Latest News Items
GB Trials championship is changing shape for 2025
As there's a few of our club members involved in the British Trials
Championships, and just in case you've missed the news, there's
a Zoom presentation about the new format (Adult Male, Female and
Youth. Are all doing one championship) scheduled for 18:30 on Monday
18th November The
link is contained in this ACU news item.
[On: 17Nov2024]
John Miles and Chris Scott RIP
Two of our well respected Wyegate riders have passed away. John Miles was a really good trials and Trail-bike rider and a one of our centre's best organisers helping Stroud Valley club run some great events over the years. He was a longtime manager at BVM especially when they were major BMW agents. Chris Scott was a 2 time Wyegate winner in the late 80's, I think it was on his Yam XT250, but can't find a results sheet at the moment.
[On: 25Sep2024]
WG success at the ACU British Ladies Trials Championship rounds
Loads of WG members were helping our Centre run the British Championship Trial for Ladies and Girls on 31Aug/1Sept at our Rockfield venue. We only had Rachael Wight riding for WG, she previously had 13 points to her credit from a previous round. As well as Britain's best ladies riding expert routes, there were routes available for Sports route riders too, both Ladies and Girls. Rachael had a good ride with her own official minder (Admittedly Adam was minding the Dog more than Rach!) Rach added 17 points to her previous 13 in the Non-Champs Sports route from her 2nd place on Day 2. Click the link above to see how she improved her score each lap on what was a harder than normal route, more like our Sports Plus ones there's video too, sadly not Rach.
[On: 10Sep2024]
Can't select West Glos as your club?
For those of you who know you are a paid up member of West Glos because it shows on your ACU Members profile, but when you enter an event then you are unable to choose West Glos, then Contact Me on admin@wgdfmcc.org.uk to sort it. HQ have shown me a method of fiddling with the Sport:80 system to get it to show what it should have darn well done in the first place!
[On: 15Aug2024]
WG managing a Team result after so many years without
OK, perhaps there were a few good rides as well from some, ahem!, Youth members. As a dinosaur, I can remember when it was a common occurance for West Glos to thrash the world with our team of 50's and other tiddlers, (clearly it was before this website's time, or I'd have added a link.) The 2 Day Ryedale Rally up in Yorkshire saw 3rd's from Olly both days and a 5th and 4th from Nathan. Mr consistent and done it and won it all years ago Mick pulled off a 9th both days. Mike Allen improved on day 2 to 11th from 15th. And supestar Vess claimed a 10th despite gremlins on day 1 but the gremlins beat him on day 2 for non-Starter. So, not all the young dudes were in the team, Olly Mick and Mike were 5th on D1, then rose to a podium 3rd for D2.
[On: 12Aug2024]
WG @ Welsh 2 Day Enduro
That was one of the nice W2Ds, only the dust to worry about. WG's star performance was Roan Delaney who came 5th in the Experts. See the full gallery and how the rest got on on our Welsh 2024 page.
[On: 04Jul2024]
3 Enduro Bikes Stolen
A Gasser, Husky and Beta taken on 30May from Abergavenny. Keep your eyes peeled. more details on facebook.
[On: 04Jun2024]
Fred Rist LDT
Entries are Open Now for Neath club's Fred Rist Long Distance Trial on 14Jul2024. (68 taken of 100 at time of writing). They've extended their closing date to 1st July. Time to bully your mates to get entered. Entries on S:80.
WG members in so far: Ian Brooking, Amory and Ben Falconer, Doug Mant, Steve Stocks, Ian Thompson, Steve Wallwin, Ian Wixon, Nick and Martin Worgan.
[On: 23May2024]
ACU Western Trials Championship Updates
Update: Entries open for a few more rounds.
The 2024 ACU Western Centre Championships have had 3 events now in both the Main and the Youth's CDE events. The full details can be seen on the centre website. Here's the abbreviated version with just our club members shown.
West Glos were running a for-fun championship ourselves before COVID got in the way, as a temporary replacement, then this table is probably similar scoring. Club Trials Championship 2019.
WG members ratings in 2024 so far...
| Route | Rider | Position | points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Championship | |||
| Expert | Joe Bendall | 2nd | 45 |
| " | Amory Falconer | 17th | 5 |
| Club/Exp | Joe Evans-Luter | 2nd | 28 |
| " | Viv Jones | 16th | 9 |
| " | Fred Bishop | 17th | 8 |
| Club | Phill Gardner | 3rd | 26 |
| " | Colin James | 21st | 6 |
| " | Jake Nutman | 27th | 4 |
| Over 50 | Darren Thomas | 7th | 21 |
| " | Colin Jones | 12th | 12 |
| Sports Plus | Iain Clarke | 1st | 43 |
| " | Matthew Baggs | 3rd | 23 |
| " | Tyrone Rutherford | 8th | 15 |
| " | Adam Wight | 9th | 11 |
| Sports | Steve Wallwin (Under Review) | 4th | |
| " | Alf Bendall | 7th | 17 |
| " | Will Rowlands | 19th | 9 |
| " | Arron Danson | 23rd | 7 |
| " | Rachael Wight | 31st | 2 |
| Youth B | Dillan Jefferies | 1st | 47 |
| " | Harry Bishop | 3rd | 34 |
| Youth C | Ben James | 2nd= | 20 |
| " | Zac Ellway | 2nd= | 20 |
| CDE Championship | |||
| Youth C | Ben James 1st | 1st | 60 |
| " | Zac Ellway | 2nd | 51 |
| " | Dexter Jeffries | 4th | 21 |
| " | Riley Nixon | 5th | 15 |
| Youth D | Reggie Nutman | 2nd | 40 |
| " | Eddy Tillings | 3rd | 32 |
[On: 23May2024 23:20]
Dales LDT and Drovers Enduro
Saturday 27th Apr saw the Derbyshire Dales LDT which is run by a few of our Wyegate riders. Ian Thompson nailed the Twinshock class on his Greeves and despite his lack of class opposition riding the hard route, came about 12th, if you ignore the serious trials bikes, like the Wyegate does. Our only other WG entrant, Steve Wallwin, pulled off a 2nd on his Freeride on the easy route (His ribs must be mending then!)
WTRA's Drovers Enduro on the Sunday saw 4 WG riders and a few more locals avoiding time penalties. Lewis Simpson came 25th in Club, Ross 28th, Nathan 29th, Ollie 37th. Richard Holland claimed 8th in >50 and his lad Roger claimed an excellent 3rd
in Championship. There was another Enduro on Sunday up in Scotland where Dan Bish won his class and Joe Bish came 4th in his, but we can't mention that for fear of Digressing. [On: 29thApr2024]
Website down
Apologies if you were caught out by our website being down back on the 8th, we also lost emails for a while. All seems to be back up and fine again (Until you tell me otherwise!) Emails to any of the wgdfmcc.org.uk endings will have bounced. This wasn't a hacking, just a configuration problem we didn't realise we've had for 7 years!
[On: 09Mar2024 10:20]
Entries showing -Incomplete/Ineligible
Some of our members are spotting that event entries they appeared to have entered sucessfully for 2024 have suddenly disappeared from the entry lists and when they login to check they find their record shows as 'Ineligible'. Most likely for what appears to be illogical reasons. Before you contact the event organisers, have a quick look at your own ACU account profile (Click your pic where it shows your Licence number - not clear, I know!) Your Profile's Menu list should have one option of 'ACU Competitor Licences'. Click and you may see one or more lines with an expirey date of Dec2024, If it doesn't show a green 'Current' Status then click the line to open up the details. There should be an explanation of what the 'Action Required' is. Often, it will be (Get) 'Valid Club Membership'. We know you may be confused as you are probably sure you ticked West Glos when sorting your Licence. What they didn't emphasize adequately is that payment was not included in the process, no matter whether you had an 'Auto-Renewal' option set or not.
To check if you are a current paid-up member of any ACU club then click on 'Club Memberships' option under your Profile and you need to see a line with 'Valid To' column showing 2024 and the 'Status' showing 'Current'. If not, then rather than get more confused by their explanations of adding membership, check Our West Glos membership page where you'll see a current list to the right. If you aren't on it (check when last updated!) then you may need to pay using this link or Contact me using admin@wgdfmcc.org.uk I have emailed a few that I know will have problems but only 3 have got it sorted, so far. Check you aren't one!
There are tons of other reasons why your entry might have problems. I've only addressed the Membership possibility here.
Wow! I've just looked through that diatribe and realised I haven't used that dreaded word ... No, not '666', but similar, you know what I mean, don't you?
[On: 04Jan2024]
2023 Centre Awards Ceremony
The ACU Western 2023 Awards presentation combined with the YDS awards happened at the Chedworth Village Hall on Sunday 17th Dec. There are a good number of West Glos riders due an award - details just below of our riders.
Ben James, Dexter Jeffries, Eddy Tillings, Fred Bishop, Harry Bishop, Jake Nutman, Milly Tillings, Riley Nixon, Steve Wallwin and Zac Ellway.
[On: 10Dec2023]
2023 Trials Championships and even a British Trials Champion for West Glos
Our local Centre, ACU Western's, Trials Championships have finalised with some successes for our club members.
In the main champs for adults down to Youth C, we have In Experts: Joe Bendall 7th, Henry Bendall 18th, Ollie Goode 21st and Rob Breakwell in 22nd. In Club/Expert: we have Dan Bishop 7th, and Viv Jones 11th. In Club: we have Tom Cooper 16th, John Jones 20th, Phil Gardner 30th. In Sports Plus: Jake Nutman has to move up to Club for next year with his win and Adam Wight in 4th. In over 50's: Steve Wallwin came 2nd, Adrian Gwynne in 31st. In Sports: we have Alf Bendall 6th, John Brennan 16th, Iain Clarke 22nd, Rachael Wight 23rd, Colin Jones 25th. In Youth A: Fred Bishop came 3rd. In Youth C: Harry Bishop won with Zac Ellway just behind.
In the CDE Champs held at easier rounds, In C we have Harry and Zac repeating their 1st and 2nd. Riley Nixon 6th and Milly Tillings 7th. In Youth D Ben James dominated with Dexter Jeffries 3rd and Eddy Tillings 4th.
Congratulations again to one of our younger members, Ben James, who has sealed up a 2023 ACU age group title!
Reigning small wheel champion Ben transitioned from electric to petrol power and took the ACU Belle Trailers British Youth Trials Championship D Class Medium Wheel title. His two main rivals won two each of the first four rounds but Ben kept in touch with four second places, then won the final three of the seven rounds including the decider. A superb performance throughout a tough year.
I'd love to give you a report on how the club's riders coped with the Isle of Man 2-Day Rally and how that championship panned out but I don't want to steal the limelight from ... Come one, it should come from one of you major points scorers!
.
[On: 14Nov2023]
Red Bull Romaniacs Heroes
Woo Hoo! WG have a finisher for one of the toughest events on the planet. The club had 2 brave entrants in Ollie Alford and Ross Truszkowski hoping to manage a prolog and 4 days of riding. I missed the report at the last club meeting, but in short, Ollie managed 2 days before discovering you can't head-butt these rocks out of the way, as Ross sussed you can ride over them instead of through and somehow managed to finish all 4 days. Here's some links where you can see shots of the guys in action and their results. Romaniacs Main Site, Ross's Results and Pics, Ollie's.
[On: 08Aug2023]
Brechfa Enduro
Our locals stayed on time and and put in some good Special test times. Roan Delaney and Clinton Thomas came 10 and 11th in Experts and Patrick Delaney, in >50s had a tidy 3rd. Looking at best test times, as they all did the same test, sometime WG member Roger Holland pulled 11 seconds on Roan's best and 17 on Clinton's and Paddy was 62 seconds down. Roger's dad Richard took things a bit easier behind Paddy. Brechfa Results.
[On: 08Aug2023]
Beacons 2 Day Rally
Great results for a damp 2 days at WTRA's Beacons Rally. Sam Jones brings the 530 KTM in for 2nd and 3rds in R3. Mike Allen gets his 350 in to mid-pack 32nd and 23rds in R2. while Vess DNF's on day 1. Come to next club meet for the full story!
[On: 25Jul2023]
A busy weekend (14May)
One very popular LDT happened last Sunday namely The Jubilee. Ian Wixon had a Pre 65 class win, Ian Brooking and Steve Stocks grabbed a 3rd and 4th in Trials. In Trail Bike Steve Wallwin came 13th with John Brennan adding 22 more marks to Steve's 20, Martin Worgan added another 10 and Martin Burman's 5 cleans wasn't enough to keep him too far from the wrong end. Nick Worgan pulled off a 6th in Enduro on Trials Tyres but interesting to see 59 entries in the Enduro with Maxxis Trials tyre on rear class.
Closer to home, Bigsweir in fact, at Glos & Cot's new venue, Dan Bishop took the Expert win with a rusty Ollie Goode in 7th. Fred Bishop tied on the winning score in Club/Exp but lost out to the tie breaker, Viv Jones came 5th 4 marks adrift, Ieuan Williams in 7th and John Jones in 9th. Phil Gardner came 5th in Club with Tom Cooper 9th, Harry Bishop and Zack Ellway 12 and 14th. 9th and 10th in Sports+ went to Adrian Gwynne and Darren. I grabbed 6th in Sports tying with Iain Clarke. Ben Falconer (On the Pamp, to be fair) came 11th with Merv and newbie Dave Bowery 17th and 18th, Rachael Wight and Alex Hunter came 19 and 20th with Matthew Hunt bringing up the rear. One superb event we'll all look forward to riding again please!
[On: 16May2023]
Tough times at Rhayader's Jack Frost Enduro
Clinton Thomas and Roan Delaney both lost time in Experts with 7 and 8 mins lost. They recorded similar test times but Roan secumbed on test 5 as did a fair few of the entry to lose more than a minute extra, ending up 16th and 22nd. Expert winner Adam James also lost time. In fact, the over 40's schedule was the only class to be won clean on time. For a change, I can say that Was what it was like back in my day! This'll toughen them up for the W2D!
[On: 28Mar2023]
Help protect our local UCRs
Update 17Mar2023: Thanks to all of you that wrote in with objections. The closing date for them was 17th March 2023. So now we wait to see how much our council can waste of the tax payer's funding. We'll leave this news item here as there will no doubt be a follow up of some sort.
Previously written here:
We all need to write in THIS WEEK to Gloucestershire County Council to comment on their plan to put traffic restriction orders on the Burial path which is a Unclassified County Road. Details can be found on Their Highways Site under Forest of Dean Prohibition number 2. The Coxbury one is only the concrete steps section of the old coach road and of no real concern to us. equally those in 3 are of little concern. The club have talked to local residents and are aware of some of the problems that concern them. Elsewhere in the UK management measures have been used to help without such drastic sledgehammer measures. We have been told that some of the disruptive users have had what looks like false number plates and, of course, they are unlikely to respond to such measures and can be dealt with by the appropriate laws that police already have.
GLASS and TRF are asking locals to object to help the legal case. It can be emailed or posted but check the details on the Highways Site.
Our new Rights of Way officer Kelvin Varney is keeping an eye on things
The previously reported TRO sign in Coleford (Rock Lane) is to be replaced by a more appropriate 'Unsuitable for Motors' that should have been erected in the first place!
[On: 06Mar2023 23:00]
ACU Western Trials Championship successes for WG riders
We have 3 West Glos riders leading their classes after the first round of the ACU Western Trials Championship which was held at Breakheart Quarry and run by the Stroud Valley club. Dan Bishop leads the Club/Expert route, Adam Wight leads Sports Plus and Harry Bishop leads Youth C. And we have a number of other points scorers too.
John Jones picks up 2 in Club, Steve Wallwin gains 15 in Over 50's, John Brennan gets 9 and Rachael Wight gets 6 in Sports, Fred Bishop gets 13 in Youth B, with Harry Bishop getting 20 for his win in Youth C followed by Zac Ellway with 15 points. If this round had had a class for Youth D then Ben James would be leading it. Other WG riders who were unfortunately out of the points were Sam Jones, Robbie Breakwell, Ben Falconer and Simon Ellway.
Thanks to Viv helping me with Observing tasks I was able to take some shots so here are some of our locals plus one other non member local. If anyone wants a free full size pic (11MB), and there were more shots taken than shown, then email admin@wgdfmcc.org.uk. (Parents only for youth riders.)
[On: 22Feb2023]
2022 Centre Trials Championship
We have a fair few club riders who've done well in the ACU Western Main Trials Championship. The provisional places for our members are shown below. (Results may be ratified as Final after the next board meeting.):
Experts -Joe Bendall 12th, Rob Breakwell 21st, Ollie Goode 22nd. In Club/Exp - Viv Jones 18th, Jason Tillings 23rd, Ashley Tillings 26th. In Club - Phill Gardner 12th. In Sports Plus - Ben Falconer 1st, Jake Nutman 3rd, Simon Ellway 6th. Over 50's - Steve Wallwin 3rd, Ashley Lewis 15th, Adrian Gwynne 32nd. In Sports - Alf Bendall 2nd, Tyrone Rutherford 6th, Pete Hughes 11th, John Brennan 18th, Mark Vivian 22nd, Glyn Fletcher 23rd. In Youth A - Roan Delaney 2nd. In Youth B - Fred Bish 2nd. In Youth C - Harry Bishop 2nd, Zac Ellway 3rd.
This year also had a Youth C,D,E. Trials Championship at less challenging venues
that gave our newcomers a chance to get their feet used to staying on the footpegs! Youth C - Dillan Jefferies 3rd, Milly Tillings 5th, Zach Ellway 6th. Youth
E - Eddie Tillings 2nd.
[On: 25Oct2022 21:50]
Dot Brown RIP
Many of us long term Enduro, Rally and Trials riders will have met Dot when she'd been out
marshalling with the rest of the Brown family or helping refuel at the Welsh. She will be sadly
missed in our community. Our thoughts are with the Family.
[On: 15Dec2021]
Julian Bishop - RIP
Today we lost Jules who has been a backbone to this club for almost 50 years. Our thoughts go out to Clare, Rachel, Dan, Ben, Joe and the family.
I doubt many others in our motorcycling community will have had such a vast experience of so many
different disciplines from both a riding and organising perspective as the Bish. We've started to
gather some of our memories in a separate page
here. We also had an event planned to celebrate Julian's life with a return of
Jules's Hill Climb followed by a Social in the evening Bishops, Bikes and
Banter.
[On: 20Dec2020]
Photo Quiz on Western Centre website
Too Late, Huw has already won
it.. Well, he's so old he was probably there! Click the Pic to see the answers.
A quiz where West Glos members have an advantage. Well there are three obvious ones in the pic and
because we've had a strong bias towards all things enduro for absolutely ages then there should be
some knowledge within. Have a better look on the ACUW (ACU Western)
website which happens to be edited by our press officer Ben Falconer. You had a week to
email your guesses before the next week's quiz was released. Even Ben didn't know all the answers,
unless he'd looked through dad's TMX archive and you may guess that that is isolated at the moment.
(we would have been stuffed if Tony had ventured into the attic though!)
[On: 06May2020]
Covid 19
There is no point us repeating stuff that is already written elsewhere so here's the relevant
sources: ACU
Chairman Roy Humphrey says..., Latest ACU
News and Latest from our local ACU Western
website.
[On: 19Mar2020]
Who had these awards?
It seems that there is some confusion about who we awarded the Rose Bowl and the Alpha Romeo Service awards to last year! Could it possibly have been that some of
you were a bit tipsy? Please let us know if you were the recipient of either or can remember who got
them! admin@wgdfmcc.org.uk
[On: 14Jan2020]
New Start Time for Club Meetings
Is this worse than having the clocks go back? We shall see. From now on we will start
Meetings at 20:30 sharp (8:30pm) Apparently some of you have to work the next
day!
[On: 06Feb2018]
West Glos members do still ride Motocross - and well!
Update: Sadly, Roan had an off in training and missed out on the trip. Read more...
Roan Delaney, who rides a few of our trials has just been selected as one of 5 riders to represent
ACU in the 65cc class of the Junior Motocross World Championship which will take place on 29/30 July
in Estonia. There are other selection criteria that have to be met before it is clearcut but Roan
may get a assisted ride if all goes well. Congratulations to Roan and family for getting to such a
high level.
[On: 19June2017]
West Glos Riders at the Scottish
"He's used a plural!" you say. And No, I still don't get grammar. What I mean is it wasn't
only Benzo stepping up to be counted. After riding our Stony Green and taking a Club/Exp Win,
Richard Knott joined with our club and had his first attempt at the 6 Day. We kept an eye on ACU Western Riders on
the Centre's site through the week and were pleased Benzo got it together for all 6. Rich
was elligible for the Newcomer award and did well to slot in in 25th position completing all 6. Ben
should be pleased to get a year without major problems to battle. Both he and riding partner Glos
& Cot's Matthew Christopher had a good week for a change. Rich rode the week with Fred Adams
putting pressure on him. Congrats to both and hope you both have another go.
[On: 09May2017]
Roger Holland
completes the ISDE in style.
It has been a long time coming but we have another West Glos rider finishing the ISDE. Monmouth based Roger Holland was selected for the Welsh ISDE Team joining Charlie Evans and Adams James in Spain.
Roger had a superbly consistent ride coming 33rd in the club riders out of 381. With individual Special Test positions such as a 18th on Day 1 and Day 5 and a worst of 112th. His consistent ride helped bring Team Wales in in 11th place, which was the 3rd best UK team.
You will no doubt read elsewhere about how the GB Trophy team wrangled a superb 2nd in the new format 4 man team of Danny and Jamie McCanney, Jamie Lewis and Nathan Watson. Well done all.
West
Glos's last known rider to compete was Wilf Parker who rode his Greeves to a bronze in 1961 (1961
Results stored in a FIM archive here.) And more about the 1961
6-Day here.
The 2016 event was run in Spain from 11th to 16th October, More 2016 details here. The club had initially
planned to send a club team but logistics and various other factors knocked that on the head. But
this positive move by one member could stir up interest for 2017 when it is in France at Brive-La-Gaillarde on 28
Aug to 2 Sep. More 2017 details here.
[On: 17Oct2016]
Biker's Rest Trials
Holidays
If you haven't got your holidays booked yet then New club member John Luckett & wife Brenda tell
us
there are still some dates available and a few places where people have had to pull out.
John Luckett was, and still is, a talented rider from the South West. Have a look at his Wyegate results this year. As they have ground
suitable for the young riders right up to expert level and the Cornwall coast and pubs nearby, you
can't go far wrong! Click on the image to browse through their website.
[On: 02May2016]
Awards
Some awards only show up at the Annual
Do/Sporting Review. You don't need to be a rider to get an award in this club, other talents
are rewarded too! Read about some of our
awards.
[On: 20Jan2016]
RTA Cover for LDTs etc.
Time for praise for the ACU I think. One big headache for both organisers and riders of road based
events has been massively streamlined thanks to superb work by our governing body. We won't need to
check our bike insurance covers us for trials and rallies or pay the extra one day cover. (Unless
you are also doing the odd non-ACU event or two, of course.) More details on
the ACU site.
[On: 5Dec2015 11:00]
Trev RIP
Centre President Trev (right) in discussion with West Glos' President Breakwell |
More tributes on Western Centre website.
Trevor Hunt - a Long time friend of West Glos sadly passed away on Christmas Day 2014. Our members have many happy memories of riding Trevor's home club, the Wye Valley AC's, events and Trev stewarding our events.
I also remember my first Welsh 2 Day Enduro and bumping into Trev after the first day, thinking he'd been out watching on his bike, "No, I've been route marking day 2 so while you are riding that I'll be picking up day 1's markers." Strewth! There was no stopping the man. Even when he did finally slow down he created an event, for people who put some effort in, with the Olchon, which was usually run as a 12 man or trail ride and was dangerously close to the Bulls head at Craswall where many an après Trial was spent pestering Trev to get the results out.
He was a major force in the Centre as secretary for many years and as President. There may even be a
sedimentary layer around Herefordshire that may identify the Trevor Hunt Age. More on the Centre website.
[On: 27Dec2014]
Use of Wyesham Lane
One of our local residents has reported to us that there is continued illegal use of Wyesham Lane. We
would ask all club members and friends not to use this as it jeopardises any possible future use by
the club, apart from being a nuisance to residents and causing potentially serious disturbance to
the equestrian centre located on the lane.
[On: 26May2014]
Alan 'Taff' Davies
Sad news that Taff died on the 20th Nov 2013 - It is hard for anyone involved in Enduros to not know or have heard of Taff or his exploits being an active West Glos and WTRA member from way back. He will be missed by many. Over the last decade he'd been running an off-road bike tour business in Thailand and having various visits back to the UK when the weather suited him. He last updated us on events abroad on our 'Other Worlds' page.
If you missed the funeral, and the packed Parkend church says loads of you didn't, then you may have
missed that rather than flowers, donations would be appreciated to go to the Alzheimer's Society.
[On: 24Nov2013 updated 14Dec]
1952 New Watney Motorcycle Manufactured in Forest
OK, we are a little late putting the advert in as they've sold out and closed down now. Who'd have
believed it, a Motorcycle used to be made in Lydney! - Well I should have for one as I was brought
up within 100m of the 'Factory' as were Goff and Cliff. I bet their vintage enthusiast father Doug
Hannam knew. Am I the last to know?
Have a look at some photo's and a brochure on the superb Sun Green
website
[On: 30Sep2013]
What was it like back then dad?
If Dad told you bikes handled better than these modern things, he was lying. If he told you you could
never jump those old British bikes, he was lying too. Have a look at this video Cliff Hannam
spotted. It could clear up all those myths.
[On: 10Sep2013]
Len Ore
Len Ore died on 8th December, just short of his 80th birthday. Len was an amazing man
who lived life to the full. His list of achievements is lengthy and varied. He has been past
President of the Vintage club, founder member of the TRF, organiser of many Ariel and VMCC rallies,
trials, grasstrack and road race competitor and model aircraft enthusiast.
Of significance to the West Glos, he and I organised the Border 100. This event for pre65 bikes trying
to recreate a day of the ISDT of the 50's. Colin and Jackie say it was the inspiration for the Wyegate.
He would set off for rallies all over the Continent on his beloved pre war Ariels - bikes most of us
wouldn't ride to the docks! He has ridden over the highest pass at 18,500 ft in the Himalayas,
enduring altitude sickness and camping. As I said, an amazing man but most importantly a valued
friend. I will miss him. Julian Bishop.
Also reported in our local papers - Cavalcade by Ben Falconer.
ALL roads led to the Forest of Dean for motorcyclists who paid their respects to a leading figure in
vintage bikes.
Len Ore's coffin, with his helmet and one of his many rubber-band powered model aircraft adorning
it, arrived at Yew Tree Brake cemetery yesterday ahead of a cavalcade of historic machines.
Many models of his favourite Ariel marque were ridden from all over the county and beyond to the
service near Cinderford. Riders togged up in wet weather gear stood outside the packed chapel to
hear his friend Dennis Beale tell just a few of the amusing events in Len's life, including the
unintentional detachment of a sidecar from the chassis, complete with passenger, while on the
move.
"The esteem he is held in, in the Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club and the Vintage Motorcycle Club
is demonstrated here today, by the number of people who have attended to say goodbye", said
Dennis, who with Len and David Fox rode the highest road in the world, in the Himalayas. "While
reflecting on his achievements in life, we should be motivated by him too. He lived respected, and
died regretted."
A former president of the 13,000-strong VMCC, he died aged 79 earlier this month.
He was instrumental in the formation of the Trail Riders Fellowship, and the Border 100 trial, a
precursor to West Glos and Dean Forest Motorcycle Club's Wyegate long distance trial.
He chaired the AOMC and the Cotswold section of the VMCC, and was a member of the Association of
Pioneer Motorcyclists.
Dennis told the congregation that Len started his career as an apprentice at Trojan Motor Works in
Surrey, and moved with his wife Elvira and sons Michael and Leslie to the Forest of Dean in 1971. He
threw himself in to the motorcycling scene. With Dick Sutton, Ray Everall and Ralph Venables, he set
up the Trail Riders Fellowship which grew in to a large and influential organisation - some
achievement from those early days.
He threw himself in to motorcycle sport in this area. With Julian Bishop, and Frank and Kay
Williams, using old rights of way, he organised the Border 100 which in turn inspired Colin and
Jackie Jones to create the Wyegate Trial, one of the longest and best long distance events.
[On: 29Dec2012]
Championships End
Most of the year long National championships have ended now so let's have a look at the top end of
our contenders.
A VMCC British Historic Racing Championship Win for Julian Bishop on the Vincent
Rapide Sidecar.
Jake Hoare racks up his third Centre Championship title with the Youth A Win.
Goff
Hannam 2nd and Ian Wixon 5th in the Sammy Miller Products Trials
Championship Class 2 (Pre 70 twinshocks). Update: As
the Unit/pre-Unit/2Strokes were amalgamated to make class 2, there are now separate class awards
and therefore Goff has won the Pre-Unit award (He was only beaten by Jon Bliss
on the 250 BSA who won the more general Pre-70 title.) Jeez, talk about confusing!
Henry 3rd overall in ACU Trailbike Championship
Mike
Wells 2nd in 2012 Big Bike Rally Championship
And in Non ACU Hare &
Hounds
, Steve Biddle comes in 2nd in Experts and Martin George Wins
the Clubman2 class in local MDR championship.
OK, who have I missed out? Let me know.
And here is a clip of Jules in April at Mallory. Thanks to AAndy4785.
[On: Updated 15Dec2012]
Gordon Lucas
Sad news that Gordon Lucas passed away on Saturday 10thNov2012. Everyone involved with motorcycles in
our area will have known Gordon and his family, if not from Lucas Motorcycles of Ross shop then from
their involvement in Motorcycle sport at every conceivable level.
[On: 21Nov2012]
New rules for Bike Licences in January
Age limits are changing next year. This mostly affects those who haven't already passed their tests.
More info on the Government
website.
[On: 03Nov2012]
Update - Marathon Effort
Latest - Pete has done it - 04:12:14. 
Peter Neale is a name you will see throughout this website both in a riding and organising capacity. We struggle running the Wyegate without him. Indeed, this year Huw Watkins took Pete's usual task. However, Pete wasn't sat on his backside on that Sunday. He was training for the London Marathon by running the Forest Half-Marathon (1hr 44mins since you ask.)
We nearly lost Pete in 2006 as he was on his way to checkout the iron work on the pearly gates, thanks to a heart attack. Now he is putting his mended ticker to the test and doing the London Marathon on 22nd April 2012 in support of the British Heart Foundation. Our editor and a number of other members are already in debt to this excellent organisation. So, why not invest in someone's future and look after your own, there is tons of useful information on the BHF website on how to avoid joining us!
Please would you help him help them? You can sponsor Pete online using www.justgiving.com/Peter-Neale or contact
him direct info@peterneale.co.uk.
[On: 10Apr2012]
Watch out for scammers too
Having your bike stolen is of course a bike owner's worst nightmare but Duncan Shaw says watch out
for scammer's when trying to buy one too. He is after an AJS and was just contacted by a person purporting to be
from America, but a good old search on the web found the guys name cropped up with other cases of
being ripped off!
(If it was you that contacted Duncan about the Matchless then please call back as you may have a
buyer.)
[On: 27Jan2012]
Stolen From Our Doorstep!
I have had 2 bikes stolen overnight on Sunday night/Monday morning 23 Jan 2012, from Berry Hill,
Coleford, Glos.
My car window was smashed then the car moved to allow access to a garage door, then the garage door
was forced. The bikes stolen were a KTM 250 EXC 2009, the other a KTM 620 LC4 2000 model fitted with
orange plastics.
Both bikes are easily identifiable by myself, so any information gratefully received. Rewards for
safe returns.
Gloucestershire Police are keen to hear from anyone who has heard of this type of garage door entry.
i.e. a 5" round hole cut open with tin snips, allowing a hand to reach the lock on the inside.
Thanks, Mike Wells.
[On: 24jan2012]
New Trail Bikes
We could see a change of colour in the Wyegate car park for 2012! Martin Worgan just spotted these
potential Pamp beaters: New Ossa Explorer or
the very interesting Sherco X Ride (at least we won't have to consider banning this one as a cheat bike, it even has passenger
pegs.)
[On: 14Nov2011]
Dunking
Vess is brave. Very brave. Who else would go swimming out doors at this time of the year. And even braver, who else would film the slight hiccup and admit to it and record it for posterity. What a hero.
[On: 18Oct2011 22:15]
How Many Left?
Have you got the last remaining bike in the uk? Martin Worgan, being a Pamp fan, knows that there are '150 Pamps in the UK, of which 50 SORN'ed'. How did he find that out you say? easy he went to www.howmanyleft.co.uk Go on, check your favourite bike out, you know you want to. (All the data is {'are' if you are that fussy!} derived from government figures.)
Hang on a minute - that means if the Wyegate entry completely fills up with Pamps then that is all of
them! And yes, I have checked, there are 20 XT500s currently on the road, but not mine!
[On: 20Jun2011]
MDR's Brookthorpe HH
Couldn't resist linking to this Vid as there are loads of our members in it . Including our Press
Officer on his Bultaco.
[On: 11May2011]
Rosie's Boost for Becky
One of our site's contributors, Rosie Hunter, has been proving her considerable talents with a great
video of our World trials contender Becky Cook. Worth a view right through, especially if you were
at G&C's recent centre Trial and wonder how come she dropped less than you!
[On: 04Feb2011]
It's Twins!
There has been a long history of twins in the Bishop dynasty, what with Vincents and Enfields, so
congratulations to Joe and Leona on expanded the club membership by 2 and welcome to Henry and
George, the new twins.
[On: 07Dec2010 20:30]
John Cadogan
East South Wales' powerhouse John Cadogan died last week. He leaves an amazing history of involvement
in our sport and was extremely helpful with West Glos as we have frequently run events that cross
the borders and serve both Western Centre and East South Wales. More details on his funeral on EnduroNews.com
[On: 05Jul2010]
Thanks to our Riders
If you've been to one of our events lately and partaken of the nosh facilities then big thanks as Teresa (Vess's better half) was able to hand over �150 to her chosen charity: www.maggiescentres.org for the benefit of the Cotswold centre
Not bad for just doing a bit of grub!
[On: 3Jun2010]
3 Wheels Down
Very sad news that Brian Lethbridge sadly passed away last week. Brian was a well
loved character in the Pre65 Sidecar Trials and Long Distance Trials world for many years with many
inspiring performances on his beloved Triumphs. "Lefty" or "Fag Ash" was an early supporter of our
Wyegate and helped promote the event to ensure a healthy sidecar entry for ages.
[On: 16Jun09]
Another Rider Down
James French tells us sad news - Ray Gerring died of a heart attack on Tuesday.
Ray was a great supporter of LDTs, including the Wyegate, on a KMX 200 and latterly a sorted Mk3
Pampera, which he used to great effect. He finished 10th in the Wyegate last year and scored
championship points in all but one of the ACU Trailbike series rounds too. From Oxford, Ray will be
missed by his many friends in the Western Centre. More details and funeral arrangements on Western centre
site.
[Updated: 16Mar09]