Sunday the 10th September 2006 opened with the assurance of being another fine, bright late summer's day. At least, that was the PROMISE but as I left London at 05:45 am and headed south to meet the gang, I encountered mist and fog that was so thick on the M25 Motorway that I was forced to switch on my foglamps. Hmmmmm, maybe NOT such a good day after all.

However, we had obviously pleased God and the mists and fog cleared as I rolled gently, and at a legal speed, into Brighton. I made my way to Madeira Drive and joined Dick and Yvonne Bennett who had gone down in their camper van with all the equipment we needed to put on a good show for all our visitors. And boy, what a lot is required for these events. The main tent, tables, bunting, the Club Flag, T-shirts, jackets, caps & hats, badges, stickers, mugs, sweatshirts, Section Banners, toolkit, fire extinguisher, cash box (VERY important - Webby), water barrel, stove, urn, tea, coffee, cups, spoons, cakes, soft drinks etc. The list seemed endless. But, it was all there and so, at the crack of dawn with the sun starting to shine on us we set up the tent.

At least we started to. Unfortunately we had reckoned without FATE. Following our instincts, and based on our previous 12 years of visits we set up the tent frame in the usual 59 Club spot. Up went the VERY heavy and unwieldy frame and on went the top canvas. At that point, with a cheery " Oi! You! What do you think YOU are doing?" the happy sound of an ORGANISER gently but firmly pointed out that we were in the wrong place and suggested that we move. Ah well, we all needed the exercise so we manned (and womanned) the tent frame legs and marched off to a new spot. This time we managed to get everything set up without further incident and were joined by our very good friends Roy Barrett the artist on one side and The RAF Benevolent Fund with Len and Lily on the other.

Madeira Drive had been laid out differently this year to all previous years with an emphasis on Health and Safety. Barriers had been set up to separate bikes, people and display stands in order that emergency vehicles like ambulances could get through the crowds easily if required. Luckily there were no major incidents but I guess we have to accept the need for these measures. It did mean, unfortunately, that not as many 'bikes could park along the Drive as they had done last year. The overflow had to resort to finding alternative parking up on the main road or in the town.

And wow, did those 'bikes arrive in vast numbers or what? We have not seen any official figures for visiting 'bikes yet but they must have been approaching or even exceeding last year's figures when I am reliably informed the police stopped counting 'bikes when they reached the 30,000 mark. Fact or Fiction I cannot say, but motorcycles-a-plenty there certainly were. And what a fantastic array. Trikes, bikes, specials, oldies, Goldies, Tritons, Norbsa's, Tribsa's, Bitza's, what-the-heck-sers? and so it went on. And as the sun REALLY started to heat things up, the bikes continued to arrive in droves. Or was it swathes?

The 59 Club, YOUR 59 Club, Hospitality Tent was even busier than usual. By now extra pairs of hands had arrived in the shape of Derek Hooper, Steve, Heather and Stephanie Fairclough, Wendy Sutcliffe, and Mark Buffoni. The urn was bubbling, the delicious cakes, courtesy of Heather, were going like, well, like hot cakes I guess, the soft drinks were being imbibed and sales of everything that we had on offer were hitting new heights. Many members took the opportunity to renew their subscriptions and many other visitors joined for the first time.

We were able to welcome 'bikers from many parts of Germany, Belgium, France, Australia, America, Norway, Denmark, Japan and the UK of course and our international linguistic skills were really put to the test. We even had a Japanese film crew who were in the UK making a film about the Rocker and Motorcycle scene here which they hope to show later in the year. If it becomes available for screening here we will keep you all informed.

This year, in keeping with our tradition of supporting charities, we were raising money to help the 'Riders for Health' organisation buy motorcycles for health teams in Africa. Thanks to the generous nature of our visitors we raised over £110.00 for this worthy cause. At least one lucky donor will now win a terrific wooden Kiddimoto bike from the manufacturers, who are jointly working with 'Riders for Health' and we will post the winner's name as soon as the draw has been done. (Unless they ticked the box with an X for no publicity)

Late in the afternoon we were visited by a rather worried young man who had come down on his recently-purchased, pre-owned Honda CBR600. The fan had stopped working, the engine had got very hot and it had dumped a lot of coolant onto the road. The lad himself was not too certain of how to go about sorting the problem and his pretty female passenger was equally concerned. We sprang into action, if springing is something we old-timers are capable of these days, and had a go at refilling the cooling system. I am hopeful that no damage was done to the engine and we gave the rider some sage advice on the best way to nurse his steed home to Croyden. We also STRONGLY suggested he took it back to the selling dealer and ask him to sort out the fan or fan-switch as a matter of urgency. It would be nice to hear from you, young man, so that we know how things turned out. Certainly we all hope you made it back home OK.

And that of course, is what The 59 Club has always been about. Helping everyone and anyone who needs it.

It was a long, hot and tiring day which suddenly came to an end as if the time had simply flown by. All at once it was time to strike the tent, pack up, have a last Fish 'n Chip supper as a celebration and make our way home. Looking back on the day we all enjoyed it immensely and met many new friends and renewed many older friendships. That sort of thing makes it all so very worthwhile. To be able to chat about the old days, to find out who has done what, to whom, and with what and to generally chew the fat and look forward to future meetings.

If one comment from members stands out above all others though, it was about the 59 Club Magazine 'Link'. It seems you all like this occasional publication and would like to see more of it. Well, guys and gals, we want to produce it too but we really DO need your help. We need articles and pictures from you, the members of the Club. Have a think about what you do these days. Is it interesting enough that other members might like to read about it? Do you have any tales of the old days? Pictures, memories, incidents you can recall seeing or being involved in? How do YOU see the modern motorcycle scene and has it changed for the better or not in your opinion? Come on folks, send 'em in either by post or email.

And now I will leave you with another couple of snapshots. And if you were there, and have some pictures of the crowds and the 'bikes, I would like to see them and put them on a larger and more informative Events Page.