About Us

We are a small group of individual bikers who with some non biking friends from the village, and Jill and Andy who run the Rose and Crown, put on the show and meet, have a great time doing so, and raise some funds for DAAT.

History

 History

In 2001 three local bikers were at the bar of the Rose and Crown in Sandford. The Landlady at the time, Nicola Dowset, said that at her last pub, in West Sussex, a local branch of The Triumph Owners Club held an annual bike meet. So, why didn't we (get off our butts) do something similar, and raise some funds for charity. OK, so (we got off our butts) we told a few people, got some more help, put up a few posters, chose the Devon Air Ambulance Trust as our charity and sat back at the bar, doing what most bikers do, have the odd pint and tell tall stories. A couple of months later we were absolutely amazed when about 60 bikes turned up, paid a quid each, parked up, had a chat, bought some raffle tickets, had a pint, and said they all enjoyed the meet! Then they left saying 'see you next year'. We went back in the bar, had a (another) pint, and told some more tall stories.(but this ain't a tall story).

In 2002, the sun shone on us again, and the more bikes turned up.

In 2003, it rained. Well, not just rained, it hammered down. The clouds, black as a sooty spark plug, just kept rolling in from over Dartmoor, dumping gallons of water on our show. And still 90 bikes turned up, with a few bikers from Kingsbridge, setting up camp in the beer garden for the night!  

After the 2004 show we reliased that the car park would not cope with more bikes so in 2005 contact was made with the owner of an adjacent field behind the pub. Ralph was more than happy for us to use his field, as long as the hay had been cut and brought in. From then on it was sleepless nights (or was it endless nights leaning against the bar) before the big day wondering, not only if the weather was going to be good for the show, but if it was good enough for getting the hay in. It always has been, except for 2007.

Following a period of heavy rain, it became apparent that the hay would not be cut in time, so one of the pubs neighbors was asked if we could use his garden. We were lucky that the neighbor, Jim, was an ex biker and gladly agreed to help. So in 2007 we used the car park, beer garden and Jim's garden. From 2008 to 2011 we were back in the field, although from 2008 onwards we used Jim's garden as access between the pub and the field due to our concerns over the height of the scaffold bridge we had used in previous years.

Nicola left the pub in early 2004, and Sarah Nunn became the licensee, continuing to support the show, until 2009 when Jill and Andy took over. 

2010 was our 10th Anniversary. Word spread. We needed extra help and a local club, the Crediton Custom and Classic Motorcycle Club offered to help with the stewarding. We had three bands, All or Nothing, Dirty Magic and House of Kane, Bridge Motorcycles supported us with a display of new Triumphs, Jaccol Motorcycles had a stand which included face painting, the Motorcycle Action Group were putting the message out, Crediton Classic and Custom Club had a stand, a local biker displayed photo's of an adventure trip from Crediton to Gambia and Crediton to India and Nepal, a fully liveried Police R1 and Rider attended, and we ran out of burgers and had to get more. The sun shone on about 400 assorted bikes and 600 fantastic people. The bands rocked, trophies were awarded, beer (in sensible quantities) was drunk, some of the meanest looking bikers had tea and cream cakes, and we ran out of burgers again just as the last riders left for home. And we raised £2130.55 for DAAT.

2011 was a year of unsettled weather. It was wet the preceeding week, and on the day of the show it rained heavily while we were setting up. At Midday it was pouring in Exeter, Okehampton (yep, I know, it always rains there) and Poole in Dorset. But in Sandford, it was bright sunshine and warm, and the bikes turned up. Numbers of bikes were slightly down from the previous year, but over 50 cars parked in the Sandford Fooball grounds, and we made over £2,000 for DAAT again.

Caroline Creer, Fundraising Director of Devon Air Ambulance Trust said ‘We would like to thank everyone connected with the Rose & Crown Bike Show and Meet for their continued support of the charity, which is very much appreciated.  Events such as this, right at the heart of the community are an essential part of our fundraising, and without them there wouldn’t be one Air Ambulance, let alone two in Devon.  We are very grateful to them for their year on year fundraising.’

From DAAT records and Crediton Couier paper cuttings it appears that the following amounts have been raised over the last 10 years.

Year                Amount

2001                 £612.00

2003       Record mislaid.

2004                 £ 600.00

2005                  £750.00

2006                £1000.00

2007                  £929.10

2008                £1570.28

2009                £1024.27

2010                £2428.55

2011         I'm checking my records, but about £2000.00

TOTAL           £9314.20 + year 2011