West Kent Section Chairman, Peter Firth and his wife Brenda set up camp at The Friars at the beginning of the week to prepare the site for the event. By the end of the weekend Brenda had made more than 500 cups of tea in her caravan, keeping an endless stream of visitors and helpers happy. 

For me this year's event was very special because my wife and son, who usually clear off to visit friends, were with me and, for only the third time, I rode in the event.  Our 1921 Martinsyde outfit conveyed us admirably throughout the day in style if not in comfort.  The long hill before the lunch stop at Beech Court Gardens, Challock, nearly finished it off and I thought my socks were going to catch fire, such was the heat pouring off the engine.  It got us all the way round though and we had the pleasure of displaying it on Sunday with Chris Tait.  I had the further pleasure of offering Chris (91) a ride in the sidecar.  He tends to feel the cold now so he opted for a short run around the show field.  He had brought his Martinsyde show boards with him and sat with the outfit talking to people about the company and its products.

With 364 riders, their pillion passengers, non - riding family members, marshals and helpers, almost 500 people came to The Friars and enjoyed another exceptional weekend of social and riding activities. 

The weather was excellent throughout, with a cool Saturday for the Run (a major contributor to the lack of breakdowns) and a warm, sunny Sunday to bring out the crowds for the Show. 

Friends from across Europe gathered again for their annual reunion at the Friars.  50 new riders joined us for the first time and we feel sure many of them will report back to friends and help to swell the numbers again next year.  I was especially pleased to see a number of smaller capacity machines including a Raleigh Runabout, Yamaha FS1E and Honda SS50, demonstrating that you can do the event on any machine.  Bill Robson stole the show again with his 1924 50cc Armor and Maurice Drew takes the Hero's Award for completing the course on his Cyclemaster powered butcher's bike !  Go home and spread the word my friends - the entire Cyclemotor Section should be here next year. 

There were runs on Thursday evening, all day Friday, the West Kent Run on Saturday and another social run all day Monday.  With a barbecue, a reception, attended by James Hewing,  to open the event officially on Friday, the evening celebration on Saturday (both evenings with live bands) and then the Show on Sunday, there was plenty to do.

The Tuesday before the event saw the first Dutch arrivals and, by early Friday evening, a complete camp village had mushroomed on the field with over 120 tents and caravans.

The overseas entry contained some nice surprises this year.  We had more German riders than for many years and the French group was the biggest ever.  The Dutch entry was the strongest, as usual and John Bouwhuis has to take the credit for continuing to spread the word in Holland and encouraging people to come in spite of a high ferry tariff and the recent problems in London.  Sadly we had not one single rider from Belgium.  The numbers have slowly dwindled over the last few years.  We shall have to do some serious work to try to attract them back - all contacts welcome !

We had a number of notable early entries.  Peter Cottrell's 1912 Humber was oldest but there were Harleys from 1913, 1916 and 1918 snapping at his heels.  I saw them on several occasions, riding as a pack and they were splendidly speedy.  At the other end of the spectrum was Dave Mills' Kawasaki Z1000.  Spectrum is an important word too.  For the Sunday Show, especially, I believe it is important that we show the general public as broad a spectrum of two and three-wheeled machinery as we can.  James Hewing and I spent some time on Saturday afternoon, at the end of the Run, talking to a young lad from the next village who wanted to look at the bikes and wants to buy himself 'something old'.  He is only 18 but the 'plastic bikes' his friends ride do not interest him.  Just the sort of lad the Club needs !

The public came in droves on Sunday to enjoy Alan McKee's marvellous gymkhana, the Avenue of Clubs, the jumble and trade stands, the ice-cream wagon and the lines and lines of bikes.  We thank all of them and the local press for their support and interest.

500 participants went home between Sunday and Tuesday very happy and looking forward to doing it all over again in 2006 - will you be there to join them ? 
Brenda - get the kettle on !

Go to www.westkentrun.co.uk for details of the event.

Alan Abrahams