SLUK regular, Geoff Panic and his partner in crime, Sandy Moo spent the weekend in the Garden of England namely, Kent. They did not partake in hop picking, nor indeed were they catching a cross channel ferry. Oh no, they did what any self-respecting scooterist would do, made their way to a great little rally and partied. With top notch entertainment, including an Elvis impersonator, a charity P Range donation and not to mention the bespoke novelty trophies for those lucky few, what was not to like?
Lee
Devilish history
This rally was always on my list for this year, not only because me and my clubmates have some great history with the Devils over the years but because this was also going to be the culmination of a little project that has been two years in the making. A bit more about that later.
Do I hear banjos?
A cheeky Friday off work got me on the road early, dodging the solid traffic on the A303 past the piggies and onto Mungos for a much-needed cuppa. Alex then decided to set his satnav to “thrill mode” for the last fifty miles which sent us through some serious back roads. Just a tip here, if you live in Kent and want to gravel your drive, pop out to pretty much any rural road and you can scoop handfuls of free gravel off just about every corner. Just get ready to ride off quick if you hear banjos.
Cockwombles
Tipping up at “Sterling Mollusc” we found the Rose and Crown and got set up in the small but perfectly formed camping field for an impromptu Cockwombles autonomous scooter collective AGM before the festivities. Unfortunately we had forgotten the flip chart, so smoked cigars and drank whisky instead. Having attended quite a few of the Belgian Dirty Devils ‘Dirty Weekenders’ in Belgium over the years it was great to see the vibe was much the same. The Devils had planned the rally location close to the channel ports, which meant it was a nice short ride for the Belgian and French scooterists which gave us a nice chance to catch up with our continental cousins.
Panic at the disco
After the torrential rain riding to the Plumpton MAG rally the week before it was a nice change to chill out in the sun before the evening kicked off properly. With DJ sets from Devils Mark, Rob Wilde and (a very wobbly) Emma Cox – well it was her birthday. Soul, Ska, The Nolans and Abba made for a proper party night till the very late early hours. I haven’t laughed so much in ages.
Kebabrophenia
Being woken at 6.30 by a bloke hammering on his mates camper van and shouting loudly made a hilarious comedy start to the morning, oh how the campsite laughed! Nothing for it but a visit to the “kebabrophenia” snack van for a bacon roll and a cup of tea to stave off the hangover before the custom show and Elvis!
Different strokes
It’s very worthwhile stating that we had a little presentation to do. For the last couple of years Mark and Jules, the Dirty Devils and friends have been restoring a very beaten up P Range in secret and this was the weekend they were presenting it to Alex who is raising money for the different strokes stroke charity. The same charity has supported him and his wife Gez through her rehab after she had a stroke some years ago (there were also some collecting buckets going around all weekend). Suffice to say he was suitably impressed and whatever he decides to do with the scoot it will no doubt swell their coffers somewhat. Nice work ladies and gents.
Custom show novelty trophies
After this the collected punters mingled amongst the custom show admiring the metal on display. The Lambretta that won the gorgeous handmade best chopper trophy got a lot of admiring glances and the purple Rally was also worthy of a win. I was also presented with a beautifully wooden framed tube of Anusol for my furthest travelled trophy, I will treasure it and promise to try not to use it unless it’s an emergency.
Car park Elvis
Elvis took to the Las Vegas Stage car park outside the pub in the early afternoon and to be fair, looking at the assembled scary looking tattooed folks he must have been feeling slightly nervous. However us scooterists know how to party and soon we were all singing along, shaking his tambourine (he did give it to us to shake, remember kids never shake a man’s tambourine without express consent) and generally titting about. He gained several backing singers and dancers through his set (whether he wanted them or not), all good clean fun.
Somerset bound
Unfortunately yours truly had to get back to Somerset and as I had given up waiting for the rest of my club to turn up (who should have been there about three hours earlier) I toddled off late afternoon leaving Sandy to take up the story…
Saturday night Psychobilly and the naked climber
Saturday sunset came and the air was filled with the swirling blue smoke of numerous BBQs and the usual excitement from the busy campsite. The pub was packed out for Oxfordshire based Rockabilly band ‘The Corsairs’ who had the crowd jumping in no time to their big bass tunes. The atmosphere carried on well into the night with a couple of energetic chaps taking on an impromptu spiderman act scaling the walls of the pub to pose beside the pub sign, naked… much to the delight of the crowd. Dirty Devil DJ Mark Hicky carried on the tunes as the crowd danced the night away.
Until next time
Huge thanks to the Dirty Devils for a top rally. See you next year, But I think you might need a bigger field.
Words/pics: Geoff Panic and Sandy Moo
Rallery by Geoff Panic and Sandy Moo
