The Rotary Club of Calne present the 10th Anniversary Motorcycle and Family Fun Day. July 24th 2010.
Calne is a medium sized town off the A4 in Wiltshire which is a curious mixture of noveau rich stone-walled cottages about five year’s old and huge Victorian edifices three to five stories high, but the town centre is right up-to-date and that is where the action was.
This the third of these events I have attended, and if there is a patron saint of motorcycling, then he/she must like Calne and it’s Rotary Club, as once again, the weather was glorious. The principal charity for this year was Wiltshire Air Ambulance.
We arrived on a pair of 1970’s bikes, both coloured blue, 750cc and the one other thing they had in common was they each produced many smiles per mile.
This town centre establishment served vast quantities of drink all day, and despite the noisy crowd outside, the occupants of the police vehicle had little or nothing to do all day. At any one time there were four to four and a half thousand bikers visiting the town with an all day turnover of nine thousand, and the only ‘offence’ I noted was noisy exhaust systems!
The only CCM I could find was this ditch pump engined DS.
500cc and 70 BHP!
Everywhere you went there were bikes parked, on the pavement, in shop doorways, on the road side on double yellows lining the town centre, one corner of the centre was given over to a speedway team who periodically started up a race machine and filled the air with Castrol R., dope and about 120 decibels.
Those good ladies of the Rotary Club had established stalls and stands selling all manner of food and drink, these were situated at many points throughout the town so you were not hungry or thirsty for long.
She may not have been one of the Rotary Club ladies, but she was having a good time.
Another bike with a ditch pump for an engine, this one is an Armstrong.
There was something for all bikers and their families, the BMF had a stand promoting their particular brand of sensible motorcycling, the MAG were there gathering signatures on petitions to present a rigid middle digit to those spineless pencil necks in Westminster.
Also present were many stalls and stands usually seen at fixed venue bike shows like the NEC and Stafford shows. These were selling all manner of biking related products which included helmets, leathers, boots, oils, waterproofs, publications etc, all at significantly lower than High Street prices.
All in all a superb and well organised day for all manner of two wheeled users and their families.
See you next year?
Peter.
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