Words from the chair The Chairman loses a fan
At last – we are having a proper summer. It’s official. The Met Office (bless’em) is now issuing weather warnings due to the heat and people are shouting “we’re all going to die!” and stampeding like wildebeest on the Serengeti Plains.
How long will it be before they start with the hosepipe bans? It’s nowhere near temperatures get in France where it hit 48º C in July let alone, Portugal, Spain and Greece – however, the citizens of those countries know how to deal with it.
I must admit, we could have done with the sun in June, especially over that little patch of North Yorkshire that is forever Helmsley. There was a point during the Farmyard Party, while selling raffle tickets on the MAG stand, where I was like one of those little men you find on church clocks in Germany. The ones that come out when it’s sunny and go in when it’s raining. At least it was sunny enough for me to rock a pair of shorts for the first time and give my pasty white limbs a bit of an airing.
Over that weekend, we made over eleven hundred pounds in raffle ticket sales and donations on the stand. This included a donation from a very appreciative MAG member whose wallet had been found intact after he’d lost it. A big thank you to you sir, and to everyone who chipped in or helped out in some way over the weekend. Thankfully, there wasn’t anywhere near the amount of rain and mud as there was last year and everyone there looked like they were having a good
time – though the absence of naked downhill mud-sliding this year might have spoiled it for some people. Well done to the Farmyard team for getting everything organised again. From the Farmyard, I, and a
few members of the National Committee made our diverse ways to Blackpool. My wife Lou and I spent a few days staying at a campsite near Bolton Abbey, blissfully incommunicado (apart from forays into Skipton, 12
‘I was able to ride the bike 370 miles home on the Sunday, on a
journey from which we made a detour down the M3 and the beautiful A272 over the South Downs’
miles away where we could get a phone signal) for MAG’s 40th Anniversary bash. I’d not been to a Blackpool bike rally for the best part of twenty years, however I bumped into a few people who I knew from around that time – old friends from the bike club I belonged to. It felt like no time had gone by at all. Conversation flowed naturally, and a brilliant weekend ensued. Thanks to all the Blackpool MAG members for a cracking rally.
My bike decided to show itself up on the demo run down Blackpool Promenade by
overheating thanks to a sheared off radiator fan that happened earlier in the week. My Saturday was slightly marred on account of this, with a visit from the RAC, which also heralded the arrival of a certain ex-navigation officer after his travels. (He means me, Ed) Thankfully, I wasn’t in any rush to head off home so it was back to the bar instead of sticking the bike on the back of the truck. I was able to ride the bike the 370 miles home on the Sunday, on a journey from which we made a detour down the M3 and the beautiful A272 over the South Downs. We’d heard the M25 traffic was at a standstill and filtering without a fan was not an option.
MAG needs more members.
In our uncertain climate we have te reduce our dependance on event income. Think of one person you think you can join up right now. Imagine their name in this space ...................................... Now email them/phone them/talk to them and ask them to go to:
www.mag-uk.org and join on line now.
The ROAD 15
The monotony of the journey was relieved by the entertaining company of Lou and Mick, the Uckfield Rep who rode up on the Friday.
Since returning from our travels
it’s been non-stop on the MAG front. Here in the South East we have new branches starting in Chichester and Rochester and I’ve been manning stands at various events and organising the Lock Up Your Sheep Rally. Thankfully I’ve got a couple of days off from the day job to catch up, aided and abetted by Test Match Special on the radio and a pint of Dark Star Brewery’s finest. I must dash… Australia’s just taken another wicket! John Mitchell National Chairman
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