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CVMG National Executive Committee

Voting Members

  click to view bio
click to email
 President Jim Briggs president@cvmg.ca
 Vice President
 Chris Ness
 vicepresident@cvmg.ca
 Correspondence Secretary
 Lorne Reesor
 secretary@cvmg.ca
 Membership Secretary
 Dale Prisley membership@cvmg.ca
 Treasurer Deborah Hickey
 treasurer@cvmg.ca
 Newsletter Editor
 John Pepper newseditor@cvmg.ca
 Director Craig Cooksley director_o@cvmg.ca
 Director Robbie Wilson
 director_e@cvmg.ca
 Regalia Sales
 Holly Ralph regalia@cvmg.ca

Non-voting members

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click to email
 Past President Bill Hoar pastpresident@cvmg.ca
 National Rally Chair April Spears 
 Competition Chair Neville Miller 
 Chief Judge Peter Salter 
 Website Administrator Mark Melcher webadmin@CVMG.ca

Bios and pictures below:

At the 2016 Members' Meeting, the following changes to the Executive Committee were made:

- Robbie Wilson was acclaimed as Director to replace Wayne Spears

- Lorne Reesor was voted Correspondence Secretary, replacing Betty Anne Clark

- Deborah Hickey was acclaimed as Treasurer, replacing Holly Varey who stepped down

CVMG members can view the full set of Executive moves in the minutes on the Members' Meeting page (note,  you need to be signed in to this website to view)


President - Jim Briggs, NORAL Section


 

Growing up, no one I knew had motorcycles, or ever expressed an interest in them. It wasn’t until I was about 12-years of age that I got my first ride. It was on the back of a step-through Honda belonging to a friend’s older brother. From that day on, motorcycles were my focus. But why did I have such a strong reaction from a Honda 50?

Back in the spring of ’44 my dad was in the Army. Unknown to me until my teen years, he’d been issued a motorcycle. But a slip on some sand led to a tumble as his Indian went down, leaving him with a broken shoulder. Sent home to convalesce, he was in my grandfather’s store one morning when a gentleman came in & spotted the injured soldier. He insisted the recuperating officer come to his home for dinner, neglecting to mention his two daughters. That September my parents were married & one result of this union was me.

Without that Indian, my mother & father may not have met. So clearly, my debt to motorcycles & my subsequent appreciation for them was firmly established before I ever came into this world… & I’ve never met one I didn’t like!

 

Vice President - Chris Ness, Barrie-Huronia

Growing up on a large dairy farm, there wasn’t much time for anything else but milking cows, driving tractors and shovelling manure. That all changed following the summer of ’69 when Chris went away to University and promptly found a used 100cc Yamaha Twin-Jet. Freedom was at hand.

Since then a variety of two-wheelers have come and gone (some have stayed…) and at this point he cannot imagine life without motorcycles. Yes, riding is a big part of the passion, but he’s sure you’ll agree, it runs much deeper than that.

The first “restoration project” found him in 1980. A few years later he discovered the CVMG and the membership privileges it offers. What a fabulous fraternity of which to be a part. As a volunteer he has learned that the more you put in, the more you get out. That in itself is a wonderful thing.

The road ahead will offer peaks and valleys, twists and turns, smooth and bumpy surfaces. He looks forward to continued work with those members already in his life and those yet to be discovered along that road.

Correspondence Secretary - Lorne Reesor, BC Section


I was born on a farm on the outskirts of Toronto, the closest town being ( at that time) a little place called Markham. My first venture into things with wheels was a trailer I built for my single speed bicycle.  I got tired of pushing that single speed up the hills in the area and bought a Briggs & Stratton and mounted it on the rear of an old moped frame. The overweight on the back wheel caused a spoke collapse one night and I carried it home. Suffice to say this was not a long term ownership giving way after a year or so to a WW2 Harley 45.

Several Harley and Indians passed through my hands over the years when we lived in Alberta, but the garage now houses only a 1947 Indian Roadmaster that I have owned since 1967 and my daily ride of a 2009 Harley Triglide.  Almost forgot a 1961 Austin 850 Countryman woody wagon taking up space

Boating consumed a lot of our time when we moved from Edmonton to Burnaby. The boat was retired a few years ago but I am still a member of the Burnaby Power & Sail Squadron executive, and a member of the Vancouver Mini Club.

We have two daughters, the youngest having two sons. All are riders and we often have three generations on local rides. Motorcycles have been a part of our family for a long time.

Membership Secretary - Dale Prisley, Essex Kent


I was born, raised and have spent my life in the Essex County area of Ontario. I like to say Essex county is the "antithesis of the Tail of the Dragon as we have 322 miles with 11 turns. I started motorcycling in the 70's with an S2 Kawi and then moved to a GT550, GS750, KZ 750 and then got married. Jan and I were bikeless for a period of time when the only riding I did was demo days anywhere and everywhere. At the turn of the century we decided it was time to get a bike again and the BMW R1150RT was what we chose. This morphed to the K1200GT. During these days I also took up road racing with the VRRA. I raced an H1 and a GPZ 550 for 2 years. Following this time I entered a dark phase when I rode a Harley Road King. After the Road King I went vintage and rejoined the CVMG in 2011. I am currently the president of the Essex/Kent section and a member of the Paris Rally committee. I enjoy the motorcycling community and I am always impressed with the extensive knowledge within our group. I am looking forward to serving you as the membership secretary.

Treasurer - Deborah Hickey
 
 coming soon!!
coming soon!!

Newsletter Editor - John Pepper, Old Fort York Section


 John was born in Ireland and learned the fine art of off-roading on a stripped-down Norman-Villiers given to him by his father at age 12. By the time John was fifteen (pre-licence) he was getting up before dawn to ride his first road bike (a 1966 Honda Benly 154) before the local police sergeant would be likely to be awake! John now lives in Toronto and rides a 1956 Norton ES2 and a 2005 Ducati ST3. John's last big ride was to Utah and Arizona with his wife Angela. Before that he rode from Toronto to Newfoundland on his Norton. Check out John's website at http://john-pepper.spaces.live.com. Prior to taking on the editorship John has contributed a number of travel and other motorcycling articles to the CVMG News. 

 Director - Craig 'Bentley' Cooksley, Central Alberta Section


I was a late starter being 23 when I got my first motorcycle [parents thought they were death machines] '46 Knuckle.  Like me it changed through the years.  Me being a long hair hippy biker;  it being a chopper with 18in. over springer  & molded in peanut tank.  As I went though a few years of married life it lived in storage.  Then, as I re-entered  the single life and more of a weekend independent rider, the Knuckle became a bobber with bobbed rear fender & stock chrome springer with 21in. front wheel   In 1986 I started Bentley's in Red Deer - a paint & body shop.  The Knuckle changed to a stock looking '46 with candy purple paint & stock bags.  In the 1990's Bentley's downsized and moved to the farm doing mainly restorations & street rods and bikes.  In '92 we did the Alaska Highway proving too much for the Knuckle.  It then got merched.  And, like the bike, in 1999 I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C and Bentley's changed to "only motorcycles".  Last year they cured the Hep C.  The Knuckle is now in the living room  de-merched to were I can start it.  Along the way I've added about 100 motosicles to my barn & I'm hoping to expand the museum this winter.

Director - Robbie Wilson


coming soon!!

coming soon!!

Regalia Sales - Holly Ralph, Olde Norfolk Section

My first bike was a Norton Atlas, bought directly from Harry Firth--not that I'm old!  There have been many bikes since, including several Bridgestones and a BMW with an R69S frame and 75/5 engine. 

My sons had the good grace to settle in Vancouver and Denver, thus giving me an excuse to ride to see the grandchildren each summer.  The past few years, I have also been honoured to represent Canada at the FIM rallies in Europe.

Paris National Rally Chair - April Spears, Kitchener Section

When I was fourteen I read an article in Teen Magazine – everything you needed to know about getting into a sports car gracefully while wearing a miniskirt”.  I practiced this “skill” until I was confident that when I met my boyfriend I would have no issues with the skirt /sports car.  Unfortunately, there were two things I never considered:

  • My mother was not going to let me wear a miniskirt, and
  • My future husband rode up on a Yamaha 650 Maxim.

Here we are years later and since then I've traded the miniskirt for chaps.  Still no sports car but I do own a 1985 Yamaha Virago and sometimes it’s not that graceful.

I have been a committee member for many years and have been fortunate enough to work with many great people.  As the Paris Rally Chairperson, I look forward to another wonderful year and am especially looking forward to meeting friends - both old and new!

Competition Chair - Neville Miller, Ottawa


From the age of 11, after my first ride on the pillion of my brother’s ex-army G3L Matchless, I’ve been hooked on motorcycles.  I began riding legally as soon as I turned 16 on a BSA Bantam.  After I passed my driving test, I bought a Velocette MAC, on which I rode about 100,000 miles in various guises during the 1970s in England.  My competition career started with a season of sidecar racing in 1975 on an uncompetitive Triumph outfit.  I was the one ‘in the chair’.  In 1978 I took up vintage racing with the VMCC and had a lot of fun over the next five years at the various circuits around England on a 1938 Velocette MSS.  Soon after arriving in Canada in October 1982, I discovered the fledgling CVMG and started attending the monthly meetings of the Ottawa section.  I am also an active member of the sister organization, the VRRA (Vintage Road Racing Association).  I’ve even had a go at trials riding at some of the Eastern Ontario events.  In recent years I have bought three ‘cammy’ Velos, the earliest of which I have rebuilt as a replica of the bike Alec Bennett rode to win the 1928 Junior TT in the Isle of Man.

 

Chief Judge - Peter Salter, Grand River

My introduction to motorcycles was in 1946 when having just turned five years of age, I was one of the neighborhood kids who were given rides every nice summer afternoon, generally sitting on the gas tank, of a Harley 45 side valve my father had borrowed from his oldest nephew and which served as Dad’s transport from home to work and back.  My first rides as a pillion passenger and as an actual operator came in 1957 courtesy of a high school friend and long time CVMG member, Derek Browne and the Triumph 500 twin he owned at the time.  On June 1st of that year, five days before my 16th birthday, I became the owner of my first bike, a rather pathetic Harley 165, but, as five of my high school motorcycle riding friends owned Vincents, I graduated from the Harley to a Series C Rapide two years later.  Marriage in 1965 resulted in, amongst other things, a 24 year hiatus in motorcycle ownership but I never lost the urge, and in 1989 I noticed a small ad for something called the Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group Annual Rally being held in Welland.  I attended and came away, courtesy of CVMG member John Alton, with a “Poor Man’s Rocket Gold Star”, a bitsa BSA Super Rocket done up to resemble a Rocket Gold Star.  I immediately joined the CVMG and when I retired several years later took on the position of Newsletter Editor.  This led to other Executive positions culminating in three years as President, 2007-2009.  After a few years away from the Executive, I decided to stick my toe back in the water again at the AGM held in 2015 volunteering to serve as the Chief Judge.  Unlike many CVMG members, I tend to hang onto bikes and prefer what I think of as quality over quantity (makes them easier to maintain) and, as a result, my current stable consists of a 1961 BSA Gold Star purchased in 1994, a 1977 BMW R75/7 purchased in 2007, and an early Vincent Series C Rapide (Don’t we all want the bike we had as a kid?) purchased in 2009.   The enjoyment I have gotten from the CVMG over almost 30 years has meant far more to me than any contribution I have been able to make to the Group.

Website Administrator - Mark Melcher, Great Pine Ridge

It all started in 1973 - one day I decided I wanted a motorcycle, so my neighbour taught me to ride on an H1 Kawasaki.  I was pretty sure motorcycles weren't supposed to be that scary.  Just to make sure I've owned a number of them - Kawasaki, BMW, Norton, Suzuki and Yamaha.

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