Gannes – the Stapley Memorial Ride
Ernie Stapley was a promninent club member in the pre war years. He lost his life in 1944, along with his comrades, when their RAF Lancaster crashed on the French town of Gannes. Our commemoration ride took us from Ernie Stapley's WW2 airbase near Ely, Cambridgshire, to Gannes in Normandy, where a new memorial stone was being unveiled in honour of the lives lost on that last flight. 330 miles in three days tested a couple of us, but we made it home safely and very aware that the men we honoured did not.
