The first annual Prescott Bike Festival was a success beyond expectations.

The one day event attracted in excess of 5,500 visitors, 100 exhibitors and some unforgettable opportunities to celebrate all things two and three-wheeled. More importantly, it raised over £52,000 for charity. 

The Prescott Bike Festival was born out of the need to raise awareness and fundraise for the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes and one of its member groups, Severn Freewheelers. For 22nd April 2012, the Prescott Bike Festival will be bigger, better and hopefully generate even more money for this worthy cause than before.

Set at one of the most prestigious hill climb venues in the UK against the beautiful backdrop of the Cotswold Valley, the Prescott Bike Festival aims to provide something for everyone; a relaxed family atmosphere, a huge variety of entertainment and a rare opportunity to ‘Run the Hill’ on your own motorcycle.

Well supported by the bike industry, highlights of the 2011 event included the UK debut of the Morgan Three Wheeler, classic machinery from the Brooklands Museum, helicopter rides, live bands, the Stunt Starz stunt riding team and the chance to meet the stars of the British Superbike Championship. Not to mention riders aged from 8 to 81 taking to the hill.

In 2012, the Festival will feature the addition of a new Race Bikes Thru’ the Ages display area. Never before has such an extensive collection of bikes been brought together. Here, festival goers will not only be able to get up close with rare exotica, early pioneering machinery, modern MotoGP bikes and more but see many of them in action, ridden by race riders. Of particular note is support from the Lansdowne Classic Series, who will be displaying some of the most prestigious race bikes of the 50’s and 60’s. The 2012 Festival also promises a kids demo area, a new Orchard Food & Bar Village, a Run the Hill Fancy Dress competition and so much more.

One of the most amusing new features for the Prescott Bike Festival 2012 was inspired by the unexpected entry of super hero, Superman, into last years’ Run the
Hill. This year, entrants can choose to tackle the hill climb in fancy dress, raise money for the Blood Bike charities and win a fantastic prize for the best costume of the day!

www.prescottbikefestival.co.uk has just been launched to provide more details on what will be in store and give the opportunity to purchase advance tickets and secure your place to Run the Hill. There are just 200 entry places to Run the Hill, so it’s best to book early!

Prescott Bike Festival will take place on Sunday 22nd April 2012 and all proceeds from the day will go to the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes and Severn Freewheelers.

The Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes is the umbrella organisation representing 12 regional blood bike charities, all providing a motorcycle based, free delivery service to the NHS; moving vital medical supplies, blood and pathology samples from medical centres and hospitals throughout the UK. Recently NABB member groups have become involved in the transport of frozen human milk from the donor to the milk processing hospitals. This has been a real life saver due to the necessity of very premature babies intolerance to anything but human milk.

Run entirely by volunteers, NABB member groups have over 700 active members with a fleet of 35+ emergency response motorcycles. All NABB riders have an Advanced Riding qualification, are trained in the movement of medical essentials and operate from individual regional charities, but with a common goal, to alleviate suffering and reduce the funding pressures on the NHS.

NABB was formed in 2010 and is chaired by Gloucestershire man, Gordon Downie.
Severn Freewheelers are the regional Blood Bike group operating in Gloucestershire, Hereford & Worcester and North Wiltshire. Over 70 volunteers help Severn Freewheelers carry out their much needed service. Severn Freewheelers run 4 x BMW R1200RTs and a Honda Deauville, all emergency response equipped and handle some 3000 call outs per annum.

The French motorcycle magazine, MOTOMAG reports on what seems to be a change of position from the French Government after the recent mass protests by French riders.
 
The protests, regarding new traffic legislation proposals, included for motorcyclists the mandatory wearing of Hi-Viz.
 
MOTOMAG report that the Interior Minister persists in the idea of improving the visibility of motorcyclists but says, “In this sense, we must improve the training of drivers,” to better integrate with the two-wheeler drivers. ” But we also have a perception problem at night. It was never intended to dress up bikers in yellow vests, but rather to negotiate with them, reflecting spots or reflective tape.”
 
It is also reported that on French TV, the Interior Minister said that he had nothing against the motorcycle but that he intended to “improve their visibility because bikers are particularly vulnerable”.
 
“It is not question of asking bikers to wear a phosphorescent chasuble*” (Hi viz), said Claude Guéant, but “simply to improve reflecting devices that many of them already have”.
 
This is relevant as MAG Ireland face the possibility of mandatory Hi-Viz material for all motorcyclists in 2014, from their Road Safety Authority (RSA), subject to consultation on the most appropriate type of hi-vis material and possible solutions. At present we are trying to pin down the RSA for an answer, on how they perceive that mandatory Hi-Viz would affect riders from Northern Ireland and other countries visiting Ireland.
 
*Note the nearest translation we can get for chasuble is – jumper, pinafore or sleeveless robe.
 
Read the full article on Right To Ride EU

The Heritage Motor Centre is delighted to announce that CONVOY for HEROES 2011 has beaten the Guinness World Record for the longest Land Rover convoy.  The convoy took place at the Heritage Motor Centre on Sunday 24 April featuring 348 Land Rovers and raising £15,000 for Help for Heroes.

The previous world record was set at Towcester race-course in 2004 by a parade of 260 Land Rovers.  Next year’s event will be held at Prestwold Hall in Leicestershire over the Easter weekend (7 and 8 April) and the organisers are hoping to attract 1,000 Land Rovers and raise even more money for the charity.

Organiser Patrick Stoner said:  “We are absolutely delighted with this result and quietly confident of smashing our own record next year.  The beauty of Convoy is that it attracted not only the dedicated Series and Defender enthusiasts but also drivers of high-end vehicles such as Discovery 4s and late-model Range Rovers.  Next year we are hoping to attract at least one Evoque – and in fact we are offering a modest prize to the driver of the first Evoque to sign up!”

CONVOY FOR HEROES 2012 promises to be bigger and better than ever.  For the latest information on the event keep visiting the website, www.convoy4heroes.org.uk

To find out more about the Heritage Motor Centre, visit the website at www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk

Win an amazing trip for two to visit Daytona Bike Week 2012 - courtesy of Warr's HD - at Ace Cafe London's next, regular monthly, HD Night.

From 7pm on Thursday 27th October, you could strike it lucky, just turn up on your bike for a chance to grab one of ten exclusive Grand Prize Draw tickets. Purchase a £5 raffle ticket(s) in aid of the "Riders for Health" charity and you could win this fantastic holiday!  Prior to the main draw, ten tickets will picked out of the hat and entered into the Grand Prize Draw. Riders for Health ambassador and star of Red Dwarf, Danny "Cat" John-Jules will be picking the winning ticket.

The winners and runners up of the Warr's HD, summer long, Harley Nights at the Ace, HD Custom Bike Competition, have also been entered into the Grand Prize Draw. With less than thirty tickets in the final draw, the odds of winning the trip of a lifetime to sunny Florida are pretty good. The prize includes flights, accommodation, car hire and £500 spending money!

In addition to the latest and greatest metal from Milwaukee, the Ace BBQ (subject to weather!), the Warr's Poster Girls, live music with the Aaron Keylock Band, featuring 13 year old guitar prodigy Aaron Keylock, Warr's HD will also be showcasing their Kings Road Customs and vintage HD's.

*Entrants must be present to win and aged over 18. One entry per person in the final draw. Further terms and conditions available on request from Warr's HD.

www.warrs.com

A leaner, meaner BMF with clear objectives, set the theme for the BMF’s AGM on Saturday.

Held at the Harefield Community Association, Uxbridge, Middlesex, the meeting heard from outgoing chairman Anna Zee that while individual membership numbers had fallen slightly, affiliated club membership remained buoyant and that the BMF’s portfolio of shows, a key source of income for the BMF, although now more professionally presented, had no doubt been hit by the current economic situation.

Speaking on BMF finances, Finance Director Howard Anderson said that while office overheads had been considerably reduced during the year, the work load was still there and he asked for more volunteers to help spread the load. The good news was however that Archant Dialogue, the producers of the BMF’s magazine Motorcycle Rider, had not only cut costs dramatically and increased advertising revenue he said, but were also upgrading the BMF’s website.

This financial theme was continued when it came to the BMF’s shows’ portfolio. For 2012 and beyond, a new contract had been entered into with The Mulberry Group, the organisers of BMF shows for the past two years, whereby they would now take on full responsibility for the shows both functionally and financially.

Martin Chick, Mulberry Group MD, said that while overall he had been happy with the content of the shows, he was not happy with their financial performance. He said that the move of the Tailend show to Lincoln had been a worthwhile experiment, but was not a financial success and therefore, having taken into account public and trader views and discussed it with the BMF’s Management Team, Tailend, with improved contract terms, will be moved back to Peterborough for 2012. “We clearly got the moving of the Tailend show wrong, but we did it for the right reasons” said Martin. “As we’ve said all along, we’ll listen to traders, BMF members and attendees. They’ve all said Lincoln isn’t right for them, hence the move back to Peterborough."

Martin also said that his team were in negotiations with a new sponsor for the shows, which would help defray expenses and increase profitability. 

The show dates for 2012 were announced as:

BMF Show, Peterborough, 18-20 May

BMF Bikefest Kelso, 6-8 July

BMF Tailend, Peterborough, 14-16 September

Amy Nicholson from Archant Dialogue then spoke about Marketing and Communications, specifically about the growth and development of Motorcycle Rider magazine. Advertising revenues had risen she said and there was a new confidence from advertisers, one of whom had already booked for the forthcoming four issues. She noted that with the development of the BMF’s website there would be a further increase in revenues, but as the development had to be self-funding, this would not be overnight.

The BMF’s Government Relations Executive, Chris Hodder, then spoke about lobbying and government relations. He said that the motorcycle training review was still ongoing and he outlined the Euro demonstration planned for Brussels in November against anti-motorcycling proposals. He stressed the need to concentrate on real and not imagined threats and went on to talk about European type approval regulations, in particular dispelling some myths about roadside checks, on-board diagnostics and compulsory ABS.

When it came to BMF elections, Peter Laidlaw was re-elected as Director of Member Services while two new volunteer directors, Tom Duncan and Roger Ellis were co-opted on to the Management Team.

After five years at the helm, outgoing chairman Anna Zee said that for personal reasons she would be standing down but hoped to continue to participate in the Federation’s activities wherever she could and wished everyone well for the future. A vote of thanks was given for the tireless work Anna had performed over the past five, very difficult years.

www.bmf.co.uk