Big Andys Scootering Site

Having been one of the main organisers of the 3 previous Brewers Droops before i left the Brewers, it was nice to sit back and just look forward to treating this rally just like any other. I had been asked to organise the internal security and had a bit of re-organising to do as Holiday in Holland took its toll on a few, but that was nothing compared to the build up in previous years. Usually i booked a few days of work for this rally but this year i worked as usual on the Friday so i arrived about 5pm to a packed campsite and after saying a few hellos i settled down for a few beers with the VFM* possey. I hadn't taken a tent as i was returning home after the nights jollities. About 7:30 i went into the main room to sort out the security team only to find the bands were still doing their sound checks. Once they had finished i went around saying more hellos and checking on the team until the first band came on. The Pinch are a local band and seemed to go down well with their mixture of cover songs. Next up were The Beat. These went down a storm and belted out all there hits to a packed dance floor. Rankin Roger and the boys did themselves proud and were the best band of the weekend by far. After they had finished Steve Foster, Disco Daz and Wigan Tim saw out the night with the usual rally favourites, whilst Tony '1 Shirt' and Pitchie were keeping everyone in the smaller room entertained. At the end of the night Steve and myself had a discussion with the Belvedere management as they were not happy about the time we went on till. They told us both the bar and the music will be stopped at 1:30am on Saturday night. We told them it can't be done and that we needed at least 15 minutes between the bar shutting and the music stopping. We came to an agreement between us but to be honest this should have been sorted in advance by the Brewers. Job finished myself and Dawn set of back to our house with our weekend guest, Rick from Modrapheniacs who should have had his wife with him but she wasn't well so hadn't travelled up.

Next morning, after one of Dawns lovely cooked breakfasts we travelled back to Burton to carry on where we had left off. I went off to look around the custom show which was well represented this year and had some excellent scooters on show. In the events arena the 5-a-side was taking place whilst Tony '1 Shirt' and Pitchie were playing requests for a donation to charity. It was then time to have a look around the many trade stalls and pick up one or two bits before Dawn and myself had a walk round the corner to settle in the pub for the afternoon. I believe there was a band playing outside back at the Belvedere but as i was in the pub i didn't see them.

I arrived back in the main hall at 7:30pm to sort out the security again to find that the first band were already on stage. This was a band called The Targets. These young lads apparently tour with DC Fontana and to be honest were very good. They belted out a good mixture of Mod, Punk and Ska covers, most of which were probably hits before they were born but did them well. Next up were DC Fontana who are not my cup of tea but the Mods in the room seemed to like them especially the female singers. The last band of the weekend were 2 Tonic who belted out there ska covers with a lot of energy and had the dance floor bopping along. Again Steve, Daz and Tim DJ'd the rest of the night out until kicking out time. Tony and Pitchie were again in the smaller room doing their usual excellent work. Myself, Dawn and Rick again returned to our house for a proper nights kip, only problem was we over slept. I had promised Rick to get him up about 7:30am as he wanted an early start but i over slept and ruefully woke him up about 9am.

We arrived back at the Belvedere to drop off Rick and also to say our goodbyes before i jumped on my scooter, which i had left there all weekend, and rode off back home. Quite a few people had asked me over the weekend if i had missed being one of the organisers and my answer was quite simple, NO. I hadn't been running around all weekend trying to keep everything running like clockwork, i hadn't had the Belvedere management moaning at me all weekend for one reason or another, i wasn't running around looking after the bands, i didn't have to join in, in the big clean up on Sunday morning, i didn't have to worry about the damage that had been caused over the weekend and above all my feet were not throbbing and had not swelled up to twice their normal size making it almost impossible to walk for several days. No, it was nice to sit back and enjoy myself and to return home to my own bed each night. Regrets.... as Mr Sinatra once said....i had a few, but then again too few to mention.

So i would like to thank the Brewers for putting on a good weekend which again was heaving with happy scooterists. This rally has become a firm favourite of many but the problem could well be that it will become too popular as it gets bigger every year.

Next up its Run To The Castle at Tattershall Castle, Lincoln where hopefully all of last years wasps had buzzed off. So i shall see ya there