The dates  are 21st -23rd September and the venue for the weekend is the Prince of Wales Hotel right in the middle of town on Lord Street. The accommodation package is an amazingly good deal with rooms costing £77.50 per person for Friday and Saturday nights (two nights) and include your breakfast and evening meals. Single rooms are also the same price. Wingers can extend the weekend break and add further nights to the package at £30.00 per person per night.Ring Maria Broderick at the Hotel on 01704 536 688 and book your accommodation, quoting booking code GOPR2109.

The usual format of parade and best lit bike competition will take place along with a static display during the day. There are still a couple of locations to be finalised but the Police and Marshalling is already arranged with the full support of the Council.

Federation sponsor Knutsford Honda are holding another of their successful “Chrome Crazy” weekends at their main Honda dealership in High Legh, Knutsford. They promise major reductions of up to 25% off prices from all the main accessory suppliers of Goldwing goodies, plus a selection of GoldWings to purchase if your feeling really flushed. No doubt there will be coffee and tea available and the traditional burger van on hand for refreshments.

It is to be a new type of rally which caters for all GoldWing riders and their families and friends, regardless of whether and which club they are in and regardless of whether they like camping or a roof over their head.

The venue is the Rugby Club at Kirkby Lonsdale, which is right next to the Town, so that those staying in hotels or B&Bs will feels just as much part of things as those who camp.  Likewise there will no distinction between those who camp in tents, motorhomes or caravans, all will be equally welcome.

The Event runs over the weekend of Friday 20th to Monday 23rd August 2010, with an option for anyone who which to stay on the enjoy this lovely area to make more of a holiday of their visit, to continue camping there until August 25th.

This venue has a long term relationship with biker clubs who use the facilities of the site during the Rugby closed season. Last year we held a very sucesssfull weekend culminating in a barbeque and several ride outs throughout the area.

This is a beautifull site with stunning views across the valley with the local town of Kirkby Lonsdale less than 5 mins walk by the river. There are facilities for camping, caravans and motorhomes, plus B&B / hotel accomodation in the town. In fact accomodation of every type.

Price for camping at the Rugby site will be no more than £6 per unit per night, regardless if its a tent or motorhome or how many people you have in them.  ((Additional pup tents for the kids will not be regarded as separate units.)  Excellent value for money. Keep an eye on this post for changes as the event develops.

Detailed information will be released on this Website on March 8th, which is when the Venue will be ready to accept bookings.

The Event Organisers are very sorry it’s taken a while to get this far but it has not been easy to find a suitable alternative following the closure of Pontin’s, where the Event had been based successfully for some years.  (There was a glimmer of hope that the Pontin’s Site would re-open under different management but this is not going to happen; demolition is already taking place and the Site is likely to be used for housing development.  Blackpool has a close season once the Illuminations have finished and some of the potential venues were closed.)

We are confident that this new Venue is suitable.  A complex Event like the Light Parade has elaborate and to some extent conflicting requirements and the Organisers have considered a wide variety of options.  Several options were pursued in some detail only to end up proving to be unsuitable.

However we are confident that Wingers are not going to be disappointed by the new Venue which in most respects will be an improvement on Pontin’s, including both quality of accommodation and value for money.   It’s also well placed for purposes of the Best Lit Bike Competition and the Parade itself.

Please accept our apologies for being mysterious about precisely where and what it is at the moment, but it is in everyone’s interests for the Venue to be ready to accept bookings as soon as it’s announced, not least because Pontin’s never quite managed that and one of the improvements we have been working towards is a more accessible and reliable booking system.

One thing we can tell you straight away is that accommodation at the Venue will cost only £35 per person per night for dinner bed and breakfast, and this is for accommodation which we believe is significantly better than the best of the Pontin’s Chalets.  The same discounted rate applies for extra nights too.   Single accommodation will also be available without any supplementary charges and there is accommodation which is suitable for families as well as couples.  We’ve even negotiated discounted bar prices too.

We look forward to welcoming all GoldWing riders, their families and friends, including of course  GWOCGB Members to our Event as friends and fellow Wingers.  GWOCGB Regions are welcome to display their badges and banners during the Parade and to advertise their own events as they wish – indeed we will help them to do so on request, as we did for the South Wales Wing Ding last year.

For further information please visit the GoldWing Light Parade Website.

It’s going to be a Great Weekend!

This is a self-declared “free-spirited” group of riders.  They have no rules and prefer not to use the term “club” because they learned the hard way that rules and a ruling committee are more of a hinderence than a help.

Their annual Alpine Tour, which has been an annual event for many years althgough only lately under the SAT Banner, is an Event which any UK Wingers can join, is described in an Article on this Website as a Featured Club.

Their 2010 Tour takes place in the scenic and mountainous of The Vercors in  France (Near Grenoble) between September 5th and 11th.  You can find more information about it by clicking here.

Alpine Touring takes you to a whole new motorcycling world

The Federation is hoping to increase touring opportunities for UK Wingers by offering and promoting GoldWing Tours during 2010.  The Tours will include UK and abroad.  They may be hotel based or camping tours; they may be one centre, two centres or roaming; any type of motorcycle touring will be considered.

Tours offered by any individual Winger (or by an individual for GoldWings) or by any GoldWing Club may be publicised as part of this Programme.  Likewise the Federation’s own tours will be open to any Winger, not just Federation Clubs and Members.  It’s all about increasing opportunities and providing choice.

We have resources to offer and lead a small number of Tours without additional help but there will also be support available for additional Tours providing Wingers come forward to lead them.  The Federation will help with the planning and administration – providing Wingers come forward to offer to lead them.

This advance information about the Programme is your opportunity to express your personal interest – either as someone who is already running a GoldWing Tour for 2010 or would would like the opportunity to join one.

Wingers who have registered an interest in touring in response to this Notice will, once the programme is ready for release, be offered places before the Tours go on general offer.

We are particularly keen to hear from Wingers who are willing to consider leading a Tour.  Being a Tour Leader isn’t much different from leading a group ride and you won’t be on your own; the Federation will provide planning, administration and troubleshooting assistance.  If you fancy leading a tour this could be an easy way to start doing it.

To express interest in Touring for 2010 please email your contact details to us using the Contact Page on this Website.  Don’t forget top mention whether you are interested in opportunities to lead tours as well as join them.

The final Ride Out of the Weekend – calling on our Event Sponsors, Knutsford Honda

As I write this, early on Monday September 7th at Pontin’s, the sun is shining and Wingers are starting to move around, getting themselves and their Wings ready for the homeward journey before breakfast. It’s a lovely, quiet and peaceful morning and a nice way to finish off a great weekend.

Our last Ride Out of the Weekend will be setting off after breakfast and offers a coffee stop at Knutsford Honda, our Event Sponsor’s Dealership Site on the A50 near Lymm, where Sean and his Team will already have unloaded their van full of accessories and set them up in their new home – an upstairs Showroom extension built specially for them.  (They are continuing their 20% special discount for a few more weeks so don’t miss it!)

This year’s Light Parade was well attended in spite of UK’s economic gloom (over 150 bikes left Pontin’s to ride the Illuminations) there was a great atmosphere.  The Parade itself was run differently this year, partly because of unwillingness by the Police to escort it as in previous years and partly because instead of helping us to get on our way as promised, the Officers who were present decided to stop some of our bikes and tell them to turn off their display lights and/or remove the flags they were flying, which disrupted things somewhat.

But the positives of the new approach to running the Parade more than compensated for this unwelcome intrusion.  Setting off from Pontin’s in the last of the daylight worked extremely well – much better than mustering near North Pier, as in previous years.

Northbound along the Prom in twilight

The Parade made steady progress too once we got going.  Had the Police not disrupted things so badly early on, most bikes could easily have stayed together all the way.  We ended up riding past lots more people, especially lots more children, having lots more photos taken of us, lots more cheering and generally getting a much better buzz from the ride ourselves than ever before.

So we have learned that we can do the Parade very well without the Police – and we can even cope with disruptive hassle from them if necessary, although hopefully that won’t happen again.  It’s difficult to imagine that Blackpool’s Senior Police Officers will feel very pleased about their Officers ignoring instructions and mounting their own ad hoc disruptive operation.  (Postscript: It was “a failure of communications” and the Officers on duty were not briefed to help us as they should have been.  Someone has now been “fully briefed” to make sure it doesn’t happen next year.)

We had excellent cooperation from Blackpool Council this year and special thanks are due to them for making Waterloo Road Headland available; it was in many ways better than St Chads – closer to the crowds at South Pier and the tarmac was flatter and better for the Riding Arena.

Winners of the Best Lit Three Wheeler and Solo Awards

The Friday evening Best Lit Bike Competition was held in windy but dry conditions until judging was complete, when light rain drove everyone indoors to the Bar – the timing couldn’t have been better.

The weather on Saturday started with the tail of the overnight wind and rain and for the first couple of hours of the Display it looked like it wasn’t going to work at all.  But Blackpool weather changes quickly and we ended up with four hours of dry and eventually sunny weather.  The crowds appeared and suddenly it was a big success.  The Headland filled up with GoldWings too, it looked very good indeed.

The Stunt Riding Duet in our Riding Arena were amazing, the best I’ve seen.  What they were able to do on wet tarmac, laced with a bit of sand which was even slippier as the Ring started to dry out, was simply awesome.  The Wheelie Machine, which is a tethered bike on a special rig which allows a rider to experience wheelies safely, was quite impressive too.

Knutsford Honda's display drew lots of attention – even before the sun came out!

Knutsford Honda had done us proud as Event Sponsors with a large Honda Exhibition unit and a lorry full of demonstration bikes, including several GL1800s.  Their stand was every bit as Grand as HondaUK’s last year.

These Guys are very serious about becoming a big player on the UK GoldWing scene.  There can be little doubt that they will be successful in becoming a major source of official Honda GoldWing Specialist Sales, Services and Accessories.  This is a very welcome addition to the UK GoldWing Scene.  If there ever was a carve up of the UK GoldWing market those days are over and the established UK GoldWing specialists are now facing real competition – in delivering quality of service as well as in prices.

Eric Warburton, their Proprietor, spent the whole weekend with us and rode the Parade with what must have been one of the biggest grins he’s had on his face for some time.  Eric is a real GoldWing enthusiast from way back and comes across as a really nice guy.   Having a guy like Eric behind a new GoldWing Honda Dealership is really good news and we were delighted to have him as our Event Sponsor – and he wants to do it again next year!

Lots of people came to Blackpool specially to watch the Parade

So in many ways the Parade itself, and indeed the whole Event, went better than in previous years.  On Sunday, as they strolled around Blackpool, Wingers were being stopped in the street by both public and traders saying that because we went slowly and steadily and they had time to see us properly, this was the best Light Parade yet.

The grin factor from the crowds this year was really gratifying and lots of Wingers said they felt a real buzz from this year’s Parade, it was something special.

The timing of our departure from Pontin’s turned out perfectly.  We rode the whole of the Prom northbound in daylight and dusk, the Illuminations were switching on just as we were reaching the Metropole Hotel, last year’s starting point, and so we effectively got a flying start in lighter traffic and rode through bigger crowds and it is obviously the way to do it in future.

The Entertainment at Pontin’s didn’t work out perfectly this year but the Comedian on Friday was good.  Saturday’s band were far too loud but at least this led to an impromptu Winger’s Karaoke Championship as the alternative and one way and another a great time was had by most if not quite all.  Sunday was quieter but there was plenty of choice – some went into Blackpool to watch the International Fireworks Competition, some watched the Pontin’s Show, some had a quiet drink – or at least they did until it turned into another Winger’s Karaoke Session.  Maybe we need to build that into the programme properly next year, it was certainly popular.  Nigel Mackintosh, our geekish Webmaster, turns out to have quite an exhibitionist streak in him as well as a fine pair of tonsils.

Dave Bowman, winner of the Best Lit Three Wheeler Trophy, with Knutsford Honda's Sean Davis and Eric Warburton – plus of course the lovely Pontin's dancers

This year was the first time the Awards were judged entirely by professionals from the motorcycle industry, with refreshing impact. They had the skills to look for excellence of craftsmanship, originality and ingenuity and were not necessarily impressed by the fact that someone could afford to buy an expensive bike or trike and throw the full catalogue of shiny bits at it.  They looked at the Best Lit Bike contenders in daylight and in detail to check for how well the wiring was hidden.   The blunderbuss approach using LED fridge magnets didn’t impress them at all.

Bill Squires, who won both Best Lit Solo and Best GL1800 on Saturday, hasn’t stopped grinning (or crowing) ever since.  He even won the star raffle prize too!

Best Lit Three Wheeler went to Indian Chief  Dave Bowman, despite PapaJoe – his arch rival – turning up towing a spectacular ten foot high Illuminated Blackpool Tower.  So the arch rival has beaten him for once and PapaJoe had to settle for a free Federation Badge – as its first signed up Individual Associate.  He also muttered something about buying a new trike to start again – the rivalry continues!

Garry Wheat of Pennine Wings won best GL1500 and deservedly so; his bike is immaculate and it would be interesting to see how a direct contest between Garry’s bike and Bill’s GL1800 would go; they are both the best of their model that I have seen so far.

'Vlard' & Izzy Carter, long-time supporters of the Blackpool Light Parade

Best Classic went to Graham Whittaker of The Misfits, for his stunning hybrid GoldWing, built using core parts from a GL1100 with a unique frame and bodywork combining elements from almost all other GoldWing models – a true Classic of creative engineering artistry.  The Judges tried hard to find evidence that it wasn’t a factory designed and built bike but failed; this bike really is a masterpiece.

Graham’s Prize was a Classic Honda Watch but as a professional GoldWing mechanic who doesn’t wear a watch either (or maybe he just can’t tell the time?) Graham felt he shouldn’t accept his prize and so he has kindly donated it back to the Federation for use at a future Event.

This is only my second year as Lead Organiser so I am still on a learning curve but we are making progress.  Bob Summers and I were a synergistic double act this year so he deserves a lot of the credit.  But we have a great team of organisers and we had lots of willing helpers.  This year has been very enjoyable to put together and we have had no hesitation in committing ourselves to running next years BLP.

The next Blackpool Illuminations GoldWing Light Parade is being planned for Saturday September 4th 2010.  We will once again be organising a three-night weekend programme based on Pontin’s, so book your time off work and start planning to work on your bike’s lighting this coming winter – it’s going to be another great weekend!

And if you haven’t had enough of Light Parades for this year there is another one next weekend in Scarborough, Yorkshire – the weather forecast is good and they are rumoured to do decent Fish & Chips over there.  The Organisers of the Blackpool Light Parade wish the Organisers in Scarborough well for their Event and hope they enjoy theirs as much as we did ours.

Can YOU stop Papa Joe claiming the Best Lit Bike Trophy for the 3rd year running?

The Annual Blackpool GoldWing Light Parade is quite simply UK’s brightest and best GoldWing Event.

Each September, large numbers of brightly decorated and illuminated GoldWings parade along the Promenade through the Illuminations watched by thousands of cheering spectators.   There’s really nothing else like it anywhere in the world; a visitor from the US who has been to many large GoldWing Events described it as the best motorcycle parade he’s ever seen.

This year the Parade takes place on Saturday September 5th.  The bikes will leave Pontin’s Holiday Centre at about 7.30pm to ride 7 miles northwards and then seven miles back again along almost the full length of the Promenade.

Most Wingers stay at Pontin’s for the weekend, where there is quite a party atmosphere over a three night stay with special entertainment, a Best Lit Bike Competition, ride outs and other features to make a really enjoyable weekend of friendship and fun.

You don’t have to stay at Pontin’s to join in although that’s by far the best way to do so.  If you ride your Wing into the Pontin’s site between 6.30pm and 7pm on Saturday you will be allowed to join in for the evening, whether or not you are resident at Pontin’s.  Even if you prefer not to ride the Illuminations with everyone else it’s worth going to Blackpool to see this terrific spectacle.

There will also be a large display of GoldWings  parked on the Promenade on the Saturday afternoon.  There will be a riding arena in which skilled riding demonstrations will take place and there will be an exhibition of GoldWings and Accessories by Knutsford Honda, the Event’s Main Sponsor, and other attractions too.  There’s even going to be a face painting artist for the children (and the young at heart) come along and bring them along – it’s going to be a fun family occasion.

The Promenade Display will take place this year at Waterloo Road Headland, which is a short stroll northwards from South Pier.  There will be lots of crowds and lots to see and do.  The Display takes place between 11am and 5pm on Saturday 5th September.

So don’t miss the famous annual GoldWing Light Parade at Blackpool Illuminations, also known as “Pose on the Prom”.  For further information please visit the Blackpool Light Parade website.

It’s a Great Weekend!

Sunshine, food, friends and bikes - who could ask for anything more?

All types of GoldWing events and activities are equally welcome in the Federation’s eyes and this first weekend event illustrates just why.

Members of GoldWings North West, the host Club, and GoldWings North Wales – and even two Founding Members of GoldWings East Yorkshire (the new Club which is forming up based in the Bridlington area)  plus several guests from Southport Cruiser club spent a weekend together enjoying each others company based on the Rugby Club Ground at Kirky Lonsdale, on the fringes of the Lake District.

It’s a large site in lovely countryside and well suited to motorcycling events of various sorts.  We decided to use it for a Social Weekend & Barbecue, with some Wingers  sleeping in B&Bs, some in a Pub (upstairs in the bedrooms!) some in caravans and motor-homes, some in tents and some who came just for a few hours for the Barbecue.

Relaxed Winger enjoying a chat between showers

In spite of the weather, which was distinctly windy and showery, it was a successful event and although it was primarily a Social Weekend a few hardy souls did manage a Ride Out, which turned out to be over pretty rain-swept hills.  The sensible ones limited themselves to strolling around the nearby Town, sampling the various cafes and cake shops.

Cookhouse and Marquee

In Kirkby Lonsdale it was just a question of showers but up on the Rugby Ground the wind howled, the caravans rocked, the motor-home awnings were furled in the early hours and the marquee nearly got airborne several times, prevented from doing so only by frantic holding on and strong pairs of hands re-making the connections between the supporting poles which were popping apart left, right and centre.  It was really quite lively.

The Harley nearly became Raffle Prizes

But come 4pm on the Saturday afternoon the sky brightened, the rain stopped and the wind eased – and we had a very successful barbecue, sitting in the open or under the marquee chatting and laughing until late.

One Member, Barry, deserves a prize as the most determined camper for bringing, for a first time outing, an elderly camping trailer tent he bought off EBay for the purpose with no instructions and a huge collection of poles and canvas.  It took the combined efforts of half a dozen or more Members to hold various bits of pole in all sorts of experimental combinations to no avail until two clever ladies, Barry’s wife Leslie and our very own Cockney Jackie, worked out how it was all supposed to fit together and took charge.

Barry's Bedouin Palace - completed at last

For an hour or so it looked like it would never work and everyone was getting distinctly wet and then hey presto! The penny dropped, the poles went into place under the front extension and up it went – there was shelter from the drizzle at last.

Once it was up and pegged down it seemed to be the most stable habitation on the field and it was incredibly roomy.  Inside the awning went a posh and pristine awning  liner and it was transformed into a home fit for a Bedouin Prince.  For a cost of £850 off EBay it was amazing; it could easily accommodate a family for a two week holiday – it might take them the first week to get it erected.

Finishing touches inside

It has two proper double beds in the trailer and a living area in the awning as big as most houses.  Whether the family using it would survive as a family after the domestic strife which putting it up would cause but with a couple of teenage children to help it would be achievable.  When it’s up and finished, what a palace.  If the marquee had blown away this trailer tent would have made a reasonable substitute.

Despite giving nearly two hours of exercise and team-building experience to a bunch of Wingers, all of whom kept their cool and their sense of humour and would otherwise have spent their afternoon drinking in the Marquee, Barry decided this beast of a device was going straight back on EBay after the weekend.

Proper tenting bikers!

Among the membership of GoldWings North West (as other GoldWing Clubs) there are some very resourceful people.  So we erected our borrowed marquee, set up our loaned six burner barbecue, arranged our trestle tables under a small city of gazebos – come 5pm Saturday cooking commenced.

And what cooking it was. As well as plenty of burgers and sausages there were chicken kebabs in three different marinades, chicken breast portions, fresh salmon fillets and, believe it or not, two complete legs of lamb!  What a feast!

Friendship and chat in the evening sunshine

Dave, who kindly donated the lamb,  supervised the clever technical bits while his son Edward, trainee professional chef,  and other members in shifts took their turns as kitchen slaves.  I lost count but we must have fed forty or fifty people; it was quite a feast.  And it was free for Federation Members, only £5 per head for non-Members who with openness and inclusiveness which marks the Federations new approach to GoldWing events, were made most welcome.

We even let Southport Cruisers, whom we’d met at Woodvale a few weeks earlier, come along – and they ride a mixture of Wings and Harleys.  Of course the guys riding Harleys came in for quite a bit of stick and we did claim them (the bikes not the riders) for use as raffle prizes, but it was fun to be together and everyone had a great time.  The Harleys didn’t disappoint; they did mark their territory and one of them did refuse to start.

Over for the weekend from East Yorkshire

And some Wingers came along specifically to join GoldWings North West, which continues what has been a month-by-month trend since the Club formed.  It is both enjoyable and relaxing being a Member of an independent Club; we do what we want and we’re beholden to no-one but we are also open, welcoming and friendly to other Wingers, whatever club they might or might not belong to.  There a conspicuous absence of anything remotely resembling club politics.

Showing off their nice new Club Badge

This Event wasn’t the prototype model for future weekend Federation events because of course there isn’t any particular type of event that we concentrate on – anything goes.  But it was certainly an enjoyable weekend in spite of the weather and Kirkby Lonsdale is certainly somewhere many of us would like to use again.

It’s all about freedom of choice!