Mothers Day Ride Through Wooton Bassett

Saturday the 13th of March, three NPR members (with pillions)Mal & Bev Hagan..Alex & Ann Hargreaves and Ken & Babs Isherwood met at Ferrybridge services, on our way to Swindon, to take part in the Wooton Bassett Mothers Day ride-through, in aid of the Afghan Heroes Charity, set up by the Mothers of servicemen tragically killed in Afghanistan. A fourth member, Alan & Jeanette Crooks followed later and met us in Swindon.

We had booked into the PremierTravel Inn for two nights, very nice cheap accommodation, £29 per room per night, we all had breakfast and evening meals together, and had a real Crack ….

We had registered for the ride and set our arrival time as between 9and 10am at the Hullavington Airfield, aprox 14.5 miles from the hotel, after a hearty breakfast we set off for the airfield, in glorious sunshine. As we arrived at the airfield it was obvious this was gonna be a BIGGY, the organisation was spot on, after showing our passes and acquiring our wristbands, we were funnelled into lanes the length of the runway, by this time there were about six lanes deep. We decided to go over to the Chuck Wagon area for a coffee and watch the never ending tide of bikes entering from the east end.

Eventually we went over to a makeshift stage (a large trailer) where there were presentations to various people involved in organising the event, i.e. three of the mothers of deceased soldiers,the Mayor & Mayoress of Wooton Bassett, and one of the many badly injured soldiers who had been lucky enough to survive a bombing, minus one arm. Then a very moving speech by Mrs Elisabeth Stephens who’s idea it was to form the charity, followed by a moving song from Mr Tim Pitman ….Fields of Green. Then Mrs Stephens made the call Start your Engines. We made our way back to the bikes and soon we were off,

We were set off in waves of 500 with gaps to allow the police to move traffic, once out on the open road it was a very orderly ride some very pretty countryside and small villages, I did not see any bikes overtaking all rode sensibly, and there were a lot of people out to greet us along the way, I recon the ride was approx 14.5miles.

On approaching Wooton Bassett the crowds were much larger, it was quite emotional, as these are the people who stand in silence in respect for the poor soldiers, who have been tragically killed in action, and their families, and do it in much too regularly these days, the ride was also a Big thank you to the Town.

On reaching the top of the town we had, as agreed, if we had found ourselves split from each other we would meet back at the Hotel to re-group, which we did and it was decided we would have a ride heading south through some very nice countryside and great biking roads, we eventually arrived at Stonehenge, parked the bikes and being true Northerners he he decided against paying to go round the stones, we walked along the perimeter fence and took pic’s from outside, actually most of us had been round the stones previously anyway.

After a brew and a chat we decided to return to the Hotel via almost the same route in reverse, great riding as we stayed together in a nice tight group. Once back at the hotel we had booked a table for 7.45pm so had our wash and brush up and whatever !!! and had a great meal and a good laugh.

Monday morning we set off from the hotel after breakfast, Alex led the first part up some nice biking roads, his sat-nav decided to take for a visit to a very nice Roundabout he he (as he said rubbish in rubbish out) or words to that effect. He took us to a fantastic little village Bourton on the Water, very picturesque, with a small river running through the middle, very clean !!! We then decided as Alan was in need of getting home ASAP as he has a Haulage business to run, and he was needed, because he knows most of the roads in Britain, he would lead us home.

We arrived home mid-afternoon, tired, but really glad we had been to the event, we don’t know if it will be allowed to happen again, but if it does I would recommend people to go down and experience the event it is more than worth it, as I write I don’t know the final numbers of bikes or what money was raised, but whatever,… its hats off to all involved, for a fantastic day, a great advert for the biking community…..Ken