2008 Review

The major change for 2008 was extending the Event to a three night weekend with an associated expansion of the programme for Wingers to include technical training talks and ride outs for the Sunday and a ladies programme.  We also expanded the daytime display of GoldWings on the Promenade into a two-day display with the aim of projecting safe and responsible motorcycling to other bikers as well as the public, including of course a major contribution by HondaUK and two of their Dealers as well as the spectacular skills of the Central Florida Motorcycle Drill Team.

Apart from finding ourselves a bit short-handed at times, trying to cover the considerable marshalling and stewarding demands of all these activities, the Event went remarkably smoothly and has been highly praised – for which we are of course very grateful.  The considerable planning effort which went into the 2008 Light Parade therefore seems to have paid off.  We were of course extremely lucky with the weather too, which was a terrific bonus.

Expanding the Event to a three night weekend seems to have been well received and to be worth continuing, even though not every Winger was able to take full advantage of it. Pontin’s approach to packaging their accommodation (into three night weekends and four night mid-week deals) makes it possible to offer a third night for very little extra cost.  The standard of accommodation and especially the food at Pontin’s has received very favourable comment this year, so their type of accommodation seems to suit the Event very well.  It has been suggested by several Wingers that this type of accommodation would be suitable for other large GoldWing events too, so there is food for thought there.

Most of the extra programme items which were laid on for Wingers for the Sunday at Pontin’s were also popular enough to try to retain for the future. Some elements of the Ladies Programme did not prove to be commercially viable for the suppliers who laid them on, so some of that might have to be trimmed back.  In the main however the format of the longer weekend was successful and those who stayed for Sunday night entertainment were very complementary about it; Pontin’s Bluecoats showed us that they are very capable entertainers and they gave us a very professional and thoroughly enjoyable show.  The Lighting Workshop didn’t happen quite as planned; although indoor space to work on bikes was available throughout the weekend there turned out to be surprisingly little demand for it and the Lighting Sales stall soon shifted itself to St Chads. The lovely weather encouraged everyone to spend as much time as possible outdoors and maybe this facility would come into its own if the weather was not quite so good. Nevertheless the idea of a Lighting Workshop and Sales area at Pontin’s, although still potentially a good one, needs to go back to the drawing board if it is to be tried again.

Setting dates for the Light Parade involves inevitable compromise and for 2008 we tried running the Event three weeks later than in previous years as an experiment. This is something we wanted to try anyway but as things turned out we could not have scheduled the BLP any earlier in 2008 anyway because St Chads Headland was committed to another event.  It turned out to be touch and got getting the Headland cleared away in time for us to take possession of it for our Event – the contractors had to remove several marquees and 4,000 tons of beach sand in only three days, which incredibly they achieved.  On the positive side, having that other event on the Headland immediately before ours is why we got enclosure fencing; we just took over what had been set up for the previous event and therefore saved considerably on fencing costs.  An enclosure fence and an overnight security guard on Friday and Saturday proved its worth and would be essential again if an ambitious Promenade display such as we mounted for 2008 is to be attempted again.

Another important factor in setting the dates for the Light Parade is traffic volumes through the Illuminations.  Surprisingly, Illuminations traffic is always quietest on the Switch-On Weekend, which is usually the first weekend in September, and it get steadily busier over following weekends.  The Police are very keen on us running the Parade on the Switch-On Weekend for this reason. Pontin’s on the other hand were probably very pleased to see us scheduling the event three weeks later in 2008 and outside the school holidays, and this is probably why we ended up more or less having the place to ourselves this year.  2008 has been an unusually quiet season for Blackpool, including for Pontin’s.  Weather is a risk factor at any time in UK, so we would need a wet weather plan no matter how much early in the year we planned to run the Event.

HondaUK were extremely generous in supporting the 2008 Light Parade in the way they did and although the two Honda Dealers who came are keen to come again, it would not be realistic to expect the Manufacturer to commit the same level of support to the BLP on a recurring basis.  Apart from anything else their other motorcycle owners clubs would start complaining that they weren’t getting a fair crack at the whip.  A one-day Promenade display which does not require elaborate set up (i.e. does not require setting up stands on the previous day and therefore fencing and overnight security) would therefore be a lot more achievable.

The participation we had from Avon Tyres and one or two other traders in 2008 raised possibilities for developing that side of things in future too.  We did not set out to establish much of a trade participation for 2008 other than the two Honda Dealers and Avon Tyres but there is clearly plenty of room on St Chads Headland to do so in future.  Blackpool Promenade is under continuing and major re-development for the next year or two, including further work planned for at St Chads, so the availability of Promenade space is likely to be an uncertain factor, at least in the short term.

The links we forged with other clubs and organisations to help run the 2008 Event was another innovation and turned out to be a big success.  Rotary helped us by mounting a street collection which raised over £2,100 for charity, in addition to the Event Surplus of over £700, which will also go to charity. It was particularly satisfying to involve an organisation called VINVOLVED, a Lancashire Business Partnership project (www.lebp.co.uk) which aims to provide worthwhile volunteering opportunities for Blackpool’s young people aged 16-19; they came along in force to St Chads on both Saturday and Sunday and helped out with stewarding and litter-picking.

The help we had from the IAM Riders of South Lancs Advanced Motorcyclists (www.slambikers.co.uk) with the marshalling of the Parade was absolutely invaluable.  Given the number of Parade Marshals which the Police wanted us to provide this year we would have found it extremely difficult to marshal the Parade to the requisite safety standards without SLAM and we are most grateful to them. Happily the SLAM guys (and gals) all seemed to enjoy themselves and will hopefully be willing to turn out again. We are also very lucky to get the cooperation and assistance of Lancashire Constabulary and Blackpool’s Traffic Department who between them set up the official road closure from which the Parade benefits. Organising and marshalling a Parade of nearly 300 GoldWings (and a few other bikes) to move safely and smoothly through crowd-lined streets and heavy traffic in the dark is quite a challenge but what a magnificent spectacle it makes and what fantastic fun it is when it all works smoothly, as it did in 2008.

And of course being able to bring over an American Drill Team was a very special feature of 2008 – which unfortunately is unlikely to be achievable annually.  At least not unless and until Drill Team riding takes off sufficiently in UK to become a spectator sport worthy of regular commercial sponsorship, which is unlikely to happen in the short term.  Our American friends did teach some British Wingers a few of the core skills while they were practising, so maybe we will see the emergence of one or more British Teams if it catches on.  Skilled riding displays like these are certainly eye-catching if you want to attract the public – and to impress other bikers about what a GoldWing can do in skilled hands.  If we can get enough Promenade space for the next Light Parade, maybe we will see a British Display Team in action for the first time!

I was standing next to the Honda Manager on their Stand at St Chads on Saturday afternoon when Smitty began scraping his footpegs around the Riding Arena so spectacularly – and of course really quite noisily.  She didn’t bat too much of an eyelid; she just asked me very politely if it was possible for the Drill Team to scrape the footpegs a little more quietly.  Smitty was by far the worst offender, because of course he was the guy doing incredibly tight turns in all sorts of side-saddle and other acrobatic configurations.  Smitty arrived in UK later than the others on the Thursday morning, yet by Monday his standard alloy left footpeg and the steel stub and sacrificial dome nut were completely worn out from underneath.  We replaced this footpeg with a new one before Smitty’s bike was handed back to Honda,  not least because we wanted to keep the worn one as a trophy. We also replaced the lower front cowl on Mark’s bike, which had a brief argument with the Riding Arena fencing on Saturday.  The footpegs on the other bikes were more or less unscathed, certainly compared with Smitty’s, so after touching up a little paint here and there on the undersides, which we also did before returning the bikes to Honda nicely cleaned, you would never know they had been to Blackpool for the 2008 Light Parade at all.  The driver who collected them for Honda did a very careful inspection of all four bikes and he didn’t find anything to concern him at all.  Impressively robust and durable bikes these GL1800s!

Incidentally the US Riders, enormously skilful at slow speed and doing tight manoeuvres, proved to be a little bit outside their experience and comfort zone when they were first taken out riding on UK country roads.  Florida roads are mostly flat and straight, so they don’t get the necessary riding experience on home ground to handle our twisty roads with confidence.  But these guys are very capable all round riders and they did have the ability to learn about cornering very quickly once they got the chance.