Grand Tour
What is the Grand Tour?
(Adapted from the RKMC International website)
When the club was young, the easiest way to tell others about it was by word of mouth. This meant that the members had to get out to visit other firefighters in their areas, and one of the best ways to do that was to visit Fire Stations. Someone came up with the idea of rewarding members who made a certain number of visits with a certificate and a pin. Proof of these visits was needed and so the idea of Grand Tour was born. After visiting Fire Stations beginning with the letters G R A N D T O U R members were given a pin. Over the years, other rides were added since some members were not able to find new stations to visit beginning with these letters. RED KNIGHT and FIRE HOUSE rides were added and for members from remote areas, a ride to visit twelve stations beginning with any letter of the alphabet.
In the spring of 2009, it was decided to make some changes to the program. After numerous inquiries as to why we did not have a separate pin for each of the four rides available, it was decided that we would offer a three inch patch with a rocker for each of the rides. A database is kept to track who has completed the rides and when a member has completed all four rides he will also be awarded a pin.
Members of one of our neighboring chapters, NY 22 in Monroe County,were the first to recieve the new patches for their FIREHOUSE ride.
Our chapter has always done the 12 stations ride because we always seem to have to go 100 miles out of our way to spell anything. In the future we plan to take 2 separate days to complete the tour so we can earn each patch over the next couple of years.
Click on the links at the left to see the photos of our past rides.
When the club was young, the easiest way to tell others about it was by word of mouth. This meant that the members had to get out to visit other firefighters in their areas, and one of the best ways to do that was to visit Fire Stations. Someone came up with the idea of rewarding members who made a certain number of visits with a certificate and a pin. Proof of these visits was needed and so the idea of Grand Tour was born. After visiting Fire Stations beginning with the letters G R A N D T O U R members were given a pin. Over the years, other rides were added since some members were not able to find new stations to visit beginning with these letters. RED KNIGHT and FIRE HOUSE rides were added and for members from remote areas, a ride to visit twelve stations beginning with any letter of the alphabet.
In the spring of 2009, it was decided to make some changes to the program. After numerous inquiries as to why we did not have a separate pin for each of the four rides available, it was decided that we would offer a three inch patch with a rocker for each of the rides. A database is kept to track who has completed the rides and when a member has completed all four rides he will also be awarded a pin.
Members of one of our neighboring chapters, NY 22 in Monroe County,were the first to recieve the new patches for their FIREHOUSE ride.
Our chapter has always done the 12 stations ride because we always seem to have to go 100 miles out of our way to spell anything. In the future we plan to take 2 separate days to complete the tour so we can earn each patch over the next couple of years.
Click on the links at the left to see the photos of our past rides.