at the autojumble. Another good day.

Check out the website for our next runs – we still have quite a few more before winter arrives.

Fishtail 445 – June 2017

There has been a lot of activity at TV Centre since the last report. The first event was the Velocette Stand at the Southern Classic Bike Show at Kempton Park on Saturday May 20 th. As usual we had a good display of machines, a MOV, a rigid MAC, a MkII KSS, a chrome tank Viper and a Thruxton. The display attracted a lot of attention with plenty of visitors – especially during the heavy rain showers! Unfortunately we didn’t win any prizes this year so we will review the display for next year. Many thanks to everyone who loaned a bike for the stand and helped on the day.

Next up was our annual Cheddar Gorge run on Wednesday 24 th May. Twelve Velos started from TV Centre and arrived at the Gorge around midday after a tea and bacon butty stop at Hilperton. We were joined at Cheddar by members from Bristol, Wye Valley, Devon & Cornwall and Dorset Centres. We counted 35 Velos assembled at the bottom of the Gorge along with a Sunbeam, Triumph and Morini; about 40 bikes in total. The weather was great as well with a good gathering at Priddy for lunch. This is becoming a popular event with many interesting machines taking part.

The following Wednesday, June 7 th , we had a run to Alresford lead by Chris Webber. We stopped at the Flower Pots at Cheriton for lunch. Good food and their homebrewed beer was appreciated by all. There is an informal classic bike meet at the Flower Pots on Wednesdays and many interesting machines turned up over lunch. Many thanks to Chris for organising the run.

The next run was to the Haynes Museum at Sparkford and six centre members enjoyed the run down to Sparkford, the museum and lunch in the café. Our final run for this period was to Crofton Beam Engines on June 25 th. Six members started off from Padworth and we were joined at Crofton by several other members, we were allowed to park up in the grounds and had a display of Velocettes which attracted a lot of interest from visitors to the engines. Coffee and cakes were as good as ever. The engines were in steam and it is fascinating to watch the action of the beam linkages to achieve parallel motion.

Club nights continue to be well attended and we have several more runs coming up. Details can be found on the new TV Centre website as well as Fishtail.

Fishtail 444 – May 2017

With the slightly warmer weather and lighter evenings runs and other activities are starting to ramp up at the Thames Valley Centre. Our first run of the year was to Tangmere in conjunction with the South Hants Centre. We had a good run down to Loomies Café where we met up with South Hants and then proceeded to Tangmere and had an interesting tour of the museum. The next run was to Prescott Bike Festival and three centre members had an enjoyable day watching the hill climb. To continue the aeronautical theme the next run was to the FAST museum at Farnborough. The weather turned very cold and eight members braved the chilly start and had a good tour of the museum including getting inside helicopters and planes.

May Bank Holiday Monday saw 6 centre members participate in the Fleet Lions run. No prize winners this year but they managed to miss most of the rain showers.

Our Centre website is now up and running at www.thamesvalleyvelocette.co.uk. Many thanks to Norman and Ed for all the hard work in creating a very professional looking site. Have a look and you will find the dates for our runs and shows under the Events sections By the time this is published we will have had our usual stand at the Southern Classic Show at Kempton Park and it will be interesting to see any changes made by the new organisers. We are also starting to make preparations for our Show Off Your Bike Day on 15 th July at the Cherry Tree and we hope to attract the usual collection of interesting Velocettes and other makes to the show.

Fishtail 443 – March 2017

The main event for Thames Valley since the last Fishtail was the Annapurna Trail presentation by our quest speaker Nigel Adcock. Nigel went to Nepal and completed the ride just before the earthquake struck and some of his before and after pictures showed the total destruction of ancient temples in Kathmandu. The pictures and videos of the ride were quite amazing. The roads could only be described as terrible but the 500cc Indian Enfields on standard road tyres made the trip. Not a journey for the faint-hearted. Many thanks to Nigel for coming along and giving us his presentation.

As the weather should be improving, we are about to start our programme of runs. The first being a joint run with South Hants to Tangmere. The programme continues through the summer and into autumn and we look forward to seeing as many members as possible enjoying at least some of the runs. Dates for all the events are in Fishtail and I will circulate details of meeting places and times closer to the event. Please contact me to be included on the email circulation list if you want to receive details and are not receiving them already.

Good progress is being made with our new Thames Valley Centre website and we hope to have it up and running in the next couple weeks. I will give the web address as soon as it is available. Let’s hope the weather stays fair so we can enjoy some early runs out on the bikes.

Fishtail 442 – January 2017

The Centre held its AGM on 10 th January at the Cherry Tree Inn at Stoke Row with 19 members in attendance. The Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary reviewed the past year and informed the meeting of the financial health of the Centre. Overall the Centre had another successful year with many good runs and events. The current committee was re-elected for the coming year and the events list for 2017 reviewed. An interesting discussion of the new Centre website followed and we hope to have this up and running soon.

The final action at the AGM was the award of the Hardman Expert Cup for special efforts for the Centre. It was awarded this year to Ed Tilsley for his excellent work on the production of the pull-up banner on the History of the Velocette. The award was accepted on Ed’s behalf by Norman Bailie.

The next significant event for the Centre is the Annapurna Trail presentation by guest speaker Nigel Adcock on 28th February at the Cherry Tree. It’s an intriguing trip through Nepal on standard Enfield motorcycles which I’m sure we will all enjoy.