The Honda Owners Club

Is any help required for manning the HOC stand/booth/pitch/whatever at Gaydon this year? I am going to be there pretty much all day so if any help is required, I'm volunteering.

Regards

Chimpy

YES PLEASE!!!! If you would like to email me, I will pass it onto Mark who is organising the day. I know we need marshalls for the bike park (at the front of the main building), ticket office staff, HOC stand people etc etc.
(erica.gassor@googlemail.com)

Mail sent Erica.

Regards

Chimpy

Well done Chimpy anyone else going to help? Show your bike as well.

Anything special needed to show your bike?

Just contact Mark he will sort the rest.

I've got some folks from the national club (who wanted to go to Gaydon and then our local charity do) stopping over at my place on the night of the Gaydon event (the night before the Northants Charity do) and we'll probably be having a BBQ - so, this is an open invitation to everyone else who would like to join us.

We'll be coming back from Gaydon to my place and then firing up a heap of disposable bbq's as I don't own a 'real' one!

All are welcome - bring a bottle and whatever burgers etc you want cooking - I'll provide the salad and bread etc... it would be really helpful to get an idea of numbers by the 20th please.

Send me a private message if you want further details.

Hope to meet lots of you at Gaydon!

Dibble wrote:Just contact Mark he will sort the rest.

Fyi, I volunteered three weeks ago and although Erica responded positively (and kindly forwarded my mail to Mark), I have heard nothing since.

What! Sorry Guy, I will find out what has happene - Mark usually responds quickly .................I'm on the case!

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

smileymiley wrote:A disgruntled member

....Hiya Miles and firstly I am so sorry that you did not enjoy the show! Im afraid that I was intending to go but the weather was so changeable and chucking it down in Lincolnshire that I cancelled! I reckon that many others who were intending to go did the same. I therefore cannot comment on the day! But as with all HOC organised events, it requires members to volunteer to help. It would seem wrong to criticise efforts of others.

I went, and I enjoyed it, maybe other supporting organisations could have been better, but in the end if you feel what was done was not enough by the unpaid volunteers, please feel free to help organise it next year

FYI - I contacted all the Honda related clubs from the links on the HOC web site, and some more from several magazines I had to purchase, and I receive very little response. In fact I only received four, from the Blackbird club, the Hornet club, the VTX club and the Pan Euro club, of which I'm very grateful. Unfortunately the Pan Clan pulled out a week before the event.
The invitation to all these clubs was to have a stand at the show, at no cost, and 4 free passes. What more can one do?
I also invited several traders to come along. I placed a charge on the stand for these, a lot cheaper than any other show, but, again I got very little response. Of those who did bother to contact me for more details, declined the offer because it was only a one day event, and they felt it not worth their while. Again, of those that came I'm very grateful - especially Every Accessory who donated a little extra money because they wanted a larger pitch.
As for Honda UK, well I could not have asked for anything more. They supplied the FMX team, the F1 simulator, the lawn mower polo, the blind driving courses and the demo bikes etc.
Other than the fantastic display by Dan and Samson over the ramps, and the demo ride outs being fully booked most of the day, the other attractions were hardly taken advantage of! I saw the lawn polo being used about twice and the blind driving once - and this was all for free! So if you never took advantage of what's on offer from Honda, or even take advantage to visit the museum, then it's no wonder you're disappointed and it only took 2 minutes to look around.
The only disappointed from my view (not including the bad weather in the morning) is that we did get the amount of people visiting the show as we expected, and that would've added to the atmosphere, and also the lack of members bikes we were able to put on display - where were you all? I'm sure there are plenty of proud owners out there in HOC land who would like to show off their machines!!!
Anyway, I would like to take this advantage to thank all my helpers (volunteers!), Honda Uk and the events team at the Heritage Motor Museum for all their help and assistance.
Regards
Mark C

Mark, well done for the effort you put in to organise the event. I can understand that traders may not have been interested if it's only a one-day event, as it must be financially worthwhile for them, otherwise they won't bother. They are in business after all, but it does "fly the flag" for them, and may even gain custom after the event. (David Silver Spares used to go to Stanford Hall, and he used to be very busy there, but he later stopped going as it was not finacially viable.)
Perhaps some other clubs weren't too keen in coming as it was really an HOC event, and not just a bike show with no one particular club organising it?
I had a quick look around the museum (already had a really good look round it last year), had a CB1000R test ride, watched the Bolddog duo performing (wow!), looked at the bikes on display and chatted to folks, so sadly, I didn't have time to look at the lawnmower polo or the blind driving (where were they located, incidentally?) If Honda provided what they did, you could not really ask any more from them, could you?
I delayed leaving home by an hour to let the weather clear a bit, but I had to attend the event, as I had been looking forward to it for quite some time. Seeing how few bikes were entered in the "concours" made me think mine stood a chance. It did, and mine won 1990-2000 class. Very classy awards, BTW, far better than previous years! Perhaps the older bikes stayed away due to the weather, as in the past, "classic gatherings" attracted a lot of interesting, and superb, older Hondas.
It's all very easy for others to criticise, but some people want it all done for them, sadly.
Again, well done to you and the others involved.

markie wrote:FYI - I contacted all the Honda related clubs from the links on the HOC web site, and some more from several magazines I had to purchase, and I receive very little response.

A case of the HOC-GB reputation going before it?

As for Honda UK, well I could not have asked for anything more. They supplied the FMX team, the F1 simulator, the lawn mower polo, the blind driving courses and the demo bikes etc.

It sounds as if Honda's support was the event. How do they feel about that?

The only disappointed from my view (not including the bad weather in the morning) is that we did (not?) get the amount of people visiting the show as we expected, ............., and also the lack of members bikes we were able to put on display .................- where were you all?

Considering that the two major objectives of the event missed their target, that must be quite a big disappointment!

I'm sure there are plenty of proud owners out there in HOC land who would like to show off their machines!!!

There are always plenty of Hondas at the Copdock show - started in a field by volunteers from the local bike club, now, some 10 years later it has moved to the Suffolk show ground and rivals the BMF! - still run by volunteers! That too is a one day event.

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

Third time lucky?