This years Wakefield Hospice May Day Gala had to have a last minute venue change, due to the advertised site at Clarence Park being too muddy to hold the gala. The constant rain and the Chinese State Circus the week before had unfortunately left the fields somewhat reminiscent of the Somme. Our hosts, Wakefield Hospice, therefore had to switch venues at the last minute to the playing fields in Thornes Park instead, on the instructions of Wakefield Council. Local Radio Ridings FM, and the Wakefield Express did a cracking job of advertising the venue change but there was always a risk that this would affect attendance. However, the fears were unfounded as hundreds of people flocked to the Gala, and the new site was actually bigger and better placed than the original one. The days leading up to the show had seen some pretty wet and miserable weather but the day of the show itself saw the sun shine and we enjoyed one of the hottest days of the year to date.
Wakefield MAG have supported the Wakefield Hospice Gala for a number of years now by putting on a small bike show but it wasn't until last year than we started advertising it beyond the Branch itself, with the aim of growing this into a much bigger event, and attracting top quality entries. Last year we had 25 bikes in the show, this year we more than doubled that with over 50 bikes and 8 trikes in the show. We can safely say that we achieved our objective of growing the size of the bike show. In addition to the bike show, we hosted the Yorkshire MAG stand at the gala, selling Wakefield MAG products, promoting MAG and enticing new members.
The show proved to be a hugely popular attraction at the gala and we did a roaring trade selling Polaroid photos of kids (and adults) sat on the bikes, with the proceeds going towards the Hospice.
The quality of entries into this years show was also quite astounding, making the judges jobs that much harder. We also had to vastly increase the show categories to cope with the entries (just as well we had some extra prizes). Igor, Paul, Bill and myself had to make those difficult decisions, but in the end, we reached a consensus decision.
Best in Show Kawasaki Z1B. This was a cracking bike which had been lovingly restored by owner Henry Stubbs over a number of years. Such was the quality of this bike, it would have won at any National Classic Bike show
Best Modern Yamaha Vmax
Best Classic Triumph Bonneville (Meriden). A late entry by owner Ron Cellier but he walked away with the much deserved Best Classic prize for a beautifully turned out bike
Best Trike Yamaha Bulldog Trike. You don't see many triked Bulldogs but this one was spot on with it's fully independent rear suspension
Best Rat Suzuki TU250 (at some point in it's life before it was converted to a trail bike and painted in black Hammerite)
Best Modern Runner-up Honda Fireblade (1992)
Best Trike Runner-up Honda Goldwing
The show was a huge success, we made £62 from our product sales, raised over £50 for the Hospice and recruited several new members to boot. It was a tremendous team effort by Wakefield MAG so well done to all those Wakefield MAG members who attended, most of whom still recovering from Into the Valley. A huge thanks also to the Yorkshire Trikers who turned out in force and provided the excellent Best Trike trophy.
We will definitely be hosting another, even bigger show next year, so hope to see you there.