We had a fantastic Chapter meeting tonight with more than forty people attending, via Zoom. Barry gave a few introductions, then handed straight over to Vanessa Ruck, aka The Girl on a Bike.

Vanessa was in a very serious accident in 2014 and, since then, has taken up motorcycling in a big way. She does enduro and trials riding extensively … and also rides a Harley-Davidson. It was a fascinating talk.

Barry then took a quick run through other matters, including a few words from the Committee. Barry tells us that he’s received a form from North Tyneside Council relating to a licence for our own Heart ‘n’ Soul rally. It looks incredibly complicated, especially relating to restrictions around social distancing etc. He’ll let us know in due course …

GeordieHOG Editor

Its been a while and we haven’t managed to have a real chapter meeting since February this year! We have meetings still over Zoom, details on the Facebook page.

This month we had 34 members on the Zoom meeting. As always it was kicked off with a chat from our Director, Barry. Barry talked about the AGM and if any of our members would like to be a bit more involved in the committee side of things. If you would like to sit in on Chapter committee meetings to see what its all about before making any further commitment please contact Barry to discuss further. Any member can apply for committee posts. Barry also talked about the Chapter Charter and Chapter By-laws. Everyone should read these, become familiar with their contents, so please head over to the page and have a read.

Road Crew: Jimmy talked about the next year of rides, as the current COVID situation is ongoing nothing is hard planned as yet. However the Road Crew do have a lot of rides in the bank ready to go. Allen spoke around the Bond of Brothers – the full amount raised for Prostate Cancer UK is £20,000! A remarkable achievement. There is going to be a cheque presentation, most likely over Zoom – details to follow.

Rally: Dawn discussed next year’s rally. Plans are already advanced and flyers will be going out to all members on the chapter distribution list. Details are already on the website and the Facebook page. If you haven’t already, get those tickets booked for what will be another fantastic weekend.

Photographer: Colin discussed (apart from losing his drone) the possibility of setting up a chapter YouTube page for all our videos instead of using Vimeo. All agreed this was a great idea as its much more accessible, free and has unlimited space. Page should be up and running this month so watch out for that.

Ladies of Harley: Trish talked about the Mileage Challenge, so make sure you update Trish with your mileage by end of November or you will miss out. Santa run, due to COVID, won’t be going ahead, however gifts will still be gratefully accepted – details to follow on this as we will require a drop off location to be arranged. This year we are still supporting the Salvation Army and Safe Families for Children.

There is another of our fab chapter quizzes held over Zoom on Saturday 14 November – so get yourselves logged in, its always a good laugh.

GeordieHOG Editor

Fantastic turn out tonight at the first Chapter meeting of the year. 135 members in attendance which bodes well for the year. Great presentations from Allen Glasper on the ride from Lands End to John O’Groats for Prostate Cancer UK. Simon Parry talked about the 22 day organised ride to Nordkapp, the most northern point in Europe – looks like a fantastic ride.

Congratulations to Robin Anderson picking up the Outstanding Achievement award. Hope the injury heals quickly Robin!

Thanks to everyone in supporting our raffle which raised £118.00 and for the donations of £56.21 for Prostate Cancer UK.

GeordieHOG Editor