Big Andys Scootering Site

A Great Start To 2007 (Eventually)

.....The long winter wait was finally over and the first rally Friday of 2007 was upon us. We hadn't made the long trip to Vegas this year or gone sunning ourselves in Tenerife on the VFM social, so this had been a longer wait for us. We met up with our fellow ii people on the way down at our usual pub stop south of Oxford and after a hearty lunch and a constant fight to keep Mick from nicking our food, we were soon completing our journey and were greeted at the entrance to Sandford Park by Rick and several other of the Modrapheniacs troupe who were only too happy to relieve us of a bargain £10 each. Rally entrance paid we checked into reception for our first arguement of the weekend. After last years fiasco when we had a nightmare with our caravan, we had been promised our choice of caravan with full vip treatment. Fortunately this had been written on our deposit receipt as they had not honoured any of last years promises and had infact given us a caravan that was about as far away from the main building as was possible. We were told there was no way we could change our caravan so we reluctantly accepted the van we had, but managed to get the vip package including a free meal for us all at the carvery. We were then told to wait about half an hour to give them time to sort out our caravan. We went to the bar for a drink and listened to the story from Mick, Dunny and Paul about how the M40 had become a 4 lane motorway as they had been forced to break hard whilst in the outside lane only for the car behind them to overtake them on the gravel on the central reservation. We also met up with our roomies for the weekend, Joy and Keith with their little ones. After an hour we went upto our caravan to unload, only to find it hadn't been touched AND that we had no electric. One irate phone call to reception later two ladies from housekeeping arrived to sort out our van. We were told the electric would be back on by 4pm but it was nearer 4:30pm before the lights flicked on. Being a lightweight, i retired to bed, 1) to cool down and 2) to grab an hour so as to be ready for the night time fun and frolics.

.....We left Joy & Keith, who were off to the pub next door for a meal, and headed straight into the main Ballroom and set about saying our hellos to old friends including Wol and his misses, Mark from Lambretta Art and Lobby who told us all about his Vegas to Tenerife trip where he flew back in from Vegas only to fly straight out to Tenerife. We also bumped into the crowd from Burton Brewers who had arrived, before settling down for the night with Craig, Jo, Dave, Karen and the other Olympics. The first Band of the weekend were Carnaby Street who weren't too bad as they belted out their versions of the usual scooter scene songs. The next band up were excellent. Definately Maybe did an exceptional set of Oasis hits and are probably the best Oasis tribute band i've seen. As soon as the bands finished we called it a night, said our goodnights and retired to bed.

.....We awoke next morning to find the electric had gone again so had to make yet another irate call to reception. We had a look around the trade stalls and had a few chats before setting off for Sandbank in Poole to await the arrival of the ride out. I don't do many rideouts myself but don't mind getting ahead to take photos and get the beer in before the rush. Before long scooters galore appeared in the distance and were soon parked up along the pavement and pub carpark which had been closed off especially for the custom show which was to be judged there ensuring that the scooters were ridden and not just taken out of a van. We returned to Sandford Park where i again went for a power nap whilst Dawn went of to find the rest of the ii. I awoke early evening just in time to watch the mighty Welsh stuff the English at Rugby, well i would have watched it all only the electric went out again. I had had enough, so for the last time i called reception and had a rant. The maintenance man arrived to check our fuses. Derrrr, did he really think we were that thick. Again it was down to the generators being used to supply several vans, via a few extension leads, that had stopped yet again.

.....We went for our free carvery which was at best, average, only to find half the stuff had either all gone or not ready. We then parked ourselves upstairs and awaited our ii buddies Mick, Dunny, Paul, Knuckle, Dean & Ann and Oajj who did his best impression of Humphrey (as in 'watch out there's a humphrey about') as he put several straws together and tried to nick Deans beer. The first band on stage tonight were Going Underground. I thought these were going to be a Jam tribute band and was a bit worried as i knew who the special guests were that were playing later, but they played a blinding set of punk, new wave and mod songs. I would certainly recommend them to anyone wanting to book a band. The boring bit came next with the custom show trophies handed out, the raffle drawn and the usual thank you speeches before the special guests took to the stage. As i said ealier i had heard beforehand who it was but to be honest the signs were there to see as there were several bits of gear on the stage with 'The Gift' written on them. The Gift had Rick Butler as their drummer and Bruce Foxton had teamed up with Rick Butler so the advertised 'Ricks Boys' took to the stage with 2 3rds of The Jam in the line up. Needless to say they did an excellent Jam set which was only to be expected, with Bruce Foxton hogging the limelight. He was all over the stage as the crowd below lapped it all up. One clown leapt on stage only to be manhandled out of the building by the Modrapheniacs Security lads. I was fortunate enough to see 'The Jam' twice before they split up but for most this is the closest they will get to seeing them as there is no chance of Mr Weller joining the other two for a reunion. The security lads were a bit over zealous as our friend Ann was taking photos only to be manhandled by one of them which did not best please her or her husband Dean.

..... We awoke bright and early next morning due to the sound of a gale blowing outside. We packed up our gear, said our farewells to joy and keith, went looking for our ii friends only to find Dean & Ann so said our goodbyes to them before setting off home. It had been another excellent rally laid on by the Modrapheniacs, just a shame the caravan site people, West Star, spoiled it. Despite this being one of our favourite rallies we did not re-book for next year, deciding the hassle from West Star was just not worth it.

So roll on Scarborough. See ya there

safe scootering