On a sunny Sunday, the 15th March, our
club held
its inaugural Men’s Health Ride. Each year we plan to support a
different aspect of men’s health with this years ride raising funds for
the Albany Prostate Cancer Support Group as several club members and
their families have been affected by this disease.
About 70 bikes of all makes and models gathered
in Albany ready to head off at 9.30am. It was great to see several
women among the riders as well as pillions. Most bikes were fairly
recent models, with some of the riders being well into their 80’s. It
was great to see one octogenarian (David Vardin) doing his best to keep
up with the rest of the mob on his Royal Enfield 350 which is over 50
years old.
Our first leg was 100km to Wellstead Hall where
the riders were met by members of the Wellstead community led by Linda
Tyler, who helped set up the hall for morning tea. Thanks goes to this
community for their contributions to our fund-raising and making the
riders very welcome.
A big thankyou to David Wallace who transported
cakes, raffle prizes and his PA system to the hall before everyone
arrived and cleaned up after the riders had left. He took a shortcut
back to Kamballup arriving just before the first bike and bogged in to
help here as well. Thanks also to Chris (who also left Albany early on
her bike for the setup), Antoinet and Bob for running the raffle and
watching the clock. A huge thankyou to all those ladies who cooked and
provided the morning tea.
From here the bikes rode east to Boxwood Hills
and then turned north onto the Bremer Bay-Borden Road and around the
back of the Stirling Ranges to Chester Pass Road (all very scenic)
where they then turned south for their final destination
Kamballup Hall (142km).
Panic! We didn’t expect the first bike till at
least 12:45 it was only 12:20 (how’s that?). Steaks and onions were
thrown onto the barbies by Warrick, Andy and local Barry Pearce. Trudy,
Genie Pearce and Des went into overdrive in the kitchen. Bob and John
were issued with tongs, steak, onions and salad were dumped into a bun
and before long the masses were fed. Must have been ok as we didn’t
hear any complaints. Well done those people.
After lunch, the guest speaker, Karen
Rendell,
talked about prostate cancer, the Albany Prostate Cancer Support group
and her role as its coordinator. This organisation was founded six
years ago with the aim of supporting men who have developed this cancer
and their families.
A big part of their work is getting the message
out there to all men. Reminding them to have regular checkups and to
let them know that early detection of prostate cancer is vital to
increase the chances of surviving.
There is life after prostate cancer and men
must look out for themselves. The support group meets every six weeks.
For further information, Karen can be contacted on 9844 1812.
The talk was followed by the winding up of the
auction. The bidding on the prizes was a bit slow to start but with a
bit of encouraging some went for well above face value which was very
pleasing. Thanks to the support of all of our sponsors and the
generosity of all those who attended the day, the club was able to
raise over $2000 which will be presented to the APCSG at next months
meeting.
The support from our sponsors was overwhelming
in these difficult times and we encourage our members to support these
business. The club wishes to acknowledge the following sponsors:
ABA Securities and Caramia Electrics, Albany Combined Tyre Service,
Antonio Montorosso (Nexus Wealth Management), Appleyards, Barbara
Jackman –The Rare Coin Company, Bennetts Batteries, Brooks Garden
Chemmart, Brooks Garden News, Dog Rock Pharmacy, Dowsett Automotive
Engineering, Dymocks Booksellers, Fiona Wallace- Avon Cosmetics, GT
& JF Couper, GT Engineering, Lionetti’s IGA stores, Leading Edge
Computers, Rays Sports Power, Reeves on Campbell, Spencer Park
Pharmacy, The Hub, Total Eden, Trail Blazers and Wellstead Community.