ALBANY VINTAGE & CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE CLUB

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April 2009 Club News

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Nuts & Bolts Men’s Health Motorbike Ride

Story: Chester Powell
Pics: Antoinet Glazema

A good gathering of nuts at the HallOn 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.

Cakes galore...
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.

Karen Rendell talks about prostate healthAfter 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.

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