Directors Message

Hi All

I hope all is well with everyone, please accept my apologise for the sparse communication over the past month, it’s been a busy holiday season, I hope everyone else has been making the most of the glorious weather.

Colin will be attempting his ride out to Krazy Horse/ Blackbear and Finchingfield, this Saturday 30th August weather pending, it will be full day out all. Meet at Boreham 09.30 for 10.00 departure. This will be a great ride, I hope the weather holds out.

Massive thanks to everyone who turned out for the EHAT Bubble Day on 17^th August, we had a total of 11 bikes on display, families enjoyed looking at the bikes and the kids were excited to have their pictures taken on the favourite bike, a great day had by all and massive thanks to Dodger for organising it and the ride in. As you will be aware EHAT is one of our sponsored charities, so it was honour to be a part of their first Bubble Day, we had a lovely letter from Fran the events manager thanking us for our participation.

The Wednesday rides are proving to be a real success, this is down to the effort and organisation that goes into putting them on, so a massive thanks to Steve Roper, Dodger and everyone else who is involved in these rides. Unfortunately, weekend rides I have to admit have been a little sparse and as a committee we will look to address this better for the next riding season, however, that being said it isn’t just down to the committee or road captains to organise rides throughout the season, we have 180 members and any one can organise or make a suggestion for a ride, if you do not feel confident in the drop offs, that is not a problem, one of our more experienced riders will be more that happy to act as second lead rider and drop people off throughout the ride, we can also arrange tail end if required, so please if you have a suggestion for a ride please let anyone of us know and we will happily support you in arranging it.

As some of you may have seen Phil Riley has been busy putting together information on Essex Chapters history page on our website. Phil has given superb insight into how the club began, from its roots to date, he has also written a piece on back patches which is very informative, all pieces are written well with Phil’s usual wit and charm, go check it out.

Our Christmas party has now been arranged and will be on Friday 5th December from 7pm – 12pm, at Orsett Hall Prince Charles Avenue, RM16 3HS, the cost is £69.50 and includes a 3 course meal and half a bottle of wine, if you would like to book this great event please call 01375891402, press 2 for events and quote Essex Chapter to be added to the table, further booking details are on the website, a big thanks to Gloria for arranging this.

Colin and Eve are also busy planning our new year event at The Cricketers, more details and date to be announced shortly.

The AGM has been booked and will be held on 26.10.2025 at Hatfield Peverel Village Hall from 12nn-3pm, I know it’s a little way off but if anyone is interested in joining the committee please do feel free to complete a nominations form which can be found on the website and in the files folder on Facebook, all positions will be up for consideration. If members have any questions they wish to ask or any issues they wish to raise, if I can have them in advance, it will assist me in being able to give a succinct answer there and then otherwise, I may have to get back to you. Please send any questions, queries or concerns to me at director@essexchaptergb.com

As I’ve mentioned before Eddie has been working on the registration process on the website, so I can now request you pop over to the website and register, this will save your login information and make it easier for you to purchase items like merchandise and rally tickets etc. but most of all it will mean we will be able to send out a regular newsletter to everyone who has registered and not just those on Facebook. Anyone that previously registered please reregister as we have deleted the old registrations. This registration is completely secure, so you don’t have to worry about the information you provide. Please follow this process:

Go to the website at www.essexchaptergb.com and click on account, you will see two boxes, one stating Log-in the other Register, using the register box on the right please enter your email address into the box marked email address and please click the checkbox that you want to receive the newsletter as this will help us get the info out there then click register. Once you have done this a link will be sent to your email address to set up a new password, once you have opened the link and set your new password you will be complete, now add your address in the address section this contains your membership number which we need to collate all the information this is the important bit as we can group the members from the guests you still have access to all areas of the website but it will as I said before make it easier to complete purchases etc. If you know anyone who does not use Facebook can you please pass this information to them so they can register too, also if you know anyone who is having difficulties accessing information, please direct them to any one of the committee members who will be more than happy to assist.

If want or need any Essex Chapter merchandise, which includes top rockers for your cuts, any ESX patches or t-shirts etc, then please contact Claire Clarke our merchandise officer at merchandise@essexchaptergb.com Claire will be more than happy to take your orders and despatch your items out to you as quickly as she can.

Regarding the ride out WhatsApp group can I please just politely remind everyone that this group is for information only, please do not post any pictures or comments on it, please just post all your pictures and comments on our Facebook page or your own socials, we need to ensure that the ride out WhatsApp group remains an important tool for ride out information or late cancellations, so when you see it has a message you know it is important and will need to be read, Steve has in his message reminded everyone the rules for the group so please if you unsure reacquaint yourselves with them. If you would like to be part of the Rides WhatsApp Group, please contact Steve Roper via WhatsApp on 07868734695 giving him your name and phone number and he will happily add you.

Another reminder there is now a ride out form on our website, if you would like to plan or book a ride please use this form to do so, the form will go directly to our Events Coordinator who will check it doesn’t clash with any other events, but if you can check this yourselves before submitting that would be really helpful, Paul will then authorise it and pass to Eddie our Webmaster to upload onto the calendar.

As previous you will have seen our Head Road Captain Dodger has been in contact with Firebike and some safer riding course dates have been made available, please be advised though, if you book and fail to turn up you will be charged, so make sure you can attend if you book as places are limited. To book yourself on to the course, contact Andy Stroulger FireBike and P2W Safety Manager on Tel 01376 576204 or Mob 07789 652243.

A Road Captains role within the club is an important and valued one, but you don’t have to be a Road Captain to organise a ride, so come and get involved and let’s start filling that calendar with loads of great rides, we look forward to and welcome hearing from you. If you think you could support the Chapter with either becoming a Road Captain, lead a ride or just want to find out more details please contact: Dodger our Head Road Captain, you can email him at: hrc@essexchaptergb.com or contact him on his mobile: 07547 898363, or just chat to any member of the committee or a Road Captain when you see them.

For now and as always, if you have any queries, questions or concerns you wish to raise with either myself or the committee, please do not hesitate to get in touch and we will aim to provide feedback as soon as practicably possible, additionally, this is your club so please feel free to offer any suggestions you may have that may appropriately support the club in being the best it can be.

All the best for now and I hope to see you on the road or at one of our planned events over the coming months and during riding season.

All the best

Gary

Up and Coming Events

1st and 3rd of the month Wednesday ride outs are now up on the calendar on the website.

Saturday 30.08.2025 Krazy Horse, Blackbear, Finchingfield, this will be led by Colin Gray, meeting at Boreham services at 9.30am for a 10am depart.

AGM: 26.10.2025 1pm-3pm Hatfield Peverel Village Hall, Maldon Road, Hatfield Peverel, CM3 2HP.

Christmas party Friday 5th December from 7pm – 12pm, at Orsett Hall Prince Charles Avenue, RM16 3HS.

New Year Party – The Cricketers date and time TBA.

Regular Meets:

The Cricketers every first Tuesday of the month

The Lodge every second Thursday of the Month

Poulsen’s every 3^rd Saturday of the Month

The Eagle every fourth Friday of the month

Paying for an event/membership by BACS

Name: Essex Chapter GB – Account: 70331768 – Sort Code: 30-92-93

When making a payment please add a description/reason. i.e. membership renewal or Cricketers meal so it can be easily seen what the payment is for. Also add your name or ESX Chapter membership number.