Previous Events

Bike4Life 2024

A team of SaPAR members attended the Bike4Life Festival again this year, they were Steve Clarke (Team Leader and Catering Manager), Nigel Clifford, Stuart Trotter, Tada Sakai, Bryan Murphy (Gazebo erection and general communications team) and Ken Swinton (Chief Pointer).
After a slow start the thousands of riders arrived led by the usual VIP persons and many police outriders. SaPAR were offering a discount to attending visitors of £20 off the joining fee if they apply online anytime this week, a total of 29 left us their contact details.
The festival was very well attended and had many food and accessory stalls and rides for both kids and adults. The weather forecast was grim but thankfully the thunder and lightning they promised did not happen, just a mild shower at the end of play.

Bike4Life 2023

SaPAR regularly attend this event with a view to promoting Advanced Riding in Shropshire and the surrounding areas. The prime purpose of the Bike 4 Life event is to raise funds for The Midlands Air Ambulance at RAF Cosford, which was attended by approximately 3,500 motorcyclists. As in previous years we had a stand at the event and this year we had members from RoSPA West Midlands Advanced Riders with us on the stand.
Our stand was attended by Robin Padgett (who organised and co-ordinated the event for SaPAR), others attending and assisting with assembly of the gazebo and greeting the public were; Bill (3 shirts) Croxon, Ken Swinton, Charles Bridgman from SaPAR and Duncan Gleig, Iain Suggett, Gary Forster and Caroline Pricip-Beresford from West Midlands Advanced Riders. The stand was visited by a large number of motorcyclists and both the West Midlands Advanced Riders and ourselves had numerous motorcyclists show an interest in becoming advanced riders.
Everyone on the stand spent a great deal of time talking about the benefits of training and promoting our groups to the numerous motorcyclists that visited us. We obtained their details and our training officer will be following up to organise ‘try before you buy’ sessions with them.

Bike4Life 2022

Images from the 2022 Bike 4 Life event at RAF Cosford

This year a small group of committee members and partners were on hand to erect and look after the stand. Sadly we didn’t make a good job of it and the gazebo took off in one of the mighty gusts off wind that were blowing across the airfield. Despite that we were able to attract a good number of people to what remained of the stand (a picnic table and a few foldup chairs) and maybe we will attract some new members.

Images courtesy of Michelle Jennings, Kevin Fletcher and Ken Swinton

Bike4Life 2019

Members of SaPAR attended this event again for the 2019 Edition of the Annual Bike4Life. Committee members were due to build the stand on Saturday afternoon in readiness for the event on Sunday. However, on arrival to the centre of a windy airfield in the midst of Storm Hannah it was decided that the build should be abandoned until Sunday Morning. This of course meant that the traditional Sunday morning lie-in and hearty bacon and egg breakfast had to be forgone in order to get to RAF Cosford in time to build and fill the gazebo with tables, chairs and all the paraphernalia that goes into having a successful day. The morning began quietly with bikers drifting in and mooching around in the tranquillity of what would soon be utter chaos when the VIP’s and another thousand or 4 motorcycles arrived in a steady stream until there was barely room to stand. The guests this year were Steve Parrish, again, Foggy, again, Mark from TV’s Paramedics, again. New faces were Neil Hodgson a former motorcycle racer and now a Moto GP pundit for BT Sport and Ron Haslem. My apologies to anyone of importance that I have missed. The day continued to be busy with a steady stream of visitors to both ours and the adjoining IAM (SAMM) stand. Many showed an interest in joining and attending the forthcoming joint Assessment Day to be held on Sunday 19th May at Montford Bridge Picnic Area on the A5 at Shrewsbury.

Photographs courtesy of Ken Swinton & Robin Padgett

Bike4Life 2018

SaPAR manned, and ladied the gazebo at RAF Cosford again this year managing to escape the drudge of parking some 3,500 bikes at Meole Brace. The weather was mainly kind to us and the hoards of marauding bikers as they made their way to the show. There was plenty of interest in SaPAR with a decent number of people signing up for the forthcoming Meet & Greet on the 13th May and even a new member. Entertainment was provided by Jamie Squibb and his band of brave souls who clearly will not be enrolling with SaPAR.

Photographs courtesy of Glyn Jones, Kevin Fletcher and Ken Swinton

Forden September 2022

SaPAR attended what may be the final Forden Classic and Vintage Show appropriately named The Rich Davys Jones Memorial Forden Bike Show this year. This was a chance to meet existing members and potential new members and to admire our new gazebo. Thankfully the weather was favourable and a large crowd attended.

Photos courtesy of Rob Hall and Ken Swinton

Wistanstow Bike Show – March 2019

Following the cancellation of the 2018 show through snow, this years event seemed to be a great success. Many motorcycles of all ages, makes and models arrived throughout the day. The weather apart from being a tad chilly and a brief snow shower mid day did not put us hardy bikers off. The organisation was as good as ever with the greeters taking money, part time parking attendants herding the many, many bikes into place and of course the team of ladies churning out hot drinks and baps for the visitors.

Pictures courtesy of Ken Swinton and Robin Padgett

Forden Vintage and Classic Motorcycle Show 2019

Members of SaPAR manned their gazebo again at this years event which had been cancelled in recent years due to bad weather. Sadly this years weather forecast was not much better and the result appeared to be a much smaller event that previous years. That said, with the help of Charles Bridgemans Velocette which drew many admirers to the stand we did get to speak to some potential members to promote motorcycle safety.

Photographs courtesy of Ken Swinton

Broseley Motorcycle Festival 2019

Members of SaPAR attended this years event which took place in Broseley , Shropshire. A parade of bikes of varying ages took place from The Woodbridge Inn at Coalbrookdale taking a scenic route and ending at Broseley where they were displayed along the High Street. SaPAR and Blood Bikes both had stands at the event and over £500 was raised for blood bikes in this area.

Photos courtesy of Michelle Jennings, Robin Padgett and Ken Swinton

Christmas Meal 2019