There was lots to cover at April’s Chapter Meeting, with our first CRAGG run only days away. This should be great a weekend with the Clyde Valley, Red Rose and Geordie Chapters over in Gretna. It’s the first time we’ve done it, so everyone’s looking forward to a fantastic time. Peter will issue some details, in due course, about meeting up beforehand.

There have been a few comments about cancelling the Haggis Run. It’s always a great shame when we have to cancel rides at any time of the year, but we live in a strange climate which keeps bringing us rain! The primary factor we have in mind when we cancel rides is safety, and it can be very difficult to rearrange events at short notice. Please bear with us.

Derek gave us a few good words on the Ride To The Wall event (RTTW), later in the year. Quite a few of our members go on this and we’ve posted it in the Chapter events calendar. The event has grown considerably since it started in 2008 and there are now eleven starting points to stagger arrival at the National Memorial Arboretum. Have a look at the RTTW website, here, if you’d like to find out more.

John, Bev and Andy are in the chair for our first Chapter Ride of 2016 – the Air Ambulance Crusade Ride. The start point is Lumley Castle then off to Alston and back to Durham/Tees Valley Airport. We’ll be collecting for the Great North Air Ambulance service during the ride and everyone is encouraged to get their Crusade outfits on! Have a look at the Chapter website for more details.

Greg has got the Wednesday Night Ride-outs underway. Get along if you get a chance – he did a great write up for the website a while back. NB: these rides are very weather dependent – keep an eye on your phones. Peter will update everyone via text if there are any changes or last-minute alterations.

Finally, please contribute your touring tales, news, stories or photos for the website and Facebook pages. There are several ways to do this but the quickest is to email your items to: GeordieHOG News or use news@geordiehog.com. We will always check back with you before we publish anything.

It only seems like a couple of weeks since we were at Nissan SLC for our AGM, but we had another great turn-out for our March Chapter meeting.

We’ve got a few new Committee members to welcome aboard, resulting from recent appointments and elections. We’ve got Ruth Neal and Trish Gillespie as L.O.H. Officers working with Dawn Beattie. Each has a defined role promoting the good work of L.O.H. Ray Hales took up the role of Coalition Officer and Chris Neal as Chapter Photographer. Chris is working alongside Rob in this role.

We’ll be getting a new page on the website soon for all the Coalition news and events. Hopefully, we can also get some more members along to the meetings that Ray and Lesley attend.

Mandy is collecting subs from everyone for 2016. Make sure you get yours in early: the closing date for all renewals is 31 March 2016.

Al said a few words about the Road Crew, the fabulous team that keep us all safe when we’re out and about. You’ll have seen from these pages that they all went through the First Aid training recently. This is for everyone’s benefit, if there’s ever a problem, or we encounter a problem, when we’re riding. Make sure you ask them any questions that you may have on any aspect of riding, in a group or otherwise, preferably before we set off. Don’t forget, they are there for our direction and safety.

Rally tickets are selling well, so make sure you’ve got yours, ready for another great event in July. Dawn is looking for people to help on the day. If you’d like to help, get in touch with Dawn directly, so she can keep an eye on who’s doing what.

Finally, we’ve got our first ride-out later this month – see you all at the Haggis Ride on 26 March 2016. All the details are on the website and Peter will be keeping everyone informed via text too.

We had a great Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Nissan SLC yesterday. More than 100 people packed into the room to catch up with what’s going on and to vote for our new Committee members.

We’ve got the UK and Ireland Chapter Challenge forms ready for the new riding season, in this case from 27.2 to 30.11. Click here for the form. As we don’t have a sponsoring dealer right now, fill it in with all your details, take a photo of your odometer and bring it to the next Chapter meeting. We’ll get them all endorsed at once.

John Johnston introduced Michael Goodwin from Northumbria Advanced Motorcyclists, who gave us an excellent talk on what they do to promote safety and enhanced riding skills among motorcyclists. The link to their website is on our links page, if you would like to know more about them. NAM provides informal one-to-one training and mentoring to new members.

Sohail Kahn, Director at Jennings Harley-Davidson, gave us an update on the new dealership, with an expected opening sometime in April 2016. Fantastic news for everyone in Geordie Chapter! Sohail introduced Sam Roberts who will be the dealer’s H.O.G. Experience Manager. This is essentially an interface between the Chapter, H.O.G. and Jennings. Sohail mentioned that Jennings’ chosen charity for 2016 is the Great North Air Ambulance.

The North of England Children’s Cancer Research team sent a thank-you letter to the Chapter, thanking everyone for the gifts and donations. This was part of our Santa Ride in December 2015. Click here for letter.

It was awards time too and the Chapter presented the following awards:

Mileage award: Paul Wright, with an incredible 16,290 miles ridden

Ladies mileage award: Rachael Norman, with a very impressive 8,608 miles ridden
Member of the Year award (Director): presented to Greg Holmes and Dave Cook for their fantastic support to the Road Crew and ride-planning. Very well done to both of you.

Outstanding Achievement Award: presented to our Webmaster, Robin Anderson, in recognition of his work in getting our new website up and running.
Member of the Year (Chapter): also presented to our Webmaster, Robin Anderson. Well done, Robin!

Finally, it was time for the Chapter to vote for new Committee members – the Assistant Director and second Ladies of Harley Officer positions. Peter Currie was the winner in the Assistant Director vote, well done Peter. The second L.O.H. Officer position was a tie with 47 people voting for Trish and 47 people voting for Ruth. We’ll take this up with Sohail Kahn to see how to resolve this – watch this space for more details.

On a cold and damp evening, our first Chapter meeting of 2016 exceeded all expectations. We had a superb turnout of 83 members! Thanks to everyone for making our meetings so worthwhile.

Mandy Thompson was welcomed as the new Secretary for the Chapter – the role of Secretary and Membership Officer will be combined going forward.

The Editor post and the H.O.G. on the Tyne (HOTT) magazine will be phased out to meet demand for an electronic version. We will have a live version on our website soon. Contributions are always welcome!

Jon Greenwood has also been in touch about Biker Flood Buddies (BFB), looking for help from other Chapter members. It was set up in response to the floods in the Yorkshire area, specifically for bikers to help flood victims, particularly those not adequately insured. BFB puts fellow bikers, who wanted to help or donate, in touch with those who needed it most. There is a brief lull at the moment as homes dry out but when people start to move back in, there will be a need for furniture, household items, clothes and white goods. Everyone is encouraged to help, where they can. Get in touch with Jon directly or through the website.

John Langan presented Ray Hales with an award – World’s Best Roundabout Negotiator, for his expertise and fondness for visiting roundabouts … often again and again. Ray was stunned and shocked but most appreciative. His mumbled words, of what we assume were thanks, were inaudible to those even at the front of the room.

Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed to the Santa Ride in December. We made a donation to Percy Park Rugby Club for new strips and we handed over the collected toys to the Salvation Army. Have a look at the website news feed for more information on this. Paul Wright did a great job in organising the toy collection. Greg then led us up to the RVI, in some truly awful weather, where we handed over portable DVD players for the children.

Our next meeting will be our Annual General Meeting (AGM) and we’ve got pie and peas arranged for you all. You’ll also be able to vote for some vacant Committee posts. We have a few to be filled: Assistant Director, second Ladies of Harley Officer and Historian. Remember to bring your Geordie Chapter membership card – you’ll need it to vote. Mandy has posted further details on our closed Facebook group.

Mandy is also collecting nominations for the Geordie Chapter Member of the Year. Use the email address on the Facebook group to get in touch.