Centre 19 meeting s dates:

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1 Page 1 Newsletter of the Essex Crusaders, Centre 19, Virago Star Owners Club. June 2013 Issue 209 contents: 1. C19 Meeting Dates. 2. Rep s Rambling, membership 3. Ride out to Aldeburgh, For sale 4. Merchandise, Xmas meal, 5. Manningtree show, 6. Charsfield Fete, 7. Ride out to Chatham dockyard, 8. Ride outs for June, 9. Ride out list, 10/11 Belgian rally. 12. Apology, 13. Editor. June Centre 19 meeting s dates: North meeting. 8 pm Monday 3 rd June The Anchor, Upper Street, Stratford St. Mary, CO7 6LW. South meeting. 8pm Monday 17th June The Rettendon Bell, Rettendon Common, Main Road, CM38DY July North meeting. 8pm Monday 1 st July The Anchor, Upper Street, Stratford St. Mary, CO7 6LW. South meeting. 8pm Monday 15 th July 2013 Address as above The Rettendon Bell, Rettendon Common, Main Road, CM38DY

2 Page 2 Reps ramblings Hello one and all, well it s that time again for me to do my bit, all is going well, and the first rally at Letchworth had a great turn out of 22 from C19, well done. There was about 265 members from all over to help start the celebration of the clubs 20th anniversary, along with 12 x 20yr members collecting there patches handed out by the founder of the club John Brynning who was 57 at the time. I managed to get Ian in a group photo (ploy) and gave him his 15yr patch well done Ian. It would be great to have another turn out like this at C8 Midland mayhem in June, so come on get your tickets. Well done to Trevor who has not let us down on our Sunday jaunts, the weather has helped. The south meetings are going great with over 20 of you coming along, it would be great to see a few more turn out for the north meetings, so if it s a nice evening get on your bikes and come along and support Alan, thanks. Just to finish, well done to Mr K for his hard work over last weekend even though he was in great pain with his back. Rest up, take it easy Peter. tc ride safe Bruce

3 Page 3 Membership renewal The period of grace for membership renewal has now been extended for one month, which means that the extra 5 for late renewal will not be payable until the end of May and you have up to the end of June to renew membership before it is deemed that you have left the club.

4 Ride out to Aldeburgh Page 4 11 bikes left Langham services and headed towards Woodbridge ably led by the Ride out Silver back, then took the scenic route through Tunstall, Snape (past the Maltings) and on to Aldeburgh, we then parked in the usual place outside the public toilets (very appropriate for some). The 3 old timers, Bob, Ray and Lawrie had come prepared with a picnic and the rest of us wandered along the sea front to the fish and chip shop and started queuing at the back of a 50m long queue!! It was quite warm and as warm and leathers don t go to well together Stuart and myself decided to go to the other fish and chip shop rather then stand and roast, guess what!! that queue was 50m long as well. I just cant understand that on a Bank Holiday most normal people are not doing their gardens and painting their houses, why do they all have to come to Aldeburgh!! We eventually found a small tea room and had a healthy ham sandwich and salad, I would much rather have had fish and chips. I had some patches to pick up for Last Minute rally.com so left about 2pm for the Essex Bike Safe show at Colchester Stadium, so that finished off the day nicely. It was nice to see potential new member John out for the first time on his 1100 Dragstar, welcome to the club John, Peter For Sale 2002 Yamaha Dragstar 1100 Classic. 18,250 miles. Excellent condition. Lots of extras. 11 months MOT and 4 months tax. Full service last year and only done 500 miles since. Colour grey (I would call it green!) 4, ovno. Contact Cheryl C19 Colchester

5 Page 5 Merchandise Hi Peter I have forwarded on the images of the sweat shirts and hoodies, (images to be sent by separate e mail as I don t know how to transfer a PDF file on to here!!) Prices are: Hoodies 25.00: Sweat shirts Colours are red, white, or blue, embroidered club logo like the polo shirts and printed sleeves. Orders in by end of June please. Christmas Meal Details of the Christmas meal were put in the last SEAX but no bookings have been made so far. Can you check your diaries to see if the date is free and get your names down if you would like to come. Thank you

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7 Charsfield Village Fete Page 7 Saturday 15/6/2013 at 2pm Hi people, It s nearly summer time again and yes village fete time. Charsfield in Suffolk is the venue and as last year the village is inviting us to come and put our bikes on display. Other attractions at the fete are: Beer tent and BBQ (Obviously) Various stalls Sumo wrestling Silly games Tug of war, which we took part in last year, beaten by the Fireman, lets not let that happen again Bouncy castle for the more energetic or stupid and for the older contingent there is the chance to enter the over 80s leap frog team!!! If anyone wishes to stay on after the fete the entertainment continues into the evening with paella being the dish of the day, local musical talent, and an open mike session. As happened last year all those who attend will be fed and watered at my house at lunch time prior to us entering the fete on the bikes to open the event with the fete Queen riding pillion on Trevor s bike. Anyone interested please advise either, Trevor, Bruce or myself. The ride out would commence at Boreham at 10:30 then Langham at 11:00 arriving at our house approx 12 noon, giving ample time to eat us out of house and home before the fete opens Hope to see you all there. Regards Stainless

8 Page 8 Ride out to Chatham Dockyard I had arranged with Dave Enefer to meet at Lakeside Retail Park 10:00 to pick up my brother-in-law Frank and his wife Carol to take them on the bikes with us to the Historic Dockyard at Chatham. Phil Snell had decided he fancied the trip too so he arrived at my house 09:15 plenty of time. By the time I had farted around and then had to stop for fuel we arrived at about 10:10, typical [sorry Dave]. We got them helmeted up and on the bikes and rode the short distance to Thurrock services to find not only a really good turn out from centre 19 AND centre 13 [24 bikes] but about 30 Harleys all mixed together, couldn't tell who was with who. I decided to give the Harleys a ten minute head start, they were going to Whitstable, otherwise it would have been chaos at the pay booths at Dartford. It was a good decision as we got through the booths no trouble and on to A2 easy. My sister-in-law was impressed leading all these beautiful bikes in an organised column but I was shitting myself. I knew we should leave the A2 at the start of the M2 but the sign over the road said Chatham straight on, but I followed my instincts and turned off the slip road up to the junction at the top but is it right or left. I remember Bob saying at the services that the sign for the Dockyard was an anchor and I just caught out the corner of my eye a sign with an anchor on to the left so I turned left and prayed I'd got it right, I really didn't fancy turning 24 bikes around. I needn't have worried there were anchors on every sign after that and a seamless ride through the Medway Tunnel and into the Dockyard car park to find another 5 bikes from centre 15 waiting. I'd Pre arranged hard standings for the bikes with Scott who works at the Dockyard and was led to an area between the submarine and HMS Gannett, an old sailing ship,

9 Page 9 After the usual photos everybody did their own thing and left when they were ready. Phil, Cougar, Barney and myself had a great day viewing all three ships including a guided tour of the submarine and with a bit of help from my brother-in-law Frank got on to the last guided tour of the Ropery, which was very entertaining. We left about 17:00 and a fairly fast ride back to Thurrock, dropped off the family who thoroughly enjoyed it, want to come again on a longer ride, an excellent day. Just like to say a big thanks to Dave for giving Frank the ride, appreciate it. Trevor Ride out arrangements for June 2 nd Oxford It appears that the only feasible way to ride to Oxford is motorway and therefore there is a lack of interest so an alternative ride can be arranged will decide on the day. To save confusion the meeting places will remain the same, Marks Tey 09:15 for Brentwood Services, Brook Street [A12/ M25 junction] 10:00 6th - 9th International rally Finland 9th Layer Marney Tower, CO5 9US [Admission 6-00] Meet Boreham 10:00 for scenic route 15th [Saturday] Charsfield, IP13 7PZ village fete Meet Boreham 10:30, Langham 11:15 for lunch at Alan Wards 16th Scenic route to Burnham on Crouch Meet Boreham 10:00 or 2013 Ride of Respect to Brize Norton (see web site or last months SEAX for details)

10 Page 10 23rd Change to listed ride. Ton up day at Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 0QN [Race bikes from 30s to 60s with Rock n Roll music BBQ, trade stands and more] for bike and rider, 5.00 for pillion. Also Mercedes World which is free. Meet Marks Tey 09:30, Thurrock Services 10:30 28th - 30th Centre 8 Rally Midlands Mayhem 5. ST20 0QH Meet Takeley rest area A120 10:00 Ride out list 2013 July 7 th Greenwich and Woolwich Ferry 14 th Bar-B- Cruise, Cudmore Grove Country Park, East Mersea 19 th 21 st Centre 3 (The Wirral) Rally 28 th Flixton Air Museum, Bungay, Suffolk August 4 th Museum of Power Bike Show, Langford 11 th Jousting at Hever Castle, Kent (Admission 15-00, ) 18 th Barton Mills, Mildenhall and Aldeburgh, Suffolk 23 rd 26 th Centre 15 (Kent) Rally September 1 st Stratford upon Avon 6 th 8 th Centre 5 (Yorkies) party, 8 th Air Ambulance, Dunton to Harwich 13 th 15 th Dutch National Rally 15 th Ace Café & Greenford Motorcycle Museum, London 22 nd Old Felixstowe & Landguard Fort 28 th Centre 10 Charity Party, Meldreth 29 th Comfort Café Little Abington and Finchingfield October6 th Copdock Motorcycle Show, Suffolk 13 th Brightona Bike Show, Brighton November, Southend Firework Display

11 Page 11 Belgian Rally 10 th to 12 th May 2013 It started at 6am on Friday morning for me when I met Leigh and Sean at Marks Tey, it was spitting with rain and not very warm!! We arrived at Thurrock in good time to meet up with Austin from C19 and 11 bikes and a trike from C13 so 16 in all. An uneventful easy ride to Dover down the M20 got us there by 8.35am where we all filled up and rode on to the ferry port. I was last off the ferry following 6 or 8 other bikes, no one else to be seen so we rode on a bit and stopped, got our bearings, realised that we were on our own and I was elected to lead the pack, we made good time and after about 80 miles decided to stop for fuel, well some of us did, it went a bit wrong and some didn t make the turning, no problem, we all caught up and stopped at the next fuel stop to find most of the other members of the group, I still don t really know why we all got split up but now we were all as one, well nearly all, some of the first group had pulled in to the previous fuel stop. Once again it was suggested I lead so off we went, again making good progress at a steady 65 70mph. It had stayed dry all this time but just had to give us a little splattering the other side of Brussels, no real damage done and we arrived all together at the rally site, I did heave a huge sigh of relief having got there with no mishaps of deviations. The 4 lads from C19 were already there having caught the 10am train, ably led by Dave Enefer I believe. Good practice for Finland Dave!! Tents up, party on, well in to the morning, good food, good band, good company and a very nice venue. Saturday morning was dry but coldish and the ride out was planned for

12 Page 12 11am by which time it was raining, now I don t like riding in the rain in the UK so am not going to ride in the rain in Belgium so having got dressed and ready, I didn t go, nor did anyone else. The other option was a trip to a brewery in the afternoon which was taken up by a lot of members, all taken and picked up by car, finished off by a free drink and a meal if you wanted it, very pleasant. Saturday night s entertainment was by disco and Rik the Belgian Chairman presented bottles of wine to chosen representatives from all centres, a very nice gesture. John received a trophy, not sure what for but if I could hazard a guess I think it would be for supporting the Belgian rallies and Continent in general over the years, well done John. It rained heavily on Saturday night and I was praying that it would be dry by Sunday morning and he listened to me so we packed up in the dry. Several groups left at different times throughout the morning but I led a group away at 11am for the 4pm ferry (which left about 4.30) no problems at all apart from once again getting split up, but we all arrived at Dunkirk safely and that s the main thing. Carol had a puncture and husband Alan tried the gunky stuff out for the first time and it really works. Typical UK, rain, and cold so without exception we all got wet and very cold on the ride from Dover. I hate it!!!

13 Page 13 I am sitting here typing this and considering putting the heating on it is so cold, what is the matter with this country. Mr K. BOX HILL RIDEOUT - AN APOLOGY An apology from me for the route that Trevor took from Thurrock to Box Hill on May 12. I showed Trevor how I set my Garmin SatNav for use on the bike when I am not interested in speeding down a motorway. Set navigation options to "shortest" not "fastest", set avoidances to exclude motorways and let the Garmin mapping algorithm sort out a cross country route. For me this has worked fine with the exception that Garmin think that the QE2 bridge is motorway (its not - the M25 has a gap between the A13 and the A2) and directs me via the Blackwall tunnel. I just use the bridge and it recalculates once in Kent. I should have been suspicious when Trevor's Garmin offered an option of avoiding "Autobahn". Off we all went on a route that took us through mainly

14 Page 14 towns including the centre of Croydon taking a little over two hours. Best bit was that it got the end of the ride just right by approaching from the East via Boxhill Road and then down the hairpin bends on Zig Zag Road to the cafe. Not the most scenic of routes, and a strain on the bladder for some of us. This is not the route that my Garmin offered me, I had to put up with repeated "recalculating" and "make a U turn" messages as well as all the congested shopping areas. Sorry. Bob Owen From the Editor Please see amendment to what I said in the last Seax Hi Peter, VSOC is a one make club affiliated to the BMF and as such we do not receive full membership benefits. We receive about 6 free magazines only as we only pay a percentage of the full individual membership cost. You can join in your own right as an individual or family member at a cost of 26 for individual membership and 32 for joint membership and receive all the benefits including magazines. You need to go to the BMF website to join. Hope this helps. Regards Malcolm