If you’ve heard the almighty rev-y roar of a beastly engine, only to turn around and be confronted with not one beastly engine but a troop of them all attached to leather-wearing folk locally one Sunday, then there’s a chance you’ve had an encounter with one Deal’s friendliest and longstanding clubs, the Deal and District Motorcycle Club.
The club have earned column inches before in your Deal CommunityAd magazine due to their partaking in the brilliant toy runs, whereby bikers from all around the county mount their bikes with sacks of toys to deliver to hospitals, all in the aim of putting smiles on hospital-bound children’s faces.
The toy ride out, like so many things, was cancelled last year due to this nasty pandemic but this year the bikers have already been out for a few Kentish rides, most recently to Margate as part of the Meltdown Bank Holiday tradition. We thought we’d check in with the marvellous and always smiling Jo Davis from Deal and District Motorcycle Club for an update:
“Well, the club is still in existence but of course, COVID has taken its toll and put paid to the social side of things. Sadly, our 70th anniversary went without celebration too. BUT! I’m sure we weren’t the only club affected and were still here, so there’s hope.
“This year, we’re hoping to pick up the pieces. The Magnet Inn has gone, so a new meeting venue is to be decided. There are a couple of local events we hope to have our club stand at, but this is dependent on COVID again, I suppose.
“One good thing is that the Sunday ride out (Sunday, 9am for 9:30am set off from Tides car park) has resumed and been fairly well attended and with the onset of better weather, we’re looking forward to some great days out.”