Jan 2014 Thames valley HOG Tales from The Riverbank

Magazine of the Thames Valley HOG Chapter

Well, maybe we haven’t had any snow yet but with the amount of rain that has been falling, perhaps we should all be buying boats as our second vehicles!

I should like January, with it being my birthday month, but I don’t - it’s such a GREY month, a bit like the magazine this time!

Party season over, dark mornings (and evenings) and very few, or no, biking opportunities.

Roll on rally season!

Everyone makes them. Everyone breaks them.

I'm talking, of course, about New Year's resolutions.

January - it’s that time of the year when we think about all the good things we want to do and all the bad things we want to stop doing! Then we make a promise to ourselves that, statistically, only 12% of us keep.

I’d like to be a better person, lose those bad habits, lose weight, get fitter, drink less, do more housework, clean my own bike - the list is endless! And, oh, I mean to keep to them but somehow I never do. It’s so easy to slip back into old, comfortable habits.

Well, this year, I plan to make it easy for myself to keep to my resolution. I promise to get more fresh air and get my highest annual mileage yet! Yes, I promise to ride my bike more and pile up those miles.

Should be easy now I’m retired.

For once I’m doing something for me.

What are you promising yourself this year?

Sue

Inside this issue…

Front cover:

Uh-Oh!

Page 2

Start your Engines

Page 4, 5

Don’s Direction

Page 6, 7

LOH - Sue’s Says...

Page 8 - 11

Never say never… Terry Dunn

Page 12, 13

Meet the Members

Page 14, 15

Calendar

Page 16

Merchandise

Page 17

News and Updates Activities

Page 18

PARTY

Page 19

News Biker Down

Page 20

News Rallies

Page 21

Guess who?

Page 22

Whose bike?

Page 23

Fine Pig

Page 24

For sale / wanted

Page 25

Photo Gallery

Page 26, 27

Safety First

Back cover:

Meet the committee

January/ February Birthdays

Bernie Bulldog 6th Jan Sue Knight 18th Jan Bernie Dodds 24th Jan Ron Jackson 29th Jan Louise White 3rd Feb Chris Smith 11th Feb

Happy birthday to you all!

A big thank you to all who have sent copy for this month’s Riverbank Tales: Terry Dunn, Lee & Lou White, Don, Sue, Nick, Shirley and Linda

Hi Everybody, and Happy New Year to you all! I do hope you had a great Christmas and new year. Whilst talking about Christmas, what a great club night we had in December, full of festive fun and frolics.

Our ladies version of the 12 days of a Harley Christmas was a great start to my bit on the chair. How they kept that quiet from the rest of us I don’t know!

Santa’s Christmas raffle this year was plentiful; prizes ranging from Harley Christmas Baubles, wine, Panettone cake & T shirts were won by many of the members. This year’s Christmas Hamper was won by Paul & Gill Major. Congratulations to you both, I hope you enjoyed its contents over Christmas.

At December’s club night, we welcomed a new member, Jean Harding. Welcome to Thames Valley Uk Chapter, Jean.

Club night attendance was high with a total of 73 attending.

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2013 Looking back over 2013, it’s been a great year, yet again, for Thames Valley. With us celebrating our 15th Birthday in June and Harley Davidson and Hog also celebrating milestone birthdays, it’s been a great year for celebrations.

The English weather has been very kind, allowing us to cover so many miles on rides and to attend rallies and events in England and Europe. The club membership has stayed fairly level over the past year with 179 members. Average attendances at club nights have been between 55/65 members. During 2013 we have run several events including Poker Runs, Chapter Challenge Mileage Program and the Miles for Fun challenge. All have been attended and supported by a large number of our members.

2014 Information for rides and rallies will be on the calendar shortly.

The Cider Rally, Wake the Lakes and Thunder in the Glens tickets are available via their Chapter websites.

The plans for another Chapter Chill Out weekend, in Tewkesbury, at the end of June are in the final stages of planning and information will be available early 2014.

The other major event for 2014 that we are all looking forward to is the opening of our new Dealership sometime in May /June. It’s been a long time coming but will be worth the wait.

Here’s looking forward to a great 2014 with a fine bunch of friends.

Don 5

Happy New Year, everyone.

Just to say that I am honoured to be continuing in the role of your Ladies of Harley Representative for the 4th year running.

Gosh, doesn’t time fly!

My role is to look after the interests of all lady members in the Chapter; keeping you informed and helping you to become involved as much or as little as you like. I am also there to represent the views of lady riders and pillions at committee level.

My aim is to encourage you to join in and have fun ( not that most of us need much in the way of encouragement) and to help everyone get to know each other.

I have to say that there has always been great camaraderie between our ladies and certainly no distinction between those who ride their own bikes and those who don’t.

I would love to hear of any events that you think would be good for us to attend, i.e. cinema, theatre, pubs etc. Please don’t leave it all up to me. I am here to represent you and your interests, so I welcome your ideas to help me plan and promote some activities this year.

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I know Christmas has come and gone but I need to say what a great club night we had in December. There was a great atmosphere and all the ladies joined in to sing a few verses of ‘On the first day of Christmas’. The idea was hatched at the LoH dinner at the end of November with everyone contributing to the words. Let’s just hope we haven’t set the expectation level too high for next year!

I look forward to seeing those who can make it for the Saturday lunchtime social on 25th January at the Crooked Billet in Iver Heath ( details on the calendar). Everyone is welcome, LoH and MoH and BoH !

Bye for now,

Sue x

STOP PRESS...

The February Saturday Social will be at Nelson's Diner, a 50's American themed restaurant http://www.nelsonsdiner.co.uk on 22 February 2014 at 12.30.

Meet at Sportsable at 11.15 for 11.30 depart. We can go in cars or bikes depending on the weather, or meet there if it suits you better. Please let me know if you would like to come as I need to know numbers to book tables.

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Sue x

Never say never (unless you really mean it) By Terry Dunn

A t the end of April 2011,

I was persuaded to sacrifice a weekend in order to visit Brugge, or is it Bruges? It was an interesting trip that passed without incident and I included a visit to Ypres, (or is it Leper?) and Tyne Cot cemetery, all of which I would recommend to anyone that has a feel for history.

The weather was kind and the only real stain on the whole trip was the bloated German who arrived early for breakfast at the hotel and proceeded to hoover up all of the available bacon leaving the rest of the residents with little more than a spoonful of scrambled egg each to set them up for the day.

Of course I bear no grudges after all we have beaten them at all of the important stuff and let’s face it, if Adolf had only been interested in annexing bacon, his panzers would probably have stopped on the northern coast of Denmark. .

Generally, though, Belgium presented me with one major problem that led me to swear I would never return. That problem is the roads. They are appalling, unless you have a passion for overTyne Cot Cemetery crowded motorways. Mile after mile we risked a ruptured spleen, bouncing along narrow lanes surfaced with blocks of concrete that appeared to have been dumped with no apparent effort made to level them.

For goodness sake, you can pick up a decent spirit level in B & Q for a couple of quid, how hard can it be?

Occasionally you will come across some proper tarmac. Oh, the joy of flat black tarmac! But then, just as your internal organs are nestling back into their proper places and you prepare yourself for a little more speed, the 70 signs appear. That is about 43.496 mph and most of the half decent roads seem to have the same limitation. Now I’m not a speed freak but 43.496 mph is not a speed that is likely to get you to the bacon tray before Fritz has been at it!

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Always optimistic, I thought I would consult my Harley touring manual to see if there was a road anywhere in Belgium worthy of the name. There is one. It’s marked as a scenic route and runs north - south along the west coast. What a delight that was. Miles and miles of enormous concrete blocks hollowed out to provide the population with holiday homes or hotels, or perhaps they are punishment blocks. Whatever they are they completely obscure the view of the sea.

Very little of this road is what I would describe as scenic except that to my right were miles and miles of sand dunes punctuated with the occasional gun emplacement abandoned after the second world war.

So, imagine my reaction when it was suggested recently that it would be quite nice to visit Waterloo. Time heals all wounds, they say, so without properly thinking it through I agreed to another weekend in Belgium. I have only myself to blame.

The roads are the same but with the added advantage that in October, agricultural activity seems to peak. In England this means that there are a few more tractors towing trailers full of turnips and cabbages around. I can only conclude that farmers in Belgium specialise in cultivating mud. It’s everywhere. Mountains of the stuff piled high onto trailers and towed by extraordinarily large agricultural machines which seem to have been designed with the sole purpose of spreading an even layer A pile of mud with a statue on top of muck throughout the land.

The fact that some of these machines were tracked vehicles should have given me a clue.

Then, just when you think things can’t get any worse, you are presented with cobbles. In the middle of nowhere they appeared and for no reason that was apparent. The road surface just changed to cobbles. The exceptionally high crown in the centre of the road, and the eccentricity this introduced to the handling of my Electra Glide, would have made this an amusing challenge on its own but of course the surface was also wet and coated with mud.

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Picture supplied by Brian Wilson

"Are we having fun yet?"

I am delighted to report that apart from a few reports of buttock cramp brought on by extreme clenching, our group of 6 bikes made it through unscathed.

If you enjoy looking at a large mound of grass covered mud with a statue on top, then Waterloo is definitely one place you can do it. Other than that there really isn’t much to see now but then it is nearly 200 years since anything much happened there.

Of course, the weather will always be beyond our control but somehow on top of the muddy wet cobbled roads, the downpour that caught us on the way back to the hotel in Zedelgem (it’s a gnat’s south, south, west of Brugge) just seemed to be Belgium expressing its dislike for English bikers. I say English but must acknowledge that one of our number was in fact French. Mind you, apart from his passion for publicly eating bits of frog, he seemed a very nice chap. Call me Mr Squeamish if you like but I tend not to eat anything that looks like it did when it was walking or hopping around and frankly it doesn’t matter how much batter you stick on them; frogs legs will always look like frogs legs.

It was probably his way of seeking revenge because we made him visit Waterloo where he was forced to respond to our childish jibes of “loser, loser” by refusing to accept that the French had come second.

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One final kick in the nuts before we left. Having stopped to get my bearings just after a right hand bend near Tyne Cot I was rear ended by another member of our club, and not in a nice way. He will remain nameless in order to protect his identity from the fine pig, but let’s call him BW. No great damage done as far as I can tell but I will need a new left hand muffler. BW’s anniversary Fatboy suffered a bit more but I think we are still friends. Of course this accident could have happened anywhere but it didn’t, it happened in Belgium.

So that’s it, I will never turn a wheel in the place again. I recommend that you visit the sights, though, and pay your respects to the fallen. Try to be at the Menin Gate at dusk but do it on a train.

If you want the authentic experience then just get hold of a yard of top soil, pour water on it, chuck a load all over your bike then roll around in the remainder while your significant other hoses you down with cold water. Oh, and ask someone you don’t like very much to punch you repeatedly in the kidneys. Much cheaper than a channel crossing, hotel room and a couple of tanks of petrol.

BW trying to remain anonymous in Passendale

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Meet the Members

Spotlight on...

Lee & Lou White

How long have you been together?

We have been together for 20 years, after meeting each other at work

Do you have any children?

Yes, we have two daughters and a son. Amey is 17 years old and Lucy is 15. Our son Lewis is 11. They all enjoy jumping on the back of our bikes and they love the SOFER Rally.

Any pets?

We have 3 dogs: two schnauzers, Toby & Tilly, and one King Charles called Ace.

How long have you been riding motorbikes?

Lee, since the age of 13 - learnt to ride in a field in Iver (Bison) scrambling with mates and being chased by a police helicopter!!!!

What was your first bike?

My first road bike was an AE50cc. Then I had an MZ125. Living the dream!!!

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When did you get your first Harley?

We got a Sportster in 2009.

What do you ride now?

We had a Street Bob, Fatboy, now we ride a 2012 Street Glide

How long have you been a Thames Valley member?

We joined the Club in 2009 when we bought our first Harley, and we haven’t looked back.

Any hobbies apart from motorbikes?

Most of our time is taken up bringing up our busy family, and working. Lou has turned her hand to many tasks such nappies, cakes and now is studying for her NVQ level 3 in Beauty. She is hoping to go on to start training as a Midwife.

Any special Harley experiences?

We have not done many rallies as yet but we are looking forward to the day we get more adult time. Lee enjoys his role as the club Webmaster and is always putting the members before himself. Lee is currently working on a new website for the club which you should all see next year.

Nice meeting you, Lee & Lou thanks for the chat!

e Am 13

y

Lew

is &

Luc

y

March

January Saturday Social -All Welcome-

Committee Night Tuesday 4th, 8:00

Saturday 25th, 12:30 Crooked Billet, Iver

Thursday, 20th Club Night, 7:30

Come and join us for just a chat, a drink or a meal.

Bring the family!

Ace Café Harley Night Thursday 27th, 6:00

Ace Café Harley Night Thursday 30th, 6:00

April Committee Night Tuesday 1st, 8:00

February

Wednesday 9th, 6:30 FIRST POKER RUN Venue TBA

Committee Night Tuesday 4th, 8:00

Thursday 17th Club Night, 7:30

PARTY NIGHT Saturday 8th, 7:00 to Sunday 9th, 1:00am!

Party the night away at Sportsable Thursday, 20th Club Night, 7:30 Ace Café Harley Night Thursday 27th, 6:00

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Dates, events, rideouts and activities Details correct at time of going to print.

Check the website for updates and amendments www.thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Events for your Diary

Club Nights

TV Pre-Season Party 8th Feb 23rd Cider Rally 2nd - 5th May Big Brum Bash 23rd - 26th May Ireland Bike Fest 30th May - 1st June European Rally Biograd Croatia 2 - 16th June

World Ride 2014 (Million Mile) 23rd - 24th June Wake the Lakes 3rd - 6th July Fenlanders Rally 24th - 27th July Hog n Bog Provience wide 1st - 3rd August Sherwood Rally 15th-17th August Thunder in the Glens 22nd - 25th August Deva Legion Circus Maximus 12th - 14th September

February

20th

March

20th

April

17th

May

15th

June

19th

Mag contribution Deadlines

Check website for Changes / further details on all events

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February

13th

March

13th

April

10th

May

8th

June

12th

MERCHANDISE A range of good quality merchandise is now available. See Shirley, on Club Night, who has samples to show you.

All items come in various colours and sizes, and for £5 you can have your name added.

Bodywarmer Zipped hoodie Regatta fleece Varsity jackets Hoodie T/ shirts

£35.00 £27.00 £26.00 £25.00 £23.00 £ 13.50

35

Regatta fleece £26

£ er

Bo

arm w dy

sity

Va r

J

et s ack

£25

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Activities

by

Nick West

Firstly, I would like to thank my fellow committee members and all of the club members for their help in my role as activities officer for the past two years.

A new Activities Officer will be announced at the January Club Night and I will be offering as much advice and support for the new position holder as they want or need.

The new officer will be working with Barry Adams as I did during my tenure.

Please welcome the new incumbent with the same positive support as you have for me and continue to feed your ideas for new events and rides to that person.

The Club is successful because of you; your committee are the enablers but YOU are the force which drives us forward.

Let's make 2014 a GREAT year for Thames Valley HOG with your continued support and as many fresh ideas as you can muster.

You can use the suggestion box to get your information to us anonymously or you can share your ideas with your new Activities Officer, or ANY committee member.

I will continue to serve the Club in my other roles.

Thanks again, Nick

CONTAC

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T

Saturday, 8th February HOT AND COLD BUFFET

Tickets £10 - Have you got yours?

Buy online or at Club Night.

DON’T MISS OUT!

7:00 ‘til 1:00

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Biker Down / First Responder / First Aid Course for bikers in early spring.

- FIRST AID (including helmet removal) - MANAGING A CRASH SCENE - SEE AND BE SEEN Bucks Fire Service are running the Biker Down, first response / first aid course again in 2014.

I have spoken to Keith Wheeler who organises these and asked for some places.

There is a course running at Marlow Fire Station on Thursday 6th March in the evening. If you are interested please contact Nick West (07775696024) or email

safetyofficer@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk.

Places are FREE and allocated on a first come, first served basis.

If you are seeking further information you can look at their website www.bucksfire.gov.uk or contact me. I attended one of these courses last year and the information was extremely valuable.

Nick West (Safety Officer)

HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND?

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Dare to be different

?

IT’S NOW TIME TO START MAKING PLANS FOR 2014 AUGU ST 22 nd -25 th

FIRST RALLY O

F THE

Thunder in the Glens All booking information is now on the website.

See News section.

Don’t forget the EDITOR! We need write-ups to print through these lean times of

YEAR

It has been confirmed that The Cider Rally will be going ahead as usual. Accommodation and tickets available from the Bridgwater site.

no rideouts.

What did you do over the Holidays?

What do you want to see in your mag? Send

SL0 0LP

p.t.o

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This is a picture of one of our regular members taken, well, quite a few years ago!

Can you guess who it is?

Do you recognise him?

YOU!

WE NEED SUGGESTIONS AND IDEAS FOR CLUB EVENTS AND RIDEOUTS. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO; WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO AS A CLUB? SEND YOUR IDEAS TO: activities@thamesvalleyhog.org.uk 21

Whose Bike?

Our ‘Jammy’ photographer, Linda, has been taking candid shots of our bikes when we weren’t looking!

Do you recognise your bike, or that of another club member?

If you correctly identify the bike and owner, you will win a bottle of wine, to be presented at club night.

If there’s more than one correct answer, names will be put in a hat and one drawn out - at club night.

Good luck!

If you can identify this bike, send your answer to Linda, c/o: editor@thamesvalleyhog.org.uk November’s winner: Shirley Churchill

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Bike: Andy Lee

Not a lot of fines this month - in fact, NONE. Not surprising, really with so little club activity, since last club night, over Christmas and the New Year.

The good news is, ÂŁ122 was raised in fines last year *Happy Pig Dance* The bad news is, the Fine Mistress expects that figure to be CONSIDERABLY higher this year.

So watch out.

You have been warned.

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Members’ Market FOR SALE: Men’s FXRG leather jacket.

Size: Medium.

As new condition. Bought from Thames Valley HD. Removable inner lining and a kidney belt.

Reason for sale: Worn once or twice - too small.

Cost new £580 (over £750 now) For sale: £180 07798 866071 Dave Can take to January’s club night.

WANTED:

Do YOU want anything?

l l

If you have anything for this page send, with photo if applicable, to: editor@thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

2014

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Riding in Bad Weather Living in the UK, it doesn't matter if you're a 1500 mile per year weekend biker or a seasoned courier, at some point you’re going to get caught in the rain.

Knowing how it will affect you and your bike should help you adapt your riding style to cope. Although many advanced riding texts argue that your approach to riding in the wet should be no different than dry, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't take extra car and whilst we have a lot of experienced riders in the Club, it never hurts to supplement that experience with a short reminder.

Often car drivers make relatively few adjustments, simply opting to switch their lights and wipers on and continuing at the same speed despite the extra hazard. However, given the statistics for accidents in poor weather, its fairly obvious that there are one or two adjustments we could all make.

As a motorcyclist it's harder to ignore the changing situation, as both you and your bike perform very differently in the wet. The reduction in tyre adhesion will be the most obvious difference, typically around 50%, but it can be significantly more with soft compound sports tyres (having a dry weather bias). Although this is not to say that a hard compound touring tyre will necessarily produce more grip, just that the change will be less noticeable.

We are all taught that braking distances are doubled in bad weather and that we should compensate appropriately, but it is easy to forget how it also affects acceleration and cornering. We will publish some information on maintaining traction later in the year. We will explain briefly how tyre grip works and show the three way balance between cornering, acceleration and braking.

The key focus when riding in the rain is smooth control and forward planning.

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Smooth Control This is not just about being gentle on the brakes and throttle, but also ensuring that you balance your need for grip. In dry weather it is easy to accelerate away from a turn even when the bike is banked over, but the risk of a slide increases in the wet as your available grip is split between cornering and accelerating. If you aim to complete the turn before you accelerate, your demand for grip will be reduced. The same applies to cornering - if you settle your entry speed early, you will be less likely to need to brake mid corner.

Forward Planning Last minute reactions should always be avoided, particularly in the wet. If you plan ahead you should be able to anticipate where you need to brake, position and accelerate. This will enable you to make better use of engine braking for corners and junctions, rather than just relying on the brakes.

Engine braking reduces the risk of skidding, as your wheels are unlikely to lock up. However, it is important to be sympathetic to your bike by allowing the revs to drop before changing to a lower gear. If you change down too early, you risk momentarily locking the back wheel and could potentially strain the engine, gearbox and chain. It's also important to note any following traffic, which may be expecting to see a brake light before you slow down.

How does bad weather affect the rider?

If you were lucky enough to remember your waterproofs, then you will be able to proceed in relative comfort. If you didn't, then after about 10 minutes you will be soaked through. Apart from being unpleasant you will, after a while, start to feel cold and will be more reluctant to move about on the bike. It is important not to underestimate how this affects you. I remember once getting caught in a summer downpour while out on a ride - by the time I got home, I was shivering and could hardly speak. It would be difficult for me to claim I was able to concentrate and keep full control of the bike in those conditions.

Visibility is also reduced in bad weather, so riding with your lights on and wearing some high visibility clothing is also important.

Summary Wet weather riding doesn't have to be avoided. If you give yourself more space, compensate for other drivers who don't adjust and focus on smoothness and planning, you will reduce the risks. Additionally, keeping an eye on how the rain affects you will also help prevent you from making mistakes.

Owning and carrying a good set of waterproofs will always help !

Nick West (Safety Officer)

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Don Wibberley Chapter Director Email: director@ director @thamesvallyhog.org.uk thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Pat Adams Assistant Director Email: assistantdirector@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Colin Wilkins Treasurer Email: treasurer@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Sue Moyler Secretary Email: secretary@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Fred Cotsford Fred CotsfordOfficer Membership Membership Officer Email: membership@ Email: membership@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Nij Jones Nij Jones Head Road Captain Head Road Captain Email: headroadcaptain@ Email: headroadcaptain@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Nick West Nick West Safety Officer & Safety Officer & historian Historian Email: Historian @thamesvalleyhog.org.uk Email: historian@

Barry Adams Barry Adams Activities Officer Activities Officer Email: activities@ Email: activities@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Lee White Lee White Webmaster Webmaster Email: webmaster@ Email: webmaster@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Sue Knight Sue Knight Editor Editor Email: editor@ Email: editor@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Sue Brown Sue Brown Ladies of Harley Ladies Harley Email: of ladiesofharley@ Email: ladiesofharley@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Bernie Meason Bernie Meason Photographer Photographer Email: photographer@ Email: photographer@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

facebook.com/groups/ facebook.com/groups/ thamesvalleyhog thamesvalleyhog youtube.com/user/ tvwebmaster1 Linda LindaFriend Friend Photographer Photographer Email: Email: photographer@ photographer@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Shirley Churchill Shirley Churchill Merchandise Merchandise Email: merchandise@ Email: merchandise@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Club Venue: Club Venue: SportsAble,Braywick BraywickSports SportsGround, Ground, SportsAble, Maidenhead,SL6 SL61BN 1BN Maidenhead,