The Fourth Chinnor Bike Day took place on Saturday 24th.June at our new venue, The Sports & Social Club and Sports Fields in Chinnor, a move which guaranteed loads more space.
The event actually started on the Friday with a free party featuring a tight set by The Way, stand up comic Steve Horner (not a bad attempt for one obviously undertaking his first gig with not a little trepidation!) and all round entertainer, Paul Shave who proved a huge hit, easily living up to his self proclaimed status as "The Ultimate Entertainer"! A lot of people turned up and camped over, making use of our new free almost limitless camping space.
We all left Chinnor under very dark skies on the Saturday morning to undertake our usual 'Marshalled Run In' - we ended up with our largest run so far, over 220 bikes! This year, however, we had a surprise in store for the assembled masses; having pootled around Owlswick and Haddenham, we took everyone back to Thame where we met up with Thame Carnival. We then led Thame Carnival through the closed roads of the town to the amazement of the assembled populace! By all accounts, the biggest cheers went up when one or two nameless participants on the run stopped and did an unscheduled Burn Out in the High Street (well done chaps!)
Arriving in Chinnor was astonishing. All traffic was stopped and what seemed like half of Chinnor was camped outside waving us in to the Show Site. Wycombe MAG marshalls did an outstanding job getting everyone into the site without incident and after a short intro by yours truely on our 45' trailer stage (very kindly provided by local hauliers and heroes, Verran Freight) our first band Headroom started their very polished set which was enjoyed and commented on by many people. Apart from the Bike Show, there was loads of stalls and entertainments happening throughout the day including the "Full Throttle" Mini Motos Racing Circuit, Hughenden M40 of Milton Common brought a selection of very yellow Triumphs which were dribbled over by all and sundry, P.C. Andy Martin of Thames Valley Police BikeSafe 2000 team came along and undertook Motorcycle Assessment Rides, Paul Shave as Bongo the Clown wandered around the site upsetting the children all afternoon and the Wycombe MAG barbecue, stall and Tombola did roaring trades all day. The Tug of War competition came to nothing due to lack of interest (so Wycombe MAG as the only team up for it duly claimed the prize!) Having been let down at the very last moment by a nameless local band we were truely grateful to Berkhamsted band Unusual Suspects who filled in at the very last moment and proved to be very popular with the crowds. A band we'll definitely feature again at one of our future events.