Oakley Bike Festival 26 July 2014

[tanneman]

Yes I know this is a tosser website but seeing that a few tossers are members of OMC I feel it is appropriate to post an invite to OBF14 and a thread of how things are progressing. So here goes.

This is the first ever motorcycle festival organised and run by Oakley Motorcycle Club (OMC). We would like to provide the local businesses and dealers who have supported/sponsored OMC the opportunity to exhibit their services and products to the club members and general public. Bringing the two together is good for business and a good way to say thank you. The aim is to give something back to our sponsors and members and raise some funds for the East Anglian Air Ambulance, who is our chosen charity for the year. The membership has peaked at over 400 members last year and hopefully they will all enjoy the show and some fun activities. Since the club is located in a village outside Bedford we can raise some awareness among the general public of our activities within the community.

A little bit of back ground info.

How did this come about? Well, it started a while ago. It is probably a year or more ago when the seed was planted. A group of us went out to the Billing bike festival. Not the best show to be honest and came away pretty much disappointed with having to pay £5 I think for a show with a few club stands and fast food trailers. Dickie made the comment that we can put on a better show. This was all laughed at back then. Last summer the club put on the theme nights for the second year running. This is very popular with the members and we get a good turnout at the club. Over 200 bikes turn up, the beer is cheap and the food is good. We attend various events throughout the year one being the Brackley Festival of Speed. Winter doesn't stop the activities and we find something to keep our members entertained during the biking layoff. Be that what it may from bands, fancy dress parties, Christmas do and getting some knowledgeable guys to talk about things interesting (tyres, textile clothing, Mike Hailwood, Ride Magazine etc..). As a club we build some relations and get to know people and the members are very supportive. But Dickie decided to turn the joke into reality and convinced the committee that OMC can hold a bike festival. This man is very committed (clever guy) and likes his racing and bikes. He has owned a R90S since 1977 but that is a story in itself.

 

[tanneman]

What do we get up to? The year starts officially with the AGM. Apart from the boring bits which are quickly dispatched in the beginning of the meeting and on to the more exciting stuff like an auction and the coveted Pillock of the Year award. Quite a highlight this one as there is several nominations. A week later we usually have the bike quiz where your knowledge of all things motorcycle related are tested. We have a curry night where some of the proceeds go to our charity. The Easter Egg Run is well attended, we visit care homes in our area and deliver some chocolate eggs. Throughout the year we attend various events like Ride Free, Santa Pod Summer Nationals, Butlins, Brackley, Rushden Cavalcade etc. A few trips are organised to the Forest of Dean, Yorkshire and Scotland (that will be foreign country soon) and some European trips. Apart from that there is the annual off road school, track days, ride outs and not to forget the go-kart night. Plenty to do. Have a look at our 2013-In-Camera gallery.

 

[tanneman]

Last year September we had the first meeting to decide how to go about and get some ideas. Given that we are all amateurs at this kind of thing, the task was tackled enthusiastically. The ideas took shape and we gained some sponsors over the past few months. As always there is the odd company that is too busy or not interested but the majority that were approached was in favour to attend. Bear in mind that it is free to them to attend. Wollaston BMW is our headline sponsor, tells you something about who owns what (also helps if you know they guy that runs the place). To date we managed to confirm 51 exhibitors and some celebrities from the motorcycle world, some more well-known than others. The list is too long to put on here but the highlights are on the flyer. The emergency services will be there with a display and the BikeSafe guys to do assessments. Fun and games for each and every one. We hope to have decent items for the auction (if you have something worthy or that money can’t buy please get in contact) and some of the exhibitors have donated desirable prizes to the raffle. Other activities for the day include a Bike-of-the-show competition, a band in the afternoon, interviews by Steve Plater and Troy Corser signing autographs. It is well said and done but there is still a lot of work to be done and we need more sponsors after we have seen the planned budget for the advertising. Again if someone is willing to help out we’ll make sure your name goes on the sponsor list. Now that things are starting to come together I’ll keep this thread updated. Not exciting, is it. Reading through the H&S guidelines and Organising Safe Events guide does not get any more exciting than watching a snail race.

 

[tanneman]

And here is our flyer.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/34011550@N05/13327012635/

 

[rodsharp]

As someone previously involved with Cassington bike night may I offer a warning. This event started as a british classic meet organised by the BMRC and over the years got bigger and bigger, up to about 10,000 attended, and raised loads of money for the local community. The school in particular opened their grounds for parking with a bucket collection and hotdog/ burger stand and did very well indeed,as did several local small businesses.
No problem with that at all ,in fact its good to support local interests out of our own hobby. Despite the size of the event there has never been any problems or trouble whatsoever but the local authority and police started to take an interest and due to their interference and "requests" for road closure orders etc etc the costs which were previously minimal escalated to such an extent that the event has now been abandoned by the organizing club. Be prepared for this if you let your event become too successful !!

 

[tanneman]

Thanks Rod. We will see how successful the OBF turns out to be. If everything is going ok then we plan to alternate the event with the Oakley Village carnival which is a bi-annual event.

 

[tanneman]

At last after much too and fro we have confirmation that MSVT/Palmersport is going have a stand at the festival. This is really good news because the company is local to Bedford.