Poppy Appeal

[spud]

Bought mine today.

Is there any connection with the armed services and trials/trails - were our grandfathers dispatch riders in the war i'm wondering how all this off-road riding ever took off?

[Andy]

Bought mine today.

Is there any connection with the armed services and trials/trails - were our grandfathers dispatch riders in the war i'm wondering how all this off-road riding ever took off?

I'm an absolute supporter of Rememberance Day (as can obviously be seen by the current Trials Central logo) due to my passion for WWII history and 100% support the fact that we should never forget what those who have gone before us went through in order that we may live free lives. (The fact that we can't and we're making a complete mess of the world may have made them think differently about their sacrifices, but that's for a different topic...)

I seem to recall being told some of the guys involved in the SSDT in previous years were despatch riders in WWII. Can anybody confirm?

[highland lassie]

I seem to recall being told some of the guys involved in the SSDT in previous years were despatch riders in WWII. Can anybody confirm?

Dad and Bill both despatch riders, but not old enough for WWII....well, not quite! Sounds like a question for Big John...

[perce]

I recently acquired 1925 & 1926 Scott Trial programmes, the proceeds of the event were given to:- http://www.st-dunstans.org.uk/

Edited November 4, 2006 by PERCE

[Andy]

Thanks John - I knew I'd heard something along those lines. I think it was George Turner that told me, but it was before I got my interest in WWII so didn't pay as much attention as I would have now.

[boofont]

Many members of the Armed Forces do ride trials, and all the other types of bikes. In recent years the Army have had a fairly big presence in the SSDT with back up from MRS amoungst others I believe? The RAF have entered a few riders but none from the Navy, at least as far as I know.

Hopefully the RAF will have three riders next year on a bigger scale than the low-key approach we've seen in the past. Anyone want to sponser them for the SSDT and the other trials the team plan to ride then get in touch!

[slapshot 3]

My dad's uncle was a dispatch rider in the far east during WW2 got one or two pics of him astride a BSA in Singapore, a Fort William man but hated the Scottish, think it made it more difficult for him to get to the Bar in the Nevis Bank for a week each year; my grandfather (his brother) flew Spitfires.

We need to remember the individuals who gave their lives not just in WW2 but all other conflicts as well. We will all have links to victims of 20th Century conflict, the first time conflict became truly Global.

[bikespace]

In slightly more recent years the Army used to have some fairly big events but mainly enduro as it fitted in better with the machinery available. I rode quite a few events in the 80's as a 17 year old. Good fun, but a seriously hard day out, trying to get a Bombardier round the same course as modern machinery. I got an Armstrong eventually, which were a bit more competitive, but still hard work for a young lad, when things got sticky.

Had a few rides on what the Army classed as the modern machinery - 17 year old first enduro ever on a Maico 500 - Bloody good fun, but probably the hardest days work I ever had

The signals enduro died off a bit due to funding. Amazing what a difference the odd Major can make in the right place. Captain not quite enough power to get big things done I found

What I found - I think as far back as the 50's it's not particularly that the Army supports trials, it's the fact that people who rode trials ended up in the Army, and they created their own opportunities. I know my old man was national service at the same time Arthur Lampkin was, and it was pretty popular then, usually on the same bikes they were using to get home from barracks at the weekend.

[cota kid]

My dad's uncle was a dispatch rider in the far east during WW2 got one or two pics of him astride a BSA in Singapore, a Fort William man but hated the Scottish, think it made it more difficult for him to get to the Bar in the Nevis Bank for a week each year; my grandfather (his brother) flew Spitfires.

We need to remember the individuals who gave their lives not just in WW2 but all other conflicts as well. We will all have links to victims of 20th Century conflict, the first time conflict became truly Global.

Rememberance Day if anything has more of a connection with WWI than any other conflict, 11th hour 11th day of the 11th month 1918. Although as noted we should remember all service men and women who fought for and in a lot of cases died for this country from the Great War through to current conflicts.

[rabie]

a lot of rider did con their way into riding their bikes for the war effort but not all did

my late grandfather (SEC sec - met police and Sidcup clubs) ended up on a frigate for most of war IIRC

BTW I'm loving the logo Andy

[Andy]

BTW I'm loving the logo Andy

Cheers

I was very angry to see this week that a Christian group is calling for the Poppy worn to be white rather than red as "White ones were created to symbolise peace." and "The red poppy suggests the idea that our soldiers died for freedom but that's not a value-free position."

What a load of bollocks.

The red poppy originates from WWI where the area around Ypres in Belgium on the Western Front saw a poppy display like never before because of the churning up of the earth and the Chlorine Gas the Germans were experimenting with. It inspired the Canadian soldier, Major John McCrae, to write the poem most of us, I hope will have heard of:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Because of that, the British Legion took up the RED Poppy as a symbol of rememberance. It has remaind thus ever since and I would fight any attempt to change it for the sake of the "PC" brigade.

How do I know this? I used to look after the computer systems for the Earl Hague Fund in Edinburgh where they have veterans, often disabled, working throughout the year to hand-make the red poppy's we all know.

[bob abell]

Awards from our Trial on November 11, 2001...

[Andy]

Awards from our Trial on November 11, 2001...

Very fitting. Bet loads know the poem, but very few if any knew it was a Canadian that wrote it.

[cota kid]

Some Q & A of interest, poached from the BBC website.

Where did Poppy Wearing Orginate?

The wearing of poppies as a symbol of remembrance began in America, when university teacher Monia Michel read a poem called "In Flanders Fields" by John Macrae. A little background: Flanders Fields, in France, was the site of some of the bloodiest fighting of World War One, and in the aftermath of the destruction caused there, the only thing that was able to grow was the red poppy. Michael, inspired by the poem, began selling poppies to friends to raise money for ex-servicemen.

And in Britain?

This is all down to a young infantry officer by the name of Major George Howson, who formed The Disabled Society in 1922 with the idea of helping ex-service people who had been disabled in the war.

The British Legion make the poppies for England, Ireland and Wales and the Earl Haig Fund make them for Scotland.

A very worthwhile cause well worth donating to.

[gizza5]

Many members of the Armed Forces do ride trials, and all the other types of bikes. In recent years the Army have had a fairly big presence in the SSDT with back up from MRS amoungst others I believe? The RAF have entered a few riders but none from the Navy, at least as far as I know.

Hopefully the RAF will have three riders next year on a bigger scale than the low-key approach we've seen in the past. Anyone want to sponser them for the SSDT and the other trials the team plan to ride then get in touch!

Not to give my life story away, but I have had the pleasure of riding as a member of the Army Team in the SSDT for 4 years

1983 Fantic 200

1984 Fantic 240

1885 Armstong 350 (Twin shock-what a beast, Rotax 350cc Jumbo motor!!!)

1986 Armstong 280 (Mono- the one developed by John Lampkin)

....................and lucky me I have ridden every year since, I'll let you work that out

The Army have a great presence in the SSDT, not only entering a team, but organising the most efficient and safe re-fuelling service.

Sandy Mack (Army Man- on TC) is the main backbone of the team, who is now a Regimental Sergeant Major (Pussy), but with all the operational tours in our world today it is sometimes very difficult to get 3/4 riders to ride what is a specialized sport.

They also enter 1 or 2 teams in the ISDE this is slightly easier as any unit that have the Military Harley Davidson MT350, a soldier can use these in enduro type 3 stage events, which encourage the soldiers in moving into the Enduro game as opposed to the Trials game.

Over the years the Army Team in Scotland have had many bike sponsors, maimly Fantic in the early years, Yamaha, Aprillia, when no sponsors they used there own bikes and as Boofont said in the latter years Sherco from MRS.

Moving onto the point about the Poppy, whatever your doing today please spare 2 minutes of your time at 11 'o' clock today, for the thousands of soldiers, Airmen, Seamen and many others who laid down there lives for us in both World Wars and the many other wars. Peace I feel in this world is a long way off, but we still manage to ride and participate in our beloved sport.

On a final point getting back to the Army Team, they find it an impossible task to win the ''Services Trophy'' in the SSDT due to the fact the Police have a certain rider called Andy Huddlestone who can ride a bit

Does ''Wiggy'' want to join the Army