Download - A5 jan 2014
Magazine of the Thames Valley HOG Chapter
Sue
Everyone makes them. Everyone breaks them.
I'm talking, of course, about New Year's resolutions.
January - it’s that time of the year when we think about
all the good things we want to do and all the bad
things we want to stop doing! Then we make a promise
to ourselves that, statistically, only 12% of us keep.
I’d like to be a better person, lose those bad habits,
lose weight, get fitter, drink less, do more housework,
clean my own bike - the list is endless! And, oh, I mean
to keep to them but somehow I never do. It’s so easy
to slip back into old, comfortable habits.
Well, this year, I plan to make it easy for myself to
keep to my resolution. I promise to get more fresh air
and get my highest annual mileage
yet! Yes, I promise to ride my bike
more and pile up those miles.
Should be easy now I’m retired.
For once I’m doing something for me.
What are you promising yourself
this year?
Well, maybe we haven’t had any snow yet but with the amount of rain that has been falling, perhaps we should all be buying boats as our second vehicles! I should like January, with it being my birthday month, but I don’t - it’s such a GREY month, a bit like the maga-zine this time! Party season over, dark mornings (and evenings) and very few, or no, biking opportunities. Roll on rally season!
Inside this issue…
Front cover: Uh-Oh! Page 2 Start your Engines Page 4, 5 Don’s Direction Page 6, 7 LOH - Sue’s Says... Page 8 - 11 Never say never… Terry Dunn Page 12, 13 Meet the Members Page 14, 15 Calendar Page 16 Merchandise Page 17 News and Updates Activities
Page 18 PARTY
Page 19 News Biker Down Page 20 News Rallies Page 21 Guess who? Page 22 Whose bike? Page 23 Fine Pig Page 24 For sale / wanted Page 25 Photo Gallery Page 26, 27 Safety First Back cover: Meet the committee
January/
February
Birthdays
Bernie Bulldog 6th Jan
Sue Knight 18th Jan
Bernie Dodds 24th Jan
Ron Jackson 29th Jan
Louise White 3rd Feb
Chris Smith 11th Feb
Happy birthday to
you all!
A big thank you to all who have sent copy for this month’s Riverbank Tales:
Terry Dunn, Lee & Lou White, Don, Sue, Nick, Shirley and Linda
4 5
Hi Everybody, and Happy New Year to you all! I do hope you had a great Christmas and new year. Whilst talking about Christmas, what a great club night we had in December, full of festive fun and frolics. Our ladies version of the 12 days of a Harley Christmas was a great start to my bit on the chair. How they kept that quiet from the rest of us I don’t know! Santa’s Christmas raffle this year was plentiful; prizes ranging from Harley Christmas Baubles, wine, Panettone cake & T shirts were won by many of the members. This year’s Christmas Hamper was won by Paul & Gill Major. Congratulations to you both, I hope you enjoyed its contents over Christmas.
At December’s club night, we welcomed a new member, Jean Harding. Welcome to Thames Valley Uk Chapter, Jean.
Club night attendance was high with a total of 73 attending.
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2013 Looking back over 2013, it’s been a great year, yet again, for Thames Valley. With us celebrating our 15
th Birthday in June and
Harley Davidson and Hog also celebrating milestone birthdays, it’s been a great year for celebrations. The English weather has been very kind, allowing us to cover so many miles on rides and to attend rallies and events in England and Europe. The club membership has stayed fairly level over the past year with 179 members. Average attendances at club nights have been between 55/65 members. During 2013 we have run several events including Poker Runs, Chapter Challenge Mileage Program and the Miles for Fun challenge. All have been attended
and supported by a large number of our members. 2014 Information for rides and rallies will be on the calendar shortly. The Cider Rally, Wake the Lakes and Thunder in the Glens tickets are available via their Chapter websites. The plans for another Chapter Chill Out week-
end, in Tewkesbury, at the end of June are in the final stages of planning and information will be available early 2014. The other major event for 2014 that we are all looking forward to is the opening of our new Dealership sometime in May /June. It’s been a long time coming but will be worth the wait. Here’s looking forward to a great 2014 with a fine bunch of friends.
Don
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Happy New Year, everyone.
Just to say that I am honoured to be continuing in the role of
your Ladies of Harley Representative for the 4th year running.
Gosh, doesn’t time fly!
My role is to look after the interests of all lady members
in the Chapter; keeping you informed and helping you to
become involved as much or as little as you like. I am also
there to represent the views of lady riders and pillions at
committee level.
My aim is to encourage you to join in and have fun ( not
that most of us need much in the way of encouragement)
and to help everyone get to know each other.
I have to say that there has always been great
camaraderie between our ladies and certainly no distinction
between those who ride their own bikes and those who don’t.
I would love to hear of any events that you think would be
good for us to attend, i.e. cinema, theatre, pubs etc. Please
don’t leave it all up to me. I am here to represent you and
your interests, so I welcome your ideas to help me plan and
promote some activities this year.
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I know Christmas has come and gone but I need to say what
a great club night we had in December. There was a great
atmosphere and all the ladies joined in to sing a few verses of
‘On the first day of Christmas’. The idea was hatched at the
LoH dinner at the end of November with everyone contributing
to the words. Let’s just hope we haven’t set the expectation
level too high for next year!
I look forward to seeing those who can make it for the
Saturday lunchtime social on 25th January at the Crooked Billet
in Iver Heath ( details on the calendar). Everyone is welcome,
LoH and MoH and BoH !
Bye for now,
Sue x
STOP PRESS...
The February Saturday Social
will be at Nelson's Diner, a 50's
American themed restaurant
http://www.nelsonsdiner.co.uk
on 22 February 2014 at 12.30.
Meet at Sportsable at 11.15 for
11.30 depart. We can go in cars
or bikes depending on the
weather, or meet there if it
suits you better. Please let me
know if you would like to come
as I need to know numbers to
book tables. Sue x
A t the end of April 2011, I was persuaded to sacrifice a weekend in order to visit Brugge, or is it Bruges? It was an interesting trip that passed without incident and I included a visit to Ypres, (or is it Leper?) and Tyne Cot cemetery, all of which I would recommend to anyone that has a feel for history. The weather was kind and the only real stain on the whole trip was the bloated German who arrived early for breakfast at the hotel and proceeded to
hoover up all of the available bacon leaving the rest of the residents with little more than a spoonful of scrambled egg each to set them up for the day. Of course I bear no grudges after all we have beaten them at all of the important stuff and let’s face it, if Adolf had only been interested in annexing bacon, his panzers would probably have stopped on the northern coast of Denmark. . Generally, though, Belgium presented me with one major problem that led me to swear I would never return. That problem is the roads. They are appalling, unless you have a passion for over- crowded motorways. Mile after mile we risked a
ruptured spleen, bouncing along narrow lanes surfaced with blocks of concrete that appeared to have been dumped with no apparent effort made to level them. For goodness sake, you can pick up a decent spirit level in B & Q for a couple of quid, how hard can it be? Occasionally you will come across some proper tarmac. Oh, the joy of flat black tarmac! But then, just as your internal organs are nestling back into their proper places and you prepare yourself for a little more speed, the 70 signs appear. That is about 43.496 mph and most of the half decent roads seem to have the same limitation. Now I’m not a speed freak but 43.496 mph is not a speed that is likely to get you to the bacon tray before Fritz has been at it!
Never say never (unless you really mean it)
By Terry Dunn
Tyne Cot Cemetery
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Always optimistic, I thought I would consult my Harley touring manual to see if
there was a road anywhere in Belgium worthy of the name. There is one. It’s
marked as a scenic route and runs north - south along the west coast. What a
delight that was. Miles and miles of enormous concrete blocks hollowed out to pro-
vide the population with holiday homes or hotels, or perhaps they are punishment
blocks. Whatever they are they completely obscure the view of the sea.
Very little of this road is what I would describe as scenic except that to my right
were miles and miles of sand dunes punctuated with the occasional gun
emplacement abandoned after the second world war.
So, imagine my reaction when it was suggested recently that it would be quite
nice to visit Waterloo. Time heals all wounds, they say, so without properly
thinking it through I agreed to another weekend in Belgium. I have only myself to
blame.
The roads are the same but with the added advantage that in October,
agricultural activity seems to peak. In England this means that there are a few
more tractors towing trailers full of
turnips and cabbages around. I can
only conclude that farmers in
Belgium specialise in cultivating
mud. It’s everywhere. Mountains of
the stuff piled high onto trailers and
towed by extraordinarily large
agricultural machines which seem
to have been designed with the sole
purpose of spreading an even layer
of muck throughout the land.
The fact that some of these machines were tracked vehicles should have given me
a clue.
Then, just when you think things can’t get any worse, you are presented with
cobbles. In the middle of nowhere they appeared and for no reason that was
apparent. The road surface just changed to cobbles. The exceptionally high crown
in the centre of the road, and the eccentricity this introduced to the handling of my
Electra Glide, would have made this an amusing challenge on its own but of course
the surface was also wet and coated with mud.
A pile of mud with a statue on top
9
10
I am delighted to report that apart from a few reports of buttock cramp brought on by extreme clenching, our group of 6 bikes made it through unscathed. If you enjoy looking at a large mound of grass covered mud with a statue on top, then Waterloo is definitely one place you can do it. Other than that there really isn’t much to see now but then it is nearly 200 years since anything much happened there.
Of course, the weather will always be beyond our control but somehow on top
of the muddy wet cobbled roads, the downpour that caught us on the way back to
the hotel in Zedelgem (it’s a gnat’s south, south, west of Brugge) just seemed to
be Belgium expressing its dislike for English bikers. I say English but must
acknowledge that one of our number was in fact French. Mind you, apart from
his passion for publicly eating bits of frog, he seemed a very nice chap. Call me
Mr Squeamish if you like but I tend not to eat anything that looks like it did when
it was walking or hopping around and frankly it doesn’t matter how much batter
you stick on them; frogs legs will always look like frogs legs.
It was probably his way of seeking revenge because we made him visit
Waterloo where he was forced to respond to our childish jibes of “loser, loser” by
refusing to accept that the French had come second.
"Are we having fun yet?"
Picture supplied by Brian Wilson
11
BW trying to remain anonymous in Passendale
One final kick in the nuts before we left. Having stopped to get my bearings just after a right hand bend near Tyne Cot I was rear ended by another member of our club, and not in a nice way. He will remain nameless in order to protect his identity from the fine pig, but let’s call him BW. No great damage done as far as I can tell but I will need a new left hand muffler. BW’s anniversary Fatboy suffered a bit more but I think we are still friends. Of course this accident could have happened anywhere but it didn’t, it happened in Belgium. So that’s it, I will never turn a wheel in the place again. I recommend that you visit the sights, though, and pay your respects to the fallen. Try to be at the Menin Gate at dusk but do it on a train. If you want the authentic experience then just get hold of a yard of top soil, pour water on it, chuck a load all over your bike then roll around in the remainder while your significant other hoses you down with cold water. Oh, and ask someone you don’t like very much to punch you repeatedly in the kidneys. Much cheaper than a channel crossing, hotel room and a couple of tanks of petrol.
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Meet the Members
Spotlight on...
Lee & Lou White
How long have you been together?
We have been together for 20
years, after meeting each other at work Do you have any children?
Yes, we have two daughters and a son. Amey
is 17 years old and Lucy is 15. Our son Lewis is
11. They all enjoy jumping on the back of our
bikes and they love the SOFER Rally. Any pets?
We have 3 dogs: two schnauzers, Toby &
Tilly, and one King Charles called Ace. How long have you been riding motorbikes?
Lee, since the age of 13 - learnt to ride in a
field in Iver (Bison) scrambling with mates and
being chased by a police helicopter!!!! What was your first bike?
My first road bike was an AE50cc. Then I
had an MZ125. Living the dream!!!
13
When did you get your first Harley?
We got a Sportster in 2009. What do you ride now?
We had a Street Bob, Fatboy, now we ride a
2012 Street Glide How long have you been a Thames Valley member?
We joined the Club in 2009 when we bought
our first Harley, and we haven’t looked back. Any hobbies apart from motorbikes?
Most of our time is taken up bringing up our
busy family, and working. Lou has turned her
hand to many tasks such nappies, cakes and now
is studying for her NVQ level 3 in Beauty. She
is hoping to go on to start training as a Midwife. Any special Harley experiences?
We have not done many rallies as yet but we
are looking forward to the day we get more
adult time. Lee enjoys his role as the club
Webmaster and is always putting the members
before himself. Lee is currently working on a
new website for the club which you should all
see next year. Nice meeting you, Lee & Lou thanks for the chat!
Lewis & Lucy A
mey
January
Saturday Social
-All Welcome- Saturday 25th, 12:30
Crooked Billet, Iver Come and join us for
just a chat, a drink
or a meal.
Bring the family!
Ace Café Harley Night
Thursday 30th, 6:00
February
Committee Night
Tuesday 4th, 8:00
PARTY NIGHT Saturday 8th, 7:00 to
Sunday 9th, 1:00am!
Party the night away
at Sportsable
Thursday, 20th
Club Night, 7:30
Ace Café Harley Night
Thursday 27th, 6:00
March
Committee Night
Tuesday 4th, 8:00
Thursday, 20th
Club Night, 7:30
Ace Café Harley Night
Thursday 27th, 6:00
April
Committee Night
Tuesday 1st, 8:00
Wednesday 9th, 6:30
FIRST POKER RUN
Venue TBA
Thursday 17th
Club Night, 7:30
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Club Nights
February 20th
March 20th
April 17th
May 15th
June 19th
Mag contribution
Deadlines
February 13th
March 13th
April 10th
May 8th
June 12th
Dates, events, rideouts and activities
Details correct at time of going to print. Check the website for updates and amendments www.thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
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Events for your Diary
TV Pre-Season Party
8th Feb
23rd Cider Rally
2nd - 5th May
Big Brum Bash
23rd - 26th May
Ireland Bike Fest
30th May - 1st June
European Rally Biograd Croatia 2 - 16th June
World Ride 2014 (Million Mile)
23rd - 24th June
Wake the Lakes
3rd - 6th July
Fenlanders Rally
24th - 27th July
Hog n Bog Provience wide
1st - 3rd August
Sherwood Rally
15th-17th August
Thunder in the Glens
22nd - 25th August
Deva Legion Circus Maximus
12th - 14th September
Check website for Changes / further
details on all events
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Bodywarmer £
35
Varsity Jackets £25
MERCHANDISE
Bodywarmer Zipped hoodie Regatta fleece Varsity jackets Hoodie T/ shirts
A range of good quality merchandise is now available. See Shirley, on Club Night, who has samples to show you. All items come in various colours and sizes, and for £5 you can have your name added.
£35.00 £27.00 £26.00 £25.00 £23.00 £ 13.50 Regatta fleece
£26
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CONTACT
Activities by Nick West
Firstly, I would like to thank my fellow committee members
and all of the club members for their help in my role as
activities officer for the past two years.
A new Activities Officer will be announced at the January
Club Night and I will be offering as much advice and support
for the new position holder as they want or need.
The new officer will be working with Barry Adams as I did
during my tenure.
Please welcome the new incumbent with the same positive
support as you have for me and continue to feed your ideas
for new events and rides to that person.
The Club is successful because of you; your committee are
the enablers but YOU are the force which drives us forward.
Let's make 2014 a GREAT year for Thames Valley HOG with
your continued support and as many fresh ideas as you can
muster.
You can use the suggestion box to get your information to
us anonymously or you can share your ideas with your new
Activities Officer, or ANY committee member.
I will continue to serve the Club in my other roles.
Thanks again,
Nick
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Tickets £10 - Have
you got yours?
Buy online or
at Club Night.
DON’T MISS OUT!
Saturday, 8th February
HOT AND COLD BUFFET
7:00 ‘til 1:00
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- FIRST AID (including helmet removal)
- MANAGING A CRASH SCENE
- SEE AND BE SEEN
Biker Down / First Responder / First Aid Course for bikers in early spring.
Bucks Fire Service are running the Biker Down, first response / first aid course again in 2014. I have spoken to Keith Wheeler who organises these and asked for some places.
There is a course running at Marlow Fire Station on Thursday 6th March in the evening. If you are interested please contact Nick West (07775696024) or email
safetyofficer@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk. Places are FREE and allocated on a first come, first served basis. If you are seeking further informa-tion you can look at their website www.bucksfire.gov.uk or contact me. I attended one of these courses last year and the informa-tion was extremely valuable.
Nick West (Safety Officer)
HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND?
Dare to be different
20
?
IT’S NOW TIME TO START MAKING PLANS FOR 2014
Thunder in the Glens -
All booking information is now on the website.
See News section.
It has been confirmed that The Cider Rally will be going ahead as usual. Accommodation and tickets available from the Bridgwater site.
FIRST RALLY OF THE YEAR
AUGUST 22 nd-25 th
Don’t forget the EDITOR! We need write-ups to print through these lean times of
SL0 0LP
p.t.o
no rideouts. What did you do over the Holidays? What do you want to see in your mag? Send
YOU!
21
WE NEED SUGGESTIONS AND IDEAS FOR CLUB EVENTS
AND RIDEOUTS. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO;
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO AS A CLUB?
SEND YOUR IDEAS TO:
This is a picture of
one of our regular
members taken, well,
quite a few years ago!
Can you guess who it is?
Do you recognise him?
Whose Bike? Our ‘Jammy’ photographer, Linda, has been taking candid shots of our bikes when we weren’t looking! Do you recognise your bike, or that of another club member? If you correctly identify the bike and owner, you will win a bottle of wine, to be presented at club night. If there’s more than one correct answer, names will be put in a hat and one drawn out - at club night. Good luck!
If you can identify this bike, send your answer to
Linda, c/o: [email protected]
November’s winner: Shirley Churchill Bike: Andy Lee
22
23
Not a lot of fines this month - in fact, NONE. Not surprising, really with so little club activity, since last club night, over Christmas and the New Year. The good news is, £122 was raised in fines last year *Happy Pig Dance* The bad news is, the Fine Mistress expects that figure to be CONSIDERABLY higher this year. So watch out. You have been warned.
Members’ Market
FOR SALE:
WANTED:
If you have anything for this page send, with photo if applicable, to: [email protected]
24
Men’s FXRG leather jacket. Size: Medium. As new condition. Bought from Thames Valley HD. Removable inner lining and a kidney belt. Reason for sale: Worn once or twice - too small. Cost new £580 (over £750 now) For sale: £180 07798 866071 Dave Can take to January’s club night.
Do YOU want anything?
l l 2014
25
26
Riding in Bad Weather
Often car drivers make relatively few adjustments, simply opting to switch their lights and wipers on and continuing at the same speed despite the extra hazard. However, given the statistics for accidents in poor weather, its fairly obvious that there are one or two adjustments we could all make.
As a motorcyclist it's harder to ignore the changing situation, as both you and your bike perform very differently in the wet. The reduction in tyre adhesion will be the most obvious difference, typically around 50%, but it can be significantly more with soft compound sports tyres (having a dry weather bias). Although this is not to say that a hard compound touring tyre will necessarily produce more grip, just that the change will be less noticeable.
We are all taught that braking distances are doubled in bad weather and that we should compensate appropriately, but it is easy to forget how it also affects acceleration and cornering. We will publish some information on maintaining traction later in the year. We will explain briefly how tyre grip works and show the three way balance between cornering, acceleration and braking.
The key focus when riding in the rain is smooth control and forward planning.
Living in the UK, it doesn't matter if you're a 1500 mile per year weekend biker or a seasoned courier, at some point you’re going to get caught in the rain.
Knowing how it will affect you and your bike should help you adapt your riding style to cope. Although many advanced riding texts argue that your approach to riding in the wet should be no different than dry, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't take extra car and whilst we have a lot of experienced riders in the Club, it never hurts to supplement that experience with a short reminder.
27
Smooth Control This is not just about being gentle on the brakes and throttle, but also ensuring that you balance your need for grip. In dry weather it is easy to accelerate away from a turn even when the bike is banked over, but the risk of a slide increases in the wet as your available grip is split between cornering and accelerating. If you aim to complete the turn before you accelerate, your demand for grip will be reduced. The same applies to cornering - if you settle your entry speed early, you will be less likely to need to brake mid corner.
Forward Planning Last minute reactions should always be avoided, particularly in the wet. If you plan ahead you should be able to anticipate where you need to brake, position and accelerate. This will enable you to make better use of engine braking for corners and junctions, rather than just relying on the brakes. Engine braking reduces the risk of skidding, as your wheels are unlikely to lock up. However, it is important to be sympathetic to your bike by allowing the revs to drop before changing to a lower gear. If you change down too early, you risk momentarily locking the back wheel and could potentially strain the engine, gearbox and chain. It's also important to note any following traffic, which may be expecting to see a brake light before you slow down.
How does bad weather affect the rider? If you were lucky enough to remember your waterproofs, then you will be able to proceed in relative comfort. If you didn't, then after about 10 minutes you will be soaked through. Apart from being unpleasant you will, after a while, start to feel cold and will be more reluctant to move about on the bike. It is important not to underestimate how this affects you. I remember once getting caught in a summer downpour while out on a ride - by the time I got home, I was shivering and could hardly speak. It would be difficult for me to claim I was able to concentrate and keep full control of the bike in those conditions.
Visibility is also reduced in bad weather, so riding with your lights on and wearing some high visibility clothing is also important.
Summary Wet weather riding doesn't have to be avoided. If you give yourself more space, compensate for other drivers who don't adjust and focus on smoothness and planning, you will reduce the risks. Additionally, keeping an eye on how the rain affects you will also help prevent you from making mistakes.
Owning and carrying a good set of waterproofs will always help ! Nick West (Safety Officer)
youtube.com/user/ tvwebmaster1
facebook.com/groups/ thamesvalleyhog
Club Venue: SportsAble, Braywick Sports Ground, Maidenhead, SL6 1BN
Don Wibberley Chapter Director Email: director @thamesvallyhog.org.uk
Pat Adams Assistant Director Email: assistantdirector@
Colin Wilkins Treasurer Email: treasurer@
Sue Moyler Secretary Email: secretary@
Fred Cotsford Membership Officer Email: membership@
Nij Jones Head Road Captain Email: headroadcaptain@
Nick West Safety Officer & Historian Email: historian@
Barry Adams Activities Officer Email: activities@
Sue Brown Ladies of Harley Email: ladiesofharley@
Lee White Webmaster Email: webmaster@
Sue Knight Editor Email: editor@
Bernie Meason Photographer Email: photographer@
Linda Friend Photographer Email: photographer@
Shirley Churchill Merchandise Email: merchandise@
youtube.com/user/ tvwebmaster1
facebook.com/groups/ thamesvalleyhog
Club Venue: SportsAble, Braywick Sports Ground, Maidenhead, SL6 1BN
Don Wibberley Chapter Director Email: director@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Pat Adams Assistant Director Email: assistantdirector@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Colin Wilkins Treasurer Email: treasurer@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Sue Moyler Secretary Email: secretary@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Fred Cotsford Membership Officer Email: membership@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Nij Jones Head Road Captain Email: headroadcaptain@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Barry Adams Activities Officer Email: activities@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Sue Brown Ladies of Harley Email: ladiesofharley@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Lee White Webmaster Email: webmaster@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Sue Knight Editor Email: editor@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Bernie Meason Photographer Email: photographer@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Linda Friend Photographer Email: photographer@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Shirley Churchill Merchandise Email: merchandise@ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk
Nick West Safety Officer & Historian Email: historian @thamesvalleyhog.org.uk