SWTRF Group Representative
With a motorcycle interest that started like many very early, fuelled by such films as ‘The Great Escape’ I developed a longing for a motorbike at a young age. I had a picture on my bedroom wall of the Yamaha range in the late 70’s which I stared at many a night praying, but like so many other children I was forbidden by my parents to have a motorcycle. My first bike was a TS125 when I was 15 and then secretly bought a DT175 which I hid in our front garage for 9 months until after my ‘A’ levels. After a brief and unsuccessful period of racing motocross on a 1988 KTM500 at 21 years old when I lived in Yeovil and on having children and forging a career, my interest seemed to go on the back burner.
Fast forward to around to the year 2000 in my late thirties, when given the Direct Access course for my birthday, I passed my test and bought an XR400. Everything turned blue after that and I seem to have re-ignited my passion for Yamaha’s currently riding a WR250 and T700 having owned a succession of 450’s and 250’s, along with a brief spell with an R1.
After a 30 year career working in the software and IT industry, like so many other TRF members I decided to hang up my tie and try and start putting on body armour more, thus retiring in 2020 after looking at the chaos going on all around me and around the world and wanting a bit more ‘me-time’.
I have four lovely children (the two youngest with an unhealthy passion for horses!) and any spare time I have seems to get swallowed up by doing little ‘odd jobs’, something which I think only a retired person can relate to.
I have been in the South Wales TRF about 10 years now, after ‘accidentally’ tagging on the back of a TRF ride one day and liked the look of it. I have previously been the Treasurer for the group and for the last few years have enjoyed the role of Group Representative, which as I see it is a ‘facilitator and first point of contact’. I have greatly enjoyed seeing the South Wales group go from strength to strength of recent years where we now have a diverse range of members and the whole group now feels much more inclusive, supportive and welcoming which is a great testament to the members and those who put so much effort in.