At our February meeting, Sandy Johnson was installed as the Chairperson for the branch, as the incumbent Barry Owen retired from the role.  Many thanks to Barry for his years of service, and good luck to Sandy in her new role.

The December meeting of the branch was our Christmas fish and chip night.

The 23rd Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show was held at the Staffordshire Showground on the 15th and 16th of October and for the Shenstone Branch this was our ninth successive year at the show.

Fortunately we had the same sized stand as last year which allowed us to use our gazebo again with ample space to exhibit the bikes.

The Stafford show is the largest of it’s kind in the world, so it was no surprise when reports say more than 15,000 people attended the show on the Saturday alone, this showed on our stand which at times was ‘hectic’ with some people waiting for up to 15 minutes to ask a question of one of our branch members manning the stand.

On Saturday we were pleased to see our vice president Ken Sprayson and on Sunday our president Mike Jackson. They both commented how good they thought our stand was. Peter White, a member of the NOC executive also came to see us at our stand on the Saturday.

On Sunday we were visited by a Norton owner who lives in Texas, he has a Commando ‘High Rider’ back in the United States and said that he was now looking to sell the Commando and acquire a 1950’s Norton single.

All the Norton’s on show were Shenstone branch members bikes. Dave Kington’s 750 Commando, Bob Johnson’s  650SS, Nick Meakin’s Fastback Commando, Martin White’s Big 4, Sandy Johnson’s Fireflake Roman Purple 750 Commando, Barry Owen’s Navigator and Bunny Kyd’s Dominator 88.

With the larger stand it enabled us to better space the bikes allowing more people to look around, with branch members constantly answering questions about their bikes.

Many thanks to all who came along to help man the stand and promote the club throughout the weekend and make it an enjoyable event.