Issue No 188 September 2013

10th September

Club Night

Presentation

Evening

Eastham Ferry Hotel

Ferry Road

Eastham

CH62 0AU

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WIRRAL ADVANCED MOTORCYCLISTS Group Council 2013 ~ 2014 IAM Group 5115

Web Site http://www.w-a-m.co.uk

Chairman Rob Tutchings chairman@w-a-m.co.uk Vice Chairman Tim Brown vicechairman@w-a-m.co.uk Honorary Treasurer Lindsay Boston treasurer@w-a-m.co.uk Membership Luke Windsor membership@w-a-m.co.uk 0797 907 1701 Associate Coordinator Derek Jeffries associatecoordinator@w-a-m.co.uk 07957341692 Honorary Secretary Rob Cooper secretary@w-a-m.co.uk 0151 648 4503 Events Organiser Dave Spotswood events@w-a-m.co.uk Newsletter Editor & Minute Secretary Peter Lovatt newsletter@w-a-m.co.uk Group Shop Martin Titley groupshop@w-a-m.co.uk 0151 632 3570 Chief Observer Mike Boston chiefobserver@w-a-m.co.uk Other Council members Steve Walling Ian Roberts Nina Jeffries Ken Smith Rob D’Cruze

CONTACT WAM

Rob Cooper Coopers Upholstery

The Old Bank Everton Valley

Liverpool L5 0RH

MAGAZINE TEAM: Editor: Peter Lovatt Duplication: Martin Titley Distribution: Magazine Dispatchers and the Post Office!

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Club night Venue

Eastham Ferry Hotel

Ferry Road

Eastham

CH62 0AU

Been a good Summer hasn’t it? Hope you lot have managed to get out on your

bikes!! Ok, to some serious stuff first. There has been a lot of activity by WAM

members regarding Gift Aid for the club. Why should the Taxman have all the

money when we can claim some back for WAM? So inside this issue we have a

Gift Aid Form, which if you want to and are a taxpayer, fill in and we can claim

some money back on club subscriptions. So please read the info inside this issue

and send it back in the prepaid envelope.

Going back to July, thanks to Dave Spotswood and Ian Roberts for running the

WAM barbeque, which was a really good evening, with lots of people turning up

to sit in the sun at the Ferry Hotel. So what about this month? We have our

‘Presentation’ Evening’ For those who have passed their IAM tests, and also we’ll

have a talk from IAM examiner Chris Givvons. That’ll be a good!!!

Talking of tests, we have had a lot of test passes recently, and the Roll of Honour

is inside this issue. Also inside this issue are some write ups from members.

Derek and Nina about their trip to France with Dragon Moto Tours, and Rob

D’cruze’s Official Club Run trip to Yorkshire, which ended up in Scotland instead

and got as far as Canonbie and Milltown (just north of Gretna)! This now is the

longest WAM run in a day, surpassing the John Allington ride up to Hadrians

Wall and Vindolanda in the 1990’s.

And we have been out helping out at Bill Smiths Honda Open Day. Thanks to

Rob Cooper, Tony Lewis, Rob D'Cruze, Dave Spotswood, Steve Lord and

Tim Brown for their help & support at the WAM stand at the Smiths event. The

guys at Smiths were great with the weather drying up for the afternoon, so a

good day was had by all. Plenty of people interested in Skill for Life too!

And before I sign out for another month, Derek is organising another coach trip to

the NEC bike Show in November. So if you are interested, please contact Derek

Jeffries 07957341692 or email derekjeffries@rocketmail.com

TTFN

Pete

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Wirral Advanced Motorcyclists &

HMRC Gift Aid scheme

Earlier this year, Tony Linton (Senior Observer) attended a Group Council meeting and, having voluntarily researched and drawn on his expertise, proposed that WAM would be eligible to register as a charity with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for tax purposes, and so take advantage of the Gift Aid scheme to bring in much needed income for the club. The Group Council accepted Tony's proposal, and Rob D'Cruze was appointed to stand, on behalf of WAM, as the Authorised Official to administer the Gift Aid registration process with HMRC, and to then take responsibility for all future associated Gift Aid related matters. Consequently, and with effect from 4 July 2013, WAM has been ac-cepted by HMRC as a charitable Company. So what does this mean for WAM? In a nutshell, it allows WAM to reclaim, from HMRC, 25 pence for every £1 that a UK taxpayer pays to WAM by way of their member-ship subscription or certain other donations. Put simply, on a mem-bership subscription of £20, WAM can reclaim £5 from HMRC. There is a simplified explanation of the effects upon, and responsi-bilities to, the taxpayer once you read the Gift Aid declaration, which is appended as a PDF document to this article. Both this arti-cle and a hard copy of the Gift Aid declaration will also appear in a forthcoming WAM club magazine. More information about the Gift Aid scheme can be found on the HMRC website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gift_aid/basics.htm

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What does WAM ask of you? Well it's simple - to support your club if you can, by agreeing to al-low WAM to reclaim Gift Aid from the tax that you have already paid to HMRC; at no cost to you! There is a form to fill in with this newsletter. It is also on the WAM website www.w-a-m.co.uk/giftaid.html If you are able and willing to provide a signed Gift Aid declaration that you do so by printing off, completing and either personally handing to Rob D'Cruze or posting it to him at: 34 Myers Road East Crosby Liverpool L23 0QZ As submitting the oldest of our annual claims to HMRC is soon to run out of time, so money due to WAM will be lost to us, it is im-portant that anyone able and willing to provide a Gift Aid declara-tion do so as soon as you can and, in any event, no later than 31/10/2013. If anyone has any questions or concerns, please speak to Rob when you see him or on 0151 928 6290. The Gift Aid declaration PDF will remain on the club website, while it will also appear once a year in the club magazine, to approxi-mately coincide with the membership renewal period, as an option for new members and for those who change their minds to make a declaration.

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WAM Official club ride for July - Yorkshire, via Scotland!

On a beautifully clear and sunny Sunday morning, those attending the July WAM

Official Ride to the the Yorkshire Dales & Cumbria met at Charnock Richard

services.

The heatwave of recent weeks had abated, and with the greater comfort in riding

gear that less oppressive heat provides, it promised to be an excellent biking day

over some of the best biking roads the UK has to offer. Clearly many others

thought similarly, as two other bike clubs used the same service area to launch

their respective rides; and what healthy turn-outs they both had. After chatting

with them we decided to head out first, as smaller groups makes better progress

we could leave them behind; and so it was.

With Rob D'C leading and Rob T as Tail-End, we had Tim, Ian, Barry and John;

as a prospective new WAM member and guest for the day, mid group. Using the

necessary evil that is the A59 past Clitheroe to break the back of the first leg of

the route, with the intention of covering more ground later in the day, so as to

experience the better roads further north, we turned off and took what turned out

to be some very quiet & twisty roads - quiet & twisty turned out to be one theme

of the day - on a diagonal route towards Settle.

A quick meander through

Settle without stopping,

saw us on the brilliant

biking roads B6479 &

B6255. We didn't over-

take a single vehicle on

these two roads, because

there simply wasn't any to

overtake, but then we

hadn't overtaken any-

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thing, for the same reason, since

we'd left the A59 - this sparsity of

other road traffic became another

theme of the day.

Consequently, good progress saw

us arrive early for a lengthy lunch

at the Wensleydale Creamery in

Hawes. Leaving Hawes we took in

Buttertubs Pass for the scenery and

because it's such a good road to

ride; not to mention quite high alti-

tude, so it was nice and cool as the

day began to get warmer.

Across the tops, through a ford

almost devoid of water, we by-

passed Reeth and headed up the

moors to cross from the Yorkshire

Dales and into the Land of the

Prince Bishops - that's County

Durham in case you didn't know -

heading towards Barnard Castle.

We actually overtook a car on this road!

Picking up the B6277 we headed, via Middleton in Teesdale, towards Alston.

With only a few oncoming vehicles and a few more motorcycles, we had this road

almost to ourselves. The weather by now was hot with clear sky and even clearer

views right along Teesdale Valley.

Turning west onto the A686, we stopped for food etc at Hartside Top Cafe, com-

plete with stunning views across the Lake District. Discussing how far we'd with

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such good progress, Rob T sug-

gested we should extend the ride

to Scotland, just because.

Rob T then took over the lead and

through some quiet roads we

headed to Alba, a stop for some

photos and then a motorway run

down the M74 and M6, with Rob

D'C taking th lead again, to get

back on the planned route.

Exiting the motorway, we headed

east towards Sedbergh then followed the Lune Valley down passed Devil's Bridge,

and using the local B and back roads to avoid the drudgery of the overused A683,

on towards Caton and the M6 again as time was moving on.

We stopped at Caton with Rob D'C, Barry & John going for fuel in Lancaster,

while Rob T, Tim and Ian headed south on the M6. All in all, a very satisfied

group of bikers, having enjoyed excellent weather on brilliant and scenic, near

empty roads.

--

Rob D'Cruze

It was cracking day's riding. My GPS track:372 miles over 8hrs 32mins moving

time, plus 4hrs 7mins stopped time.

Tim

PS I will eventually write something about my Euro trip - maybe for a winter is-

sue ;-)

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Trip to France with Dragon Moto Tours - Nina writes…...

Thursday 20th June 2013

Derek and I rode down to Ashford in Kent on our own to join up with the tour

group. We headed into Wales and went via Wrexham and headed towards

Shrewsbury. We had to stop to put our waterproofs on in Hope and left them on

until our first stop at a biker café 86 miles from home. The heavy showers had

stopped by then and it was just the odd light shower from then on.

We headed on towards Bridgnorth and got lost on a diversion when the signs dis-

appeared. Once back on track, we crossed over the M5 and headed towards Ox-

ford. The scenery was really good with some very picturesque villages. After that

we had to use the M40. It would have been too hard to miss motorways all the

way and make it in time. After that, it was onto the M25 which wasn’t much fun

and then we took the M20 down to the hotel.

Jan and Geraint got to the hotel about an hour after us. They didn’t leave home

until after lunch but used motorways all the way. We went to a Beefeater pub for

a bite to eat and met up with four others who were on the tour - Andrea, Gary,

Martin and Kevin. Andrea used to work with Geraint. Gary, her partner can rival

Derek for his sense of humour – they will get on well! Martin and Kevin are part

on NWAM and Martin was at our club night when Geraint gave his talk on tour-

ing.

There are plenty of bikes at the hotel along with some very nice cars. The tunnel

will be busy tomorrow as it is Le Mans 24 hours this weekend so an early start

tomorrow.

Friday 21st June

Left hotel at 8am and joined the others for the short trip to the tunnel where we

met the final members of the group. There are 13 of us, 7 men and 5 women with

no pillions. The new members of the group were Sue and Orry, Alan, Robin and

Debs. Debs is very brave. She travelled down on her own and has only been rid-

ing since August last year.

The whole tunnel and area around it is an amazing feat of engineering. The trains

are 2 stories and very long. I couldn’t see the end of it. We went in the side of the

train and along it to park up. The journey lasted about 30 minutes. Once we were

underground, Gary said look at that fish and Andrea very nearly did before she

realized he was teasing.

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Once in France, we rode along inside the train to the other end and out the side. It

was very foggy for a while so we were careful and kept the speeds down. I got

used to riding on the other side of the road quite quickly but the junctions are

strange. I had to think about them and make sure I went the right way.

We stopped for lunch at Hucqueliers and the menu included snails and frogs legs.

Nobody ordered them though!!

It was raining so Derek and I

put our waterproof on in the

hope that it would clear up – it

worked. It has stopped raining

by our next stop which was at

the Circuit de Croix, a small

race track. There were 3 bikers

who were just going out on

track so we went on the roof to

watch them as you could see

most of the track from it. There

were no marshals which wouldn’t

be allowed here.

Derek took his waterproof jacket

off but when I tried to, I got told

not to as I had become the lucky

charm. I didn’t mind as it was still

cool so an extra layer was OK.

The views from the road became

interesting as we were in the area

where world war one was

fought. There were monu-

ments and cemeteries all

over and the fighting took

place on a lot of the fields we

could see.

Our hotel was in Noyon. It

was very nice and right in

the middle of the town, op-

posite the cathedral. There is

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a music festival going on with singers and bands on every corner with varying

skill levels. I was convinced one couple were doing Karaoke but was assured that

they were part of the band! The meal we has was really nice and the company

good so a very enjoyable first official day.

Saturday 22nd June

Breakfast was at 8am (continental only) with a 9.15 bike start. Everyone was

prompt and we were away on time. A nice ride ensured with a stop for coffee at

Fismes (tea for Derek). We were an interesting site for the locals who were more

interested in looking at us than we were of looking at them.

We then rode on to the Caverne Du Dragon for a history lesson. The area is in the

middle of the battle grounds and the tunnels are under a high prominence with

views for miles around. The caverns were a quarry for stone for a couple of cen-

turies but were of high importance in the First World War. The tunnels were oc-

cupied by the French and Germans at different times and both sides for a time.

They build walls between themselves to protect against attack – gas as well as

bullets. It is an amazing place to visit with plenty of atmosphere. They had items

the soldiers had made out of shell casings. Some were ornamental but they also

had cups, a clock and a lighter.

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We then rode to see Reims race circuit. This is a misnomer as it doesn’t exist any-

more. The road is where the pit straight would have been. The buildings and a

grandstand are still standing and they have been renovated so look good. We then

made our way back to the hotel on some nice roads. I had my speedo showing

147. Derek had swapped it to read in kph but it looked good.

The evening meal was our choice (the first and last night were pre-ordered) but we

decided to stay as a group. We had fun again and we headed back to the hotel at

11.30pm. People decided on a later start tomorrow as its Sunday.

Sunday 23rd June

The bells, the bells!! Quasi was busy this morning. It’s the main disadvantage of

staying near a cathedral. We left the hotel at 9.45 and headed out on some nice

roads. We went to

Chateau Thierry for

lunch which is a

town, not a build-

ing. There was a

big event going on

and we had to leave

quickly after eating

as they were shut-

ting the roads and

we would be stuck

for hours if we did-

n’t go. The police

were moving the

barriers to let us

through so we only

just made it.

Next up was a tea break next to the absolutely fantastic Chateau De Pierrefonds,

which was constructed in the 15th century, dismantled in the 17th century, then

rebuilt at the order of Napoleon 111.The photos don’t do justice to the size of it.

It was then on to the place where they signed the armistice on 11 November 1918.

The area is very peaceful with monuments and plaques around. It is a clearing

now but was in the middle of a forest in 1918 so would be safe from the air. The

sun was out when we were there but it rained again as we headed back to the ho-

tel.

The evening meal was nice again. Our waitress was great fun. She took all the

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drinks orders from everyone in French then at the end said ‘would it be easier if I

spoke English?’ It turns out that she spent 5 years in England so was glad to prac-

tice her English. She took a great interest in Derek as the only one not eating.

She quizzed him on what he did eat then went and got him a glass of milk and a

couple of chocolates. He said ‘I think I’ve pulled’.

Monday 24th June

We left the hotel at 8.30 as

Jan couldn’t book us on the

train she wanted due to the

extra traffic from LeMans.

This also meant using the

auto route to get there

which wasn’t as much fun

but needs must. Our group

got split at the tunnel as

half the group managed to

get on an earlier train. That

left 7 on our train. We said

our goodbyes and headed

off separately. Jan and

Geraint shot off. Derek

and I followed with Gary, Andrea and Debs stopping for fuel before following.

We stopped at the first services on the M40 as we wanted to clear the M25 before

stopping. We saw Jan and Geraint there and the other 3 arrived about 10 minutes

after us. We all had the same idea about when to stop. We then did the reverse of

our route down and the others all stuck to motorways.

We were lucky with the weather on the way home and the traffic was only really

bad around Oxford. It cleared considerably after Kidderminster. We got home at

9pm as we stopped so I could have dinner. We did 1250 miles, 440 miles on the

last day which is the furthest I have ever gone in one day.

We had a great time and met some nice people who all have a shared interest.

Would I do it again? Definitely, but maybe doing less miles on the last day.

I would recommend Dragon Moto Tours to anyone. They care about their clients

and do their best to ensure everyone enjoys themselves.

Nina (and Derek!)

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WAM TEST PASSES

So it’s Congratulations on Passing the IAM test to:-

Noel Shearer

Steve Barber

Bill Jones

Darren Palmer

Darren Bevington

Mike Roberts

Peter Waterworth

Cliff Evans

Roger Kameen

From June club night

Mike Roberts

And…….

Steve Barber

accept their

certificates

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WIRRAL ADVANCED MOTORCYCLISTS

Diary of Events

www.w-a-m.co.uk

**************************

September 10th Club Night - presentation evening

18th Official Club Run - Lake or Peak District

*************************

October 8th Club Night -

20th Official Club Run - Lake or Peak District

*************************

Not forgetting Rob D’Cruze - who was Observer of the

year for 2012, with his very regular attendance on the

FLC’s

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