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East London & Essex Section Notes
(as appearing in Jampot magazine from 2026)
Any section member having information for
our section notes or an article for inclusion on this web site can
email me (Colin Atkinson) on btsc.moto@btinternet.com
February 2026
On Sunday 28th December the weather was cold but dry when Roy
led Geoff G, Steve C, Dave W and myself on a run
through the lanes to our lunchtime stop at Rosey
Lea’s café on North Weald Airfield where we met up with Reg
(Harlow) Green and his son who had driven there by car. After a warming lunch
break the run continued back to where riders peeled off at suitable points to
make their own way back to their homes. As the weather since then has taken
quite a downturn it seems that in this case we had chosen probably the best day
for our run and it was good to get out on a bike for a run after Christmas
before it turned really cold.
For our first club night of the year at The Woodman on 8th
January the weather was certainly different from that on the run as it was
teeming with rain and the roads were awash on the way there while much of the
country was awaiting anxiously to find out just how bad the approaching storm
was going to be for them and the following morning’s news showed just how lucky
we had been in this part of the country with just heavy rain to cope with
compared with many other places that had been hit really hard. Despite the rain
and roads ten of us attended and there was much discussion of who was going to
be attending the various events and rallies of the year, starting with the Ace
café meeting and extending to the International, the Sussex camping weekend,
the West Kent Run and Jampot rally. With the weather
as it is at present no section run has yet been scheduled but when it improves
we hope to start having one or two runs earlier in this year than we usually
do.
January 2026
The Section held our usual End of Year Dinner,
arranged for us once more by Dave Walling, at The Plough, Bulphan on Saturday 6th
December. Our numbers attending were down on previous years this time, mostly
due to medical reasons, which I suppose is only to be expected as we all get
older. However the rest of us sat down to a pleasant meal and social evening.
During the evening we had the presentation of our
two annual section awards, the section Clubman of the Year award for the
section member having done the most to help the section during the year and the
Piston Broke award for the person suffering probably the most bike related
misfortune during the year, an award which none of us really wants to win and
which I have now unfortunately won twice in the past. The Clubman of The Year
award went to Roy Bellett, which surprised him somewhat as it was not what he
was expecting. However it is difficult to arrange an award for someone who is
involved in actually choosing the recipient without a bit of subterfuge and the
award was well deserved. The Piston Broke award went to Graham Eaton for the
trials and tribulations with his Matchless G15CSR over the year. Unfortunately
Graham wasn’t available to receive it himself as he was ill and couldn’t
attend, so it was accepted on his behalf by his partner Claire.
Subsequent to the dinner we had only two section
events left in 2025, our last club night on 11th December and our
proposed section run on 28th, both of which will have taken place by
the time you get to read this. So it really just remains for me to wish you all
season’s greetings and all the best for 2026, when of course we hope that all
of our runs will have excellent weather. Happy New Year.
Colin
Atkinson