Burgess Hill & District Motorcycle Club
Based around Burgess Hill in West Sussex, we are a local club covering the Mid Sussex area. We cater for all makes of bike and all levels of riding experience.
The club started way back in the mists of time - well at least some 30 years ago - and was spawned from the Mid Sussex Motorcycle and Light Car club. We now have about seventy members drawn from all walks of life and riding just about every type of bike. Members range in age from early twenties to early seventies and we have quite a few women riders. Indeed, almost half of our management committee are women riders.
Our aim is to foster friendship through the ownership, use of and interest in motorcycles. We meet every Monday evening during the summer months for a ride out, usually to a local pub. In the winter months we meet at the St Francis Social Club in Haywards Heath for talks by guest speakers, quizzes or just a chat with friends. We have had talks about tyres, TT racing, oils and lubricants, touring holidays, track days etc. etc. We publish a monthly newsletter with information about forthcoming events, reports from members, articles about “biker” things and general happenings around the club. We also maintain an extensive web site which includes pictures of members out and about and details of events. The site has an extensive “links” section, which should lead to just about every web site you can imagine to be of interest to a biker. There is also the latest edition of our newsletter. You are most welcome to have a look at the site at www.burgesshillmc.com.
Each summer we organise two or three out of area trips for members. This summer we took 30+ members back to the Mosel valley in Germany with many members having a go on the Nurburg Ring. Last year we went to Le Mans for the MotoGP and to Yorkshire for a tour of the dales. In previous years, we have been to the French Alps based in Morzine, the Isle of Man for the TT, Germany (twice) and members have been to Ireland, Italy, France and Holland.
BURGESS HILL AND DISTRICT MOTORCYCLE CLUB
We support charities at a local level through attendance and assistance with toy and pet food runs. We take stalls at various summer fetes including Headway, the Scouts Duck fair where we provide a display of bikes and members can speak to visitors. We find this to be good publicity for the club and where we often pick up new members. It is also a good opportunity to spread the word to the general public that most motorcyclists are normal people who are really quite approachable and are not a group of hostiles to be likened to the Wild Ones.
The club used to sponsor our local BMF Motorcycle Training School which was run by a number of our members. However, for various reasons, changes in legislation etc the BMF ceased to support the school which closed last year. We do still encourage training with a number of members doing IAM courses. So there is always friendly help and advice available to the novice rider.
Throughout the riding season we run a “carpe diem” competition. Members have a list of places to visit all over the country and gain points based on the distance travelled from Burgess Hill. This years themes are biker cafes and meets, popular museums, lighthouses and lifeboat stations, bridges, cathedrals and canal features. Members plan days out based on the list and prizes are awarded in the autumn.
So if you live in the area that's not just mid Sussex as we have members living in Kent and Surrey, why not find out more about us. Look on our website www.burgesshillmc.com - or contact our Chairman David Dyke on 01444 230316.
Membership is open to all and costs £16 per year. For this you get good company, a monthly newsletter, opportunities to tour far and wide, regular ride outs, a winter programme of non-riding events and associate membership of the BMF. That ain't half bad for 30 pence a week.