VULCAN RIDERS ASSOCIATION RIDE OUT

International members of the Vulcan Riders Association gather every year to celebrate the Kawasaki range of Vulcan (VN) motorcycles. This year, 2024, the UK hosted the event and welcomed 400 visitors from Europe, Australia, and the USA for a weekend of renewing old friendships and making new ones in the wonderful setting of the University of Kent in Canterbury.

It is a tradition at every International meeting that there is a ride-out on a Saturday. The VRA UK decided that a ride on the Romney, Dymchurch, and Hythe Railway would give our overseas visitors an enjoyable and memorable experience. To make this activity work, careful planning and experienced people were needed to get 185 motorcycles from Canterbury to Romney and back. This is where KEMS provided the skills needed.

The planning for the ride began in 2023, and in January 2024, we met Chris and Mark from KEMS for the first time. They listened to what we needed to do, made suggestions and shared their “Can Do” approach to the event. From that meeting, we knew it would be a successful ride. Their experience, knowledge, patience and dedication shone through every detail we explored. On the day, they came with other riders from the team who were superbly dedicated and helpful. It made the day an outstanding success, and all our visitors, on their return, said how much they had enjoyed the great ride, the memorable train journey and the visit to historic Hythe.

We couldn’t have done it without these guys, and we cannot praise them and their professional approach highly enough.

Thank you so much.

Bill Hancock, VRA UK SECRETARY
On behalf of the International Management Team.

Just a few words of thanks for your guys’ support of this year’s Cycle4Heroes. You really are an integral part of this event.

This year Help for Heroes is celebrating its 10th full year, 10 years which have seen the charity raise over £300 million, build 4 state of the art recovery centres, and a swimming pool and gym complex at Hedley Court. To date H4H has directly helped 20,000 servicemen/ women and their families, as well as providing grants to 100 other partner charities totalling an amazing £32million, money which has been used to help thousands more servicemen and their families live full and productive lives. Help for Heroes mission statement is to provide direct practical support to our wounded, sick and injured.

This is its 4th year and to date the ride has raised £60,000, money that has gone directly to the charity and made a real difference to the lives of veterans and their families. So, on behalf of Myself, Help for Heroes, and especially our wounded, sick and injured, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

PS: Remember they don’t want sympathy, just a #Helpinghand. Thank you for giving that #Helpinghand.

The motorcycle group Kent Event Marshals, who normally ensure the safety of cycle events, marked International Volunteers Day by assisting Kings with delivering and collecting home swabbing kits for pre-surgical patients. When the transport team requested help with their home swabbing service, Ali Yousuf – International Projects Delivery Manager, with Kings Commercial Services asked his motorcycle group KEM for assistance.  The group swung into action providing motorcycle volunteers to assist the service.  The weekend was so successful that the volunteer program is being extended further with more home swabbing being completed by KEM.

From Pilgrims Hospices’ Robert Grew:

Can I take a moment to say how grateful we are, as always, for KEM’s presence at this year’s Cycle Challenge. It was very challenging conditions and punctures into the hundreds. And all through it the team were at the roadside helping everyone they came across. I’ve said it before but the KEM team are worth their weight in gold! ?

Despite the rain, it was a really successful event and feedback is coming back very positively. What’s more, on the fundraising side of things we are currently standing at £98,000, which means that, yes, we have smashed past our £1 million pound milestone since 2010!!

Pictured – the last arrival at the end with her personal support team!

British Masters Cycle Racing road races on Sunday 20^th August 2023

We received the following feedback via email from some horse riders who were on the course during the race.  Not all horse riders are sympathetic to cyclists(!) so this speaks volumes about the benefit of having motorcycle marshals who know what they are doing; also for having competitors who have a decent safety briefing still in their heads when they get on the course.

‘Just a quick email to thank your organisers for Sunday’s race We were out hacking on Sunday morning and met your 1^st group.   We put the horses in a drive – your motorcyclists were fab and made sure we were ok and let the rest of the ride know we were hacking on the race road. Although it was a fast race it never felt that it was out of control; So thank you’