Patrons:	Hon.Treasurer	Hon. Secretary
THE EARL OF MARCH	JOHN KIDSON	FRANCES THORP
MICHAEL SUTTON	Thrupp Farmhouse	Mountain View
MURRAY WALKER O.B.E.	Thrupp Lane	Glen Maye
	Stroud GL5 2DF	Isle of Man IM5 3BJ
President;	Tel/Fax 01453 762255	Tel/Fax 01624 843695
TONY RUTTER		E.mail francesthorp@manx.net

Hello Members and Friends

It is hard to believe that we have been through the T.T.fortnight and the Manx Grand Prix fortnight and now heading for our Annual Luncheon which seems to be gaining rapid interest. I would like to say that the Committee did realise that  the Centennial Centre was not quite so easy for some to get to but it was either that or no luncheon as it was at such short notice and for a large number of people. They did the job well and we will always be grateful to them for that.  
Please will you note that this year we are returning to the National Motorcycle Museum.B’ham and the date is October 26th 2005. The change of date has been necessary to coincide with the Motorcycle Show at the NEC for our members who are still involved with the Trade.

You will find your application form in this Bulletin and please will you make sure that if you are booking for a number of friends that the Table is in one name but we must have the names of all the people who are going to sit at your table. As usual a table can only be reserved if you paid in full for the whole table.  This will enable an accurate table plan to be drawn up in order to reduce the seating problems which have always been created at the luncheon. THERE WILL BE A TABLE PLAN IN THE BAR AREA. Also remember you will be able to order your wine in the Bar area prior to lunch for placing on the table.

Please order your tickets and pay for them at least a fortnight before the lunch it is difficult to have a situation where we have to collect money on the day.   Frances, John and your Committee have many things to do on the day and your consideration to help us all to have a smooth day would be appreciated. A final reminder that your President  requests the Association Tie to be worn at the luncheon.  You are the heroes and only you can be a member of this very prestigious Association. There are many many people out there wish they could have done the business as you have done

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2005

This years meeting was a slightly different format and was a very enjoyable meeting. It was held in the V.I.P suite at the rear of the Grandstand and super sit down Buffet was enjoyed with a glass of wine to round the meeting off. We invited the   “Friends of the TTRA“ to join us for the evening and they held their A.G.M prior to   ours.   We are very pleased to announce that your new President was elected for 2005-2006 and is Mick Grant.  Your Committee Malcolm Wheeler, Joe Wood and Andy Jessopp were re-elcted en bloc together with the Secretary and Treasurer for a further year.  We did not have an option regarding the day of the AGM due to the heavy commitments that most members had with the Lap of Honour being held on the Friday which  was the Senior Race day and the evening events that we all attended.  The LOH was very well organised and a noticeably happy athmosphere. There was an added extra in that the Vintage Motor Cycle Club were celebrating their Golden Jubilee Birthday T.T.Rally which brought an extra variety of bikes to the Isle of Man for us to enjoy.  If any member requires a copy of the AGM minutes please apply to me.  

GOOD WISHES

Since the last bulletin I have received many messages from members of the Golden Era of racing who have asked me to pass their good wishes on to the Association and Friends and I am delighted to do just that.
John Thornton – South Africa – Keeping well
F.G.Garrington – Norwalk. USA  OK.  The eyes not too clever but enjoys keeping up with the news of the TTRA.
Ernie Lyons – Dublin. Very well.  Your writing is still good Ernie.
Reg Everett – Always cheerful when we have a chat, keep it that way Reg and special wishes to you and hoping you are feeling better.
Ray Flack – Moderately fit and still running his motorcycle workshop in Zimbabwe.
Helmutt Lunnermann – Doing well after his bad crash but unfortunately has recently had a fall  which has knocked him back a bit. He sends his best wishes and is hoping to visit the Island again.
Gerhard  Heukerott- Salzburg. Keeping very well.
Rod Coleman  – Keeping well and happy.
Mike Dixon – Returned to the Isle of Man after 12 years.
Jim Scaysbrick – Australia – keeps in touch by e.mail and is very well and active.
Graeme Crosby – Just had his 50th birthday and is getting married 2006.
One lady I bumped into in July after many years was Beryl Launchbury.  I am sure a lot of you will remember her support in her late husbands racing career.  She looked very well and sends he good wishes.  She is living in Bournemouth.
I would respectfully ask that you accept the spelling of members names if there is a slight error. I am sure you all know who they are and over the years members lists can gather mistakes.

For those of you who are not well we send you our good wishes and kind thoughts.

Members please please don’t forget to contact myself or any Committee member, we need to hear from you if you do know of any members who are not well and may need some help in anyway. Unless we are told we cannot investigate.  This is always done with the utmost diplomacy and that is what the T.T.Riders Association is about.

WHERE ARE YOU NOW ? STILL LOOKING FOR YOU.

U.K.
Barrie Dickinson – Cornwall. Doug Lunn – Wellingborough Northants.
Mac McDiarmid – Chapel-en-le-Frith. R.Philpott – Drayton. Norfolk.
John Bacon – Woking. Surrey. Derek Woodman – Blackpool.
G.Daniel – Erdington.B’ham. Tim Leece-Chester. T.Rowley – Essex.
Colin Bairnson – Ipswich. George Fogarty-Blackburn.
John McGuinness - Morecambe.
Norman Black – Longdale Rd.West Sussex.

WALES
David Saunders – Swansea

SCOTLAND
Jim Moodie – Millerston. Glasgow.  Ian Duffus –Glenrothes.Fife.

GERMANY
Hans-Georg Anscheidt.Jon Ekerold. Wolf Gerstanmaier.

DENMARK and AUSTRIA
Gosta Jensen. Michael Stirner.

USA
Eddie Roberts – Exton.USA

Special mention for a Mr Ian Richard.   We need to know where you are as we have an important message to pass on to you.

NEW MEMBERS –T.T.RIDERS ASSOC.for RIDERS ONLY PAST or PRESENT.
We are very happy to welcome new members to this prestigious Association and hope that you enjoy meeting up with the many varied, interesting and talented members.
Ian Switzer – Dublin.   Graham Hunter – New Zealand.  Kenneth McCrea – N.Ireland. Brian Kaye –Isle of Man.

NEW MEMBERS OF THE “ FRIENDS OF THE TTRA”.
We would like to take this opportunity of welcoming you to the “Friends” and we appreciate your added support to enable us to be generous in times of need to unfortunate riders and families who have sadly been affected by the exciting sporting entertainment that so many have provided.  We hope that you will enjoy being involved in this Association.
At this point I would like to add that it was so nice to meet up with some of the FOTTRA members in the “38th milestone” in TT and MGP week and that they did feel part of what was going on and why they joined FOTTRA.   TT 2005 brought many members from all over the world and some members who had not been back for some 40 years. It was a great pleasure to put a face to a name and more so that they had visited the “38th milestone” where the reputation for a cuppa and snack must have travelled.   A good job I increased the quantity of food stock. Of course the delight for the members was that so many stories are related and memories which do get a little forgotten with time and most of them recognised faces which made them feel very welcome.

SPECIAL MENTIONS

A special thank you to our Senior Patron Mr Michael Sutton who is continuously generous with the sponsorship for the postage of these Bulletins.
A further big thank you to the continued support of “The Friends of the TTRA” in particular to Tony East – Chairman and David Plant –Secretary.
Again  to all the members of the TT Riders Association who have been generous with their donations in the past months.

OBITUARIES

Barry Hodgkinson – approx 4 years ago.
Peter Tomlinson – March 2005
Chris Williams – June 2005 aged 67yrs
Alan Lyons – June 2005 aged 94yrs.winner of 250cc race at the North West 200 and   elder brother of Isle of Man Senior MGP winner Ernie Lyons.
Dr Swanson – 2004 . In his 90’s and a great character

Although the following Riders who were involved in tragic accidents in the 2005 Manx Grand Prix Races were not TTRA members I would like to make a mention as many of them will be known to you.
Geoff Sawyer.  John Loder.  Tim Johnson.  Eddie Byers.  John Bourke.  Don Leeson.

Friends and great enthusiasts for the Sport.

Isabel Costain who will always be remembered fondly for her constant concern for everybody else, her great humour, hospitality and continued work at the
Southern 100 – Billown Race circuit where she will be sadly missed.

Our sympathy goes to all the families concerned.

Thank you so much to Mrs S.Williams widow of Chris for selecting the   TT Riders Association to benefit from donations instead of flowers for his funeral as it was family flowers only.

MEMORIAL WALL –DOUGLAS CREMATORIUM IN THE RIGHT HAND CORNER BEHIND THE START AND FINISH LINE.

Perhaps this is the appropriate area of this newsletter to bring you all up to date with the Memorial Wall that has now been completed. I felt privileged to receive an invitation to represent the TTRA on your behalf at this very moving occasion.
The wall was dedicated by the Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man on Saturday 23rd July 2005.  The dedication was attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Douglas, family,friends and representatives of the sponsors who had donated towards the building costs of which we and “the friends” did.   The purpose of this wall is for families of competitors who have lost their lives in the TT or MGP who if they would like can order a bronze plaque in memory of their loved ones.  These plaques are all one size and cost £91 each.   There is assistance with funding if required but if anyone wants to purchase the plaque or make a donation it would be very much appreciated. THANK YOU to all the team concerned who worked hard to achieve this For any further information please contact Wyn Evans.3 Mount View Terrace, Onchan. Isle of Man. Tel;01624 621296 after 4pm.

REGALIA

Just a gentle reminder to members that we have Association Ties, Lapel Badges,
Windscreen stickers inners and outers for sale at the luncheon. Orders can be posted direct to you from the Isle of Man but if you are attending the luncheon buy then.

This year we have obtained a new book to sell.  
Excellent photographs by  Ken  Sprayson. Priced £7.99 + pp.These were a sell out TT week but I have managed to get a few more.  Ideal  Christmas present.
Also still available the selection of books that were listed in Bulletin 53.

THE ANNUAL LUNCHEON- NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM.B’ham. WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 26TH 2005.

This is the highlight of the year and a day that you all look forward to and meet up with your special friends in sport. Charlie Williams has kindly agreed to act as our M/C again to keep you unruly lot in hand. 
Thanks Charlie.

Again this year we have been donated some very unusual and interesting Auction items and we are very grateful for these.   As you are aware or if you are not aware, this day is our once a year FUND RAISING EVENT which is a great assistance when calls are made upon us to help injured riders and families who are greatly affected by these accidents on race circuits and the Isle of Man. We know that you all like to chat but we are asking if you would please remember to spare some time for the Auction and show respect to persons who are there bidding and being very generous offering high amounts of money because it is their way of donating to the Association.

If you are bringing guests to this event, would you try and interest them in becoming a Friend of the TT Riders Association which would allow them to come to the event in their own capacity and not have to rely on being invited by a rider or ex-rider. This is a genuine way of supporting the sport.

Some of the items to think about.  Murray Walker has donated a very unusual picture of his father Graham which  is autographed.   Dinner plates, John Surtees special event. We did auction some last year and have been fortunate to have some more donated.
Tony Jeffries and Pauline have donated a very special Wrist Watch.
The DJ Memorial Citizen Eco-Drive Watch  which has been a great success and have raised as much as £500 each for charity.
There have only been 105 watches from Citizen and Tony thought it would be a nice idea to have one engraved with TTRA instead of a number and to donate it to the auction splitting the proceeds in two for both charities, so it will be unique.
I have photographs if anyone is seriously interested. The watch comes nicely boxed with warranty etc.,
Also Tony has donated a few prints of DJ at Braddan Bridge painted by Alan Jones.
These are framed and are 2’2” x 1’8”.

If there are any members who have anything unusual to donate please let me know in advance and bring to the Luncheon.   Remember why we raise money…..

THE GUEST OF HONOUR.

John Kidson writes as follows,

Tom Thorp has kindly accepted the Committee invitation to be our Guest of Honour at this years Lunch.
Apart from his great riding abilities both in the Island and elsewhere you may or may not know that Tom works very hard for us carrying out all the maintenance on and generally keeping the 38th up to scratch from year to year.  He has had a big job recently as the vertical steel support legs had rusted through and he has made and fixed four new support legs which will stop the 38th listing and spilling the cups of tea!

This year has seen major jobs as in the spring a new 14ft sign was made and he erected that after he had renovated the metal framework to hold the sign. Every year sees a new coat of paint, and without doubt there are many jobs that are done to keep it to a high standard that we are never told about. The 38th is well known for being the best resting area in the Grandstand area. 

Frances Thorp. (Secretary)