BMW Club Oxford Section Report for March 2017

To celebrate our 50^th Anniversary in 2017 organising several social events. Most of these planned events taking place in various restaurant or eating establishments throughout the year.

The first of these was a Sunday Lunch on the 19^th February at the Crendon Indian Cuisine, Long Crendon, a good number of hardy souls made the event and an excellent time was enjoyed by all.

Saturday 25^th February Tim Bolderston & Dave Tomlinson attended the new model launch at Bahnstormer Maidenhead to represent the Oxford Section. With nine new bikes and model updates launching on the day, there was something for every rider to enjoy. You could also book a test ride on one of the fantastic new models, chat to the friendly Bahnstormer team over a coffee and ask any questions you may have on the new range We had a great corner position with lots of literature and the new regalia in attendance and thanks to Brian Garforth we were even playing a video of the club on loop, very interesting. The event was well attended and we chatted to a substantial amount of existing member and Thames Valley Advanced Motorcycle members too. You can see in the photo some existing members, Alan from Barnstormers and more importantly our new pop up banners showing the Lake Como and Austria trips which were commented on and quite eye catching.

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The 26^th February, was another winter indoor meeting at Uffington Memorial Hall, where despite a storm warning in the evening saw many members arrive on their motorcycles. Our speaker for this event was Kamran Irani of the ‘SERV OBN Blood bikers’. This was a fascinating insight into this extremely valuable, mainly motorcycle teams delivering urgent bloods, medical equipment and donated breast milk for sick or premature babies. SERV OBN may be run by volunteers, but they pride themselves on the fact we provide a professional service, all our volunteers are trained to a very high standard, you need an advanced motorcycling qualification from the IAM or ROSPA etc. before being considered and they continually monitor their activities to ensure they maintain those standards. Amazingly they receive no government funding for the life saving service they provide and rely solely on the generous donations from members of the public, corporate sponsorship and fund raising activities. The charity is run by volunteers who give up their time to enable us to continue to provide our vital service and are Oxford sections charity this year

March the 12^th will be the last of the Uffington indoor meetings with a talk by Neville Dalton on his adventures in Norway.

March 14^th is the Prince of Wales, Shippon natter night where we have invited Nick Houlton along. Nicks talk is a lively and fun look at new technology for motorcyclists and includes BMW Assist, RealRider, and the development of body worn airbags.  It includes an overview of the various technologies different manufacturers are offering, with a deeper dive into those offered by Helite, the leader in wearable airbag technology.  He will share his experience of using these on Track, on Road, and on Terrain with photos and customer testimonials.  This lively discussion will feature live demonstrations, so please bring your mobile phone along to video what happens!

Look out for the visit to the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy on the 15^th March as this is an opportunity to see the potential future for the electrical generation.

More food on both the 19^th March and the 2^nd of April, and of course all the pub socials where even more food can be downed!

SNR’s Oxford section have also introduced Short Notice Rides, these tend to be mid-week events with a day or more notice, which have been very popular. Destinations such as Loomies, Portsmouth Naval Museum and the Bike Shed have been completed so far.

9^th April We have the first ride out of the season planned for a “mystery coast tour” with Phil Carter 07778 936424 departing from the Sun Inn, Coate Water, Swindon at 9.30 (allowing time for breakfast / coffee before departure)

14^th May we have a ride out planned for Cheddar Gorge with Frank Butler 07833 469602 starting from North Oxford Garage.

With the 100^th anniversary of the 1^st World War this year it is very appropriate that the section has a visit to Ypres over the weekend of the 26^th to the 29^th May although this very full with a reserve listing.

Don’t forget to make a note of the dates from the trifold calendar that you wish to attend into your diaries and make sure you add in the special 50^th events. We will also be updating the website regularly and posting on Facebook.

Here’s to safe riding and some good weather.

Dave Tomlinson

dave.tomlinson@bmwoxford.com