VELOSOLEX OWNERS GROUP

(VOG’s)

May Run – The end of VOG’s “summer wine”

A jaunt around the Hornby area was the order of the day for our May run with a visit to Wigram

Airforce Museum to round it off. Dave Malcolm led the way this time but his day didn’t get off to a fine start with his trusty machine suffering a blowout in the rear tyre on the way to the start at Hornby Club’s carpark. But all was not lost as Dave set off back home which fortunately was near by and picked up a “real” motorbike – his lovely Triumph. Somewhat of an overkill as Dave barely got out of first gear all morning. Some tricky riding by the 14 riders on the day facing all the traffic along the roads. The most tense being a right hand turn at the lights from Shands / Amyes Rd’s corner, just getting ourselves over to the right hand turning lane was nail biting with “huge” trucks bearing down on us. Fortunately one kindly motorist travelling behind our convoy stopped to let us make safe passage to our destination onto Amyes Rd. It was then safe riding to Wigram via various quiet streets and laneways that Dave had sought out for us.

Originally the plan was to do a stroll through the Museum viewing all the aircraft on display but luck was on our side as when we arrived en force in the carpark one of the Museum volunteers Hans was there to greet us and started yarning to us about our “machines” and to cut a “Long Story” short he said he would check if we could have a guided tour through the restoration workshop. He came back to us and yes that was in order for the princely sum of $2 per person. How great was that. So 1½ hours later we walked out of the Museum blown away by the immense amount of old aircraft that were hidden away in this workshop all being painstakingly restored by the skilled voluntary engineers on site. We also viewed one hallway with aircraft that have not been on view to the public due to the lack of space but we were told this is all soon to change. What a great asset this Museum is to Christchurch. The tour finished and it was back on the bikes to head back to Hornby Club for lunch, but our luck had run out as the forecasted rain had arrived and by the time we got back to our vehicles it was quite moist – oh well never mind we did have a jolly ole morning doing what we enjoy.

Grounds Maintenance Group

Remember: First Sunday and third Tuesday mornings.