chairman’s lip cadam what’s on? 2013 the bit on … · 3 issue 33 augustseptember 13 welcome to...

Registered Charity No. 1111635

Affiliated to Group No: 7251

Chelmsford & District Advanced Motorcyclists

Affiliated to Group No: 7251 Registered Charity No. 1111635

August/September 2013

ON TWO WHEELS – CHELMSFORD & DISTRICT ADVANCED MOTORCYCLISTS

ON TWO WHEELS – CHELMSFORD & DISTRICT ADVANCED MOTORCYCLISTS

How to Find Us

AugustTues 13th Group Night EPSA. 19:30

Sun 18th Social Ride & BBQ Mc D’s. 08:30

Mon 19th Committee Meeting EPSA. 19:30

September

Sun 1st Social Ride Mc D’s. 09:00

Tues 10th Group Night EPSA. 19:30

Sun 15th Social Ride Mc D’s. 09:00


OctoberTues 8th Group Night EPSA. 19:30


Tues 15th Committee Meeting EPSA. 19:30


NovemberTues 12th Group Night EPSA. 19:30


Mon 25th Committee Meeting EPSA. 19:30

DecemberTues 10 th Group Night EPSA. 19:30.

Club Nights

The Sports Pavilion, Chelmsford Police HQ, St. Margaret’s Road. 19:30 for 22:00 start unless otherwise stated. Please refer to CADAM events listing for dates.

Apologies, but we will need to collect £1.00 from each member present on club nights to cover the cost of hiring the room.

Guest speakers and the occasional raffle are being planned for some of the meetings. For more details or suggestions for future events, please contact a member of the committee.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Your Club Needs You!If you have any suggestions that you feel may benefit the club and its members, then we would love to hear from you. That might include suggestions (or niggles) about training, club nights, rideouts or this magazine.

We are a team of volunteers and it is important to us that the club operates to benefit all members.

If you have any suggestions please don’t hesitate to contact one of the committee at a club night, on a ride out or via the emails listed inside. Better still, why not come along to a Committee Meeting and get involved. With your help we can make riding safer and fun.

CADAM What’s On? 2013Visit the Forum and Events Calendar at www.cadam.org for more details

of all events listed. Check regularly as events are regularly added or amended. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Chairman’s Lip

The Bit on the Side with InkyAnn

Battlefield Tour

Financial Statement ‘12

Shooting the Breeze

3

Issue 33 • August/September 2013 • www.cadam.org

Welcome to the latest issue of O2W! Some say, Prince Harry keeps a copy of O2W in the Apache’s cockpit alongside his SA80, in case of emergency…

Chairman Jonathan Harman [email protected]

Vice Chairman Craig Anson [email protected]

Treasurer Steve Green [email protected]

Group Secretary Tony Metcalf [email protected]

Membership Secretary Dean Scrivener [email protected]

Chief Observer Dennis Kitterridge [email protected]

Recruitment Promotion Officer [email protected]

Training Co-Ordinator John Stevens [email protected]

O2W Editor Mark Anstey [email protected]

Committee Member Phil Draper

Webmaster Craig Anson [email protected]

The CADAM Committee

OUR AIMSChelmsford and District Advanced Motorcyclists (CADAM) is one of many groups across the country whose aim is to improve motorcycling road safety by helping people prepare for, and pass, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) Advanced Motorcycling Test.Our group is affiliated to, but not subservient to, the IAM. However, because we share the same aims, we often seem to speak with one voice.CADAM is run by volunteers and serves the districts of Essex in and around Chelmsford. As well as helping people to pass the Advanced Test, we run the group as a club, so that once you have passed, you will still want to stay on and take part in our other activities. We provide:Structured instruction to prepare for the IAM Advanced Motorcycling Test. You can choose a course that runs on Saturdays or one that runs on Sundays. These courses are designed to take even relatively inexperienced riders and raise their riding to IAM test standards.

Machine control days to increase your machine handling skills. These sessions are held off the public road, so we can explore your capabilities and those of your machine in safety.Social runs over challenging routes (no motor-ways, thanks!) to interesting places. Weekends away to ride some new roads, normally out of Essex.Monthly group meetings, often with a talk from a speaker on an interesting topic to do with motorcycling.On 2 Wheels – This newsletter, keeping you up to date with what’s happening.Want to know more? Call our general enquiries number 07790 656 687 – or just turn up at a meeting and introduce yourself to a committee member!Future Events – listings and directions can be found on the back cover.

When on a club run, be it an evening or a weekend event, speed limits must be observed. We have no exemption and advanced riding does not need to involve higher speeds. When approaching hazards appropriate care must be taken. On clubs runs you are running as CADAM and under the IAM banner.

Do not bring this into disrepute. Also the Marker system will be used. Anyone not familiar with this system please speak to one of the run organisers who will run through this for you.

Thanks and safe riding.

Jonathan Harman, Chairman, CADAM

Chairman’s Big Alpine Chill Out - Someone forgot to tell

Private Anstey that WWI finished in 1918? That’s What I Call a Road!

Welcome to our latest Associates: Charlie MacLoughlin, Amanda Jones, Matthew Purdon, Henrich Ruschen, Stephen Morris and Graham Smith. A very warm welcome to you all and thank you for flocking to the ranks of Cadam. Whilst Andy Murray may have reached his pinnacle, we will do our very best to help each of you reach yours. So please make the most of your time (and our summery weather - will it last??) with your Observers and ask plenty of questions whilst taking a drink from your bottle of water.

With 6 new members (5 of those in less space than a month), is this a new record for Cadam?

Those glued to the forum would have noticed more

fantastic achievements this month. Congratulations to Kathy Mortimer, Phillip Lake, Antoni Gochmanski (Toni) and Nick Beach who have both ridden their socks off and passed their IAM Advanced Test. Well done all of you!

What has happened since the wheels of O2W last turned?

My Chairman’s Big Alpine Chill Out – turned out to be just that! Ice and snow one day and sizzling hot inside a summer BBQ the next... In fact, thanks to Mother Nature I doubt that in any June it could ever be repeated. Don’t just take my word for it - Mark ‘Snapper’ Anstey will do his best to bring it all back to life in full techno colour and real time print in future issues... To be frank this is a taster of what you let pass you by: Trapped by an avalanche, landslides on Furka, a steep walk to top of Stelvio, earthquake in Switzerland, a French monsoon, electrical storm followed by a blizzard Italian style, the ‘wrong’ Chaumont, cable car riding in the clouds, up to our knees in snow, building the worlds first ’snow’ motorcycle, off road riding, stuck in a town for a day, riding through a Christmas card

Chairman’s Lip…

5


scene, amazing chocolate cake,

Lake Garda, scenery you cannot

describe – and so it goes on.

Sunday June 7th was greeted

by riders from all the big guns

of advanced training in Essex

as they took over McDonald’s

at Boreham for this years Jane

Wilson Memorial Ride. Even the

weather did us proud by shining

on Jane. A huge thank you to all

those who participated in Jane’s

memory. If my maths is correct (and it probably isn’t!) you all helped to raise £190. So thank you - not just for being there, but for being there for the wonderful lady herself.

Thanks to Dennis Kitteridge for

his evening of delight as July’s

Group night was on Police radios

and communications. It was

an interesting trip back to the

days of Dixon of Dock Green,

‘Z’ Cars and Juliet Bravo and through to where we are today.

Saturday July 27th bore witness to this years low speed skills day at Dunton. Again a big thank you to Dunton for another days use of their facilities and thanks to Dennis and his team of Observers for organising and running the day for those 10 (I believe) that attended.

Saturday August 3rd was our

gliding afternoon at Ridgewell

Airfield and a big thank you to

Vee and her colleagues at Essex

Gliding. The day commenced

with 5 of us including our latest

Associate Graham Smith setting

course for breakfast at Bizzi

Beans, Long Melford. Traditional

full English or bacon and sausage

baguettes washed down with

various coffees followed, before

we arrived at the 100th Bomb

Group Memorial Museum, at

Dickleburgh, Norfolk. Located

down a narrow lane out in the

‘sticks’ is the preserved control

tower and Nissan type huts, all

now converted to a packed

museum; celebrating the 100th

Bomb Group. Between 1943

and 1945 this was ‘home’ to

the American 349th, 350th,

351st and 418th squadrons

flying predominantly B17 Flying

Fortresses. Whilst this is now

arable farmland, looking out

across the fields from the

control tower you can still

see the remains of part of the

runways and pillar box type

shelters. Back then we would

have been looking out at over

600 acres of airfield, with 3

runways (the main runway

being nearly 2km long!) with

some 70 B17’s parked around

its perimeter. At Ridgewell

Airfield 6 of us each went up

for a 5 minute flight in a glider

with 3 of us going for ’seconds’.

We were ’winched’ into the air

with the venom of acceleration

akin to a dragster at Santa Pod

until we were set free to fly;

with each of us having a short

go at flying the glider. In fairness

I think our flights would have

been a tad longer had it not been for the low and menacing thunder clouds that let rip every so often.

Whilst my late Father was a

fighter pilot in WW2, sadly I do not seem to share his ‘genes’ when it comes to flying. In fact I can feel quite ‘green’; with theme parks (and boats) usually having the quickest effect. Gliding in a near straight line or slight turn in near silence was just amazing, looking down on the different shaded patchworks of fields, roads and distant weather patterns. So I guess I should not have been surprised that although it was a very short flight, the tight spiral turns on the way down did not really do it for me and felt as sick as a 4 legged family pet on the ride home and the following day. Gutted!

Like most things, perhaps it is something you get accustomed to the more you do it?

If you have never tried it, gliding

is one of those things on your ‘must do’ list. Me? I will try it again but will be chewing my way through a packet of motion sickness tablets whilst climbing in the cockpit.

Sunday August 18th is the return of our sizzling summer Cadam BBQ, courtesy of Jen and Mick Gowlett. So, don’t plan anything else and just ride on over. Alternatively, if you don’t know the way, we at Cadam we like to go one better! Meet up with your Ride Leader, Dennis Kitteridge, 0830 at McDonalds, Boreham and not only will you enjoy a scenic social ride with everyone else, but Dennis will do all the navigating and will get you there in time to enjoy the all the smells, atmosphere and tastes of very fine cuisine,

the worlds first ’snow’ motorcycle

Riva del Garda on Lake Garda

Trapped by an ‘avalanche’ on St. Bernard’s Pass

print the way it should be...

t: 01268 573486

www.i-print-4u.com

WHEN ONLYTHE VERY BEST WILL DO...

CALL THE PRINT & DESIGN COMPANY WITH ALL THE ANSWERS!

summer BBQ style. Great ride, company and food.

Friday August 30th - Monday 2nd September sees another great Cadam getaway! Again organised by Mick Gowlett, is a weekend away in North Yorkshire. Whilst we cannot guarantee what will be in the skies above (sun shine of course!) we can guarantee more great rides, scenery, company and food. So please see the man himself and sign on the dotted line!

Sunday September 8th is this years Essex Air Ambulance Motorcycle Run from Dunton to Harwich. You know all about it so I need say no more. All I will say is that some years ago I attended a very nasty crash involving a V-Max and a tree. The rider was in a very poor way. When I visited him several days later in hospital to see how he was, he broke down and grabbed my hand when he told me he was laying there in and out of consciousness, unable to move and the only thoughts that took away the pain; were those that he was going to die. He then explained how he saw a bright yellow helicopter coming towards him over the distant tree line. It gave him something to focus on, then he then realised it was the Air Ambulance. It then dawned on him that it was coming for him and as he said to me: “Just seeing that helicopter, I then knew I was going to live.” You cannot thank them for what they do enough,

so please give them your Sunday and your support.

If you can also give an hour or two to Cadam that day by helping out with our stand at Harwich, then that would be really appreciated too.

New metal includes an all new Suzuki V Strom recently spotted testing. Suzuki have also updated their Hayabusa with ABS and a coat of canary paint. Looks rather yellow.

I had another punt on a VFR1200F. You will recall my thoughts of a previous steer in a past issue. It is still put together like a Swiss timepiece, but sadly unable to tell the time like a Swiss timepiece. For you can just feel the internals of the V4 almost grinding away in the boiler room below and both 1st and 2nd gears are akin to the Burj Khalifa skyscraper - incredibly tall. Smoothly does it around a roundabout means 1st gear. Try it in 2nd and it will protest in clonks and clangs from engine and transmission. Not to mention transforming your roundabout into a 50p piece. The V4 in your ST1300 is far smoother than this. So come on Honda, you really going to put this engine in your new Pan? Really??

BMW have released a ‘Sport’ model to their K1600 range. Er - the less said about it the better. If garish graphics and orange paint are your bag, then you might want to look it up,

otherwise I would walk the other way or pray for an HP6. Their naked S1000RS has been snapped in testing and there are also photos of the new GS Adventure doing the rounds, should be seen in the flesh before the year is out. Both the GSA and S1000SR are yours for the taking next year.

Something of more interest is Norton’s recreation of their iconic Domiracer. This barks back to their race bikes of the 1960s. Just 50 are being built and none come in road legal trim J - and you might get a little change from £20,000 too!

Something that has grabbed my attention the most is the apparent fact that Lotus will have a 200bhp motorcycle “finished and ready to go on sale in 2013”. News indeed to me. Can’t wait for that one!

Some more interesting trivia this issue: The number of road casualty deaths fell to 1,754 in 2012 – the lowest figure since national records began.

So, go and enjoy the rest of our summer weather, your motorcycles, your own and our group rides.

Safe Riding

JH

9


The Isle Of Man Tourist Trophy. The TT. To most bikers it’s a mecca, an aspiration, or ‘a bunch of nutters’; for some local residents it’s three weeks of disruption and inconvenience. I did four trips over to the Island between November and April to prepare for racing there and watched countless onboard videos. Just before the TT we were fortunate to gain a new sponsor: Safe Response Ltd who make LED visor signs for the Emergency Services such as First Responders, Mountain Rescue and the like.

The first couple of days after arrival were frantic:

we pitched the awning and set up on Wednesday

then filled the next two days with meetings,

signing on, scrutineering, fettling, trips to Fairy

Bridge, briefings and obligatory guided laps (mine

was with Tom Birchall, passenger of the World

Championship-winning Birchall Brothers: later in

the fortnight they took their maiden TT win). It

was lovely to meet up with CADAM members

Chris & Gina McEvoy and Phil & Elaine Richardson

who had their names on our fairing – we managed

a cup of tea & biscuits but I had to rush off for

another briefing.

Saturday 25th May at 6.35pm was our start time for

the speed-controlled lap, which is mandatory for

all newcomer drivers and passengers. A crocodile

of sidecars set out, with a very experienced driver/

passenger combo every few places. Through sheer

luck we were directly behind former TT winners

John Holden & Andy Winkle. Both John & Andy

are incredibly approachable and generous with

their time and expertise. They have each narrated

an on-board lap round the TT circuit using footage

from a 2012 practice lap with Tony Baker/Fiona

Baker-Milligan: “TT Sidecar Lap Guide with John

Holden” narrated from the driver’s perspective

and “TT Sidecar Lap Guide with passenger

Andy Winkle” for the passenger’s perspective. I

particularly like Andy’s comments about “I don’t

usually see this bit…”

The weather was on our side and as we set off

down Bray Hill I couldn’t quite believe it was

finally real. All my anxieties about when and

where to move, what the g-force would feel like

and how bumpy it would be were unfounded.

By Union Mills I had a HUGE grin on my face

and was loving it. I did make a mistake around

Drinkwaters (named after the Drinkwater family,

who have many family graves in Old Kirk Braddan

graveyard: any relation to CADAM’s Ian ‘Pikey’

Drinkwater?). I knew that there was a slight left

coming up but couldn’t quite remember where,

so moved too soon, got back in, then had to

move out again. It didn’t unsettle the sidecar but

I did feel like a twonk!

As we flew into Kirk Michael I was readying myself

for the speed and bumps, when without warning

I had a face full of steam and fluid. I thumped

David, hard, and we pulled over half way through

the village: our radiator cap had come adrift from

the seat unit banging on it! With the help of a

lovely local resident and ex-sidecar racer (what

are the chances?) we retrieved the cap from its

resting place on the engine, refilled the radiator,

and asked the marshals for permission to proceed.

Race Control said no, since we’d missed the

sighting lap, so we spent the evening in pleasant

sunshine chatting to other spectators instead.

Sunday was a day of rest – a chance to take a trip

on the Steam Railway to Port Erin – then Monday

was back to the grindstone with completely

stripping and fettling the bike (including lockwiring

the radiator cap!) then back through scrutineering.

Less than 5 minutes before we were due to set off,

from the back of the field, the red flags came out

on solo practice following the death of TT Legends

rider Yoshinari Matsushita at Ballacr ye.

The evening was subdued.

Th

e b

it o

n th

e Si

de

11


Tuesday’s practice was cancelled due to weather,

but on Wednesday evening we were raring to

do two untimed laps despite the poor forecast.

On lap 1 from the back of the grid, we steadily

made progress, feeling our way around the circuit.

We clipped the inside of the bank at the top of

Barregarrow but were fortunate not to dent the

rim or deflate the tyre. The rain started in earnest

over the Mountain and by lap two most outfits

had pulled in. We had a massive moment at the

bottom of Barregarrow, but held it and pushed

as hard as we dared: I was thinking “We’re on cut

slicks… I’m going to focus on the word ‘cut’.”

The rain was torrential making the circuit

extremely slippery and visibility atrocious. We saw

several competitors who had either spun out or

pulled over, and by the time we reached Ramsey

it was a bedraggled queue which tiptoed over the

Mountain and back to safety. From our perspective

we’d completed two full laps and had been given

assurances from Gary Thompson, the Clerk of

the Course, that we were permitted to continue

practice. As a novice the rules said I should have

completed 3 full laps by the end of Wednesday. I

had become used to the handles and footblocks

and was feeling extremely comfortable on the

side. We estimated our lap average as around

84mph on lap 1.

On Thursday the weather took a turn for the

better and it was in good conditions and sunshine

that we set off. I was wearing my brand new

Daytona boots, couriered in that morning, along

with a race visor and tear-offs. We set off at our

grid position of 57 of 62 outfits and on lap 1 we

simply flew, overtaking at least 8 outfits during

the lap. Through Sulby speed trap we clocked

107.4mph: too slow, and caused by being baulked

into Quarry Bends. Going past the Grandstand

was exhilarating as we had a much clearer road

and I was looking forward to a really good lap.

Our lap speed was an average of 91.4mph and

sufficient to qualify us for the race.

We caught and overtook a couple more competitors but, having changed the gearing after Wednesday’s practice, it wasn’t feeling quite right in about 3rd / 4th gear. After clocking a much more respectable 128.1mph through Sulby speed trap we almost ran on at Sulby Bridge, but recovered quickly and sped on to Ramsey.

Passing the last of the slow outfits we had a gloriously clear run over the Mountain with the bike feeling completely stable and responsive. I managed a quick wave at Tower Bends, then as we rounded the Verandah I made the novice error

of working out we were less than 10 miles from

home. As we exited the left-hander, Les Graham

Memorial, we ran out of road on the exit due to

our increased speed. We both thought we could

hold the bike, but the nose of the fairing hit a

drainage ditch cut in the bank and we crashed

at 120mph.

The marshals and our fellow competitors were

fantastic, looking after us while the AirMed

helicopter was called and also phoning our family

at the Grandstand. Needless to say the session had

been red-flagged since the sidecar self-destructed

as it cartwheeled across the tarmac and we had

both been thrown out. We estimated, afterwards,

we’d been on a 97-98mph lap and were

devastated not to be out there and racing with

our friends. All the staff at Nobles Hospital were

fantastic: I was released the following day with

severe soft tissue damage (and a set of crutches)

whereas David spent 3 weeks there with multiple

breaks to feet, ankles, hand and ribs. We were both

extremely fortunate to be alive, but our TT2013

journey was at an end.

In the next edition: Recovery; Getting back

out there! Anne ‘InkyAnn’ Garnish.

We had a massive moment at the bottom of Barregarrow

13


BATTLEFIELDtourFriday, the start to the bank holiday weekend, the weather was great, no I lied, it was actually absolutely hissing down as I waited at our usual CADAM McDonalds’ starting point.

JH turned up on time and we made our way

down the A130 to collect Doug and Lee and

continue on to reach the

channel tunnel for the

early train. The good

thing here was no

rain, it was dry, in

the train. So, four intrepid riders, myself, Jonathan

(JH) Doug and Lee set out on the ‘battlefield

tour’ organised by our own JH and chairman.

Leaving the train we made our way out onto

the motorway to make progress towards our

final destination of Caen via our lunch time stop

at Honfleur

Now it worth mentioning a few things about

Honfleur because it’s such a beautiful place,

so here goes: Honfleur is a commune in the

Calvados department in north western France. It

is located on the southern bank of the estuary of

the Seine across from le Havre and very close to

the exit of the Pont de Normandie. Its inhabitants

are called Honfleurais.

It is especially known for its old, beautiful

picturesque port, characterized by its houses

with slate-covered frontages, painted many times

made out of wood in France.

JH had arranged for us to stay at the IBIS hotel

to the west of Caen, staying in single rooms for

about £60 each per night. After some 300 miles

of travelling we all booked in, took a shower and

agreed to meet outside the restaurant later that

evening for a meal and a beer or similar.

The food was good, plenty of choice

and a nice ambience.

It’s Saturday morning and the suns out as we

meet for breakfast and JH explains the itinerary

for the day. A light travelling day, after the early

morning start the day before, but with lots of

interesting sites to visit including Pegasus Bridge.

So here are a few extraordinary facts about this

bridge. Pegasus Bridge was the objective of 6th

(Airborne) Division’s ‘coup de main’ force on

the night of 5th/6th June 1944. Three gliders

dropped within yards of the target, the road

bridge across the Caen canal. Inside were men

from Oxs and Bucks Light Infantry Airborne,

under the command of Major John Howard in

what has been called some of the best flying of

the war, the three gliders came

down close to the bridge,

and the advanced

15


par ty under Lieutenant Den Brotheridge

stormed the defences. Brotheridge was killed

on the other side of the bridge, just short of

the nearby Gondree Cafe. With this bridge, the

bridge across the Orne secured by another party

from the Oxs and Bucks, Howard had achieved

his objectives in ten minutes and sent the radio

message ‘Ham and Jam’ to indicate both positions

had been taken intact.7th Para then arrived, and

the crossroads in Benoueville were held for the

rest of the day, despite attacks from elements of

21st Panzer Division. Lord Lovat’s commandos

arrived along the road from the direction of

Ouistreham, and the link up was complete.

The original Pegasus Bridge was replaced in

the 1990s, but is now preserved in the grounds

of the nearby Airborne Museum. There are

plaques on the site of where the gliders

came down and a memorial to John Howard.

Overlooking the bridge is the first of the

Pegasus Trail orientation tables.

We had coffee at the Gondree café which was

the first building to be liberated. The Gondree

Cafe had been used as an aid post, and the cafe

owner, Monsieur Gondree, dug up his supply of

champagne from the garden and gladly shared

it with his liberators. Today the cafe has become

the first stop for any visitor to this part of the

battlefield; it is still owned by the Gondree family,

and still a cafe; but inside is like a living museum.

A short walk from the bridge took us to the

Airborne museum after which we continued

our travelling to the Breville and Merville gun

battery installations.

Did you know about the gliders? This is a story

all of its own, and no, not a two man glider but

big enough to carry twenty eight soldiers and all

of their kit!

A cracking day and a lot was learnt by me

especially with the additional knowledge from

Doug who was in the army and had a lot of extra

information to add.

Sunday morning, after yet another breakfast,

It’s back on the bikes to visit more sites in the

American sector. This might sound boring but

I can assure you it was very interesting. I must

compliment the French here as the cost to

getting into the exhibitions etc were normally

about 5 Euros unlike some interesting place at

home which charge a lot more.

We are at Omaha beach, where the most losses

to life took place, about 8000 Americans and

more, It now looks quite peaceful here as a

tour bus of Americans turn up to view the area.

During our time here I looked at the coast line

and its something like 80 plus miles that had

to be taken by the allies, providing our own

harbour which was built and towed from Blighty

and assembled under fire before unloading of

supplies could be star ted.

Bugger! It’s Monday already and its time to return

to good ol’ Blighty. Breakfast at 7am and planned

to leave at 8am local time. All went according to

plan as we make our way out of Caen towards

the motorway where we intend to ride the bulk

of the distance before going west to the coast

and a planned lunchtime stop at the seaside

town of Le Crotoy.

Le Crotoy was a great choice to stop for lunch

and maybe worth a CADAM ride out day in the

future as its not to far from Le Touquet which we

have done before.

I for one had not really appreciated the scale

of the Normandy invasion which took place

along so many miles of beaches by soldiers of

many nationalities without the use of some of

the things we now take for granted such as GPS,

mobile phones and modern day computers.

Normandy is a fantastic area to visit, even if

you’re not into battlefield paraphernalia with

some great places to visit on just as great roads,

After yet another breakfast, it’s back on the bikes to visit more sites

17


but I really think that those that could not make it

missed out on a bloody good well organised tour.

Don’t forget to check out the CADAM gallery

where we will try and upload a number of the

photo’s taken.

For me, it’s seems very difficult to get your mind

round how they planned all of this and managed

to keep it secret from the Germans at the time.

So here are a few of the things they planned and

carried out.

The ‘Ruperts’ the nick name given to almost

life size mannequins made from sack cloth and

stuffed with straw and fireworks. Used as a

Paradummy on a mission codenamed ‘Titanic’

dropping hundreds in the early hours of D Day

June 5/6th in the opposite place to where the

real paratroopers were being dropped.

And what about the Six brave SAS men that

jumped along with the paradummies to make

a lot of noise on the ground, play combat

recordings, make small attacks on German

troops (like couriers) and generally help make

the landings appear real to the Germans.

The SAS men were Lt. Fowles, TPR. Hurst, TPR.

Merryweather, Lt. Poole, TPR. Dawson, and TPR.

Saunders. Days after the operation only two of

these six men had returned to friendly lines. The

other five were likely killed or captured but it is

possible some survived so this web site is still

trying to research their exact fate.

Operation ‘Titanic’ is surely one of the best kept

secrets of WWII involving sheer bravery amongst

Allied Special Operations soldiers, out there on

their own behind enemy lines.

The ‘Titanic’ operation worked well and actually

caused a good number of German troops to

spread out away from the real landing areas,

and also caused much confusion and doubt

amongst German commanders who were then

completely unsure if there was in fact an attack

happening or not. ‘Titanic’ is credited with surely

reducing many Allied casualties as a result.

They also devised other plans to dropped silver

foil from aircraft days before D Day to confuse

the German radar and make them ‘ignore’ it.

There is much more to say about the D Day

landings and this area of France but let me leave

it to you to investigate and tour in your own time,

My thanks to JH for organising this ride out on

behalf of those that were on the tour and to

Jonathan for his input here.

Dennis

Dear Cadam Members,

It is believed that due to an administrative

oversight, during the AGM in March, the accounts

were not presented to the group for approval.

Therefore, as a way of rectifying this oversight, the

accounts are presented here for all members to

see. In addition, we will hold a short EGM at the

beginning of the next group meeting to resolve

this issue and to hopefully get the figure approved.

Many thanks,

The Cadam Committee.

Chelmsford & District Advanced MotorcyclistsFinancial Statements for the Year Ended 31st December 2012

CHELMSFORD & DISTRICT ADVANCED MOTORCYCLISTS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2012

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT

2012 2011 RECEIPTS £ £ £ £ Membership Fees 1,630.50 1,841.25 Bank Interest 0.15 0.14 Club Night Income - 263.00 Training 396.50 80.00 Magazine Advertising 100.00 - 2,127.15 2,184.39 EXPENSES Club Promotional Nights 560.00 590.00 Printing 224.00 1,148.80 Sundry Expenses 198.10 2.00 Insurance 180.00 - Web Hosting 124.49 - Training Expenses 83.50 - Clothing - 615.68 Stationery 42.97 186.81 Telephone 10.00 20.00 1,423.06 2,563.29 Surplus Receipts/(Expenses) 704.09 (378.90) Cash Fund Brought Forward 786.05 1,164.95 Cash Fund Carried Forward 1,490.14 786.05 !

!CHELMSFORD & DISTRICT ADVANCED MOTORCYCLISTS

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED

31 DECEMBER 2012

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES FIXED ASSETS 2012 2011 £ £ Banner & Frame 35.00 35.00 Display Tent, 6 Tables and chairs 70.00 70.00 Display Boxes 5.00 5.00 Dyno Labeller 5.00 5.00 Laminator 10.00 10.00 Display Speakers 5.00 5.00 Display Flag & Banner 70.00 70.00 Small Display Pop Up Gazebo 18.00 18.00 Cadam Reflective Bibs 615.68 615.68 Cassette Recorder 18.00 18.00 851.68 851.68 CURRENT ASSETS Cash at Bank 1,490.14 786.05 2,341.82 1,637.73 !

PAYMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2012



RECEIPTS YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2012



19


Shooting the BreezeOn August 3rd, ably led

by Group Leader Harman,

this year’s budding Top Gun

wannabes headed of to the

Essex Gliding club, based at

Ridgewell on the Essex, Suffolk

borders to get their fill of

their ‘Need for Speed’...

Essex Gliding Club is a small, friendly club operating from our superb airfield at Ridgewell, on the Essex Suffolk borders.

“”

Gliding is the ultimate pure silent flying experience. An exhilarating, dynamic and rewarding sport, gliding is very affordable and open to people of all ages – you can fly solo on your 16th birthday and there is no upper age limit!

There are no limits to gliding – using the same natural power of rising air currents as birds do, you can fly hundreds of miles at speeds of up to 170mph at heights of up to 40,000ft!

A short flight is a highly memorable experience as you are launched high into the sky to fly silently over the Suffolk countryside. But it doesn’t have to end there – many choose to continue their gliding adventure and go onto fly solo – so why not try it today!

For more information, please contactEssex Gliding Club:T: 01440 785103E: [email protected] W: www.essexgliding.com

Waiting for the call to ‘Scramble’

chairman’s lip cadam what’s on? 2013 the bit on … · 3 issue 33 augustseptember 13 welcome to...

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