The Honda Owners Club

Barry wrote:I did not attend this year, but it sounds as if the standards of last years 'Honda Festival' have been maintained

...........Flippin Heck Barry I see you are on 'good form'!! Your comments are neither helpful nor are they considerate towards those volunteers who have made the effort! Its so easy for you to sit there and criticise!! I can feel my blood boiling now so will have to shut up

if i remember correctly, last year people complained that the event was shared with the BMW owners club and they felt that this detracted from the event.
personnally i thought it added to the event of last year as it was neice for the box owners to come over and take a look at the bikes and vice versa.
this year the event was let down by the weather, in my opinion, we enjoyed the event and had a lot of interest shown in our stand. we did take advantage of a lot of the things on offer and had a good day.
i think you are going to always get the doom sayers, it doesnt matter how goodan event is people will always find time to critcise the work of others, shame really.
but if people weren't happy with the reduced entry fee in to the heritage centre, and couldn't be bothered to use the events that were laid on then more fool them.i thought the freestyle show was excellent (made sure i watched it twice).

it may be those that critcise these type of events that actually put people and traders off visiting.
rest assured that if we are able and wanted we will be back next year to support you all, rain or shine.
maybe those that feel the need to complain could put some effort into helping organise the next one, after all it should be a breeze for them.
they have twelve months to get it sorted......should be a dodle.
well one to all those that made the effort and donated thier own precious time to try and help others have a good day.
paul
vtx road riders association

Chris'TR' wrote:...........Flippin Heck Barry I see you are on 'good form'!! Your comments are neither helpful nor are they considerate towards those volunteers who have made the effort! Its so easy for you to sit there and criticise!! I can feel my blood boiling now so will have to shut up

Cooled down a bit now? Good

So the volunteers made an effort. The result? Everyone seems to be disappointed with everyone else. Not enough of interest. Not enough visitors. Not enough members showing their bikes. Lack of interest in the 'featured' attractions.

People paid £8.00 (?) to attend a bike event - the fact that their is a car museum attached is irrelevant - How does that compare with Beaulieu or the BMF? It is certainly expensive when compared the the dozens of much more entertaining and better attended local bike shows, up and down the country - also run by volunteers.

Customers do not pay £8.00 for bike event then have to listen to excuses and moans when they complain at the lack of value 'because it was put on by volunteers'.

I did not see any notice on the poster to the effect 'Do not expect too much and please make allowances for us as we are volunteers' - That will be £8 please!

I enjoyed, as did my family. The fmx show was worth the price of admission on its own, so was the F1 simulator, so was the museum. The test rides and the bike displays were interesting and only added to the experience, which as I've pointed out was already good value.

If you try taking a 'glass half full' approach to life, you might enjoy it more.

Barry wrote:

People paid £8.00 (?) to attend a bike event - the fact that their is a car museum attached is irrelevant - How does that compare with Beaulieu or the BMF? It is certainly expensive when compared the the dozens of much more entertaining and better attended local bike shows, up and down the country - also run by volunteers.

Facts Barry

1) It was £7.00, a discount on the usual £9.00 entry.
2) If you did not wish to visit the museum, then it was £0.00, as the Honda part of the event was free, or it certainly seemed that way!

Well done to Mark and all the volunteers who worked so hard to make the day enjoyable for most people. Let's appreciate the efforts put in and fantastic support by Honda UK - couldn't do much about the weather but well done to all those who came along in spite of the rain.

Where else could you get test rides on such a different range of Honda's, free style displays, F1 simulator, driving experience, polo, stands to look round and folk to chat to and a very interesting museum to visit for less than the entry to the museum itself! (i.e. £7) And don't forget the FREE Bouncy Castle for the kids!

We have a great club in HOC - lets stop knocking it and - if we want to see things done differently - volunteer to help instead of leaving it to others.

Barry wrote:

Chris'TR' wrote:...........Flippin Heck Barry I see you are on 'good form'!! Your comments are neither helpful nor are they considerate towards those volunteers who have made the effort! Its so easy for you to sit there and criticise!! I can feel my blood boiling now so will have to shut up

Cooled down a bit now? Good

Barry wrote:So the volunteers made an effort. The result? Everyone seems to be disappointed with everyone else. Not enough of interest. Not enough visitors. Not enough members showing their bikes. Lack of interest in the 'featured' attractions.

Barry - Not sure where you're coming from here. There's only been one complaint on this forum!

Barry wrote:People paid £8.00 (?) to attend a bike event - the fact that their is a car museum attached is irrelevant - How does that compare with Beaulieu or the BMF? It is certainly expensive when compared the the dozens of much more entertaining and better attended local bike shows, up and down the country - also run by volunteers.

Again, can't see what you're getting at here either! Beaulieu is a motor museum, and the BMF is one big shopping market. And you paid a higher admission price for both!

Barry wrote:Customers do not pay £8.00 for bike event then have to listen to excuses and moans when they complain at the lack of value 'because it was put on by volunteers'.

Just because it was put on by volunteers doesn't mean it should belittle a show. The lack of support from HOC members and the public will do that.

Barry wrote:I did not see any notice on the poster to the effect 'Do not expect too much and please make allowances for us as we are volunteers' - That will be £8 please!

People paid their £7 admission and expect a good show, and I believe that's what they got.

EricaVFR wrote:
We have a great club in HOC - lets stop knocking it and - if we want to see things done differently - volunteer to help instead of leaving it to others.

Hear Hear !!

Barry the reputation of the HOC is very good apart from with and about YOU! Bt the way when are you going to renew your membership reminders have been sent I am told?

Miles there is only one HOC club and we were there it was our event. As to the other Honda Owning clubs that is their choice whether to come along or not. There were plenty of enthusiasts there and some with a great deal of knowledge if there was anything you wanted to ask. Perhaps the fact is we are probably the largest Honda owning club that actually exist in reality the rest being Virtual clubs without area base groups to set up such events. The next largest clubs are the Pan Clan who pulled out and GWOC who are according to their own groups in a degree of disarray at this time. Their local groups I know have some big events coming up I hope they get the support from others they have invited that we did not.

The show was better than last year having answered most of the adverse comments made last year about what was on show, position at the site and location of bike parking. The early rain cleared away and there were certainly hundreds of bikes in the bike park through the day.

Sadly of those hundreds of bikes in one snapshot view I saw over a dozen machines in the first couple of rows that should have been in the show area rather than general park. They were there all day so it was no inconvienience to park them in the arena and if they needed to leave early that was also easy as we had the vehicle access and exit routes marshalled. So the lack of bike 'on show' is again down to the attendees rather than the organisers. The HOC cannot make them show their bikes. Perhaps the format of the bike competition should be like that used at the successful Northants show on the Monday where attendees bikes are judged by the attendees. Seemed the result was the same ie the best bike there won and worst bike there was recognised as such.

Also sadly it was seen that some people avoided the pay booth and wandered around the outdoor area without paying the heavily discounted entrance fee so if any of you takers are reading this I hope you enjoyed the free show. It just means now for future events we will have to secure gates. More voluteers time taken up because there are dishonest bikers amongst you.

Honda and Gaydon both had very positive comments about the day and are keen to support future events.

Barry, Barry, Barry..... as usual your comments are so wide of the mark that they can be disregarded.
I'm sorry that you seem to get so little joy from life that you have to be so bitter about other people's efforts.

I thought the show was really good.
Mark and his team did a great job organising and running the event.
We thoroughly enjoyed the day

Yes... it's a shame that this and that didn't happen or weren't supported by others.
But that doesn't take away from the fact that it was well worth the money and well worth the journey.

I had a brilliant day at Gaydon - there were hundreds of bikes to look at (both in the car park and a number on the displays and in the show area). The display team had me gasping in amazement every show! I didn't get chance to go on the F1 simulator nor the lawn mower driving thing (too busy doing my bit!) but did get the chance to do the blindfold driving and, Mark, there were a few who did it, I think with all that was going on, you just missed that.. Got to go out on a bike following those on the test rides (which were fully booked all day!) and that was excellent fun! Had a quick look around the motor museum but wish had taken longer ... again though, my fault, as I wanted to be back on the HOC stand doing what I had come to do...

Yeah, the weather initially was pants (it's interesting putting up gazebos in the wind and rain!)and that definitely had an impact on the numbers attending, but hey - it was a bank holiday and we do tend to get rain then! The sun did shine though and the stands that were there were great. The people were fantastic and the bouncy castle was the icing on the cake (not just for the kids!!).

It was hard work and very tiring but well worth all the effort. Yes, it would have been good to have more stands and I would've liked to see a burger van or something similar, that said, those who were there seemed to be enjoying themselves and Honda were superb in their support as always.

Shame you didn't make it Barry - it would be really good to meet you in person sometime. Perhaps when you renew your membership you might come to the National and say hello.

Sorry you were disappointed Miles, I'm sure your comments will be noted by the organisers, it's always good to get feedback from both sides of the coin.

As for the vtx guys - apart from having to limbo under your banner (hee hee, now you know who I am!!!).... ace to meet you all and have such a laugh! Look forward to seeing you all there next year if possible!! (But I will expect you to join in on the bouncy castle!!)

Jack and I had a great time , we played on the lawn polo and laughed so much our sides hurt. The bouncy castle and the stunt display was brilliant, we met loads of really friendly people that had clearly made a big effort to make it a really great day. We spent ages in the musuem too, lots of stuff to play with in there. The fun was there if you wanted it. The only downside for us was that Jacks bikes is off the road so we had to drive if we had been able to ride up Iggy definatly would have been entered in the competition

Dibble wrote: Bt the way when are you going to renew your membership reminders have been sent I am told?

Yes my membership has lapsed. I will rejoin when the HOC-GB have a Branch in Essex.

I would be more impressed with the rejection of my thoughts if they came from a wider range of members. As it is we have the same small group of members 'rallying to the flag'. They appear to come from just a couple (?) of Branches. Branches that obviously work well as bike clubs - I am pleased for them

Being a member of the HOC without a local Branch brings very little to ones biking pleasure. With so many 'open' rallies, events and group rides available to bikers - not to mention local clubs - being a member of the HOC-GB can be an almost theoretical experience.

Are you still selling membership to those individuals with no Branches in their area?

smileymiley wrote:Being a new HOC member.. & an older IXXRA member too I'd thought it would be good to go to Gayden with the IXXRA crew & also meet other Honda enthusiasts..
I must say that i was disappointed to say the least with the amount of HOC clubs present... all the blurb from HOC says it's a 'MEGA HONDA EVENT'.
Well if this is a mega one, god help you if you ever put on a mediocre one.

I would have thought that Honda would have pulled out all the strings to put on a good show with plenty of exhibits.. 2 minutes and you've been to all the stands! To anyone coming to see what Honda and HOC have to offer for the first time must have had a big shock.
It didn't seem to be that organised.

A disgruntled member


Miles

Hi Miles

I'm sorry that you felt short changed by the event at Gaydon on Sunday but you do have the right to express your dissatisfaction, we are in a free speaking forum and I’m sure your comments are noted. There have already been constructive comments and I’m sure the event will benefit from them and grow.

Personally I thought the event was great improvement over last year and very good VFM, the stunt show alone was brilliant and the museum also excellent.

It was a shame the day started a little damply and this obviously deterred some visitors but the people that I spoke to there seemed to be enjoying themselves.

I have spent the last two days with HOC members at two superb events IMO, Gaydon and the Northants and Milton Keynes Charity Show, talking bikes and having fun and to me that’s what it’s all about.

@ Barry

Shame you couldn’t make it to Gaydon and form your own opinion?

Also I am one of those who does not belong to a particular branch, but that doesn't stop me joining in with others at any event whether it's local or national status.

Regards

Chimpy

Barry wrote:

Dibble wrote: Bt the way when are you going to renew your membership reminders have been sent I am told?

Yes my membership has lapsed. I will rejoin when the HOC-GB have a Branch in Essex.
Are you still selling membership to those individuals with no Branches in their area?

Now's your opportunity to set up an Essex Branch. I'm sure you would do a wonderful job of attracting local members along!

As to selling membership to individuals, not everyone lives within a reasonable distance of a branch, so going along to meetings or events could be quite a hike for them. It's their choice as to whether they join or not. They too could set up a local branch, but if there is not a large centre of Honda-owning population near, they may be a bit lonely.