Fade to black (and gold)
Well at the presidents meeting in Italy (June 2016) I handed in my 3 months’ notice as International Webmaster. This will finally remove me from the VRA AEC (Association Executive Council) after 18 years a member. I have been on it as founding President of VRA UK, International President and more recently as International webmaster.
Which I think makes me the longest serving officer still in the VRA. And therefore it’s time to step away, and go to parties instead of meetings :-)
Back in October 1998, while I was searching for info on a new exhaust I came across VROC which was (is) a forum based in the USA that has many knowledgeable people who have tried every combination of improvements for the Vulcan range. It was suggested the I start a VROC Chapter in the UK, but it was an Internet based club and weird as it seems today, back in 1998 virtually nobody had Internet in the UK! Even 2 years later as the century turned over to 2000 only 5% of UK members had Internet at home.
Anyhow I became friendly with a VROC member in New Zealand (Toa) who in turn introduced me to Odin (USA) and Bruiser (Australia) which resulted in me starting the VRA UK on 7th November 1998 and therefore starting my time on the AEC.
Being Winter, and as I said before Internet was virtually non existent, I decided to spend a few months getting organised, and start recruiting club members at one of the first bike shows of the year in 1999, this was the South West Custom and Classic show in Shepton Mallet. I had made contact with a few people and they arranged to turn up at the show and officially sign up, but I needed a self-financing pitch.
So I bought a load of tyre pressure gauges and my girlfriend at that time (Maria) was a talented tarot card reader so we put together a stall which had half a table selling gauges, half recruiting for the VRA with my Candy Red VN1500 stood there to bring people in, while in the tent behind Maria did tarot card readings. Which paid for the pitch at several shows. Each recruit was tasked with finding 2 more recruits, and by September that year when we held our first AGM at Storming the Castle near Newcastle in the North of England, I was sending out over 100 monthly Newsletters and the VRA UK was up and running.
Meanwhile for various reasons Odin and Bruiser left the club leaving me with Ty Lytle, Falconer and the then Webmaster Wolfsanger as the only people still talking on the AEC, Wolfsanger was tempted away by the Millennium Edition Harley Davidson, many USA Chapters had started then floundered leaving the International side a bit of a mess. So I ended up as World President appointed Big Scott (Florida) as Webmaster Darcy as Australian President and along with Lorin Potter set about building the International Structure we have today with a National Chapter in each country represented on the AEC and in turn responsible for keeping the appropriate structure running in their own countries. I spent a lot of time talking to Lorin and Darcy and though I never met either of them I would count them as friends to this day.
Things progressed well, SATNAV and Internet combined to make the world a smaller, and more accessible place. Chapters started some soon folded, others thrived from the start but even those that didn’t make it got the idea out to others and the VRA steadily expanded into more and more countries. I am sure the simplified Charter we put together in 2004 which allows countries to organise themselves in a way that suits the local custom and practice for clubs while still being part of something bigger, is a large part of the clubs success.
Darcy told me he was going walkabout, never heard from him again, Ty told me he was going to his hunting lodge, heard from him every 3 to 6 months for a while but it tailed off, as these things do, Odin reappeared a couple of years ago.
The International website was always a bit of a headache, as the numbers of people and languages grew an International forum was a bit silly, so I commissioned Aaron (USA) to create a site that was simple and just a list of the Chapters, while also providing a space for the AEC to meet online. Which he did, but then left the club and was not interested in running it anymore, so I got BushWaiter (Holland) to take it on… he ran off to work in Africa where electricity was scarce let alone Internet, so around the Time I handed over the International Presidents job to Lasse (Sweden) we were without any International Internet presence. So I took on that job which has been good, I am often the first point of contact for National Presidents old and new, so have maintained a good social structure with a lot of people.
Bad health means I will probably never be able to afford the medical insurance, to ride in the Americas or Australia which is a shame, I have often dreamed of starting a ride in the Rockies in a snow free part of Canada, and heading down to Brazil riding with small groups of local members, as I passed through. Though Lobo telling me they have snow in Brazil means I would have to time it better than I first thought! Catching a boat to take me and my 2Litre to Australia and riding / sailing my way up to visit the Kawasaki Factory in Japan with the VRA Japan Chapter escorting me. Maybe even finding Darcy who went to Indonesia on his walkabout. But you never know I may still win the lottery and the Vulcan S makes a VRA Japan much more probable!
BUT it’s been 18 years now, and it is time for a fresh approach, The timing is right, there is a new International President, and Vice President with new ideas, and it’s time I stepped away and let the future happen without the weight of the past holding it back.
So I bid you all farewell, and I hope to see you at the bar, in a field somewhere.
All the Best
Chief (United Kingdom)