Author: marcus

Leeds MAG 2nd Bargain Hunt Challenge

News

Leeds MAG’s second Bargain Hunt challenge had been scheduled for November last year but due to the horrendous flooding that the North of England endured we had to postpone it until the end of February.

We based this fundraiser on the daytime TV show of the same name, only we have to buy something for less than a fiver and then we sell them all on eBay. The winner gets a trophy.

The day dawned bright and sunny and 15 local members turned up to do battle at Otley car boot sale.
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We met in Wetherspoons for breakfast then, suitably fortified headed up to brave the crowds and try raise some cash for MAG.

After an hour, we all met back up at the pub to evaluate (a.k.a take the mickey out of) each other’s “bargains”
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The auctions were hotly contested and eventually after a late flurry in the bidding, one of our newer members, Martin Thompson, emerged victorious with his shrewd purchase of a Beatles LP!

In total we raised just over £150 for MAG after all deductions and had a bit of a laugh along the way 🙂
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Biker Down Course

News

As a committed MAG member I always like to follow the mantra of “education, not legislation”. I’ve also been a first aider at work for the past 22 years so I’ve learnt the need for everyone to have a little knowledge in this area

Considering that we at Leeds MAG ride in groups on a regular basis I felt it would be great to get some of our members trained up in basic first aid, with the emphasis on biking.

I know that some councils run free biker down training but there were none local to us and I felt that we’d get a better response if we could get a trainer to come to us and at £15 per person, it wouldn’t break the bank.

Step forward Judy Richer of Train Aid Inc.

Judy has years of experience in first aid training in areas as diverse as aviation first aid, the building trade, equestrian and obviously motorcycle first aid.

We provided the room for the training and I corralled 15 willing volunteers to attend the 3 hour course one Saturday morning in April.

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It was great fun, with a mixture of hands on training and power point slides to get the vital messages across.

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I’d like to think that if the worst were to happen on a Leeds MAG ride out, at a rally or just in every day life, we’d be in a situation to help rather than hinder the situation.

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If any groups want to contact Judy to arrange your own biker down course, she can be contacted at judy.trainaidinc@gmail.com.

Manny (Leeds MAG Rep)

Comedy Night Tickets Now Available

News

Tickets for our comedy night on the 29th of March are now available.  Get Full details at https://leeds.mag-uk.org/product/leeds-mag-curry-cupcakes-and-comedy-march-2016/ where you can buy them for £5  a ticket + £2 booking fee.

Leeds MAG AGM Tomorrow!

News

Tomorrow (26th of Jan 2016) is our group AGM. It is in the upstairs room at our usual meeting place, the Royal Hotel, Station St, Pudsey at 8 pm. If you only make it to one meeting this year, make it this one.  All committee positions are up for grabs, and we’ll be reporting on the substantial progress that we’ve made over the last year. There is also a high likelihood of cake! Don’t forget your membership cards if you want to vote.

WYCA Update

Political

Some of you that come to meetings and have attended the demo ride for the past couple of years will be aware that Leeds MAG have been campaigning for the last three years to get bikes access to bus lanes.

This campaign has grown with the formation of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, to include Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Calderdale and Kirklees (and strangely York) and with it, we’ve put together a document to try to get a fairer deal for the bikers of West Yorkshire.

This includes bus lane access, dedicated motorcycle officer on each council, parity with cycles for parking, consultation with road changes and looking at highway furniture safety specifically it’s affect on motorcycles.

Today we’ve taken another step forward with a meeting with a consultation group that are producing a document that will hopefully recommend bikes in bus lanes across West Yorkshire.
We should know if we’ve been successful by mid February – then it’s down to the WYCA to vote yay or nay.

We’re the closest we’ve ever been to achieving our goals and Leeds, Huddersfield and Wakefield MAG have been working tirelessly on your behalf to make this all happen.

We’ll try to keep everyone informed of any developments – watch this space

December Events

News

Tuesday the 15th of December will be our last meeting before Christmas. We’ll be doing a Secret Santa: bring a wrapped gift worth about £5 and receive one in return. There will also be a prize for the best Christmas sweater.

Then on Sunday the 20th of December we’ll be having Christmas drinks at the Duck & Drake from 5 pm. There will be live music from Glam Rockz.

If you can’t make either of these, have a merry Christmas and we’ll see you in the new year for more events, campaigns and other bike related stuff.

Leeds MAG Christmas Toy Run 2015

News

At Leeds MAG we’ve got a great relationship with a facility on the outskirts of Leeds, called Lineham Farm Childrens Centre, which offers residential breaks for the children of the surrounding area, who wouldn’t normally have the chance for a holiday.

We congregated at Cardigan Fields retail park on the outskirts of the city centre and 14 bikes, loaded with presents, left for the rush hour dash across Leeds to Lineham Farm where we met up with another dozen bikes in the form of the East Leeds Lions, who always support our events and also bring bikers from the other side of the city.

We warmed up with coffee and mince pies then went into the main room to be given a lovely carol concert by the 33 kids in attendance.
When they’d finished, I had the pleasure of thanking the kids and informing them that we had presents for them all – the cheers were deafening.

We then handed out the presents and were then informed that one of the boys was having his tenth birthday that day so after an extremely raucous rendition of “happy birthday” we gave him a couple more prezzies, just for good measure! The kids were ecstatic and it was very humbling to see the joy on their faces, when being given relatively small gifts. Finally we all went out into the courtyard and the kids took it in turn, sitting on the bikes and some brave souls even started their engines and allowed the kids to rev them!

I’m always happy to see the bikers of Leeds making an effort to give something back to people with a lot less than them and also projecting a very positive image of bikers – something we don’t see enough of in the media.

Hopefully our relationship with Lineham Farm will continue well into the future – the next event being the Easter Egg run in the Spring. See you there.
Manny (Leeds MAG rep)

Lois on the Loose in Leeds

News

Following the success of our Evening with Austin Vince, we’re pleased to announce Lois on the Loose in Leeds, an evening with Lois Pryce. It will be held at Squires at 7.30 pm on Saturday the 14th May 2016.

Stuck in a boring job with a dream of adventure she decided to turn herself loose. From the top of Alaska to the tip of South America, and then followed it up by riding down the side of Africa. Find out more about Lois on her website.

Lois Poster

Tickets including free camping will cost £10 from Squires or Leeds MAG meetings, or from our online shop for £10 each plus £2 postage.

Do We Have Your Email Address?

News

We have a mailing list that we use to send out details of meetings, campaigns, upcoming events and such like. We know we don’t have email addresses for everyone in the Leeds MAG area, so if you’d like to join, email leeds-rep@mag-uk.org with your details. The same goes if your email address has changed but we still have your old address. You don’t have to be a member of MAG to join the list but we certainly wouldn’t complain if you do decide to join.

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