Barry Ring, HAB member, draws our attention to an interesting article on riding in wet weather.

Go to https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/advice/biking-tips/how_to_ride_in_the_rain

Ride safely.

Doug Masterton.

Dear friends,

This is positively the last reminder (well maybe not!) to book your place at our annual dinner .

The H.A.B. Not Christmas Dinner 2018.

Date. Saturday 3rd Feb

Venue: Old Spring Well. Harrogate

Time. 7.30 for 8.00

Cost £25 per head, Four course dinner plus coffee and chocs. 

There is still time to put your names down for this our premium social event of the year.

Names to Mike Fourie.

Payment to Lloyds Bank Sort code 30-93-91 A/c no 01807888 or send cheque to Andy Pratt. 

We will have our special menu by the weekend so the choices can be sent in in good time.

Best wishes.

Doug Masterton, Chair Harrogate Advanced Bikes

HAB member Roy Beniston has sent in the following invitation for us to consider. He writes: –

With regard to touring in 2018 I am planning to visit the Harz Mountains and National Park area of central Germany this year and if any club members wish to join me they would be very welcome.

The tour will be from Saturday 12th to Sunday 20th May leaving via the Newcastle – Amsterdam ferry sailing at 5.00pm and arriving at 9.30am the next day in the ferry port of Ijuiden.

Normally we disembark and are ready for departure on our tour by 10.30am then motoring down to the Braunlage area in the Harz national park.  This being used as a central location for touring the area over the next 5 days.

On the return journey starting on 18th May, we would have an overnight stop in Dusseldorf to meet up with some German friends and enjoy the pleasures of the “Altstadt”  traveling back to the ferry on the 19th May for our boat trip home.

The Harz mountains and the National Park are a very picturesque with lots of history and fairy-tale legends.

Anyone wishing to join in the fun are welcome to contact me on my e-mail “roy.beniston@icloud.com” 

It is kind of Roy to offer this opportunity and if you want to try touring across the pond, then this would be a good way to put your toe in the water with an experienced member of the club.

Doug Masterton – Chair Harrogate Advanced Bikes

Dear friends,

On this, the first day of 2018, may I extend to you my very best wishes for the New Year and for great, safe enjoyable riding especially as the longer days will not now be too long in coming.

January meeting

Our programme for 2018 starts on Monday 8th January. We will be at our usual venue, Bilton Cricket Club, where we shall hear a presentation by Mike Bevington from Yorkshire Air Ambulance. I am sure that this will be very interesting and thought provoking. Yorkshire Air Ambulance is our charity that the club supports regularly and one that many riders have been thankful for over a period of many years. Please do come along. The meeting begins at 7:30 pm. and will be followed by our usual supper.

Annual Not Christmas Dinner

Our meeting next Monday is the ideal opportunity for you to book your places for our Annual Dinner, if you have not already done so. The date is Saturday 3rd February. The venue is the Old Spring Well at Killinghall. The cost is £25 per person. It would be great to see a large proportion of members (and their partners) at the event and I do hope you will make an effort to come along for what is always a most enjoyable evening. Andy Pratt our Treasurer will be on hand to receive your payments. Alternatively you can make them by BACS transfer to

Harrogate Advanced Bikes

Lloyds Bank Sort code 30-93-91 A/c no 01807888

As we need to advise the restaurant with some certainty over numbers, there must be a deadline to receive your booking AND payment. Please therefore make sure that you have sorted everything out no later than Friday 19th January. If you pay Andy in cash, he will keep a note of your booking, but please also send an email to Mike Fourrie (organiser of the dinner) at mike.fourie@blueyonder.co.uk so that he has exact details of the numbers to be catered for. If you simply pay by bank transfer, please also email Mike to let him know of your booking.

Next meetings

Here is advanced notification of two more dates. Our club meeting at Bilton CC. on Monday 12th February will include a presentation by Mark Mullins our ‘local’ IAM examiner. I am sure that his talk will be of great interest to all members and associates, whatever our levels of skill or previous experience.

Our AGM will be held on Monday 12th March. It is especially important that you put this date in your diary. This meeting will need to elect officers and committee members and I would remind you that for different personal reasons, neither Andy Pratt (Treasurer) or myself (Chair) will be putting ourselves forward for possible re-election to our current posts of responsibility. Please do consider if you can make a contribution to the running and future well-being of our association by serving on the committee or being proposed as a future officer. Our association must have  a chair, a secretary, a treasurer and a committee both to function and to operate legally, so our elections really do matter.

Safe riding in 2018.

With best wishes

Doug Masterton

Chair, Harrogate Advanced Bikes

Barry Ring has been in touch to say that there are still places for this event and also that he still has some seats available in his car. The text of the original publicity notice follows. If you are curious or just keen, do not let this opportunity pass by.

This event is being arranged by Colin Appleyard Ltd on Friday 15th December from 6 p.m. at their motorcycle branch premises in Keighley. Keith will be up on stage with stories from his championship winning season where he kept us all on the edge of our seats until the very last race. He’ll also be joined by the team’s Superstock rider Brad Jones who finished 3rd in the Championship and is certainly one to watch in the future.

Barry Ring has booked four places (one for himself I presume) and is offering to fill his car, offering places to any friends from the Harrogate area who might wish to go along with him. It is also possible to book tickets directly with Appleyards at www.colinappleyard.com/motorcycles

If you are interested in going with Barry, please email him at barry.ring@which.net

Sincerely,

Doug Masterton

Chair, Harrogate Advanced Bikes

Dear friends,

Reminder ! Our Not-C Dinner is booked at the same restaurant as last year. The Old Spring Well at Killinghall. Everyone enjoyed the evening. Convenient location; easy parking; reasonable drink prices; efficient service and most importantly the meal was very good. We will have the menu early January

£25.00 per person Four course meal plus coffee & mints and that includes a tip.

Our annual dinner, held not exactly at Christmas has become a much looked forward to institution. I would encourage all members to come along, together with your ‘nearest and dearest’ and enjoy the food and company.

Send names: Mike Fourie mike.fourie38@gmail.com

Send money:- Andy Pratt Cheques made to; Harrogate Advanced Bikes

BACS Transfer; Lloyds Bank Sort code 30-93-91 A/c no 01807888

Sincerely,

Doug Masterton, Chair Harrogate Advanced Bikes

Dear friends,

I simply wished to remind you of our final monthly meeting of 2017 which will be held on Monday 11^th December at Bilton Cricket Club starting at 7:30 pm.

The meeting will be light-hearted and given over to our now traditional Christmas Quiz or competition. Yes, there will be some questions and activities linked to bikes and riding, but other skills and knowledge will be very useful. So, the evening is one to invite your partner or friends and introduce them to some of the camaraderie and interests of our club.

That reminds me that I will need to see that there are some prizes as well as our usual supper.

I hope that you will be able to come and look forward to seeing you.

Doug Masterton

Chair, Harrogate Advanced Bikes.

Our Annual General Meeting is held as part of our monthly meeting in March. The forthcoming AGM will be held on Monday 12^th March 2018.

All the elected officer posts and vacancies on the committee are decided by members’ votes but I wanted to give advanced notice for the elections of two positions where there will not be the option for members to fill them by re-electing the present post holders. Our Treasurer, Andy Pratt, is taking retirement from his job at the end of the year and has some grand plans. For my part as Chair of the group, I do not wish to put myself forward to continue in that capacity next year although I hope to remain an active member of our club.

Like all clubs and societies, Harrogate Advanced Bikes draws strength and inspiration from its members and through new people arriving on the committee to take up positions of responsibility. I sincerely hope that there will be a good level of interest in the vacancies that will arise at our AGM and I would earnestly encourage you to consider putting yourself forward to help in some way or other. Our work supporting the aims of IAM and helping associates gain ‘Skills for Life’ is very worthwhile and I hope that it will long continue. Please help our club to remain strong.

Sincerely,

Doug Masterton

Chair, Harrogate Advanced Bikes

Our December meeting will take the form of our Christmas Quiz event. The word quiz does not exactly cover what is planned. There will certainly be some questions on bikes and biking but also fun activities that that require no knowledge or skills about riding and the evening will just be about having fun meeting up together at the end of the season. We will have our usual supper as part of the proceedings.

Do please put the date in your diary and persuade your partner or biker friends to come along in order to make up your own small group of competitors. There may even be some prizes!

We will meet, as usual, at Bilton Cricket club from 7:30 pm and I look forward to seeing you there.

Doug Masterton

Chair, Harrogate Advanced Bikes