A warm July evening brought nearly a hundred Geordie Chapter members, including a few new ones, down to Nissan SLC last night for our monthly meeting. We had about thirty bikes in the car park as everyone took advantage of the lovely weather. We even had a full squad from JH-DG too. Great to see everyone there.
Barry was back at the helm again, after his trip to BikeFest in June. He handed straight over to Paul from Deluxe Detailing, who gave us a talk on how best to look after and seal the paintwork on our Harley-Davidsons. Paul gave us quite a few tips on pre-washing, washing, drying and sealing the paint, including some advice on cloths, foam cleaners and sealants. There’s a wide range of products out there, and Paul is willing to help anyone who needs a hand talking through them, including all the fine stuff that Harley-Davidson make too.
Barry then led us through a few highlights from June and early July:
Bike Fest was good fun, if a bit wet. The Gathering was great too, if very wet!
Ray and Paul led the charge up to Eskdalemuir for our June Chapter ride. A stack of people turned up, and it was a superb day.
The Road Crew led a fantastic ride, once again, for our annual ABC ride. Keeping everyone in formation along Newcastle Quayside was a huge challenge but they managed it perfectly. We also raised the thick end of £800.00 for our armed forces.
We had forty or so people up at Clennell Hall, with Peter leading a cheeky little ride on the Saturday to the Lavender Tea Rooms at Etal. Some of the roads were very entertaining and he blind-sided us in Etal by swinging down close to the River Till. Reaching for the life-jackets, anyone … ?
As expected, a load of people rode over to Wake the Lakes with Red Rose Chapter. To celebrate their tenth anniversary, they laid on ten rides. Quite an achievement, which they managed admirably. There isn’t a rally next year as lots of people will be in Prague for the 115 H-D Anniversary.
We had the first anniversary of JH-DG on Saturday and there was some sunny weather for everyone. There were a couple of bands, a scran van and some beautiful bikes on show.
Looking forward, we’ve got The Kelpies run on Saturday, followed the week after by the CHUF ride, then … it’s our rally! There are only about thirty tickets left, so everything looks on track for a sell-out. There is no monthly ride in July but we’ve got The Normans looking after us on 6 August then our monthly Chapter ride on 13 August.
Gary gave us a quick update on the CHUF ride, and everything is on track there too. Gary has a great mix of things for us to do on the day, so get your outfits ready and cross everything for some sunshine!
The Christmas Party tickets are now on sale – see Trish for yours now. We have a band called the Test Pilots keeping us entertained, and a scrumptious turkey dinner ready for everyone.
Ray was in France when the last meeting of the NECMC was on, so no news this month. However, he tells us that copies of the picture from the Angel of the North are available. See Ray for details.
Grant said JH-DG raised an amazing £221.00 from the first birthday bash for GNAA. And Hayley presented Greg with the wining raffle prize. Well done to him.
A couple of rapid-fire items to close the meeting:
- Barry presented Allen with his Road Captain certificate. Well done to Allen!
- Allen said that the ABC ride went very well from an RC point of view too and mentioned that they will only pass within the pack when it is safe to do so. Please don’t wave them through with hands or feet.
- The rally volunteers meeting is on 21 July at 7.00 pm at Tynemouth Cricket Club
And that’s it! Tony, Chris, Lesley, Paul, Vicky (a new member!) and Gary shared the raffle prizes. Well done to everyone.
The next meeting is on 3 August, see you all there!
GeordieHOG Editor