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Welcome to my blog, these are the ramblings and musings of an (upper) middle aged biker and if you enjoy braais, (barbeques) beers and motorbikes then hopefully you will enjoy what Janet and I do; we do lots of braais, we drink lots of beer and we tour South Africa on our motorbike, which at the moment is a BMW R1200RT. Join us, read about what we do and please leave us your comments.



Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Memorial service and the local toy run - sadness and happiness

This past Sunday was a day first of sadness and then of happiness, we attended the annual memorial service for fallen bikers at the Biker church in Vredenburg. A very moving service conducted by Pastor Errol and the tears flowed when the names were read out.
By the time we arrived there were already a lot of bikers there, it was a very windy day but we weren't going to be doing any long distance. By the time the service started the parking area was crowded with motorbikes.
Pastor Errol, also a biker, with the unique pulpit for the biker church and behind him is the memorial board.
After the service the bikers gathered in a nearby parking area to await the Traffic Police escort and the arrival of more bikers, some came from as far away as Capetown and the mass ride down to the sports ground in Saldanha apparently consisted of 109 bikes.

It was an impressive sight and the Traffic Department made sure that we didn't have to stop at any traffic lights or intersections. Photos by Gerrie. (Click on photos to see them full size.) We all parked on the sportsfield and the fun day began.

First all the toys were piled into the trailer and most people brought many more than one toy, before long there was an impressive pile of toys for local children. Here Greg and Johan are two of the many who brought toys along.
 

Thereafter amid good music provided by DJ Splinter, one of our own club members, the games took place. Tyre throw for men, ladies (incidentally won by Mercia of the Mohicans and one of the organisers) and then the hilarious children's tyre throw, boys and girls.
 

On the left is Mercia with her winning throw and on the right the men's winner and unfortunately I didn't get his name, a visitor I think from Capetown, a powerful guy who just about threw the bloody thing away!
 








The drinking competition for children (future bikers?) was with fruit juice, lots of fun, the smaller ones just enjoyed drinking a free juice.









There were drinking competitions for the adult bikers too but Frank and I were content to nurse our juice like gentlemen (well almost!) Elize seen here taking a break with a hotdog from the food caravan and a refreshing drink.
All in all a very successful day under the auspices of the Westcoast Motorcycle Association, well done to the hard working organisers and a big thumbs up to all of the bikers who attended and donated toys for needy children. No other group gives as much to charity as bikers do.

4 comments:

Trobairitz said...

So glad to see so many toys collected.

I hope that the names on the list for the memorial were there due to old age and they lived a full life. I hate to hear of one cut too short.

the rider said...

Brandy I'm afraid that none of the names on the board were there due to old age but also not all of them were due to bike accidents either, some were illness related and two of them were due to a car crash that was not their fault. Sad nonetheless.

Davnic said...

I enjoyed reading your blog today and catching up on what's been happening... lots of great photos too.... keep safe on the roads... XXXX

the rider said...

Cheers Dave and Nicky, thanks for reading my blog and for your comment. much appreciated. Hopefully we'll have another chat soon.