London
Classic Off Road and Racing Show
December
3rd 2022
It had a feel of an on-off build up to this show.
Wey Valley pulled out because there was a more important thing for the members
to do that Saturday. Understandable but it did leave me in a predicament of how
to fill the stand with five bikes. I sent out a plea to MAG to generate
numbers. Fortunately Spen responded and then sent out a plea to local MAG
members. From nothing I had three people and three bikes. I was persevering
with Wey Valley and had one taker but he contacted me that he could no longer
come as his BMW 1200 had be stolen off his drive. A few days later I was
contacted by Chris and he could display his Triumph T100. Things were getting better.
I sent out requisite application forms to be filled in on-line. The theme of
Adventure Bikes was lost but what more could I put on the stand to invite the
visitors in. An inspiration struck me, I had read in the LE club magazine about
an artist who travelled around to vistas in remote place in the Dales on his LE
with a stack of art accessories to be able to paint the scenes in situ. He was
Henry Mortimer Batten a well known journalist and broadcaster for the BBC in
the 1920’s and the article was written by Paul Elliott who described some of
Henry’s life and his appreciation of this motorcycle. I have my LE with a few
accessories, some off road paintings I did fifty years ago with an old easel
and equally old paint box and paints. I had a bit of astro turf to add
ambience. I prepared my old Mac with videos of my trip to India on a Himalayan.
Other than assembling and loading my bike trailer I was good to go. Spen,
Graeme and Nic from MAG, Chris from Wey Valley and myself made the team for the
event.
Thursday I built the trailer, Friday I loaded it
with my LE and filled the EL Cid with props and delivered everything to the
stand at Kempton ready for an early start on Saturday. This year the stand was
on the first floor and bike access was by wheel chair ramp. Riding up it was
interesting with a cold engine and shuffling it around the tight turn mid way
was physical. Bigger bikes would have problems.
Saturday was a cold start and everyone arrived in
good time finding alternative ways in using the goods lift. The stand was
finally decorated with posters, a painting and the MAG banner. I should have
brought my selection of coat hangers and pliers for hanging the banner. In all
I was happy to have a presentable stand with interesting bikes to display.
There was a great deal of interest in Nicks Norton Commando which had been much
modified, Graeme’s Guzzi V7 and Chris’s T100 throughout the day. My LE proved
to be a spark that brought people to the stand and prospective members for the
LE Club. The IAM and Wey Valley were doing well and MAG was doing their bit.
Everyone had a chance to see what was at the show even viewing prospective purchases. The main event at the show were interviews with the former Speedway Champion Peter Collins. More interesting for me was who was doing the interviewing.
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It had been a long cold day and we started wrapping up at three in the afternoon. Even so there was still interest in the LE from one gentle man who had limited internet access. He was a little disappointed that the Club had moved away from paper. Where can you get membership to a club that is not on-line now? My advice was to get a friend to help him with the on-line application. Perhaps a Christmas present? It took me an hour to load up everything that I had brought including the LE and equally as long to unload it. As it was now dark a secured the trailer outside and dismantled it and put it away the next morning.
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