At the start of the New Millennium, Ken Gore was in the Chair of the Club, having taken over for the last few months of 1999. Ken and his wife Gloria lived in Wales and had joined the Club at the beginning of 1996. Ken was an experienced motorcyclist and had ridden both off-road and with Gloria had toured in Europe on several occasions before joining the Club. Ken liked his comfort and being a tall man, he and Gloria rode a Honda Gold Wing. During his tenure as Chairman and for years after, he and Gloria organised the annual weekend Easter event which was always in Wales but at a different location each year, the one constant was Gloria’s homemade traditional Welsh cakes, very popular with all attendees!
During the first 10 years of the New Millennium, the following Members were in the Chair of the Club: Ken Gore, Sukie Davies, Bob Johnson, Laurie & Jean Evans, and Richard Evans. Sukie, Bob, Laurie &Jean, and Richard are still active Club Members.
The annual membership during this period fluctuated between 180 and 230. During this period there were a lot more overseas events organised which proved increasingly popular. As in previous years, the Club held a Christmas Party for members and their partners at the end of each year.
Sukie Davies took over from Ken in 2002, the Club’s first female in the Chair! Sukie had joined the Club in the early nineties and was a regular on many events. On a trip in 1992 to The Gorges du Tarn, organised by Peter Hewlett and Sandy Morris, she met Chris Davies; they eventually married in 1994 and the rest is history!!
Soon after Sukie took over, she contacted Mike Parry who founded the Club to seek his thoughts about the Club. He said he was just surprised and pleased that the Club was still going after all this time, especially as the roads in England were no longer the pleasure they once were, to ride on. This rang a bell with Sukie as she started to plan the events for 2003.
In 2003, the Club was informed of the death of our founder Mike Parry on 31st March. Mike had been involved in an incident on returning home from the Forest of Dean. A sizeable contingent of Members attended the funeral at the family’s church in Cerne Abbas.
Sukie re-introduced The Club Enduro in 2003, together with a Track Day at Cadwell Park; and there were trips to Portugal, The Vosges and Black Forest, Holland, The Pyrennees; with weekends in the Cotswolds, Somerset, Wales and Scotland; to mention just a fewI
Sukie’s calendar for 2004 included Frosty’s French Quickie, The Ardennes, Dolomites & Slovenia, Harbours & Castles in France, a Track Day at Pembury, a Go Karting afternoon, Touring in Denmark, Touring in Italy and of course, The Club Enduro.
Bob Johnson took over the Chair in 2004.Bob had been in the Club since 1997 and having organised the Carpe Dieme in 2003 had set out another one for 2004. Bob’s love of motorcycling was one thing but his passion for restoring Norton motorcycles was another which he shared with his good friend Roy Horne.
Early in his tenure, Bob had planned to take his Norton Commando to the Les Motos Ancien on the August Bank Holiday in North-East France. However, the weather conditions were not good so he decided to 955i Triumph, only to find on arrival that the Racing event had been cancelled. Anyhow all wasn’t wasted because the Ardennes is such a wonderful motorcycling area and together with the historic sites describing the impact of past wars etc. there was plenty to investigate.
Prior to this, Bob had participated in the PEMC Karting Grand Prix and celebratory dinner, organised by his good friend Roy Horne. This event had proved, as in the past to be great fun and showed considerable rivalry on the track from Club Members!!
Bob’s calendar for 2005 and 2006 included Tours of the Morgan & Triumph Factories, Track Days with “Follies Group” courtesy of Ian Fox, Ian Fox, Tours to Slovenia, Corsica, Vosges & Black Forest, The Gorges du Tarn, Ireland and Limousin in France, another GoKarting event and a Quad Trekking session as well as many other turn ups and weekends in UK.
Laurie and Jean Evans took over the Chair in 2006 and it was not long before a review of the Club’s Name and Logo got underway. Laurie and Jean felt the Logo was becoming out-dated and there were concerns by some members about the name of the Club being rather ostentatious. During 2007 a new design for the Club Logo was agreed and whilst the words “Ride in Good Company” were retained, the Brief case logo was replaced by a more modern styled helmet. This new logo first appeared on the November 2007 edition of Lineswapper.
It was decided to put more emphasis on the acronym “PEMC” and reduce the use of the phrase “Professional and Executive Motorcyclists” in publications. Laurie and Jean asked Martin Bartlett to upgrade the Club website, including the changes to the Club Logo and Name and in so doing, Mark Squire agreed to assist in developing a new look and feel for the website. At this time there was concern about the increasing cost of printing Lineswapper, so it was decided as more members were acquiring PC’s, to create digital versions of Lineswapper in PDF format and either emailing to Members or encouraging them to view on the web. This reduced the number of printed Lineswappers needed and the cost of postage.
Richard Evans took over the Chair in 2008. The next edition of Lineswapper included a nice range of coloured photos from PEMC events but one picture which caught the eye was of a young USA inventor who had created a motorbike with a twist – it uses two wheels, but they are positioned right next to each other. Was the Editor thinking this might suit the incoming Chairman who was known for changing his bikes from time to time??
In the first year of Richard’s Chairmanship, he had informed members that the Club website was to be enhanced with a bespoke online bookings system for bookable events. So, at the start of 2010, the online booking system was available and was the recommended way of making a booking on a Club event.
Richard Evans had invited those members who had been in the Club for 25 years or more to a Sunday Lunch in March 2010, at a Cotswolds pub to receive commemorative medal. The presentation was to be made by Margaret Parry, the wife to the late Mike Parry, founder of the Club.
As lunch drew to a close, the dining room became rampant with memories as members rediscovered themselves in photographs and old copies of Lineswapper. Many still recognised themselves despite the pre digital photographs making them appear to have more hair and slimmer waistlines. After coffee, Richard Evans managed to call the meeting to order and reflected on the epidemic of nostalgia he had created by organising the lunch.
After thanking Margaret Parry for her support of Mike in the early days, Richard invited Margaret to present gold, as in colour not content, medals to those who have been with the club for its twenty-five years. These were: Bob Toseland #20; Roger Johnson #22; Eddie Barnes #31; Mike Thompson #49; Bernard Jay #90; Malcolm Bristow #99; John Buckingham #116; Dian Catcheside #139; Lionel Squire #228; David Mottram #230; Richard Frost #247; and Chris Reid #253.
Throughout this ten years period, the Club continued to have a wealth of events in the UK and Europe very much along the lines as they had enjoyed in the Nineties.
