The poor weather forecast meant that there were only 4 of us meeting up for a short run to Bucklebury Farm on a Sunday morning. There was no rain on the way there, although the roads were dampo The car park is just grass and with all the rain it was very muddy. But we managed to park up without dropping our bikes. The food in the cafe was excellent. Here are some photos of the event.
Below is the report published in the October 2024 issue of Nacelle, which covered Branch activities in August 2024
August was a hectic month for the branch, commencing with the Popham Megameet held on the first weekend. It was a cold night there, but it soon warmed up on Sunday morning, with plenty of members visiting our stand and, as always, promoting the benefits of membership. It’s a great event with a large autojumble and always the opportunity to bump into old friends.
The following weekend, we attended the three-day BSB races at Thruxton. Although dogged by rain when we set up, the races were never affected, and the sun was cracking the flags for the superbike races. The support races had Triumph ST765RS’s and Daytona 660’s in the SuperSport and Sportbike classes respectively, with excellent results in both. It was a great weekend, which we hope to attend again next year.
For the Bank Holiday, our stand was at the Swallowfield Country Show. This has a large contingent of classic vehicles on display. For some obscure reason, our stand is always near the traction engines and I swear I can still smell the smoke from those coal fires that drifted constantly across our stand. However, with arena processions for the bikes, our members were proud to “show what we brung”.
With ride outs on the Sundays in between the weekend events it was a full on month of Triumph. Finally, a reminder that we have our Autumn Bike meet at the Burghfield CSA on Saturday September 28th.
Bibendum
A small group of us had a Sunday ride out to the Avebury Stone circle and had some refreshments at the Unhenged Cafe in the Clubhouse of Avebury Cricket Club. It was a sunny day and our runs leader chose a route round some twisty country lanes for a fun ride of about an hour and half. We sat out in a marque next to Clubhouse eating and drinking with cricket playing in the background. A great way to spend a Sunday morning. Then we rode home. Here are some photos of the day.
We had a great August Bank holiday weekend at the Swallowfield Show. We had our Branch stand there with around 15 bikes on both Sunday and Monday and led the Classical Vehicle parade in the arena on both days. A video with some pictures of our time there is shown below.
Here are some more pictures of the event below.
Below is the report published in the September 2024 issue of Nacelle, which covered Branch activities in July 2024
“In the summertime when the weather is high, …”, well we won’t be doing a ton or a ton twenty-five, but the Sunday branch ride-outs have been speeding along many a lane. So if you’d like to ride with other enthusiasts get in touch with Collin, the Runs Coordinator.
Our summer barbecue took place in mid-July and thankfully we were blessed with a fine evening. I hope everyone enjoyed the food, they seemed to as everything was consumed, I promise there’ll be more “long dogs” next year. With great raffle prizes for a lucky few, the evening concluded with the Steve Butcher Trophy for Best Branch Member’s Bike. Awarded to Brice Haines and his impressive 1938/39 5T Speed Twin, chosen by the current holder of the trophy, Jim Biggs.
The last Saturday of July saw a few branch members cruising off to Calne, Wiltshire, for the “Largest free-to-attend motorcycle event in Europe”. I had been to this event many years ago, but it’s huge and takes over the whole town (the last time I had seen a town taken over by bikes was the Guzzi centenary celebrations in Mandello Del Lario). With bands performing, food vendors, trade and club stands dotted around the town it’s a fantastic event. If you’ve never been put it on your bucket list for next year.
Finally, we’re having a bike-meet at the BCSA on Saturday 28th September. As usual, all marques and models will be most welcome.
Bibendum
We are having a Lunchtime Bike Meet on Saturday 28 September 2024 from 11am to 4pm. It’s a great opportunity to meet other riders, see their bikes and have lunch and a drink . All motorcycles and riders are welcome.
We will be holding a collection for Thames Valley Air Ambulance.
A wide range of food and drink will be on sale at the bar.
See here for details of the venue and how to get there.
See here for photos from our last Lunchtime Bike Meet earlier this year.
We were at Thruxton for the entire weekend of the British Superbikes Championship, Friday through to Sunday in August 2024. We had our own stand there which we set up on the Thursday afternoon so it was ready for the whole three day event. We had a display of around 15 bikes there for each of the three days. Our members took it turns to man the stand, so everyone had an opportunity to see everything else at the event, including some racing.
We had a great time. See some photos below of the weekend.
See the video below for some great shots of the bikes we had on display on our stand.
An article about our weekend at BSB appeared in the November 2024 issue of Nacelle, the TOMCC magazine. You can read that article here.
We had a stand at the Motorcycle Megameet at Popham Airfield in August 2024. We had a display of classic bikes on the stand which was in the “circle”. If you are a classic bike fan, then there were a lots of bikes on display this year at Popham together with an extensive autojumble and trade stands. There were also some live bands playing. The sun shone and we had a good day out for all our members who came.
Here are some photos of the event.
We had a good turnout, great weather, an impressive collection of bikes and an enjoyable evening at our Branch BBQ on 28 July 2024. We also awarded the Steve Butcher Trophy to the Best Branch Member’s bike in the car park, which this year our judges decided was a 1938 Triumph Speed Twin in excellent condition.
Here are some more photos of the event.
