Category: Nacelle Reports

Copies of the monthly Branch reports which are published in Nacelle, the TOMCC magazine

Nacelle Report – August 2021

Should we stay or should we go? Last month we announced our Old Motorcycle Gathering, expecting the Covid rules to be relaxed in time, but we have since had to delay it to 24 July.

Our first ride of the month was to Horsham, where we discovered the Torque Moto Café, which was full of car driving petrol heads, but very welcoming to bikers as well.

Enjoying refreshments at the Torque Moto Cafe

For our next ride, we stopped at a tea room in Thrupp before heading on to the wonderfully named Blaze Inn Saddles, finally getting ice-creams at Lechlade on the way home.

Rain stopped play the following Sunday, but we took advantage of a dry Wednesday to have a mid-week ride. On the last Sunday of June, we shrugged off wet weather warnings and had a dry ride, stopping at a garden centre in Bampton for a late breakfast.

Taking a mid-ride break at Bampton Garden Centre

We have re-developed our Branch website, keeping the same name as before, but with a new look and structure that will be easier to update. We’re posting news and photos of our activities there, so have a look at www.berkshiretomcc.org.uk. We have also re-launched our Facebook page, which is www.facebook.com/berkshiretomcc, so please follow us there. Ride-outs are still organized via dedicated Facebook or Whatsapp groups, so remember to ask to join one of them if you want to join our rides.

Remember we have weekly club nights on Thursdays where we get together, have a few drinks and talk about bikes.

Keep on rolling! 

Ton-Up Ted

Nacelle Report – July 2021

Happy days are here again!!! Covid rules relaxed during May and despite a lot of wet days, we managed five ride-outs and restarted our Thursday club nights in person.

Our first ride was to Whiteways Takeaway Kiosk at Bury Hill in West Sussex, a well known biker meeting point. The following week we rode to Popham Airfield. No planes were flying, but the café was open. Next was a mid-week ride to the Flower Pot Inn and Brewery in Hampshire, a great venue with outside seating, good food and excellent beer. After two wet weekends without rides, we had a mid-week ride to the H Café, a leisurely browse round the motorcycle clothing shop next door and then rode on to the Court Hill Centre near Wantage. The sun shone on the last Sunday of the month and we went for a long ride through the majestic scenery of Salisbury Plain to Compton Abbas Airfield. We were lucky enough to see an old US Marines plane landing.

  • Relaxing at Compton Abbas Airfield
  • Our first clubnight of 2021

We had our last virtual club night using Zoom on 13th  May and on the 20th  May, we had our first real club night since November. We all enjoyed being back at the BCSA even with the new Covid restrictions.  

We’re looking forward to more rides and club nights and we are hoping to be able to hold our Old Motorcycle Gathering show on 17th July. Let’s hope Covid rules allow it and the sun shines for us.

Keep on rolling! 

Ton-Up Ted

Nacelle Report – June 2021

We’ve been out on the road again, rolling down the highway with no particular place to go. When the new rules came in on 12th April, we could not wait for Sunday, so our first ride-out was on Thursday to the Leckford estate. The following Sunday we went on a ride-out to the Departure Lounge Café near Alton and then finished the month with another Sunday ride out to the Rowdey Cow dairy farm shop.

The BCSA re-opened this month, but only for Saturday evenings outside. Four of our members went to its re-opening on Saturday 17th April. It was well organized with gazebos and tables outside and new caterers and we stayed until 8pm when the chill set in.

Ten members formed a motorcycle escort for Ross Clements’ funeral as his coffin was carried on a side car attached to a Triumph Thunderbird, setting off from his house for a 45 minute ride round the back roads before finishing up at the crematorium for his memorial service. It was good to go on a last ride with him and see him off.

  • Getting togeher at the start of a ride
  • Ross Cliements as we remember him

As it looks like the summer will be opening up now, we are starting to think about what other activities we can do. We’ll be having more rides, of course, and we hope Thursday club nights at the BCSA will start again soon. We expect to go to some local shows and we’re discussing whether we could even have our own show.

Keep on rolling!

Ton-Up Ted

Nacelle Report – May 2021

As I write this, we have finally been told we can head out on the highway again and ride with up to six people. During the last month, we’ve been fettling and polishing our bikes in preparation and one member has even had his ceramic coated. The weather’s getting better all the time and at month end, we expect to be riding along together with no particular place to go. By the time this you read this, we should have had several rides.

While waiting to get out, we have put together a photo album of our rides from last year which you can see on our website together with a YouTube video to remind us of some of the great rides we managed to do in 2020, despite COVID-19.

We are hoping the BCSA will open up again for Thursday club nights soon. In the meantime, we will continue to hold our Zoom meetings at 8pm each Thursday.

Sadly, long term Branch member, rocker, biker and friend, Ross Clements, passed away this month.  Our thoughts are with his wife Anita. Ross went on several of our Branch rides last year and was well known to many members.

A new Triumph Tiger by the Banksy at Reading Prison

The mystery street artist, Banksy, surprised everyone by painting a man trying to escape on the wall of Reading prison. One of our Branch members could not resist parking his Tiger as a get away bike in front of the picture and taking a photo of it.

Keep on rolling! 

Ton-Up Ted