The Bill Weedon Memorial Ride – October 2017
Under threatening skies 14 riders and 1 car gathered for today’s Bill Weedon Memorial Ride, or as most of us knew him as Rear Admiral Bill, with his usual riding position as tail-end-charlie.
Greg Grist was today’s leader, and after a briefing from Greg and Bill in our thoughts we headed out down the Geelong Highway to Werribee where we skirted its perimeters. From Werribee we headed to Little River and then travelled towards Bacchus Marsh with the You Yangs rising to the left of us.
At this stage I was travelling behind Greg with a corner marshalling position coming up. A right turn by Greg to head back to Werribee and I was positioned around the corner looking at oncoming traffic. One by one our members arrived and I was waiting for our tail-end-charlie, Graham Boulter to arrive. You always know when Graham is coming on his BMW as his riding lights stand out like beacons. One by one the bikes were coming and I started to wave furiously, only to have the riders wave back and ride straight through. It turns out it was a Ulysses Ride that got caught in the middle of our ride. Later on I thought what a friendly lot those riders were acknowledging me like that. The rest of the riders and Graham finally arrived and without further incident we all headed to the RAAF Base Museum at Point Cook.
The museum was to take care of the next 1½ hours with its deep history and display of a wide range of planes. A gold coin donation to the museum allowed entry and we were informed that the RAAF base is the oldest still operating war base in the world. To tour the museum was a real eye opener and it was good to see a lot of young families taking advantage of what it had to offer.
Tour over we followed Greg, and accompanied by quite heavy showers, we went back to his house for a barbeque. On arrival we were greeted by the beautiful smell of hamburgers, chicken, sausages and the one that tops it all off, onions, all being cooked by Greg’s son, Colin. Greg produced large bottles of soft drink that went down with appreciation and stories of old and new were told by all. You all know what we are like when we get together. It was time to eat and Greg’s wife Cathy and his daughter-in-law Megan had prepared beautiful salads to accompany Colin’s cooking. All this and more as it was followed by cheesecake to top off a beautiful meal.
In summary, it was a lovely way to remember Bill riding through his old stomping ground with time to reflect just how lucky we are to still be able to appreciate it.
I cannot finish this write-up without mentioning our barbecue mascots for the day, Colin’s granddaughter Eliza and their pet dog Riley, the Whippet. Thanks Greg for a great day! Richard Haughton
PARTICIPANTS
Renee Krauz BMW RT 100 1989
G. Bkzrys Bonneville 1979
Ted Byrne BMW R100 1991
David McLennan Triumph 2016
Stuart Armstrong Valkerie 2001
Brett Ongic Honda GB500 1985
Brian Wilson BMW R90/6 1974
Greg Grist MB Augusta 2016
Merv Webster Yamaha XJ650 1982
Paul White Bonneville 2015
Richard Haughton Kawasaki W800 2012
Graham Boulter (tail-end-charlie) BMW R90SW 1975
Adrian Nash Car