News

We now have an official chapter Facebook site Plymouth Harley Owners Group (HOG). It is a closed group so you will need to ask to join. We hope this will provide an extra point of contact for chapter members and friends alike.

 Please see below for a up to date weather forecast

 

 

 

PLEASE REMEMBER TO RENEW YOUR CHAPTER MEMBERSHIPS .......DUE NOW....

 

 

Rideouts!

Dont forget to check the flyers in Plymouth Harley or read your weekly bulletin to find out the rideouts for each Sunday!

 

 

Dealership Day

Next one is Saturday 25th 2012

 

 

The latest High Decibel is now published and is ready to read in the members area

 

Quiz Night

A great evening was had at the Westward Inn with 6 teams taking part in a quiz evening. Questions included a HD round, and 70s music. The winning Team ... Liz, Alan, Keri and Mark received a cash prize.

 

2nd Oggy Rally

Booking has opened for the rally Booking Form. So book now before the tickets all go

                          

 

 

 

Chapter 2nd Birthday Party

6o plus chapter members gathered at the Parkway Social Club at Plymouth to celebrate the Chapters 2nd Birthday. A great evening was had by all with plenty of eating, drinking and dancing.

Dave Holden the outgoing director and his wife Tina were presented with gifts.

A selection of photos are in the public gallery, with a full set in the members area.

 

Santa Run

A great Christmas eve morning was spent delivering the presents that chapter members had kindly donated to the Dame Hannah Rogers School at Ivybridge. Santa arrived on a big red Harley escorted by 5 other bikes and 2 cars. The children were also treated to an engine roar which they loved. We were all made very welcome and spent time drinking coffee with the staff and children. A very

BIG THANKYOU

to all those who donated their time and presents

 

 

 

 

Take a look at the winter offers taking place at the dealership.

 

 

 

 

 

AGM 17th November 2011

This was very well attended with over 33 full members attending.The dealership were in attendance with Richard Marsh, John Taylor and Chris Iris. Dave Holden and Duncan Baines both retired (but not to go off into the sunset together we are told).

 For those posts that needed a vote the results were close but the following are the changes to the committee for the coming year. ( Full contact details and photos will appear shortly).

Director : Ray Filsell

Asst Director : Chris Monk

 Secretary: Clive Ball

Head Road Captain : Derek Mills

 Asst Head Road Captain (new post); Alex Thomas

 General Posts: Derek Wood, Mark Wilson, Ray Borkowski

 All other positions remain the same.

Well done to everyone that stood.

 

 

Chinese Meal ( 4.11.11)

21 people came along to the evening at the Ming Dynasty where food and drink were in plentyful supply. The ice cream cones seem to go down really well, and we will have to wait and see if any of the numbers from the fortune cookies actually win the lottery on Saturday. As usual pictures will be in the members gallery

 

Quiz Night (1.11.11)

The chapter were invited to take part in a charity quiz held by the TVHR. A great evening was had with lots of laughter. Toms team won the trophy ( which he donated ...... fix ) and Rick won the bottle of whiskey which he has kindly donated to the next chapter event. Pictures are now in members gallery. A total of £100 was raised.

                      

Wear it Pink dealership day (29.10.11)

This went really well and was well supported with both Derek and Chris finding their pink sides - well done to all and as soon as we know we will let you know how much was raised

                                 

 

Rolling Hills Chapter Visits (sept 2011)

There were visits by Plymouth to Rolling Hills and Rolling Hills to Plymouth. Both were well supported and with good weather and well run ride outs everyone had a great time and are already arranging the next meets.

                                   

 

Quimper Twinning Complete

During the annual visit to Brittany in August 2011, the chapter completed the twinning process with the Cornouaille Chapter based at Quimper. A celebration party was held on the Wednesday evening with 35 French Chapter members joining for food, drink and fireworks. ( full report shortly)

                             

 

Oggie Rally

The Chapter held its first ever rally in July. It was very well attended and the feedback from everyone was that it was an event not to be missed. People are already trying to book for next year. A full report will be in the next newsletter and all the photos can now be viewed in the members gallery

 

March Plymouth Chapter Magazine

The March edition of High Decibel has now been published. To readall of the latest news from the Chapter please go to the Members' Area document store.

 

January edition of "High Decibel"

The January edition of the Chapter's newsletter "High Decibel" has now been published. Log in to view it in the members' area document store.

 

Chapter 1st Birthday Party

It was the Chapter's first birthday on Sunday 2nd Jan 2011. The party at the Ski Lodge, was a real hoot - great disco from Sumo. Pictures will follow soon in the members' gallery.

Chapter AGM

The first Chapter AGM proceeded without a hitch, and the comittee numbers have now increased by four, with the election of Bikerpatch Phil to the position of Safety Officer together with, Mark, Jon and Bob as Officers (General gofer!)

 

Social events line up...

There are several social events coming up in the next few months, Chinese Meal, Christmas Dinner, Chapter's 1st Birthday party... check out the members events area for more details.

 

October Newsletter

The October edition of High Decibel, the Plymouth Chapter UK newsletter has now been published.

 

Plymouth Chapter Oggie Rally Announced!

The very first Plymouth Chapter "Oggie" rally is set to take place 22nd-24th July 2011 at Parkway Sports & Social Club, Ernesettle Lane, Plymouth, Devon, PL5 2EY. Keep watching the website for details and information about what we've got planned and booking information. This event will be open to HOG members.

Booking opens 18th November.

 

Ride To The Wall 2010 - Baton

Members of the Plymouth Chapter will be joining this year's RTTW, led by Phil Garner (Road Captain). Plymouth have been asked to carry the "Baton" to the RTTW memorial, picking it up at Honiton. There will be a photo shoot at the Memorial. Have a look @ www.thebaton.co.uk. See the members' events pages for details of ride start and pick up times from Exeter.

 

Dealership Days are back!

The first dealership day of the Autumn was a great success, with a big queue to have patches sewn on and lots of members dropping by for a chat. The next Dealership Day on the 30th October will also be a Bring N Buy sale in the car park. See flyer for details.

 

Chapter Weekend in Mullion

Chapter Members had a thoroughly good time in Mullion camping for the weeknd 10th to 13th September. taking in Mousehole, Falmouth, Gwithian, Portreath, Porthtowan, Perranporth and Truro. Full write up to follow for the October newsletter.

 

Plymouth Dealership Stock Auction

The Plymouth Harley-Davidson Dealer held an auction of end of line stock on Sunday 5th September, and those people that attended definitely bagged a bargain or two (or in the case of Sam - several!). Well done Rachel.

 

Cornish Cream Rally

You missed a great weekend boys and girls. The Kernow Riders put on a great weekend of fun and frolicks with great bands every night. Many thanks to all the Kernew Harley Riders for their fantastic hospitality in St Ives over the bank holiday weekend from all those Plymouth Chapter members who were there.

 

Chapter Newsletter August Issue

The August edition of the Plymouth Chapter Newsletter is now available. Chapter News August2010.

 

Widdecombe on the Moor Ride

With Chris Monk's bike laid up poorly we were nearly Road Captainless for the Chapter ride to Widdecombe on the Moor, but Bikerpatch Phil offered to take the lead with less than 24hrs notice (even though he lives in the depths of Cornwall and doesn't know Dartmoor). He was on the road at 6.15am from Ladock to ride up onto Dartmoor to recce the route for us. With a small but select group of chapter members, it was a beautiful ride over the moors, with a well planned route and plenty of sunshine. Thanks Phil - well done!

 

Bisley, SOFER Rally 2010

Wow another fantastic weekend! Full write up to follow in due course but just to say, this event gets better each year, and with our numbers swelling we need to attend in force next year. It was great to see so many of us there this year and my thanks go to all that made it such a great event from our side. It was brilliant to chat over a beer or 2 with some of our newest members and I hope we were friendly enough to encourage you all to come away with us again. To the normal diehards, what can I say, you did us proud once again. Dunc, Chapter Assistant Director. Full article will be in the August Newsletter.

 

Spain

A large contingent of the Chapter went for their summer hols to a villa in Spain (18 I believe). The high light of their trip was that they were asked by the Santa Faz and Costa Blanca Chapters to help with an escort for a wedding party,and afterwards were invited to a 3 chapter BBQ. There should be some official photos coming up in the HOG Magazine, and I hope that one of them will write me an article about their trip to put in the Chapter newsletter.

 

Cod N Chips

Cod 'N' chips x 30 and 2 haddock!!! Brilliant evening was had by all in Looe last Friday, we even had a gentle stroll down to the sea - well in bike gear in that heat on top of cod, chips and bread n butter a gentle stroll was all we could muster. And the ride down went according to plan with 26 bike causing rather a stir entering the narrow streets, I think the locals knew we were coming!

Bikes and Boats....

Thanks to Chris, our Head Road Captain, the Chapter had a fantastic ride out on Sunday to St Michael's Mount - clear blue skies, stunning scenery, beaches, great riding roads, great company.... and even a boat trip around the island! It would be good to have seen a few more than 9 bikes, but I guess you can't compete with Father's Day!

 

Plymouth Mega Ride!

Plymouth Chapter UK led the Plymouth Mega Ride on the 13th June 2010.

A Whopping 65 Harleys joined the Plymouth Chapter to head up the Mega Ride this year. We were there, the weather was kind, we had a long wait at Lee Mill, we forged new friendships and we left at the front. Unfortunately 2 bikes had to bow out due to breakdown. We showed solidarity - we gave Plymouth a ROAR, we played dodgems with the 125's and we arrived at the Hoe with Chapter pennants and Flags a flyin' !! Well done everyone and thanks.

Plymouth Chapter Newsletter

It's what you've all been waiting for....

The first edition of the Chapter Newsletter has now been published. Read all about the Twinning Ceremony with the Antwerp Diamond Port Chapter, enter a competition to "Name the Magazine/Newsletter" and catch up with what has being going on and with planned events for the Chapter. Any members not on email will receive a copy in the post, and a few hard copies will be left in the Dealership for others to peruse. It has been circulated by email as an attachment to all members using email. Plymouth Chapter Newsletter June 2010 issue 1

 

Antwerp Diamond Port Twinning

Friends become Twins

 

The Chapter very proudly made their way to Antwerp on Friday 28th May for a weekend of legendary hospitality laid on by the Antwerp Diamond Port Chapter as part of the twinning with Plymouth Chapter UK. The ride over was long, the chunnel was claustraphobic but fast, the weather hot (well some of the time), the Saturday rideout was....challenging, the partying was second to none, the sleep was in short supply, the friendship and comeraderie was exceptional and the weekend ran out too soon! Read the full story in the Chapter Newsletter to be published week commencing 7th June.

 

Triere Chapter Visit

The Chapter couldn't have asked for better weather to ride to Sparkford and escort the Triere Chapter, Germany into Devon and Cornwall on Saturday. Stopping for a well earned cream tea courtesy of Richard and Eliza Lucking - fantastic! On Sunday, once again with sweltering weather, we rode from the Dealer to Looe to collect the visitors and bring them back to the Dealer for a cuppa before heading to the ESRAD event in Saltash. (and I got to put my Road Captain's training to good use as 'Sweeper'!)

The German Chapter invited Plymouth Chapter Members to join them for a Bar-B-Q on Thursday evening, at which, I believe there were "Cornish Celts in Kilts" who arrived by bike! In their words "this was the first official Chapter event in Cornwall and so we thought we'd show the Scots that there are Kilted Celts in the SouthWest too!" Any photos of this would be gratefully received!

 

Members Area - Now Live!!

The members area of the website is now live and log in details have been emailed out to you. Any members who have not notified the Chapter of a current email address will not be able to get a log in. If you have not received an email and you do use it, please let me know because there are some email addresses that keep bouncing back. Any queries to debs.winwood@plymouthchapter.co.uk

 

Road Captains' Training

A big thanks to Riders Edge training for a very enjoyable and informative day of Road Captain Training, and to Chris for organising it. Plymouth Chapter now has fully fledged Road Captains to plan, lead and sweep our rides. So here's to a summer of fun packed rideouts together.

 

Dealership Days

Dealership days, on the last Saturday of each month,coninue to be a successfull way for members to get together for a chat and scrummy brekky or burger (or occassionally a H-D special chilli!). Giving the Dealer an opportunity to tempt us with special offfers in the shop or parts or servicing... depending on what surprise he has in store for us!! Not to mention Judith's members' prize draw - which incidentally you have to "be in to win", literally - i.e. you must be in the dealership with your membership card to hand (don't you Bill? :-)) AND..... while demand lasts the ever smiling sewing machinists will be there sewing on your patches and regalia. So KEEP COMING ALONG.

A big thanks to Richard, Chris and the rest of the dealership team for their support (and letting us swarm all over their showroom for this)

 

Road Captain signals

 

Click here to view the Road Captain signals pdf

 

Afghan Heroes Rideout.

This was the first ride out for the Plymouth Chapter and a fantastic start for us.

An early start did not deter the riders and 7 bikes and a trike left the dealership in Plympton at 7.00 am, picking one member up at Trago Mills on route and the remainder at the Exeter Services. In all we had 17 bikes and one trike with John and Mary on board, John a 90 year old veteran resplendent in his medals.

The next stop was Leigh Delaware Services for refuelling and comfort break before arriving at the Hullavington Airfield. All bikers had a time for arrival at the airfield and the majority of had a time of 10.00-11.00am and we arrived at 10.35 am, there was no problem finding the entrance we just followed the line of bikes from the roundabout off the motor way junction.

Once on the airfield we parted with our cash to receive the wrist band, then on to the runway to park up until our allotted time to depart came. It is hard to comprehend that many bikes in one area, but it was a magnificent sight and no camera could ever do it justice. There was bikes of every size shape and colour many with flags flying.

The enormity of the event over-whelmed the organisers and the timings for the departure to ride to Wotton Bassett did not happen so we sat on the airfield, occasionally moving 100 yards every half an hour. The convoys through the town had been made up of 500 bikes but as the shadows lengthen this was increased to 750 bikes per convoy.

So the Plymouth Chapter left at 3.30 with 750 bikes to ride through the lanes from Hullavington to Wootton Bassett, the ride took 45 mins and all along the road people stood and waved held flags or signs, in Wootton Bassett itself the streets were lines with hundreds of resident's visitors and bikers. Everyone came out to welcome us the very young the old, people in wheel chairs it was lovely.

At the end of the town all bikes dispersed to meet up at various places away from the town. Our group had decided to meet up at Sedgemoor services so we rode back as smaller groups.

A great first ride for the Plymouth Chapter, enjoyable with a very good feel factor for raising money for Afghan Hero's and a spine tingling feeling for being part of something really big and important.

 

HEAD ROAD CAPTAIN AND SAFETY OFFICERS WELCOME

 

Most of you know me but I would like to introduce myself to anyone that hasn't met me yet; my name is Chris, known as Bodmin Chris (where I live, not the fact I have escaped from Bodmin Mental Hospital, in case you where wondering?).

My first Harley was a 1991 Harley Davidson Sturgis, which I bought from new, then sold when I made the big mistake of getting married to the wrong woman! I have owned my present Harley, a Deuce, for the last nine years. For the past few years I have been a road captain with Tamar Valley Harley Club.

 

I am sure you will all appreciate that being a road captain is not an easy job, and I hope the rest of the chapter will have some patience with the team until we receive our official training in May. Until then we will strive to do our best and get a few rides in for you.

 

Head Road Captain

 

Bodmin Chris

 

First official Chapter Rideout.

The Plymouth Chapter will formed a rideout from the dealership to the Wootton Bassett Afghan Heroes Biker Event on the 14th March 2010. See the gallery for pictures.

New Chapter Officers appointed.

The committee have voted in 3 Chapter Officers. Peter Hocking is now the Plymouth Chapter Photographer/Historian and Paul Bryce takes on the role of Editor. Chris Monk, Road Captain, takes on the additional role of Safety Officer for the Chapter.

All have the relevant experience necessary to undertake the duties of these specialist roles, and with the help and support of the Chapter Members will promote and maintain the Chapter as a safe, responsible, family orientated riding club.

First Social Event a roaring success!

Our fist organised event might not have involved the bikes (though a few hardy chaps turned up on theirs) but it was still a roaring success, with the noise being generated by shared chatter, laughter and munching rather than exhaust pipes!

The raffle prizes went down a treat and we completely sold out of tickets (2 books full) With over 70 members attending a good time was had by all, here's to it being the first of a great many social get togethers - Cheers All!

Chapter Launch Weekend

Not deterred by the ice and snow the launch weekend on the 2nd/3rd of Jan 2010 was a fantastic success and the Chapter now has 140 full members with 40+ associate members. I'm sure you will agree that it was buzzing with enthusiasm from you all for our new Chapter.

BBC Spotlight came on the Sunday to shoot some footage and interview the Director, and those few brave souls who rode your bikes that day provided an impromptu Rideout in the arctic temperatures for the cameras - thank you! The machinists worked like trojans to sew Chapter regalia to waistcoats and jackets so that there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the Plymouth Chapter UK is well and truly launched and the members are proud to wear our rocker. See the Gallery for some of the photos.
Meeting: on the third thursday of every month at the "Hunting Lodge" pub, Ivybridge, PL21 9JN.

Chapter Launch…

The first few meetings of the Chapter's committee have now taken place at the Plympton Dealership. All the officers and road captains are now in place. We are all keen and full of enthusiasm to ensure the club runs well for its members and is friendly and inclusive. Planning and activity is now well underway to sign up new members in preparation for the launch of this brand new Plymouth Chapter UK on the weekend of the 2nd/3rd January 2010 at the Plymouth Harley Dealership.

Officers and Road Captains will be on hand in the Plympton Dealership every weekend in the run up to the launch to handle membership applications and to answer any questions from prospective new members.

We look forwards to meeting you!