Big Andys Scootering Site

BREWERS DROOP 9

.....Our original plan was to just attend this rally on the Saturday night only. Even though it is our old club and it is only 15 miles away from home we were not bothering with Friday because of Dawn being at work until 10pm. Earlier in the year i had again been asked by the Brewers if i would organise the security for the event but for various reasons i declined the offer, so they eventually turned to Nigel from Lincoln SC to get him to organise it. Nigel checked with me first to make sure he wasn't stepping on my shoes, but i told him if he wanted to do it then he could. His next question was would i work. At first i said no but Nigel ground me down and i agreed to work Friday night only, so straight from work i travelled the long distance of 2 miles across Burton to the Belvedere Park Social Club, where i was greeted by the hordes of Brewers on the gate. After a short chat with a few of them and politely refusing to pay to get in (well i was working) (plus all the work i had done in the past running this rally) i went off to find my mates who were camping in the far corner. I spent a few hours with them before wandering over to find my fellow VFM crew. I found them all gathered round Lincoln Marks Lammy as they were trying to find out why it was miss firing, a fault that apparently started on the way over. It was eventually discovered, by MR FOSTER, that the lighting wire was shorting out on to the frame.

.....At 8pm we all wandered over to the main hall where i was paired of with Tesco and asked to look after the smaller room. I popped in the main hall for the 1st band, Caine. They seemed ok but the room wasn't very full so had a poor response to their efforts. Next up were Special Brew. Now this was more like it. Being from the home of Two-Tone, Coventry, these guys have a lot to live upto, and they live up to the challenge in style. They even started getting half the audience up on stage. Now its normally our job to stop people getting on stage but if the band are inviting them up what could we do but stand aside. They are one of the best Ska bands around the scene at the moment. I did look at booking them a few years ago for a previous Droop but at the time i thought they charged too much for a up and coming band, but have seen them a few times now and regret not booking them. The floor was jumping and at times a bit manic BUT STILL PEOPLE WILL STAND IN THE MIDDLE WITH THEIR YOUNG KIDS. We warned them it wasn't safe but would they listen, no. Well the inevitable happened and they eventually got knocked flying. I immediately dived in and pulled the kiddy to safety. Had they been hurt at all they would have been moaning about it being unsafe but they're too stupid (or drunk) to realise they are placing their little loved ones in danger. If they were in town and there was a mass brawl would they stand in the middle of it with their little ones, no they wouldn't but its just like that when bands like Special Brew are playing. Apparently 1 women was injured somewhere in the room, as apparently Big Andy carried her outside. DID I? i must of blanked out because i don't remember carrying anyone outside. Must be another Big Andy impersonating me. Wigan Tim and Steve Foster saw the rest of the night out in the main room in their normal style whilst Tony "1 Shirt" , Pitchie and Mod Paula did a sterling job DJing in the smaller room. Myself and Dawn, who had arrived about 11pm, called it a night about 2am and she drove us home so we could sleep in our nice comfy bed.

.....After a very comfortable nights sleep and a bit of Dawns wonderful home cooked brekkie i got my scooter out to return to Burton. Could i get the damn thing started, could i hell. 3/4 hour i spent trying to kick the damn thing in to life. It was sparking but would not fire up. A new spark plug, a clean of my jets and air filter and it slowly kicked into life. I have been having problems with the carb for a while now and i suppose it will teach me not to sort it out. I arrived back in Burton just as the 5-a-side was finishing. I believe the ii mob won it (cheated again no doubt). next up, eventually, was the "its a knockout" tournament. I'm not sure who won this, it was either Treackle Town SC or Ripley Harriers SC, as i was, erm, in the bar at the time. Dawn arrived back on site with my son and grand daughter, Kasey, in tow so we showed her of to a few people before my lad went back home. Kasey's first rally aged 16 months, but not her last i'm sure.

.....The first band on Saturday night were Tilted Smile. I'd not heard of these before and wasn't expecting much to be honest but i thought they were very good. Not my kind of music but still, very good, although i wish the lead singer would have a shave and a haircut. The other band on that night were Circa. I had seen these before and again their choice of music wasn't exactly to my taste but they were very good. In between and after the bands, Dawn and myself were doing a very good job of getting wasted, mingling with all that knew us or would tolerate us. I must admit it was nice to be able to just get drunk at this rally as in the past i had been either heavily involved in running it or doing the security so it was nice to chill out and be silly. Having said that, if i'm honest, one of the things i miss since leaving the Brewers is being part of the organising committee and working my tits off all weekend making sure the rally went like clockwork. I must be mad. I used to think how nice it must be to be able to chill out and be silly on this rally and now i can, i miss running around like a blue arsed fly. Will someone commit me to a nut house please.

.....One thing i certainly don't miss is the Sunday morning clean up. Dawn and myself arose about 9am and said our goodbyes and set of on the long journey home. 25 minutes later we were sat at home with a cup a tea in our hands, whilst most of you were still enduring the ride home. A big thank you to all the Brewers for their hard work and putting on another excellent rally. Having made it all ticket, the numbers were down on last year but this made it better. It wasn't completely rammed like last year. Having said that there must have still been at least 1500 people there.

Next up for us is the Isle of Wight, so until then

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