Daylight lineup on the prom
Only a week after the Blackpool Light Parade 2009 the Yorkshire Wings Region put on their Scarborough Light Parade, with fund raising for the Lifeboat Appeal.
Accompanied by Nigel and Jo, Jan and I set off from North Wales early Friday morning to call at Keighley, so that I could collect my new toy from Barry’s place. We then continued in nice weather across to Scarborough to Cayton Bay Caravan Park, the main stopping point for the Wingers who booked caravan accommodation for the event. This was a new venture for the organisers and I can applaud them as the venue was very good indeed.
Saturday dawned with nice clear skies and stayed that way for the day. We rode down to the front and parked up in the line along the road at the edge of the beach.
Scarborough Harbour
There was already a good number of Wings present and it was still quite early. It was obvious that the good weather was going to attract quite a few day visitors and sure enough, it did. By late lunch time the number of Wings parked up on the prom was quite a sight to see, as well as a major traffic hazard for the car and bus drivers passing along the road. While the solos were parked on the prom, the trikes were parked on the harbour-side as they were too big to park safely on the road.
We met many old friends there during the day and with the bike parked up Jan and I were able to go up into town for a walk with Joanna. It was nice to actually have a chance to walk for a change and to look around the town.
Getting ready to parade
Early evening we went and joined the Wings in the mustering area, where it was a treat to see all the bikes and trikes lined up.
The Parade itself was quite a sight with the first part on the North Prom which is a long curve to the left and gave us a good view of a lot of the bikes in the parade in front of us. The Parade swept back along the South Prom and used the roundabout at the south end to turn around. Again, this gave the opportunity to see all the Wings in the Parade.
The spectators were suitably impressed with the light show and it was nice to see that the Wings were able to fully display their lights and musical effects, to the delight of the onlookers.
On parade
Following the parade, we stayed down on the prom for a while before heading back into town and back to the camp.
This was when we saw a very sad sight indeed. A burnt out Wing at the side of the road. It was a very sobering sight indeed to see how much of the machine was burnt away. Subsequent enquiries indicated that there had been a wiring fault which stopped the fans from cutting in and the bike had overheated enough to catch fire.
We returned to the Caravan site and went up to the club where there was some entertainment taking place. It was an opportunity to catch up with some old friends again.
Sunday saw us with a spare day to look around the area so we decided to head up to Whitby. The day was quite cold and after a bit of a wet start, it dried out and we were able to see some of the tourist areas of this town, with a capable guide in the form of Steve Lapsley, of GoldWings East Yorkshire. We even managed to dig deep in my pocket to sample Whitby Cod. (It was very tasty indeed).
Overlooking Whitby Harbour
Monday dawned with a reasonable outlook and we were able to head back in decent weather. The trip across Yorkshire was quite reasonable despite heavy-ish traffic and we called in at Squires Cafe for a break before separating for the rest of the journey, giving Nigel and Jo the opportunity to visit relatives while in the area.
All in all, a great weekend with a good light parade and hopefully a decent collection for the Lifeboat Appeal in Scarborough. The organisation by Yorkshire Wings was first class and I hope to take part in this event again next year.
Dave T
To see photos of this event by Nigel and others – click here