International Web Manager, 2001-2004
I first heard of WIMA ‘The Motorcycle Club for Women’ back in 1984/5 at the excellent Women’s Motorcycle Workshop in London run by Anna Zee. It was here that I was learning how to look after my first ‘big’ bike, a Moto Guzzi V50, and discovering the wonderful world of motorcycling ‘sisters, doing it for themselves’ (Annie Lennox, 1985, google it!). I became a keen member attending many rallies, runs, meetings and events in the UK and abroad.
The international rally was as regular an annual fixture as I could make it, and I did many memorable trips from Hungary 1988 on my Kawasaki GPX750 to 2000 when I was able to get to both Finland (on my all-time favourite bike Ducati 750SS) and Australia (car, sadly).
I was a WIMA GB committee member for many years, first as treasurer then newsletter editor. In 2000 I started the international website. At that time most groups worldwide were producing paper newsletters, some starting to go online, and with the club growing internationally, the idea of creating a central repository for info relevant to all WIMA groups, cutting across geographical boundaries was born.
Primarily it was to share various aspects of common interest. It was largely text based (with fewer photos than would be expected these days), and held international news, WIMA history, travel, rally info and contacts.
I signed up for a couple of courses on HTML programming and how to use Dreamweaver, the prominent website design tool of the day. I registered the domain name www.wimaworld.com and set about creating the site. It was done as much for my own interest as the club’s as I was already a mainframe computer programmer by trade.
I’ve owned around 9/10 road bikes plus a Yamaha 250 LC for a brief stint of club road racing. My passion for motorcycling is now replaced by a passion for coastal rowing, but it’s lovely to think that the website is still going, still developing and bringing together WIMA women from around the world.
(2025)
