Ride of Respect

[Tesla]

The Royal British Legion Ride of Respect passing by my front door this morning, cracking stuff, thousands of bikes...

 

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2013 by Tesla

[Athy]

Looks impressive. I haven't heard of this before; is it an annual event?

[Tesla]

Not sure, more bikes going past even now, it is fantastic. Makes me want to start riding again!

[PaddingtonBear]

Much better than H4H

[davey b]

I was there! (black KTM 990 SMT with very bright running lights)

 

It has become annual and started with a ride to Royal Wooton Basset to commemorate and mark that community's part in the repatriations during the course or the Iraq and Afghan conflicts. As the location for the repatriations has moved from RAF Lynham to RAF Brize Norton, so too has the ride.

 

It has been organised this year by the Royal British Legion and has probably raised many tens of thousands of Pounds towards the causes they support including the remembrance of all our fallen.

 

It was quite thing of which to be part... possibly 5 to 10 thousand bikes travelling through Oxon from Dalton Barracks Abingdon (formerly RAF Abingdon) to RAF Brize Norton with people lining parts of the route with flags and banners, all ages and types of people - quite moving to see that level of support.

 

The ride passed the Britannia Gate (ceremonial type exit from the RAF station for the funeral cortege) and finished past the memorial on Norton Way having passed many village war memorials on the way. Quite few serving and ex servicemen and women were riding today. More info here:

 

http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/news/fundraising/riders-honour-the-fallen-on-the-ride-of-respect-2013

 

and here

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-22926580

[Barry]

I took part in 2011, the last year the ride went through Royal Wootton Bassett I think. My ticket number was somewhere in the seventeen thousands and there were a lot more people behind me

 

It was a very memorable and moving day

[Tesla]

I was there! (black KTM 990 SMT with very bright running lights)

 

It has become annual and started with a ride to Royal Wooton Basset to commemorate and mark that community's part in the repatriations during the course or the Iraq and Afghan conflicts. As the location for the repatriations has moved from RAF Lynham to RAF Brize Norton, so too has the ride.

 

It has been organised this year by the Royal British Legion and has probably raised many tens of thousands of Pounds towards the causes they support including the remembrance of all our fallen.

 

It was quite thing of which to be part... possibly 5 to 10 thousand bikes travelling through Oxon from Dalton Barracks Abingdon (formerly RAF Abingdon) to RAF Brize Norton with people lining parts of the route with flags and banners, all ages and types of people - quite moving to see that level of support.

 

The ride passed the Britannia Gate (ceremonial type exit from the RAF station for the funeral cortege) and finished past the memorial on Norton Way having passed many village war memorials on the way. Quite few serving and ex servicemen and women were riding today. More info here:

 

http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/news/fundraising/riders-honour-the-fallen-on-the-ride-of-respect-2013

 

and here

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-22926580

I did a charity ride in northampton some years back but it wasn't on the scale of todays ride. What a great event, a fitting tribute. Wish I had been part of it rather than a spectator...

[John C]

Did the first two at (Royal) Wotton Basset. There was a wonderful spontaneity about the first one, amongst bikers and spectators, sadly lacking in the second, the need for better organisation saw to that, so I did not do the third. If I had known about this one I might have attended, was it the first in that area?

 

John

[Barry]

Did the first two at (Royal) Wotton Basset. There was a wonderful spontaneity about the first one, amongst bikers and spectators, sadly lacking in the second, the need for better organisation saw to that, so I did not do the third. If I had known about this one I might have attended, was it the first in that area?

 

John

 

What year was the first one John?

 

In 2011 I was fortunate to be riding next to the kerb. In Wootton Bassett the pavements were lined with spectators, many crying, many just applauding. Spectators were holding their hands out touching fingers with the riders as they passed. It was a very emotional day and a wonderful thing to do, especially poignant for me because I had one of my brothers on the back of my bike and another brother riding next to me from whom I had been estranged for several years.

 

I'd love to do another one

Edited June 17, 2013 by Bazza2

[John C]

 

What year was the first one John?

 

In 2011 I was fortunate to be riding next to the kerb. In Wootton Bassett the pavements were lined with spectators, many crying, many just applauding. Spectators were holding their hands out touching fingers with the riders as they passed. It was a very emotional day and a wonderful thing to do, especially poignant for me because I had one of my brothers on the back of my bike and another brother riding next to me from I had been estranged for several years.

 

I'd love to do another one

The first one was in 2010.

[rubblequeen]

Much better than H4H

Why? and why do they have to be compared?

[davey b]

They don't need comparing; both do valuable work helping broad and differing sectors of that community.

 

This was the first ride round the Brize Norton route and follows the move of the repatriation flights and creation of a new memorial.

[luctor et emergo]

Why? and why do they have to be compared?

Don't feed the troll..

[blackrose]

Well I'm not trolling, but personally I didn't agree with either of those wars - one which was illegal and the other misguided - and so I don't take part and can't applaude these kinds of events.

 

Of course I feel sympathy for the families of the fallen, but in my opinion their sons, husbands and fathers (and mothers & daughters), shouldn't have been there in the first place.

 

Iraq is in a desparate mess 10 years since we invaded and destroyed their infrastructure, with bombings and sectarian killings so common that they're barely even mentioned on our news programmes anymore. How many hundreds of thousands have died there in the last decade? As for Afghanistan, the west is about to pull out, handing back power to the Afghan authorities and according to many observers, probably the Taliban too. So what was the point of all that? Futility! Wilfred Owen would be turning in his grave that 100 years later we're still doing the same thing.

 

What a terrible waste of life and waste of resources. Imagine how many schools and hospitals we could have built with those billions! There's never any money for those things but always plenty for war. And now they want to get involved in Syria. Will we never learn?

 

I know that most here will disagree with me, but I have a right to express my opinions even if they are taboo.

 

Some people are able to distinguish between support for our troops as individuals and support for the wars, but for me that's not the issue. There's a huge overlap between supporting the troops and supporting the terrible foreign policies that they try to implement. I know it's not necessarily the fault of the individuals on the ground, but by the same token I can't support those individuals in their actions. One cannot be divorced from the other. Public opinion is crucial is preventing these wars in future and for me all this flag-waving amounts to glorification of war. I refuse to support and I don't see why I should respect our troops when I disagree with what they're doing.

 

Anyway, what's a patriotic motorbike ride got to do with "General Boating"? Shouldn't it be in the VP?

Edited June 18, 2013 by blackrose

[rubblequeen]

Blackrose I also have grave misgivings and agree with you about these wars and our involvement but what ever you think these men and women are getting injured and killed on orders from the people we elect. No I also didn't vote for Cameron but did for Blair.

 

The reason I took part in the H4H ride was to help support those guys whose lives are shattered and will need all the help they can get, and I doubt if that will be forthcoming from the Government.

 

Let's hope that public opinion stop us getting embroiled in another mess in Syria.

 

As for it being here well the wider the discussion on these wars the better.