Stuart’s GoldWing Blog

Honda's My First Licence - Riding intro for minors

This year’s Ride Safe Back Safe Rendezvous takes place on Blackpool’s Central Car Park from 10am to 5pm on April 28th 2010.  It’s an excellent day out for bikers and well worth making a trip to Blackpool for.

The Venue is also extremely easy to get to – just keep going straight on at the end of the M55 and you can’t miss it.

This is a free Event which involves stunt riding and other displays as well as a range of club and road safety related exhibitions.  All bikers (and all biking clubs) are welcome.

Ride Safe Back Safe is an initiative of the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety (the “safety” camera people) and is supported by Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership and Merseyside Road Safety Partnership.  Lots of biking organisations are also involved; it run by bikers for bikers.

This year Honda are bringing along their “My First Licence” facility, which provides a safe opportunity for youngsters (up to age 11 as I recall) to experience riding real motorcycles around a miniature traffic scheme.  This exhibit was brought to Blackpool for the 2008 GoldWing Light Parade and it proved extremely popular – come early to make your reservation if you want your kids or grandkids to get a go.

The local IAM Group, South Lancs Advanced Motorcyclists, will be there too, to offer advice to older riders about how to improve their riding.

The Wirral Egg Run takes place on Sunday 28th March.

This is an annual event which raises money for local children, children’s charities and donates Easter eggs to hospitalised children.

Traditionally it takes place on the Sunday immediately preceding Easter and so it again for 2010.

Several thousand participants are expected to take part in the Event.  It’s usually very well organised with lots of Stewards and Marshals – and the Organisers would be delighted to hear from any Winger who is willing to help.

Riders from GoldWings North Wales will be attending, so visit their Club Website for the rendezvous if you would like to meet up and ride with them

Picture from the BBC News Website - click on the image for an enlargement

An estimated 15,000 bikers and their passengers turned out to honour the people of Wootton Bassett yesterday, saying thank you for their efforts to honour the Fallen of our Armed Forces as they are repatriated.

A detailed report with a video and lots of pictures can be viewed on the  BBC News Website.

The idea of this ride was being kicked around a local bike club of which 18 year old Elizabeth Stevens was a Member and it took off spectacularly when she decided to put it on Facebook.

The bikers gathered at Hullavington Airfield and were organised into groups leaving at intervals throughout the day to ride through Wootton Bassett.

The charity Afghan Heroes became involved, the Town’s Mayor was supportive and so were Wiltshire Police, who did their bit to make the Event happen safely.

Well done all concerned; this was a splendid example of what bikers can do to contribute positively to our Society.

The Organisers of the Blackpool Illuminations  GoldWing Light Parade, Britain’s original, brightest and best, have finally revealed the new Venue for the popular social weekend which is part of the Event – and it’s a whole Crescent of hotels and apartments, right on the Promenade.

On the face of it they were going to have real difficulties replacing Pontin’s Holiday Centre when it closed abruptly soon after last year’s Event.  It had been the Event’s home for several years – not perfect but it worked, or at least it worked in most respects for most of the time.

But the new Venue turns out to have a number of real advantages over Pontin’s and not many drawbacks – well, nothing that can’t be sorted one way or another.

The new Venue also takes the Event, now in its eight year, into Blackpool proper, and into proper Blackpool accommodation – hotels and B&Bs.  A group of these, all located along the same Crescent, on but set back from South Shore Promenade, are cooperating enthusiastically with the BLP Organisers to make the 2010 Light Parade innovative as well as successful.

The Crescent where the participating hotels are located also provides useful parking, display and Parade mustering space, although the Hotels all have out-of-sight off road overnight parking too.

The new venue will allow the Organisers to provide much better for day visitors as well as those coming to stay.  All the parking and display spaces will be open to non-resident GoldWings and the participating Hotels are all offering catering and other facilities for non-residents.

The location is a short stroll south of the Pleasure Beach, close enough to be handy to pay a visit on foot and handy for the Trams, yet far enough away from the really busy parts on the Prom (eg the Golden Mile) to provide, for example, crowd-free Parade mustering.  The Crescent is also right opposite the formal start of the Illuminations, so it’s ideally placed for purposes of the Parade Route.

As well as support from Blackpool Council and Knutsford Honda again this year, the event has the support of an enthusiastic bunch of Blackpool Hoteliers and Landladies.  They are combining to welcome Wingers to their Crescent by coordinating their entertainment programmes for the Event as well as offering specially discounted accommodation and even discounted bar prices.

This year’s event can also look forward to cooperation from Blackpool Police and there will be no risk of a repeat of last year’s misunderstandings.

Let’s hope that 2010 will see the return of genuine friendliness to the UK GoldWing community and an end to the factionalism.  The Blackpool Light Parade is organised for the benefit of all UK Wingers, regardless of whether and to which club or clubs they might or might belong.

For further information, including about the new venue and how to book your accommodation,  visit the GoldWing Light Parade Website.

You can also go directly to the Accommodation page.

It’s going to be a Great Weekend!

Click on the image for an enlargement

Holding a non-camping social weekend for GoldWings at the darker ends of the biking season, to allow Wingers to show off their display lights, is catching on.

Norfolk Wings are holding one in their part of the Country for the first time this year and would welcome plenty of support.

The Parade itself is on the evening of Saturday March 27th in Hunstanton, Norfolk, a small holiday town on the North Norfolk Coast.

Proceeds are to be donated to the local Air Ambulance so it’s all in a good cause – and the Town Mayor is joining the Parade as a passenger on a trike.

The social weekend is based on Manor Holiday Park, where the accommodation is in chalets but they will also allow caravans and motorhomes on site but no tents.  Day visitors are welcome to join in the Parade too and they can also enter the Holiday Park on payment of a visitors fee.

Inscription (i.e. event registration, payable to the Organisers) costs only £2.  The Event is being run continues………

Graham Whitaker's stunning Hybrid GoldWing at the 2009 BLP - photo by Nigel Mackintosh

The Organisers of the Blackpool Illuminations GoldWing Light Parade, now in its eight year, have found a new Venue, which is to be announced on the BLP Website shortly.

It became necessary to find a new home when Pontin’s Blackpool Holiday Centre, where the Event had been based in recent years, suddenly closed down towards the end of the 2009, even before the end of the Illuminations Season.

Sometimes Fate takes charge with beneficial effect and so it is with this new BLP Venue, which the Organisers believe will offer considerable overall improvements.  Details of the Venue will be announced on the BLP Website within the next week or two – they are being delayed purely because continues………

Click on the image for an enlarged view

The annual Meeting of Alliance (a group of independent GoldWing clubs in France) will take place in Beaujolais near Lyon, organised by GoldWings Sans Frontiere, a Club based in that Area.

It’s a weekend event from Friday May 21st to Monday 24th and UK Wingers will be most welcome. It’s not a huge gathering (about 150 bikes) and should therefore be friendly and welcoming.

It’s based on a lakeside site north west of Lyon, so easily accessible and in an attractive biking area.  You will encounter golden mountains and the Land of Amplepuis, with its framework of forests, water courses and the beautiful Lake des Sapins (Pines).

The organisers have provided for a wide choice of accommodation including camping, gites, B&B and hotels.  The Programme includes group rides through the Beaujolais area and a display in the local town with a welcoming reception by the local Mayor.  Most meals over the weekend are included in the inscription price and these meals are taken as a group – apart from breakfasts, which you sort out yourself.

An expatriate Brit, Peter Ware, who is a member of GoldWings Sans Frontier and involved in organising the Event, will take either email or telephone enquiries and do what he can to help.  Peter’s contact details are provided below. continues………

Intentionally impersonating Police Officers?

I have been looking into the circumstances surrounding the stopping, by Police Motorcyclists of Greater Manchester Police, of the Lead Marshall of this year’s Salvation Army Toy Run.

This Article also provides some background legal information and access to an opportunity for you to express your views about the matter if you wish – both to the Chief Constable of GMP and the Police Officer who was involved.

Peter Granger, the biker who had been asked by the Organisers to be Lead Marshall of the Toy Run, said that after being stopped he was told by the two Officer involved that he would be summonsed for something – they didn’t know quite what it would be at that stage, but he would definitely be prosecuted for something.

According to Peter they had a real go at him. He was of course riding his ex-police ST1300 which still had its blue and yellow livery and its blue lights, which he was using at the time.  (The bike had no police badges, nor the word “police” anywhere on it and Peter was not wearing any item of police uniform.)

After showing his licence and being issued with a “producer” for his insurance, which he didn’t have with him at the time, Peter was allowed to go on his way – although not until the Toy Run had moved on, leaderless and substantially disrupted.

A few days later Peter was arrested for impersonation of a police officer by means of a surprise early morning visit to his home involving continues………

The following was sent to me as a Comment on an earlier Article but I think it deserves special attention:

Hi Guys,

I thought you would be interested to know that I had a rude awakening on Thursday morning.  Police banging on my doors and windows, when I opened the door I was arrested and taken to Longsight Police station where I spent hours locked up in a cell and then charged with impersonating a Police Officer.

It was an awful experiance and it may still lose me my bike, all this because I led the Toy run on my well known ex-police bike.

That’s it, I have had enough of charity work, that Toy Run has cost me over £500 in various forms….

I am convinced the police have a different agenda and I just cannot afford the luxury of helping others as leader for all these charity runs, the police have no continuity they want me to help when it suites them and arrest me when it doesn’t, I will miss all the runs but i feel bullied and victimised but thank you all for your support.

Peter

GoldWings gather for the Annual Toy Run into Manchester

Being grounded still, I was unable to attend last Saturday’s Toy Run in person, but there was a decent turn out of GoldWings, among many, many other bikes.

And it was by all accounts a successful event, in spite of withdrawal of Police assistance and some messing about of the organisers about the route they would be allowed to use.

There is a write up of the Event on Dave Turvey’s Blog and there are some interesting comments about the unhelpfulness of the Police on the GoldWings North West Website.

It would appear that despite three Police cars and two bikes being available to spend two hours accepting Salvation Army hospitality before the run started, Police assistance for this annual Charity Event had already been refused this year on the grounds of insufficient resources.  Police were nevertheless on hand as the Parade started to stop and book the lead bike for looking a bit too much like the real thing for their taste.

There is an unfortunate pattern developing of Police Forces in various parts of the Country being unhelpful to biking charity events during this past year and it might be spreading.  The problems we had at this year’s Blackpool Light Parade were due to a Police error of communication and should not recur next year – and they did not (despite misinformation to the contrary) result in any prosecutions.  Nevertheless it did disrupt our Parade unnecessarily and we could have done without it.

There was a mass “re-occupation” of North Wales by bikers this year in protest at what has been pretty blatant picking-on of bikers for nit-picking routine stops to discourage then from riding in that area.  MCN are currently running another campaign for nominations for a Police Plonker of the Year Award.  Bikers can if necessary organise themselves very effectively to protest.

Hopefully someone somewhere at a senior level in Greater Manchester Police will realise that a charity run of this sort, organised well and run safely at a moderate speed is something the Police should be supporting as best they can rather than disrupting it to prosecute a minor technical Construction & Use offence which, in the circumstances, had road safety value rather than presenting any significant risk or nuisance to anyone.