Never mind all the religious and chocolate-filled associations surrounding the First Bank Holiday weekend of the scootering year. For us and our tribe, it can mean only one thing – a ride to the seaside.
For me, the run-up to Easter was bittersweet, the other half was poorly with the dreaded lurgy and as the weekend got closer it was obvious she wasn’t going to be well enough to go to the rally. It also got me paranoid just in case I got ill as well. Thankfully I swerved the nasty bug and waved goodbye to the sick and infirm early on Good Friday.
If there has ever been a more appropriate name for a very good Friday then I’d like to hear it – perfect riding weather.
After two years with no Easter (in a scooter sense rather than chocolate/Jesus way) it was good to stick a bag on the scooter and head off in bright and lovely warm sunshine. My weapon of choice for this weekend was my Pinasco 251 (you can read more about the finished engine and how it performs on SLUK soon).
As is customary, our club (Mansfield Monsters) meet up with a few other riding friends from Blazing Glory SC and we also attract a few waifs and strays. By the time we left Blyth services to head for our A614 route we’d got a 20-strong crew, mostly Lambrettas but with the odd GTS (including our youngest and most enthusiastic club member Lewis, who incidentally came home with dancing blisters) and my PX. With friends from as far away as South Wales and Suffolk joining us for the 140-mile blast.
One rider who has been unable to join us for the Easter ride for the best part of 30-years was VFM’s ex main man, Steve Foster. Steve has stepped back from organising events and can now enjoy riding to the seaside during his well-earned retirement. He was also presented with a beautifully done custom Lambretta side panel at the rally to commemorate his good service over the years. A lovely gesture from VFM and friends.
Freedom!
I’m not daft though, we’d sorted our digs out months ago and the scooters were soon hidden out of sight and chained up. We showered the aroma of two-stroke and dust away (individually rather than communally) and it was off to a few pubs for the night. Let the mayhem commence! Never underestimate the freedom to sit in a pub with as many people as you like with no restrictions. Freedom tastes good.
We stayed in town until fairly late then ventured up to the do where the bands had already played and dancers bopped away to the DJs until bedtime.
Breakfast order
A note of caution here, if your B&B asks you to fill out a breakfast order the night before (after a few beers) don’t let a friend do it for you. My drunken requests for ‘loads of beans’ ‘more sausages’ and ‘no triangles’ were carried out to perfection by the man in the kitchen. Although he had to clarify what ‘no triangles’ meant. It’s obvious (to me) that you can’t make a butty properly if your toast is cut into triangles. Lovely breakfast though with loads of beans an extra sausage and straight-cut toast to make the others jealous.
Roll a fat one
I was back down the Pavilion quite early the next morning to get a few photos of the custom show and trade stands before it opened to the public. It was good to see Dave Barrett’s 1988 Rizla themed Lambretta back again thirty three years later. Having undergone a complete revamp the once green scooter was now very pink! Rizla +33 is looking great though and went on to win the ScooterNova sponsored Best of Show, LCGB sponsored Best Custom Lambretta, Mansfield Monsters sponsored Best Street Racer and the SLUK sponsored Punter’s Choice.
Tucano quartet
Elsewhere in the show were a row of four vintage street racer style Vespa’s, all owned by Paul Parkin and all themed around clothing brand Tucano Urbano. Very trick and colourful. You can see more photos of them in the gallery. They won the Scootering sponsored Best Display.
Best restoration
Talking of Vespas, it was great to see Toby’s newly restored aquamarine Vespa T5 being shown for the first time. Over winter the scooter had a meticulous strip, fettle and straighten by metalwork God, Hodge. It was then resprayed before being rebuilt using genuine new old stock T5 parts. It won Macclesfield Boys Boxing Club sponsored Best Restoration on the day.
Best Engineering
Making a very distinctive scooter into your own after you’ve bought it isn’t easy but Howard’s old matt black and well stretched Vespa PX, ‘La Cucharacha’ now has a new owner and a sparkling new identity. It won the Lexham Insurance sponsored Best Engineering trophy.
There were also a stunning pair of restored Lambretta TV 175, Series One and Two on display, a gorgeous SS90 and a few other tasty scooters you can see most of them in the rallery below.
Upstairs the parts fair was all set up and ready for the doors to open to eager punters queuing right up the stairs outside the venue. They came in like a tsunami and before it got too busy I headed up into the car park above where day-trippers were packing in – not surprisingly on such a beautiful morning. The car park was filling up nicely with lots of old favourites on display outside (both people and scooters).
See plenty more photos and custom show results in the rallery above.
Pull your own pints
It was in this pub that many of us were kept entertained by a row of self-serve beer pumps. Yes that’s right, serve your own beer. Simply select your beer, tap your payment card and pull yourself the perfect pint every time (that’s my first lovely lager above). I’ve not seen scooterists so excited since we went to Germany a few years ago and had a table with a beer pump in the middle of it. Hours of fun and you win a prize every time! Despite being beer aficionados our Belgian rally friends couldn’t get over this new concept.
On the pull
Slowly we made our way back up the hill calling for a few professionally pulled pints along the way before we ended up at the do again. Manchester Ska Foundation were mid-set in the main room playing some banging ska tunes. Downstairs in the Soul Cellar people were swinging their extra wide-bottomed pants to obscure vinyl sounds whilst performing hip-breaking gymnastic moves. I spent the evening flitting between the two rooms but spent most of my time in the foyer chatting to people. A great night was had by me and hopefully everybody else.
The long ride home
Bright eyed and bushy-tailed we were up on Sunday morning for another whopping breakfast with extra beans and toast left in full slices. Scooters were loaded up and we were heading back in a smaller but more troublesome group for the ride home.
Mr Foster’s Lammy auto was throwing scalding water at the rider as we headed over the moors, a few bodges to try and fix things kept it going for a while. Then half of our group got lost on the way to Malton, where we were abused by the local angry man/nutter for parking on the pavement whilst we waited for the others to find us.
Lots more stopping and faffing ensued before finally the Lammy auto shat itself properly near to the charming village of Wet Wang and conveniently right outside a local picturesque bikers spot with café and toilets. We had a cuppa before leaving Steve to wait for recovery and carried on with no further dramas. It’s worth noting though that Mark on his TS1 custom Lammy, ‘Psychological Damage’ (pictured below), was putting between £20 and £27 worth of fuel in his ‘long-range’ tank every 50 miles or so, despite us averaging about 30 miles an hour. This fuel crisis is hitting hard.
We eventually got home seven long hours after leaving town. Our friend, Johnny Walker beat us home and he was travelling to Scotland!
Good to be back
It’s great to be back knowing that rallies are taking place again after such an uncertain couple of years. Whitby really helped to blow the cobwebs off and reconnect us with our kindred spirits.
It was obvious that Covid is still having an effect on the evening dos, number of custom show entrants and traders. Numbers were certainly down in those three areas but life is slowly returning to normal and we’re lucky to have National Rallies to attend.
The new (albeit regular faces) crew at VFM started at the Isle of Wight last year and are committed to putting successful events on for us to enjoy. Without people who are willing to sacrifice their rally weekends (plus months of work beforehand) to put events on we’d all be joining some local over 50s club for flower arranging and bingo. Personally, I’d still prefer to ride unsuitable machinery to the seaside with my mates.
Long may our adolescence continue.
Words and photos: Iggy
Extra photos: Shaun Hodgkin
