Big Andys Scootering Site
an independant scooterist's web site....e-mail address:- big-andy@ntlworld.com
Modrapheniacs SC 30th Anniversary Rally, Sandford Holiday Park, Dorset.31st March - 3rd April 2006
Dawn, myself and my daughter Sophie got away bang on time for a change and were soon on the other side of Oxford. We had arranged to meet up with the ii gang in a pub called the Apple Cart which was just of the A34 south of Abingdon. I had found this pub whilst scouting around on my way back from my weekly delivery run to the Isle of Wight the day before. Before long the pub had swelled with the presence of Mick & Sarah, OAJJ & Teresa, Dunny, Paul, Dean & Anne and kids and Davey & Sharon and their kids. The poor staff wondered what had hit them. We all eventually ordered our meals but Dawn & myself had reason to complain on a couple of occasions so the pub management ended up refunding us the total cost of our meals much to the shock of the rest of them. Needless to say we were ribbed over it for most of the weekend but we weren't bothered, we'd had a free meal.
We arrived at Sandford Holiday park about 3:30pm and was warmly greeted by Rick and his brother Rob from Modrapheniacs. The holiday side was already a mass of scooters and scooterists and the good people of Modrapheniacs had their hands full trying to catch everyone as they arrived. We met up with our mate Tara who had booked all 3 caravans and were shown to our caravan. The moment we opened the caravan door we were hit with a terrible smell. It smelt like cats p**s and was extremely unpleasant. Also their was dirty great muddy footprints across the carpet. I was immediately on the phone to reception who got housekeeping to us in under 15 minutes. The housekeeping manager told us that the carpet had rotted in one of the bedrooms and within 1/2 hour a carpet company turned up to change it. A cleaner arrived and gave the caravan a thorough clean. We were also promised a free bottle of wine for our inconvenience but we never got it.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in the club, beer in hand, greeting friends as they arrived, including Keith, Joy & her daughter Danielle who were sharing the caravan with us. The club house had had a refit over the winter and looked very smart. There was also an upstairs bar now which overlooked the main room, ideal for families who couldn't take kids into the main room. At least Mum & Dad could now see the bands even if the stage was a distance away. All in all the changes to the club house had improved it immensely.
We returned to our caravan, which now smelt a bit better, for a bite to eat and to get changed for the night do. We arrived back in the main room just in time to greet Orange Street on to the stage. These are a Ska band, which pleased me, and they were very good. The dancefloor soon filled up. I had seen these before at Shires last year but they seemed a lot better this time and gave a good performance. Next up were The Gift, a jam tribute band with The Jam's original member, Rick Butler, on the drums. These were ok, i've seen worse jam tribute band, and again the dance floor was heaving as the trio blasted out all the big Jam favourites. Modrapheniacs's Emma Cox filled in the gaps between bands spinning all the usual favourite rally tunes. The dancefloor was a mass of dancing feet all night and the club house was packed. If it was this busy on a Friday what was it going to be like on Saturday. About 1:30am myself and Dawn called it a night. The beauty of not working at a rally is that i can go to bed at a reasonable time and get a decent nights kip.
Saturday morning arrived and we were awoken by the bright sunshine streaming in through the curtains, so we got up and Dawn cooked one of her usual gorgeous breakfasts. Well fed we took a quick look around the indoor custom show and trade stalls. We couldn't stay long as we had decided to spend Saturday afternoon at Monkey World, The Primate Rescue Centre which Dawn had been following on the Sky TV programme Monkey Business. The place was only 10 miles away but took us nearly an hour to get there thanks to some roadworks in Wareham. I think we arrived just after feeding time because all the monkeys were hiding indoors. Either that or they were hiding from us, but before long they were coming out to enjoy the bright sunshine. We listened to a few information talks given by the keepers as we walked around which told us about how the monkeys were rescued from all over the world to be brought to Dorset to live a near as possible normal lifestyle.
We returned to our caravan to get our evening meal and to get ready for the Saturday night do. When we opened the caravan door we were greeted by the same smell as the day before so again i was on to housekeeping. When the manager arrived she got it from all angles as we all had a go at her telling her it was just not good enough. Apparently the carpet in another bedroom had gone rotten as well, mainly because the toilet had a small leak in it. To be fair the staff did all they could and as soon as they could, but surely the cleaners must of noticed the smell, or maybe they hadn't been in, hence the muddy footprints when we first arrived. We told the manager we didn't get the promised free bottle of wine so she promised us we would now get 2. Needless to say they didn't turn up either.
When we arrived in the clubhouse it was heaving. We tried our luck upstairs but again it was packed so, seeing the ii downstairs, we made our way down to them only to find when we got there they had all gone upstairs because Dean, Anne, Davey & Sharon had the kids with them and couldn't come in the main room, so we settled at a table near the front with the Redcar SC lot, Savage and his misses and Steve Foster, Pitchie, Andrea and a few others. First on stage tonight were a band called The Oufit. These played mainly punk and new wave covers, a bit like Basketcase but not as good. The Outfit were quite decent and i thought there Clash covers were pretty good. Their version of Swords of a Thousand Men was rather poor though. Next up was a tribute to Edwin Starr, with Angelo Starr singing with Edward's band, The Team. We had seen these on the Isle of Man just after Edward had passed away and i hadn't been very impressed with them but obviously they had been practising as they sounded really good tonight as they belted out soul cover after soul cover. The masses certainly seemed to agree as the dance floor was jammed with every available space taken. Having partaken in 1 to many Lucazade specials, myself and Dawn retired to bed earlish again having just spend another most enjoyable evening.
Unfortunately due to both of us being at work on Monday, Dawn and myself were not staying for the extra night on Sunday so having packed away we said our goodbyes to everyone, including Joy & Keith, the latter being poorly in bed and prepared to set of home. Before we left we went into reception to book our caravan for next year. Finding the same manager on reception that had dealt with our complaint, i gave her both barrels about the state of our caravan. I told her that i would be writing to her head office to make a formal complaint. The receptionist told me that if i would reconsider writing to head office she would make sure that next year we would get a new caravan and be given the V.I.P. treatment, including a free meal for us all at their carvery and free wine. When i pointed out we had been promised free wine that weekend but had not received it she promptly went and got me the promised wine. Having made her write on our booking form what she had promised us and on another piece of paper which she signed i agreed not to write in but told her the s**t would hit the fan if her promises were not carried out. We then said our final goodbyes and set of for the 235 miles back home.
Modrapheniacs 2006 will go down in our memories as one of the best rallies we have attended in recent years and all their club members deserve a hearty slap on the back for all their efforts. If all of this years rallies are half as good as this one we will have a good year. Only thing is they have a lot to live up to next year to keep on their good work. I'm sure they will do it.
SAFE SCOOTERING
BIG ANDY