Thunderbird Times
Newsletter of the Mighty South London Triumph
Owners Motorcycle Club
January
2008 - here’s hoping you all had a jolly Christmas and a
happy New Year.
Firstly, we’d like to convey a warm
welcome to anyone reading our Website who may be thinking of joining us. Just come along to one of our meetings and
join us at the Princess of Wales – great pub – great Club –
we’d love to see you.
22.12 – Xmas
Dinner/Princess of Wales – a huge thanks must go
out to Debbie and her team. The food was delicious, just kept on coming and the
service was excellent. If you couldn’t
make it this year put it on your calendar for next year – you really can’t
afford to miss it. Thanks Debbie.
26.12 – Boxing Day
Run/Royal Oak, Leatherhead – 11 bikes and three lady passengers plus Mog & Mac by car opted
for some fresh air instead of snoozing in front of the box. Big cheer for Ron who was the only old bike
rider on his TR6 while the majority of riders were out on their T’Birds and
Legends. Ian did his best to wake up
most of Surrey with his Rocket III, while his wife Tanya, joined us for her first Club
run on her 125cc Yamaha. She more than
kept up with the big boys and on this performance shouldn’t have any problems
with her forthcoming test. The generosity
of the Landlady Tina and her husband Andy was exceptional. They gave us a warm
welcome, provided us with sandwiches and goodies and after warming up with hot
coffee we soon got down to enjoying ourselves.
Andy took photos of our visit, was given a copy of our December
Newsletter and has put both on their Website – then thought how he would enjoy
reading Brian and Blossom’s report on the USA Trip in September with the hired
Harleys etc. so e-mailed him a copy of that too – call them up on their busy
Website www.royaloakpub.F9.co.uk
and have a look. Andy asked if he could
have copies of our monthly Newsletters in future as he would like to do this on
a regular basis - his wish is my
command!!! All in all a very
enjoyable run thanks to Malcolm our Runs Leader.
1.1.08 – New Year’s Day
Run/Surrey Oaks, Newdigate – 15 riders gathered at Ryka’s on this wet start for breakfast &
coffee – a very wet Brian arrived
worse for wear in his jeans – it is January Brian!! and informed us that it
wasn’t raining in Coooooulsdon.!! Tanya again on her 125 Yam supported by Ian
did her usual impression of the “ROAD RUNNER” – she’s loving biking – go GIRL
POWER!! Arriving at the Pub, Yogi plus
Mog and Mac were there plus the BSA and Vintage Clubs. Thanks must go out to our brave Soldier Brian
our Runs Leader, for a very enjoyable ride through country lanes to reach our
destination.
12.1.08 – Rock & Roll Night/Buffet, Princess of Wales – 30 attended this event, including 5 from the Surrey
Club. I must say Lurch looked rather dapper in his very smart ensemble. Simon did a duet with Bob the dog – Bob’s
barking voice was far superior but poor Bob dog got it in the ear, excuse the pun, and was led away by
Debbie. Glenda (Big Bounce) did her
usual bubbly DJ’ing but was disappointed that there were not a lot of people up
dancing, this may be because of Debbie’s delicious Buffet - I certainly ate far
too much it was so good – thanks goes out to Debbie and her Mum for the spread
and to Doddie and the MSL Club for laying this on for us.
27.1.08 – “TALMAG” Pre-65 Trial Hungry Hill
– event cancelled by MOD for Army training
purposes.
UP- COMING EVENTS
10 February 2008 Bristol Classic MCC Show Shepton Mallet by Coach
- if
interested see list on Notice Board
24 February 2008 Sammy
Miller’s Museum by Coach – if interested
see list on Notice Board
Miscellaneous:
Belated congratulations to Donna from the Surrey Club who passed her driving test.
Malcolm has taken early retirement – it’s amazing Malcolm how you ever found time to go
to work. Good luck from all of us and
this gives us the opportunity to thank
you for all you do for the Club – just enjoy. Linda has also reduced her working week to
four days so they can both join us if our
day runs take off!! Linda e-mailed
with wonderful news - their daughter Jo had a baby boy called Tyler who was born on 17 January weighing in at 6lb 1oz
(two and a half weeks early) their very first grandchild. Pictures
please!!!! Many congratulations from all of us.
Four go mad in Scotland! By
Bob Simmonds.
As many of you probably know Scotland has a history
of pulling out all the stops when it comes to The New Year celebrations. In Edinburgh they close
down all the roads leading to the centre of town, put up lots of lights and set
up a huge fun-fair. This is in preparation for the 3 day event called Hogmanay.
Knowing that Hogmanay was a huge event, Bob and Frances decided it would be a
good time to visit their friends, Sheila and Kevin, who had re-located to
Linlithgow near Edinburgh, so leaving their 2 able and grown up sons behind
they set off on their journey North.
First they headed for the beautiful city of York. It was here
that they decided to break their journey by spending one night in a luxury
hotel close to York Minster. Despite their careful perusal of the internet and
assurances that paying such a vast sum of money for bed, breakfast and evening
meal, meant the hotel would be luxurious, imagine their horror when they
discovered this was not the case. Yes the bed was King-size (very important to
such healthy people). Yes it was a suite of rooms which greeted them. However,
the bathroom was very poorly equipped
and decorated. The bath was slightly dirty, with a very interesting shower
curtain with different coloured ducks on it. The shower was a mixer tap which
refused to work properly when Frances took the first
shower. Despite Bob’s best efforts he could not get the flow of water to be
warm enough for Frances to wash
her hair nor shower in the fashion with which she is accustomed. Frances in her
frustration screamed and shouted so loudly when the water went from hot to cold
that Bob went deaf in one ear for the rest of the trip, (actually poor Bob had
a bad cold, which was probably the cause of his deafness. Although, one wonders
if selective deafness in the vicinity of Frances’ loud moaning
was the case).
The following day the couple continued their journey North and
arrived in Linlithgow on Sunday 30 December. Their friends, Sheila and Kevin,
were delighted to see them having
planned a series of events that would see the four friends
through to the new year of 2008. The friends headed into Edinburgh, on that
Sunday evening, to see the spectacle of 150 people with Bag pipes marching through
the streets of the fair city. The sound of the bagpipes stirred these faint
hearted English people and, as the band went passed, they joined with the
thousands of others marching alongside, clapping and singing as they went. What a sight it was to see!
The next evening was New Year’s Eve which started off in a local
pub with folk dancers and plenty of Scottish cheer. As Bob had gone completely
deaf by 11.00pm the four
friends decided to go back to the house and open a bottle of champagne. Once
back in the house talk turned to the differences between New Year in London and Hogmanay
in Scotland. The friends
discovered that fire-works played an important part in England’s
celebrations, but in Scotland few people had
fire-works at home. Suddenly Kevin remembered they had a huge old fire-work in
their garage. They had planned to use it some 4 years ago in celebration of
Sheila’s dad’s 80th. Unfortunately because of its size a huge amount
of space was needed to let it off safely. As their garden was very small, the
friends put their heads together to come up with a cunning plan which would let
the Scottish neighbours know these 4 English people knew how to celebrate New
Year. However, it was generally felt that if the firework was let off in the
vicinity of houses, the Scots might think they were at war with the English
once again. So the 4 decided to let off
the firework at the local Korean War Memorial on the outskirts of town in a
field.
The 4 arrived in the lay-by near the memorial at 11.30pm, Kevin took charge of the fire-work,
whilst Sheila carried the torch. Frances made sure
they had matches and Bob wrapped up warm with a scarf and hat (his cold was quite bad!!!!). On
entering the Memorial, Kevin and Frances ascertained the suitability of the car
park in which to half bury the afore-mentioned firework. (This had to behalf
buried for Health & Safety reasons). Bob the Health and Safety advisor gave
the go ahead to proceed with the planned explosion. Suddenly the torch which
Sheila had been carrying went out. “Quiet”
she shouted - a police car had
slowed down to see what was going on, they had spotted the car in the lay-by.
The 4 held their breath. The police drove on. Sheila shone the torch again. Phew they hadn’t seen people in the car park. The 4 gathered together
and checked that everything was ready. They had the Torch, They had the
matches, Kevin asked “whose got the
firework?” There was an empty silence, they had forgotten the firework. By
now Bob and Frances had got the giggles and were crying with laughter, with Bob
having a coughing fit. Kevin went back for the firework. Sheila could be heard
muttering to herself “and we‘ve only had one alcoholic drink
between us.”
By now it was
almost 12.00
midnight so the four
friends quickly half buried the firework. Kevin made everyone stand well back and lit the fuse, (the Health and Safety
advisor was crying too much to be of
any use). Whooosh, the firework
exploded into the night. It must have gone up about 150feet. Brilliant silver,
blue and green stars lit the sky, accompanied by very loud bangs. “Happy New Year” the 4 friends shouted
as they made their way back to the car, sadly not a Scotsman in sight, just a few
sheep wondering what on earth these mad English people were doing.
BOB’S BIRTHDAY BASH
Bob would like to thank all
those who attended his 40th Birthday party in December. Frances and I spent most of the day preparing
food but after meeting and greeting many old friends we missed out on all the
food, apart from a handful of crisps. Mog was “trapped” in the kitchen next to
the alcohol along with other MSL members “shame”,
Kelvin was held hostage in the lounge by a 3 year old and Jim caught “Saturday Night Fever”. The last guest to arrive and leave was Paul
Skeets – no change there then!! It was Paul who gave me this Birthday card
which I found so amusing and wanted to share with you:
Thanks once again for
making it a good night. See you all
again on my 50th..
Thanks to Bob and Frances for a very good
read and for taking the trouble of putting pen to paper - more of this please
from all of you – keep your Editor
happy!!
Mog gave me
some old Thunderbird Times October 1991 and January 2000, how different they looked
then and what a good read - didn’t recognise any of the names on the Committee.
If any of you have any more old editions I would love to see them. Mog thought it would be a good idea if I took
out bits and pieces of interest for our Newsletter which would be a blast from
the past and I wouldn’t want to disappoint him – this was from the January 2000
issue: it appears that Mog as a
youngster used to be in the Sea Cadets as a Bugler! Can you imagine that little
face, lips all puckered up…? Sweeeeet!!!
Remember to look at the Notice Board for extra news and trips.
Save your old stamps for Mog.
Last but not least – keep your Editor busy.
June F
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About the club:
Mighty
South
London
Triumph Owners Motorcycle Club
We are the founder branch of the
TOMCC, founded in 1949 by a group of Triumph motorcycle enthusiasts in the South London area. To this day we hold
regular meets and organise and participate in a wide range of activities such
as runs (local, national and international) and country shows and most
importantly we enjoy our bikes in the company of like-minded people.
For more information
also see our website http://www.tomcc-msl.org.uk or
just come along to one of our club meets.
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WE
MEET AT
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Princess
of Wales
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From 8.30 pm
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98 Morden Road
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Runs
leave the pub at 8.00pm
sharp
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London SW19 3BP
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every 4th Tuesday of the month (April-Sept.)
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020 8542
0573
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Please
ensure you have a full tank of petrol.
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Club Contacts:
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Chairman
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Mog Pharoah
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020 8947 7727 (day)
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Treasurer
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Malcolm Orpin
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020 8640 2608
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Secretary
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Doddie Kent
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020 8660 5227
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Membership Secretary
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Dave Kent
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Ditto
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Show Secretary
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John Flower
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020 8942 9976
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Social Secretary
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Bob Simmonds
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020 86690921
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Runs Leader
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Brian Peters
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01737 551762
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Regalia
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Robin Maynard
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020 8224 7421
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TT Editor
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June Flower
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jjflower@hotmail.co.uk
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Website Administrator
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