Kirkcaldy Farmers' Market

Last week the young church held a stall at the local farmers' market, to promote the project and raise some money. It was a beautiful day (very hot in bike gear!), which meant the market was very busy; all the better for us.

There was a lot of interest, particularly among small children. They got to sit on either my or my OH's bike (or both), that got the parent talking and the message of Riders' work passed on. All in, on the day we raised just under £180, which we were more than pleased with. The following link has a photo of the young church (with help from some older church!) and a write-up from Riders:

http://www.riders.org/n_details.aspx?nwId=161

The young church's project is going so well that they have already reached the original target of raising enough money to buy a motorbike for a health care worker - £1450. The project has until the end of the year to run, so the young church has decided to spend the rest of the year raising money for a Spanner Fund. Thus, they will have paid for the transport and maintenance of the bike. That's what Riders is all about.

The National Gathering - One Word - Fantastic

That's what everyone thought of the National Gathering. There was an amazing atmosphere, with everyone being very friendly and welcoming. I really have been to nothing like it.

This is the tent all set up. I wish we'd taken the photo when the event was open, as there were loads of people around. The bike did draw a lot of attention (the stereotypes of Christians and bikers don't usually mix, but perhaps they should). There were a few times when I was going around the other parts of the event I heard people asking their friends if they'd been to the tent with the motorbike (fame, at last).

So, the main aim of taking the bike had been achieved; the hook to get people interested and promote the work of the church and exchange ideas. We also showcased the work of Riders as outwith the motorcycling community, very few people have heard of them. Everyone was really interested and impressed with their work. Some people even donated money towards the young church project, which was very generous.

The Pan Clan

When my OH still owned the ST1100, he came across the website for the Pan Clan, which it the Pan European (ST1100 and ST1300) owners club. Now, while looking at their website photos, frankly, it looked like if we were to join, we'd be socialising with people old enough to be our parents. This may not be a bad thing; experience, knowledge etc. My main doubt about joining was the riders (who would mainly, if not exclusively, be male - the Pan is a big bike), would spend time talking bike, while the pillions talked cooking and about their grandchildren.

Consequently, we hadn't joined when we owned the 1100. However, joining was brought up again when we got the 1300. I still had my doubts...Now I am about to digress, but there is a point to this.

A couple of years ago, our church acquired a projector. This is used during the service to show the words to songs, pictures, notices and basically anything the minister wants displayed during the service. It's also used by other organisations using the church for presentations etc. My OH, along with another member of the congregation, runs the projector.

About 2 weeks after we bought the 1300, the church was to be used for the local Scout district's centenary service. As it was my OH's turn to run the projector for the morning service, he was running the projector for the Scout service. He had taken the bike so I didn't have to hang around in Kirkcaldy until after the Scout service. Besides, a motorbike parked outside a Church of Scotland kirk does make a statement.

I'm getting to the point, honest...

The Scouter in charge of organising the logistics of the service is a Pan Clan member and got talking to my OH. I used to be a scouter, so know the guy, but have known him for a long time. He's a good guy, so we thought if he was a member, they might not be that bad a bunch after all.

We decided to go along to one of the club's monthly meetings, to see what the rest of the group were like. They couldn't have been more welcoming, though I think they're like the black pudding industry - always on the lookout for fresh blood!

After the meeting, we decided to join. We've now been on 3 runs. All different, but a good bit of socialising and a great way to see the country.