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May 2011 Mid May saw a fifteen bike ride up to West Bay where the weather was kind and the supply of ‘chips with everything’ was inexhaustible. No one was tempted into the sea for a swim although Neil did get himself onto the beach, which is, apparently, the closest he’s ever got to the ocean. Budda was able to buy a great new lid – slightly less bashed up than his old one. All in all a great day out, thanks Neil for leading so well. On the 22nd we had a ride out down to Saltash and the ESRAD festival. Conspicuous by his absence was Shark, who insisted that his crash helmet could not cope with another ‘belated barrier bash’. About time that trophy was claimed by someone else. The AGM was held at the Pier Inn on 23rd May and was well attended. Andy Hobbs was re elected as Chair, and thanks were passed on to those who were now stepping down. Newly elected members were welcomed onto the committee and loins were duly girded for the coming year. The BBQ on the last Sunday of the month was a great success with a fantastic spread of culinary delights to get tucked into. Many thanks must go to Sue for organising the event and all those stout hearted members who helped assemble and take down the marquee. Special mention must be made of Budda and Jo who produced some stunning food, some of which was made particularly for the veggies, who were most appreciative of all their efforts. As the afternoon wore on spirits became higher and an impromptu game involving water and washing up bowls had everyone in hysterics, Big Bird’s hair do was a particularly attractive feature at the end of the day! Our thanks must again go to Sue and Colin for allowing to use the Pier Inn for what was a wonderful event. MAY – The Festival It was, without doubt, the best organised festival we have ever put on. There have been compliments and testimonials by the bucketful, all of them saying ‘thank you and well done’. The weather was as unpredictable as ever, and again kept us all guessing up to, and throughout the weekend. Fortunately there was very little rain but……………………. ah! that wind. In the events arena we were royally entertained by the Torbay Ukulele Club and then Samba ROC on the Friday afternoon. Handel’s ‘Firework Music’ heralded our first ever evening firework display, much appreciated by the large crowd which had gathered along the promenade and around the edge of the exclusion zone. Jamie Squibb and Steve Colley gave great displays over the week end, although Sunday’s strong winds meant that Jamie was unable to perform – just too dangerous. Steve Parr was, as usual, an excellent MC, keeping the crowd thoroughly entertained and informed throughout the day. He also interviewed Mike Grainger (long time boss of GT Motors) and ‘Bowser’ (Of TV’s ‘Scrap Heap Challenge’). We also had appearances from the ‘Blood Bikes’, the VMCC, The Blue Knights and the Torbay Mods on their excellent scooters (with, needless to say, The Who blasting away in the background as Steve P did the interviews). Scoobs, Brian David and Steve P again allowed children to sit on their bikes and pose for photos (money in the bucket please!). As last year the BMAD Biker Babes worked tirelessly collecting money throughout the festival…….they must have walked miles. The band tent was alive and thumping throughout the festival and all the bands were greatly appreciated by an extremely enthusiastic crowd. The ZZ Tops proved to be an absolute ‘show stopper’ yet again, performing to a huge audience of delighted fans. The organisation and running of the musical extravaganza was brilliantly conceived by Andy, ably supported by Mort – big well done guys. Traffic was kept flowing quickly and efficiently by all the marshals and the hard working staff on the gates (it resembled the siege of Mafeking at times) all led by the tireless Cowboy Dave. All of the above, and much, much more were carefully monitored by our control tent under the excellent supervision of Terry and Kim – great job. Trade and display stands stretched as far as the eye could see, were well positioned and easily accessed, Chris and Mark should rightly feel proud of producing what must be the best trade stand attendance ever. Pete Myers’ Bike Show had a great entry and was a huge success, as was Rosie’s ‘badge sewing bonanza’ which netted us around £400, well done lass! The merchandising tent seemed to be forever full with Mari, Di, Lou and Dawn working their socks off to keep up with customers’ insatiable sartorial demands. In fact, wherever you looked BMAD members were throwing themselves into the event with fervour and great good humour. Many thanks must be given to our presidents Kelvin and Jayne Halloran who were there everyday, supporting, motivating and thanking everyone remotely connected with the show. It’s a privilege to be able to carry on the work that they started. There will be many names not mentioned here but all those people are as important as those who have cropped up. We are a collective group of people, nobody more important than anyone else, who have come together to produce an event of which we can all feel justly proud – in the words of Kelvin and Jane “Well done everyone…we love you all.” For those who saw it, what a heart warming moment when little Louie, sitting proudly astride his BMAD bought trike and ably assisted by his dad, cut the ribbon to open this year’s festival. When our feet, back, legs, heads and other collective extremities are aching beyond belief, we think back to that little boy and the many other BMAD recipients and know why we do this every year. April 2011 April dawned bright and sunny as a harbinger to the glorious weather expected for the 29th of the month, when the world will be watching England for that eagerly anticipated occasion……….The BMAD Paignton Bike Festival. Committee meetings have been taking place every week since late March and the meticulous planning promises to produce an exceptional event. We took the BMAD caravan to the first Plymouth Bike Night on 7th March, a fabulously bright spring evening. A few of us rode down to support the event and distribute the usual festival flyers. The fire training night for marshals was a blazing success, our thanks to Wendy and Colin at the Pier Inn for allowing us to practice our fire extinguishing in the car park. The marshals’ festival briefing probably had more people in attendance than ever before. Our thanks to Sue who continues to successfully promote the raffle for various meat prizes. Shark can be seen purchasing tickets by the bookful in the hope of getting tucked in to those succulent sausages and juicy joints! We’re all now holding our breath, girding our loins and psyching ourselves up for the big event. Irrespective of what happens in terms of the weather, all concerned can be satisfied that they have done everything possible to make this year’s festival the best ever. Good luck everyone.
March 2011
February 2011 The highlight in early February was the Rock Night at the Pier Inn, wonderfully organised by our own Carole Nesbitt. All seemed to have a fantastic night with fabulous music provided by Crossfire, supported by Steve Scagell. Many of our colleagues were seen dancing, including Bungle – on his own, in a dark corner. The draw prizes were presented by Chairman Andy. Thanks again to Wendy, Colin and staff for creating the perfect ambience for this very successful event, and to the performers for giving of their time and talent for the benefit of others. We understand that £300 was raised. Fatlad continued his second career as a stand up comic when attended the Devon D.A. Camping and Caravanning Club’s annual dinner, where he received a cheque on behalf of BMAD for £725.78p as we were their nominated charity for the year. Great to see the increasing number of bikes outside the Haldon Grill on a Sunday morning. Now that the weather is beginning to improve, those who lovingly guarded their machines against rain, sleet, snow and salt are beginning to don the leathers and strap on their other accoutrements. We understand that Richard Baker is going to have his side panniers repainted from white to…………. whiter white. Mentioning colours, Bungle is sporting a very impressive new VN1700 Classic Tourer, two toned - red and white to the untrained eye, although I’m reliably informed that it is, in fact, ‘Candy Diamond Red & Luster Beige’. News has also filtered through that Norman and Tilla are now the proud owners of a Lamborghini…tractor!! All eyes are now focussed on the Bike Festival which appears to be taking shape very nicely. Most of us can’t wait to put in the usual 28 hour day shift, and as a consequence have graciously refused our invitations to the wedding – although I understand that Fatlad was only invited to the evening disco, not the full whack at the church with sit down meal to follow. News that the construction of the Play Park will not now commence until September has given us the same space as in previous years, so planning is beginning in earnest. Sad to hear about the withdrawal of the White Helmets due to ‘budgetary cuts’ within the MOD. Poor Mark Williams had put in such a lot of hard work to make it happen and finished up a very disgruntled soldier (I’m sure it’s only a rumour that he’s threatening to resign from the army at the end of the year!).
January 2011 Here we go, another year....
Work is well under way now with organising the Festival at the end of April, the Royal Wedding date having now been announced and coinciding with the Festival weekend, because of this we have decided to open the gates early on the Friday with a 1pm start, so come and celebrate the wedding in style at the Festival.
The other memorable event in December was Bungles birthday which took place between Xmas and New Year. A real surprise to see a 'once only' band put together by Fatlad - Mish Mash, made up from Fatlad on drums, John Perrin on bass, Richard Steen on lead and vocals by Steve Parr, considering that they played their first notes together 30 minutes before playing for real it was unanimously agreed that they sounded great, although how you can mistake Honky Tonk Woman with All Right Now is confusing... well done Steve. A great night made all the better by the band.
November 2010 Numbers at the Pier Inn social gatherings are beginning to increase and this month saw the introduction of the odd Wednesday quiz evening. Sue Yates does a fantastic job as ‘quiz person’, and it’s as much fun watching her deliver the questions as it is trying to answer them. Mastermind it isn’t, but the competitive spirit can be felt throughout the room as we struggle with trying to identify little known pop artists who have never been famous in their lives – save for playing the occasional spot with Fatlad’s band. Past winning teams have been ‘Merv’s Pervs’, and ‘The Pathetics’.
The last committee meeting saw the addition of Gill, Chris, Mari, Carol and John, which now makes us fully up to strength. We feel sure that all will be a great asset to BMAD.
Can’t wait for the Christmas party!!
September 2010
August 2010
Much time was also spent cleaning the new BMAD trailer and, hopefully it will be available for use towards the end of September. Although the month threw some fairly bad weather at us for bike nights (on the 25th we collected just £20 but…..we were there!! albeit we would have been drier standing in the sea!)
The year moves on and bike nights have been going well. After a great start in June with brilliant weather, July saw us having to cope with the final stages of the World Cup (that’s a small football competition which was held in South Africa. England arrived home before their postcards apparently) and some very inclement weather. The bikers who attended bike nights have, as usual, been very generous and a good amount has already been raised for our chosen charities. Click HERE for amounts raised.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010 The start of a new decade brought BMAD some changes, but we are all still hanging on in there to make sure that we keep the best Bike Festival and Bike Night Programme going strong! New and enthusiastic faces on the committee are bringing fresh energy to the planning and organising for the Festival so we are looking forward to a bumper May Bank Holiday! In addition a large contingent of riders are aiming to support the Wootton Bassett Afghan Heroes ride and flags are in the process of being aquired to fly from the bikes. We'll be leaving McD's at Penn Inn, Newton Abbot at 0800hrs then joining more at Exeter Services M5 at about 0820hrs and stopping at Sedgemoor Services at 0900hrs for a break.
Keep an eye on the forum events section, as the weather improves then flyers and posters will need to be distributed to biking haunts so no doubt these will be arranged on there.
DECEMBER 2009 Here we are at the end of a very busy year and a very succesful year it has been for BMAD, as always thanks to both the committee and members and also the many supporters who have been involved in Bike Nights, the Festival and our social events. Here's hoping that 2010 goes as well. Decembers ridout for the hardy, was to Tavistock and apparently it was an eventful one but safe and fun!... it went something like this ~
NOVEMBER 2009 The year is flying past and November was another busy month. New members have taken up places on the Committee as we are in full swing for next years Festival and need all the help we can get.
Just a quick advert for the Christmas meal - Starting at 7pm on Wednesday 16th December at The Embassy Tavern, Colin Road, Paignton, all welcome. £10 a head for 2 courses for further info see the Forum or contact Tilla on 07929 079084
OCTOBER 2009 October saw the end of Bike Nights and the start of preparations for the 2010 Festival. The last Bike Night was a great success and many people commented on what a great atmosphere there was. The final total for the Bike Nights + Festival was £34,599.39. For a break down of each nights takings click HERE. October's official rideout took us to Sidmouth zzzzzz, well we certainly woke the town up. Once again it was good to see some new faces and in total 15 bikes (18 people) came out, so a good turn out.
Just a reminder that Social Nights at the Embassy have moved to Wednesday nights feel free to drop in and say hi. 18th November we are having a presentation about touring in the USA. JUNE 2009 Once again June has been a busy month for BMAD, the first Bike night saw 1400 bikes descend on Paignton Sea Front, as always a huge thank you to all riders who attend and a bigger thank you to the marshalls that give up their time to make it all happen, pfft! to the committee you chaps do it because you have nothing better to do ! ;) (Not true I know) The sixth monthly ride out saw 13 bikes leave Newton Abbot, for St Austel. Only 2 made the final destination, which sounds like carnage but, weather, and time took it's toll on the way down The second bike night was a washout, the weather let us down and Man U were playing in some football match which they needn't have bothered turning up to, as they lost, that said we had a few hundred bikes on the seafront.
Whilst some of us were sunning ourselves in France others took part in the Mega Ride which I understand was very succesful again this year. The last Bike Night of June saw in excess of 1500 bikes on the sea front, our best night so far this year. Just a reminder that we meet on Friday evenings at The Embassy Tavern in Paignton (details here)for a few drinks and a chat, if you are in the Torbay area come and say hi.
MAY 2009
Sadly Friday came in a bit damp but made way for a glorious Saturday and Sunday, no one came preparred and aftersun was the order of the night. The Festival closed it's gates on the Sunday, then came the clear-up which continued into Monday. By Tuesday you couldn't tell that 30,000 people had been on the green over the weekend. All involved took a deserved rest from BMAD issues (well kind of as the AGM needed to be arranged) and are now getting ready for the first Bike Night of the year on Wednesday May 13th. The AGM took place on Tuesday 19th May and members were elected to posts within the committee. Rideouts have been taking place most Sundays with a reasonable turn out, more details can be found on the forum or here. Bikenights have started in ernest now with the first week being a bit damp, week 2 was a reasonable turn out despite being overcast and week 3 was damp and some football match was on (rather than see Man U get defeated you could have all come to Bike Night !!) so numbers were down. Details of how much is taken on the gate are on the Charities page. |
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