Club Night - 12th May Eastham Ferry Hotel Ferry Road Eastham CH62 0AU
Issue No 205
May 2015
W I R R A L A D VA N C E D M O TO R C Y C L I S T S Group Council 2015-2016 Web Site
IAM Group 5115 http://www.w-a-m.co.uk
Chairman
Tim Brown
chairman@w-a-m.co.uk
Vice Chairman
Ken Smith
vicechairman@w-a-m.co.uk
Honorary Treasurer
Lindsay Boston
treasurer@w-a-m.co.uk
Membership
Nina Jeffries
membership@w-a-m.co.uk
Associate Coordinator
Rob D’Cruze
associatecoordinator@w-a-m.co.uk
Chief Observer
Mike Boston
chiefobserver@w-a-m.co.uk
Honorary Secretary
Rob Cooper 0151 648 4503
secretary@w-a-m.co.uk
Events Organiser
Dave Spotswood events@w-a-m.co.uk
Newsletter Editor & WebMeister
Peter Lovatt
Minute Secretary
position vacant
Group Shop
Martin Titley 0151 632 3570
groupshop@w-a-m.co.uk
Gift Aid Coordinator
Rob D’Cruze
giftaid@w-a-m.co.uk
Ride Out Coordinator
Rob Tutchings
rideouts@w-a-m.co.uk
newsletter@w-a-m.co.uk
Other Council members Nicole Rigby Carl Mason Cliff Evans Derek Jeffries Graeme Thow Steve Lord
MAGAZINE TEAM:
CONTACT WAM
Editor: Peter Lovatt
Rob Cooper Coopers Upholstery The Old Bank Everton Valley Liverpool L5 0RH
Duplication: C3 Imaging, Liverpool Distribution: The Post Office! 2
Welcome to the May newsletter. Doesn’t time fly? I’m going to be very brief on my spiel in this issue. OK, so what have we got for May club night? Hopefully it’ll be Mike Hawkyard and wife Su talking about their trip along Route 66 they did. The first FLC shoud be finished by the time you read this, so we should have some pending IAM tests in the pipeline. Thanks to Rob and all observers for all their time and efforts. Also WAM has had a presence at the Manchester Bike Show and the very sunny Wirral Egg Run. Thanks to those members who turned up and manned the stands and promote the club. Pictures inside this issue
This months Official Ride is off the RAF Cosford. If you haven’t been it’s a good few hours out to look at classic British aircraft when we used to rule the skies. Details are in this issue - it’ll be a prompt start too, so make sure you all have full tanks at the start! The route is mostly B Roads to get there. This issue is also the last issue that will have a membership renewal form in. So if you’ve put off your renewal, or have forgot, now is the time to do it!!! So it’s time for me to sign off and I’ll see you all out and about! Pete
Future Events 10th May, RAF Cosford. 14th June, Carsington Water and the Peak District. 19th July: destination to be confirmed. 23rd August: Elan Valley and Mid West Wales. 27th September, destination to be confirmed. 25th October, ditto. If there is enough interest in the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and Whitby then a route can be arranged !!
Bikesafe: Observers Day: Sunday 8th March, at Emergency Training Centre, East Street, Seacombe, CH41 1BY, as are all Bikesafe dates. 25th/26th April. 30th/31st May. 27th/28th June. 11th/12th July. 8th/9th August. 19th/20th September. 17th/18th October.
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WIRRAL ADVANCED MOTORCYCLISTS
Diary of Events www.w-a-m.co.uk *************************
May 10th Official ride out to RAF Cosford - see opposite 12th Club Night *************************
June 9th Club Night - MotoAir Jackets *************************
This is the link for the WAM Official Forum, set up for Members of Wirral Advanced Motorcyclists ONLY. It is a forum for Associates, Observers, and members of WAM to discuss Official Group Rides out, riding techniques, FLC matters, and similar topics. To join you MUST give your name and Postcode when you Subscribe. Group name: WAMOfficialForum Group home page: http:// uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/WAMOfficialForum Subscribe: to subscribe to the group send a BLANK email to WAMOfficialForum-subscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk Unsubscribe: to UNsubscribe to the group send a BLANK email to WAMOfficialForum-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk Once your submission has been approved, you can then post emails.
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Sunday 10th May 2015, 9:25 am
There will be an Official IAM Wirral Group (5115) Organised Club Ride Out in accordance with IAM Policy starting at the Tudor Rose Car Park, Two Mills, Parkgate Rd, Wirral CH66 9PD.
The Briefing will be at 9.25a.m Please be prompt with a full tank of fuel.
RAF Cosford Route out: (Non Stop)
A540 > TL > Capenhurst > A41 > Chester TL A51 > TR Christleton > TL A41 > TR Unclassified > Saighton > Aldford TL B5130 > Holt/Farndon > TR A534 Wrexham > TL B5130 > Crosslanes TL @ Lights A525 > TL unclassified > Bangor-is-y-coed B5069 > Overton > A528 > Ellesmere After Ellesmere TL A495 > Welshhampton > TR B5063 > Wem In Wem > TR B5476 > TL B5063 > Moreton Corbet > Shawbury > High Ercall TL B5062 > Crudgington > Newport TR A41 > Albrighton > TR RAF Cosford (follow signs) Wander around the hangers marvelling at past British aeronautical engineering and invention, after lunch, of course‌.. Route Back: Pick up A41 and follow all the way back‌. Or We can use the A534 thru Nantwich then A51 to Chester For I.A.M. Insurance reasons this Ride Out is for full members and Associates. This is also a great opportunity for non members wishing to join WAM. They are permitted one Official Group Organised ride out per year following an initial assessment, provided they are considering joining the IAM group to complete the Skills For Life Course! Anyone requiring to be Observed please bring it to the attention of one of the ride out team on the day.
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Manchester Bike Show 2015
Now that I’ve had the chance to draw breath, can I say a massive thank you to all who supported the show. And for those of you who were there on Sunday, it was a pleasure to meet you in person. Can I also ask you to extend our thanks to all the volunteers from the various groups not included on this mail. (two of WAM volunteered - Ken and Derek - can you spot Ken in the pix?) Over the weekend, we completed nearly 150 enquiry forms in total, a small number of which were full SfL sign ups and we have 2 prize draw winners (one of which went to West Yorks). safe riding. Regards, Conn Grant
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A good day at the Wirral Tribute Egg Run back in March, with lots of questions on IAM and WAM, along with enquiries about Skill for Life courses. We handed out about 40 brochures to interested Bikers during the key two hours between 12 and 2 when most arrived to hand over eggs and give donations to Claire House, NW Air Ambulance and NW Blood Bikes.
We also launched our under 30's offer of ÂŁ99 with a ÂŁ50 refund on completion of the FLC. So if you know of anyone 30 and under who have their full licence and a bike which is capable of 70 mph, we have allocated funds for 10 people to attend our June or September FLC's. Thanks to Nina & Derek, Nicole & Carl and Dave Rees who came on the "Bike Safe" bike. 11
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WAM Club night for April - some pix It was a bit quiet at the April Club night that gave me some time to take some pix of‌...
‌.The ships going past the Old Booking Office. Quite interesting!!
I wonder if anyone will arrive?
Golly Gosh! Some WAM members have arrived!
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An inconvenient breakdown in Central Sulawesi-February 2015 We left home in England around 16:00 on Sunday afternoon, February 1 2015. We did not arive at our destination in Bali until around 08:00 the following Tuesday morning. A long journey-via Manchester, Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur, but necessary if one wishes to visit Family living the other side of the World. I soon had the Honda Tiger 200cc, which I keep here, up and running. Actually this visit I have not had the chance to do too much riding in Bali. Last Saturday, February 21 2015, I rode out, from where we stay near Denpasar, to the Western tip of Bali to Gilimanuk-a trip of some 140km, from where the ferries ply across to Java. The coastal road is quite attractive, but the heavy traffic makes it rather unpleasant riding. Returning East along the North coast of Bali the road improves. It is much quieter and has been improved over the years-to cater for the increased tourism in this part of the island. To return to Denpasar on the Southern tip of Bali, it is necessary to ride over the volcanic mountains in the middle of Bali island. Turning right at Seririt on the North coast; the road rises to almost 1400 meters. Normally there would be spectacular views over the North coast and the Lakes of Tamblingan and Buyan-both at an altitude of about 1215 meters-in a volcanic crater. On this particular day however there were strong winds and heavy rain and the views were very limited by low clouds. It was indeed quite cool and I was rather uncomfortable as I do not have the suitable gear for these lower temperatures, in Indonesia. It is a coffee growing area and I had a warming cup of coffee at an attractive restaurant, where I was the only customer. The main focus of the trip to Indonesia this year was to travel to the village of Ensa in Central Sulawesi to see Fian’s Dad-now in his eighties. {See attached
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Google Earth image}. We bought tickets locally to fly from Bali to the island of Sulawesi. It is about 1 hour 20 minutes on a Lion Air Boeing 737 to Makassar in South Sulawesi. We stayed at the inappropriately named
Ocean View Hotel, selected off the internet. See photograph above Whilst there I managed to catch up with my counterpart, Alphonso, from when I first worked in Indonesia in the early 80’s. He is now in his 80’s and I had not seen him for around 30 years, so it was a good reunion. See photograph left
The next day we flew on up to Palu, a flight of around 1 hour-arriving at the impressive new airport terminal there. I borrowed a Daihatsu Feroza from my Brother in Law to drive out to the vil-
lage of Ensa, about 2 days drive away. The road is subject to landslips, see photographs above and left Also there are Police and security checks as this is a known terrorist area……... To be continued in the next issue 15
DISCLAIMER:-
The articles published herein do not necessarily represent the views of the Institute of Advanced Motorists Ltd, or the Wirral Group of Advanced Motorcyclists. They are the opinions of individual contributors and are published with the view that free expression promotes discussion and interests. So you have been warned. Interested in doing the Advanced Car Test? Wirral Advanced Motorists are the people to see. Go to www.wirraliam.co.uk