Club life is a good way to be involved.
Words: TIM BRITTON Photographs: BRIAN SLARK
It’s a slightly different take on our brief chat for this month as we’re talking to a club rather than one person, so we asked the Association of Pioneer Motor Cyclists chairman Ken Brady to provide the answers.
In the early days of motorised transport, the ‘motor’ club would be an all-encompassing group for enthusiasts of this new form of powered vehicle.
In those pioneering days the club would be for car and motorcycle enthusiasts, often one and the same and all facing the same outlook from officialdom and society – too noisy, too smelly, too intrusive, too dangerous and so it goes on.
However, the scene survived thanks to pioneer riders who braved the elements and, in 1928, they decided to form a club for those who had been at the forefront of motorcycling.
The Association of Pioneer Motor Cyclists – APMC – is about motorcyclists rather than motorcycles so the ‘pioneer’ bit doesn’t refer to very early primitive machines, nor these days does it refer to enthusiasts who rode in those far off days, but it now has several levels of membership, with ‘Pioneer’ being for those who have held a licence for 50 years or more.
The APMC doesn’t have club nights as such, but members organise events in their areas, both social and actual runs.
They attract a variety of machines from actual pioneers to modern and all are welcome, as long as the licence criteria is met.
Read more and view more images in the October 2019 issue of TCM – on sale now!
