August 13, 2015, by Genelva Meikle

Guest Blog: Nottingham University Motor-Cycle Club, class of 1984/85

 

Written by alumni Adam Rice (Physics Philosophy, 1985)

Over the mid-summer weekend the NUMCC had a reunion in the Welsh Borders.  This mainly consisted of going down the country pub, staggering back along meandering watercourses and settling down at our final location to quietly getting through a barrel of beer.  The last less-than-hairy bikers finally hit the hay at 6am, half an hour after they had to get up.

Some of the club members hadn’t seen each other since student days when the hair was big and the stomachs were flat.  Something of a reversal these days.  Two members had other arrangements and couldn’t attend but everyone else from that 1984/85 came to the event.

In keeping with tradition, motorcycle woes were part of events with a Ducati over-heating and embarrassingly and precariously halting in the third lane of the M6 and then again while overtaking an old lady on country roads near the Welsh border; and then a Kawasaki conking out on the way home.  This enabled purposeful group tinkering with machines on the Sunday morning and gaffaws and derogatory opinions on engineering technique being expressed by those without spanners in their hands.

Of course much of the talk was of the fun that we’d had at Nottingham and the scrapes that we’d gotten into.  A few times we’d got into a little trouble, for instance for biking on the frozen lake or letting off fireworks when the home secretary was visiting, but the authorities gave us a good telling off and then let us off, putting it down to high spirits and a practical frame of mind.  We wonder now whether we caused more amusement in those judging us than irritation.  But let’s hope that the current students are better behaved (after all, they include our kids!)

Members arrived on vintage bikes.  However bikers still older then bikes by an average of ten years.

Are you interested in organising a reunion in the UK, contact Genelva Meikle for more information.  Keep up-to-date with The University of Nottingham Alumni Relations team and our activities by visiting our dedicated website, as well as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Google+
• Share on LinkedIn