MEMORIAL RIDE 2007 - What A Great Day For A Ride.

Your God was certainly smiling on you if you went on the Ulysses Memorial Day Ride on the 9th of September. Beautiful day, just the right temperature, good road with some nice bendy bits and a great bunch to ride with. Someone, I can’t remember who, asked if I expected many riders to do the ride and when I said “I hope a couple of hundred turn up.” He laughed thinking I was dreaming.

With badge sales on the day at about 250 and 100 in the weeks before, I think there were about 275-300 motorcycles in total. Not bad considering Sydney basin managed about 200 at their gathering.

This year was time to fill out the garden and make it look more like a garden than a grove of trees. After talking with the SEQLD Water Board, I purchased another 57 plants to fill in the spaces between the trees planted previously. Because our planting was going to be very attractive to rabbits, hares and kangaroos, it was necessary to provide bird-wire netting protection for each new plant.

With the assistance of many members from the South-East plants were placed in position, holes dug, fertilised placed in the holes, plants put in, and wire netting put in place. Then the service was held.

A bloody brilliant effort by one and all!

After the service we put names of the members on the bollards at the end of the rows of trees under their respective branch names. And later in the day before we finally left at 3pm, we noticed family members of some who had ridden on getting their family photos beside their respective bollard. A nice touch and a fitting tribute to the departed.

Thank you all who participated in the day, with special thanks to Anna for her taking control of the planting and driving the ute with all the goodies in it for the day. Thanks to those who sold the badges to pay for the day, thanks to those who chipped in and helped set the garden up. Thanks to Geoff for borrowing the PA system again thi s year.

David "Doc" Cox