A vintage Ariel motorcycle – a make once built in Selly Oak, Birmingham – will recreate a 1929 publicity stunt when a similar bike, supported on wooden floats, powered its way across the Channel and back. The event brings together the Pershore Plum Festival and the Ariel Owners’ Motor Cycle Club’s (AOMCC) annual meet, which is being held in Pershore this year. AOMCC club President, Snr. Ariel Atzori who’s in his mid 70s and from Milan, Italy, will be bringing the bike across Europe from his home country to attempt the dare-devil stunt on the River Avon in Pershore The event will take place between 2 and 3pm on Sunday 25thAugust alongside the King George V Playing Fields
His bike, also dating from 1929, will sit atop replica wooden floats built by club member Ben Mitchell. The bike will then be hoisted by a crane onto the river by staff from the Avon Navigational Trust who have worked hard to make the stunt possible. Should the attempt prove successful, there is talk by the AOMCC of a Channel Crossing at some stage in the future. Following this event, the AOMCC will then hold their Concours d’Elegance competition at the Plum Festival Family Fun Day in the towns’ Abbey Park – this involves the line-up of various models to be judged by specialists with festival goers voting for their favourite.
To find out more, visit the Plum Festival website at www.pershoreplumfestival.org.uk
