Tribute to Phil Penny | Parry's | Burt Munro | Bruce's Long Ride | Walmsley's | Membership | Calendar
This is a short history of Phil and the Albany Vintage & Classic
Motorcycle Club of which Phil was a Life Member. I first met Phil and
Lurline at Vintage Motorcycle Club Events in the early 1990's, when they
had recently moved to Albany from the farm at Lake King.
Straight away Phil impressed us with his knowledge of motorcycles, especially Triumphs. This is as well as, of course, of being a really nice bloke and a very likeable gentleman.
I remember Phil and Lurline riding their Triumph sidecar outfit to Sydney on a VMCC ride together with Lloyd and June and Robin and his wife on their old Harleys. Quite an achievement.
This was later followed with rides with Lloyd and June to Queensland and Tasmania on their BMW sidecars, again no mean feat.
In May, 1999 we started up the Albany Vintage & Classic Motorcycle
Club. Phil was a founding member.
He was a great asset to the Club, very popular, thoughtful, always
willing to lend a hand and good for a laugh. Phil and Lurline were
inseparable and it was great to see them on rides right from the very
beginning.
In 2003 Phil became Vice President, a position he held till 2012 and he was a great help to me as President. I was always asking him for his advice and his opinion. And whenever Chris and I were away on one of our many trips Phil would jump in and ably run the Club.
There were many memorable rides which we went on with Phil and Lurline. In particular were the "Week Away" rides, quite often passing through Phil's old stomping grounds from the pipeline to Kalgoorlie to dams in the bush. He was a mine of information and knowledge of WA's early history, and he was great to listen to, we learnt a lot.
One of the highlights of camping with Phil was to listen to him reciting bush poetry around the campfire - it was fabulous to listen to and it’s something that I'll remember forever.
It was a privilege and a pleasure to have known Phil, a true gentleman.
Sincere thanks for the cards of condolence sent to myself and family, and to those who travelled to Perth and attend the service and wake for Phil. What a crowd! Phil would have been chuffed. Yes, he was a wonderful guy and a wonderful husband.
He loved restoring old rusty machines, and he was always so keen to be ready for the next ride whether it was solo or with me in the sidecar.
We had so much fun on those occasions, especially being around the campfire, anywhere in the bush, listening to yarns, laughing and of course the music (thanks Bob).
Bless you all our friends, and keep those bikes revving and enjoy that ride.
A huge thankyou to all the crew from the AVCMC for being such an important part of Phil’s life in Albany, and special mention to those members who after club runs took the time to follow dad, and ensure he made it home safely, a lovely gesture.
Cheers
The Penny’s