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The Later Days
Towards the mid nineteen nineties the White
Bear changed hands and we had to look for somewhere else for the section to meet
and we found another public house called the Drill House near Greenstead, which, like the White Bear, was a couple of
miles outside Chipping Ongar but in a different
direction. Unfortunately though this was also a place where we had to be in the
main bar area which, apart from not being suitable for making general club
announcements also meant that as the section continued to grow, members tended
to be broken up into little groups throughout the general bar area with no real
sense of togetherness. This was the case when Kevin O’Brien introduced me
to the section and I never really got to know most of the members while we were
there.
Members and bikes outside The Drill House
public house near Greenstead
We
desperately needed somewhere to meet where the section could get together apart
from the general public and one of our members at that time provided a possible
answer. He worked at the
The new location was not to
everyone’s taste however and some thought it rather an impersonal and
unfriendly place, so although we started to gain new members, some of the old
regulars did tend to attend a lot less often. So when we heard that the new
owner of the White Bear was quite keen to get us back there again and that we
could have the use of their separate meeting hall then it didn’t take too
long for the section to decide, on a vote, to move back to the White Bear.
Although I was one of those who was initially reticent about moving back to a
public house I have to admit that going back to the White Bear was a great
success and almost immediately we had an increase in the regular attendees
because we regained all those who had drifted away as well as some extra
members. While the White Bear’s meeting hall had seen better days and had
foliage bursting through the wooden walls in places it was at least warm and
dry and it was ours to use on two evenings each month. There was a lot of land
around the back of the pub and during our time there we organized our first two
proper Section Open Days on summer Sundays in successive years on those
grounds, where we tried to introduce various activities to keep visitors
interested. Unfortunately on both occasions the weather was less than kind to
us and we never had the number of visitors from other sections that we had
hoped for, but it did help publicise our section
activities.
We were dealt a blow when the White Bear,
which was well known by the motorcycling fraternity, was forced into closure
and sold off for conversion into housing. We had to quickly find somewhere else
to meet and The Green Man at Navestock Side became
our new “home”, where we also had a hall made available for our own
use. This was the same place where Ken Smith had originally intended to start
the section which then became The British Owners Club. We stayed there for
several years until rumours started circulating that
this venue was also likely to be sold for re-development in the not too distant
future. So pre-empting another likely forced move the committee started looking
at alternative venues and the idea of us meeting at the “Squadron”, an old World War 2 NAFFI canteen on
North Weald Airfield emerged. Totally different from anywhere else we had met
and around twelve miles further away for a majority of members (although closer
for others) the section had an extended discussion on adopting this new venue
and although a sizeable number had reservations about it we decided to go ahead
and make the change. As it turned out it was the right thing to have done, not
only because the Green Man has now gone, but because the Squadron proved to be
an excellent venue for us and our section membership continued to rise after we
moved there and rose to around 35 or so regular members many of whom had
partners who also took part in our social activities. Unfortunately, after a
happy ten year association with the “Squadron” we lost the use of
this site during May 2016 after a management reorganisation
and change of direction as regards the use of the premises. So from 26th
May 2016 the section met at a new venue, Stapleford Airfield near Abridge,
which was not too far away from the previous one and had a nice roomy meeting
area and also outside seating overlooking the airfield for use in fine weather.
This was fine until the Covid pandemic closed
everything in March 2020, including our meeting place and subsequently those
premises were no longer available to us. Since then we have not really had a
permanent meeting place and have met at the public houses that are most
suitable for us at particular times of the year. We are currently meeting at This Venue
1967
Matchless G80CS
owned by a section member
In 2003 a minority of enthusiastic members
succeeded in persuading the majority that we ought to be running the 2004 Jampot Rally at
Another idea thought up by Section Leader
Roy was a “Restoration in a Day”
– of one of HIS bikes of course. The bike chosen was an “all
essential parts there” ex Luxembourg Army G3 Matchless and on the chosen
day around fifteen section members met at
The
finished bike with its engine running
The section is quite an active one, with
regular “ride outs” either to events or just around the byways of
Essex and we often have stands at various events around the area. We also have
several social events throughout the year and our two club nights every month
are well attended by members, so there is usually someone who will be able to
chat to you about whatever model you may own. So if you fancy visiting us then
please do get in touch on
EastLondon@jampot.com Look at our “find us”
web page on this site to locate where we are. You won’t regret it I feel
sure.
Colin
Atkinson