Dates For Your Diary
Next meeting is on 8 September.
A talk by our own Tony Chalkly to 7.30pm for a 7.45pm start.
SkillShare & Social
6 September 2025 meeting at the Dandy Highwayman Cafe Cherhill. 9.30 am for 10 am start. See main section for more details.
Bike Ride-Outs on the 3rd Saturday of every even numbered month and the 3rd Sunday of every odd numbered Month. Email will be sent out to Bikers and added to the Forum.
Next ride out Sunday 21 September Details will be forthcoming via email to all bike members.
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Do you have a topic you would like discussed, or know of an interesting speaker? Please contact speaker at speakers@wiltshireroadar.co.uk |
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Congratulations
Congratulations to the following members who have passed their Advanced Tests recently:
David Blackledge - Advanced Tutor Bike retest - Pass
Josh Pollard - Bike - Gold -Tutor Winston Castle
Jerry Lowe - Car - Gold - Tutor Paul Warner
Please let your tutor know if you have passed recently.
Please welcome the following to the Group:
Francis Ogley – Car
Matthew Kent - Bike
Gary De-Rozario – Bike
Greg Evans – Bike
Don Wilson - Bike
Andrew Toas - Bike
Alun Grimes - Bike
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Don’t forget that we have a range of clothing available to purchase. We also offer a range of books, such as Roadcraft, Motorcycle Roadcraft and the Highway Code, and these are available at discounted prices.
For more information visit the Merchandise page of our web site |
We are always looking for more articles, ideas and news for the newsletter. Have you been somewhere interesting recently that would make a good story? If you attend any group events then take a camera and send us your pictures!
Please forward all contributions to newsletter@wiltshireroadar.co.uk |
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Against all contemporary advice I will start with an apology (well 2 actually!). In the last newsletter there was a write up about our stand at the Atwell Motor Museum. I forgot to mention Tony Holmes (whose name appears later in this newsletter) also attended and helped to promote the Group; thank you Tony. Secondly apologies for those of you who turned up on Monday 11 Aug for our Group Meeting; we generally do not hold a meeting in August but we will make sure this is more prominent in the newsletter next year; you will have to read it! For the avoidance of doubt there is a meeting on 9 September where our very own Tony Chalkley will be giving am informative and entertaining talk.
Those who know me will have heard me talk about the lack of development provided by RoADAR once you have achieved the Gold standard at test. The 3 yearly retest is an assurance mechanism to make sure we have maintained our standards and most of us will have a check drive or ride with a tutor prior to our retest. This irons out any bad habits we have developed and hones our skills back to the required standard. When did those skills drift away and when did the bad habits appear?
I was able to have some time with one of our examiners to address some weak areas of my riding (braking and using communications for tutoring). My skills improved, as did my confidence and coffee drinking prowess! On top of this I received a few pointers on improving my riding. What’s more it was great fun and a chance to talk about advanced driving and riding whilst improving my skill level. Please do think about how you maintain your skills and I am sure our tutors will be happy to provide a tune up if you want one.
Stay safe
Bob Fram
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Recruiting Activity
Carfest South
Over the bank holiday weekend, Wiltshire RoADAR attended CarFest South, one of the UK’s most popular family motoring festivals. The event brought together thousands of visitors, showcasing an exciting mix of cars, live music, celebrity appearances, food stalls, and activities for all ages. It provided a lively backdrop for us to promote advanced driving and riding, and to raise awareness of the benefits of the RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders programme.
We shared a stand with our colleagues from Thames Valley RoADAR and Hampshire RoADAR, which gave us the opportunity to work together and present a united message about road safety and advanced training. There was great camaraderie between the groups, and it was encouraging to see our members supporting each other across county lines.
Representing Wiltshire on the stand were Nick Carrington, Tony Holmes, Phill Colbourne, and myself, Steve Allsworth. I would like to extend my thanks to Nick, Tony, and Phill for generously giving their time and energy to engage with visitors and answer questions. Events like this rely on the commitment of volunteers, and their contribution was greatly appreciated.
That said, despite our efforts and enthusiasm, we unfortunately had no new sign-ups from the event. The other groups didn’t fare much better either. It was disappointing given the size and energy of the crowd, and it raises questions over whether CarFest South is the right type of platform for us. With this in mind, it may not be worthwhile for Wiltshire RoADAR to commit resources to this event again in future years.
Nevertheless, our presence ensured that RoADAR was represented at a major motoring festival, and it was valuable to work alongside Thames Valley and Hampshire to showcase what we do. The collaboration between the three groups was positive, and it was good to fly the flag for RoADAR at such a high-profile event.
Gemma from Thames Valley also raised the idea of collaborating on some smaller, more targeted events in the future. These may prove to be a better fit for us and could provide greater opportunities to connect with people who are genuinely interested in advanced driving and riding.
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Taking both Car and Bike tests?
We have a handful of people who have passed both their car and bike tests. If you wish to do the same it can be confusing as we include the training in your memebrship of Wiltshire RoADAR but your membership of RoSPA only covers one free retest. My thanks to Ryan Jones who calrified the situation with RoSPA.
If you are a bike member,
you can just pay for an interim car test @ £55. My main membership would
be bike (first one to pass) so "free" retest would be bike. Car retest
would be same interim @ £55.
One hopes (by extrapolation) it is the same if your intial membership is for a car - please let us know if you find any difference. (Although we know the Bike test is more expensive than the car test.)
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UK Drivers divided over new car technology
A new survey conducted by Tempcover surveyed 2,000 UK drivers and found a growing divide in how UK motorists view in-car technology. Many like comfort-focused features but find, often complex, systems more irritating than helpful. While 53% of drivers say that in-car technology has made driving more enjoyable, an almost equal number —60% — admit to feeling overwhelmed or confused by the sheer number of features built into modern vehicles.
Despite this, drivers continue to value convenience, with air conditioning (42%), parking sensors (29%), and reverse or 360- degree cameras (24%) cited as must-haves when buying a new car.
In contrast, features perceived as more complex or automated are increasingly unpopular.
Lane assist leads the list of most annoying features at 22%, followed by voice recognition (17%) and app-based subscription services offering remote access to vehicles (also 17%). Many users describe these tools as more distracting than helpful, raising concerns about driver engagement and safety. However, even with some annoying features, trust in car tech remains generally high. 67% say they trust automatic safety systems like emergency braking or lane assist, and 40% say they would be comfortable with fully self-driving cars becoming part of everyday life in the future.
However, whilst many welcome digital dashboards and integrated navigation, 33% of respondents said they miss full-size spare wheels and 33% long for physical buttons and knobs over touchscreens.
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What might appear in the next road safety strategy?
The next road safety strategy could come this autumn. Jungle drums indicate the government is looking to include the following within its programme:
- Lowering Drink-Drive Limit in England and Wales from 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath to 22 micrograms — in line with Scotland. The government says alcohol- related deaths have risen in the past four years. However, despite bringing the law in line with most other European countries, when the reduction in the drink-driving limit was introduced in Scotland, the results in road safety terms proved underwhelming.
- Requirement for motorists aged over 70 to take a compulsory eye test every threeyears when renewing their licence. Regular eye tests for all drivers have long been called for, though it looks to be only focused on over- 70-year-olds.
- The instruction of penalty points for passengers not wearing seatbelts in addition to the current fine.
- Allowing roadside saliva tests as sufficient evidence in drug-driving cases, replacing time-consuming blood tests.
- Tougher penalties for uninsured drivers.
- More precise regulation on illegal number plates.
Don’t Hold your breath though as a strategy is just an indication of intent. |
Keeping DVLA Updated
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has issued reminder about updating your address details without delay if you've moved house. Failing to do so could lead to major issues with your driving licence and vehicle registration.
You can still drive while you wait for your new documents to be sent to you.
Once you have moved, you should follow these steps and update them as soon as you can. This meansyou must update your:
• Driving licence
• Vehicle log book (V5C)
• Direct Debit
• Personalised number plate documents
• Trailer register certificate
You do not need to change anything if your address is only temporary such as being at university
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SkillShare and Saturday Social
Skillshare returns on 6 September so we will be offering taster sessions to potential members. This does not remove the Saturday Social but merely adds to it. Bring a friend and join us on the first Saturday of the month at the Wiltshire RoADAR Saturday Social. From 09:30 at The Dandy Highwayman; Main Rd, Cherhill, Calne SN11 8UU.
Come and meet your fellow members; exchange notes with other associates; meet some of our tutors and pick their brains.
We usually stay chatting eating cake and drinking tea until 11 ish.
The first Saturday of the month - 09:30 - The Dandy highwayman - Café - on the A4 - Main Rd, Cherhill, Calne SN11 8UU.
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Have you been up to anything to do with Riding or Driving lately? If so, then please let us know as we would love to include it here; photos would be great too!
July Ride out (Late breaking news!)
I saw Dom’s Bike stop Rideout on The Newsletter and it really caught my eye as it was a long ride with ride leader David Blackledge for IAM and RoADAR full members only i.e. for those who had passed their respective advanced tests. this was just what I needed as I had not been on my bike much for over five weeks as I had been off with my caravan round England and Wales.
David is a National Observer for IAM, and supports the on road training of Observers for WaBAM . He is an Advanced Tutor for both the Wiltshire and Gloucester RoADAR groups as well as being the tutor trainer for Wiltshire RoADAR. So if you wanted a good ride done by the book this was going to
be the one. Another good reason to take your test! The run was by RoADAR with an invitation to WaBAM. This is because RoSPA allows local groups to invite other similar groups but IAM does not.
The ride started at Greggs Par Drive Chippenham on Sunday 20th July. So David did it do it by the book, we all had to sign in with our bike details, phone numbers etc. etc. The tail end Charley was selected, and the drop off system gone over. Overtaking other vehicles was mentioned and that for this ride we can overtake each other as well if we wanted to. I found this was very good to reset my concentration when a curvy rider did a very professional overtake of me. This was the one with a sticker saying I am a lady biker do try and keep up.
That complete we all set off in very good order. It was very enjoyable to be with experienced ridersall keeping a good distance between each other and noting David’s very well placed markers and that when we came up to a difficult set of junctions he stopped, got us all gathered together so we all set off in a good tight group. We crossed the Severn, great views on the bridge, which was a bit windy and wet otherwise no issues getting to the first stop off except that the turn down to the
diner is on a very sharp hairpin and dropping away. A good time to practise looking where you want to go and not fixating on the issue as well as brake gear overlap (p43 Motorcycle Roadcraft 2020 edition if you are interested).
Then off we set duly refreshed for the long haul to Dom’s Bikestop Some stunning scenery and accompanying twisties which was a good test and great to build up an appetite for Dom’s.
Dom’s was most enjoyable and a tip, if you have a tent or caravan it is a good stop off as well with a bar. Mark Sealey joined us here having come down from Scotland on one of his camping trips. So his bike was easy to spot, a comfy sheepskin, well setup and of course well laden.
The decision here was taken by most to divest ourselves of wet weather gear. It being better to be a bit wet from rain rather than to boil in a bag.
Lunch over, the return was via Gloucester which was interesting as there were some tricky changes of direction caused by cones everywhere. No time to gather wool, keep your eye out for markers. Then more open roads to the final stop. The Jolly Nice Farm shop. Stunning homemade ice cream and time for me to peel off and head home via Cirencester.
Thank you David for a very well researched ride and an object lesson in how to do it.
Winston Castle
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Promotional activities
SkillShare - at Dandy Highwayman, Cherhill, Calne on 6 September - in addition to the Saturday Social.
Wiltshire Police BikeSafe
Successfully supported by Wiltshire RoADAR motorcycle tutors and WABAM Observers. Dates for 2025 are as follows:
28 September
5 October
If you have any ideas for events, then please get in touch with the committee using the committee email address :
Look forward to hearing and discussing your ideas.
Presentation material
A generic set of slides has been created for use if you are asked about Wiltshire RoADAR and have the opportunity to present. This could be at a local club, workplace etc. Please send a mail to committee@wiltshireroadar.co.uk and the slides will be sent over to you.
We also have flyers and business cards so ask for these via the same means.
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Booking a Retest
Please be aware you need to book your 3 yearly retest directly with RoSPA via their website. Sadly we cannot book it for you as it is all done electronically. You may also need to check when your re-test is due if you have not been paying your subscriptions to RoADAR as they will not remind you.
Tutors will be happy to conduct a refresh should you wish one prior to a re test.
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Membership and GDPR
Due to GDPR we are required to remove an individual's details from our Group database when they are no longer required by us. We remove a lapsed member's details if they have not paid a subscription by the 31 Dec following the AGM (3 months after the subscriptions are due). If a member has forgotten to pay their subs and pays after 31 Dec we will require a joining form to be completed so we can replace them on the database.
It all seems a bit strange, but we do not want to get on the wrong side of the Government's Information Commissioner. We understand if members forget or are late with their subscriptions, but please help us to keep our database accurate and compliant.
This is, of course, separate to those of you who maintain a membership with RoADAR HQ.
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Media coordinator - Help us to broaden our reach
To help promote the group we have a variety of online media platforms, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. To help make the most out of the opportunities that these outlets provide, we could use some help from someone who has experience of using such tools. Drop me a line at secretary@wiltshireroadar.co.uk if you would be interested in helping promote our group.
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Committee minutes
These are available from the Group Secretary if any member wishes to see them. If you are interested in reading the minutes, then please send a mail to the Group Secretary whom will promptly forward them onto you.
Test results
Reminder to let the Membership Secretary and your tutor know when you have taken your Advanced Driving/Riding Test and result. This is so our database is kept up to date; there is no need or pressure at all to have the result published on the website or in this newsletter if you wish to keep your result confidential.
If you have read this far, thanks! If you have any feedback or suggestions about content for your newsletter, then drop us a line at newsletter@wiltshireroadar.co.uk If you can't leave constructive feedback though, then we don't want to hear from you!
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