We had a nice spot on the Prom
Due to some detective work by our webmaster, GoldWings North Wales were invited to give a static display of the Wings at the Rhyl Air Show. This is an up and coming event for Rhyl – being only the second year it has been held – and we were lucky to be given a nice spot near the centre of the activity but not actually in the main display arena.
The location allocated to our Wings was about 80 yards from the Lifeboat station on the Promenade itself. Due to the necessity of being on-site and parked up before 10am, this meant yet another early morning for Nigel, though not as bad as in some of our previous rides.
Kids loved the bikes
Accordingly just after 9am we left Nigel’s House on route to Rhyl in a nice convoy of 6 Wings, picking up another on route at Caerwys.
On arrival at Rhyl, we were able to set up quite quickly as the area set aside was just a nice size for all the Wings. We were on the Prestatyn side of the Lifeboat station and we were adjacent to the Military Vehicle display.
We were then joined by Alan and Joyce who had just missed us leaving Nigel’s house and had been following us all the way to Rhyl. Luckily he knew where to find us at Rhyl.
The main arena before it became busy
As the morning wore on, the crowds increased and we were able to start raising some charity money for the RNLI.
We were soon busy persuading the public to part with their money in order to sit on one of the Wings and have their photos taken by their friends and family. It was obvious that quite a few were very keen to have a sit on the bikes.
The commentator made frequent references to GoldWings North Wales over the PA System throughout the morning, and this certainly caused a few more to walk away from the main arena – which had been taken over completely by Air Cadets and RAF stalls – and come looking for us.
Red Arrows - No contest!
I visited the arena and, while there were a lot of people there, it would have been a bit too busy to keep an eye on the bikes with the public surrounding us in those numbers. I was even happier that we were out of the main arena area.
Besides, the Wings would have definitely paled into insignificance next to the Chinook Helicopter on display in the main arena area!
At 2pm prompt, the air show started with the magnificent display given by the Red Arrows. Their display was spectacular and I’m sure Nigel’s camera was on fire from the number of photo shots he took.
Breitling Wing Walkers
At the end of the display, the crowds thinned right down so quickly it was quite surprising. We were able to pack up and leave quite quickly and head off in our separate ways – unfortunately also into very slow queues of traffic.
All in all another good day out.
There were quite a lot of photos taken, mainly by Nigel but with a lot from others in attendance which can be seen in our Rhyl Air Show gallery.
Dave T
It was lovely to join our friends in Goldwings NorthWales at the Rhyl Air Show. As always the Goldwing bike owners let people sit on their bikes for a small donation to R L N I who appreciated and thanked us for helping them. It was a lovely day and we enjoyed it.
Sheila and Alun
Comment by Sheila and Alun Atkins — August 16, 2010 @ 7:48 pm