Kirkby Lonsdale – the Federation’s first Weekend Event

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!