For the third time in twenty years, the end of May Spring Bank Holiday was delayed by a week until the first weekend in June, this time to coincide with the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations.

In 2002, it was the Southport rally that was affected and in 2012, it was the Kelso rally that was delayed. A benefit of these delayed bank holiday weekends though is the extra day we are given to make a four-day weekend. But this year was unusual with the bank holiday days being given before the weekend instead of after it!

Although there was a strange eerie silence leading up to this year’s Kelso rally, with nothing like the normal amount of pre-rally advertising and hype. A posting on social media in mid-April confirmed the rally was still definitely on, and then two weeks later the official flyer with all event details was released, reassuring the Kelso rally regulars.

Scooterists have become accustomed to the fact that we usually get months and months of prior notice – sometimes a complete year – to make plans to attend a rally. It’s all very different to the maximum three to four weeks’ notice that we got back in the 1990s, when we often didn’t even know which part of the country the next rally was in.

Organising scooter rallies and events is at times a very thankless job, and with all of the restrictions brought in due to Covid, the Scottish Scooter No1s committee were always going to have an extremely tough time getting the twice-postponed rally back up and running. But thankfully they did – and it was back in style at its usual showground campsite – the home of this superb scooter rally from day one.

Early arrivals on Thursday were greeted by the usual cheery Scottish scooterists stewarding the gates, armed with goodie bags for the first 300 riders. The campsite filled quickly with scooterists from all over the UK, and in no time at all it was just like we’d never been away. Some people headed off on the short walk to the town while others stayed on at the campsite to be entertained by each other and the DJs in the main hall.

By Friday morning, the campsite filled up further and most of the dealer’s stalls had set up in full swing selling parts new and old.

The Brid Team

Walking around the campsite, quite a few riders were already fully engrossed in scooter repairs, refitting parts that had worked loose or failed completely during the ride to the rally. It never fails to impress and amuse me watching some of the ingenious solutions that intrepid scooterists come up with to make a scooter rideable again. But nothing prepared me for the mechanical tomfoolery on display at the hands of Bridlington Scooter Club. T5 rider, Darren, had melted a Malossi 172 piston on the way to the rally, and so with the help of club mates, they set about investigating why it had happened and then executing a precise repair, having exhausted every avenue of top-end cylinder replacement (no one seemed to have the complete matching barrel, piston, head and rings). So, the clubmates set about cutting/hacking down some 172 cc Malossi piston rings to fit on a stock 125 cc piston in a 125cc cylinder with a miss-matched cylinder head. The piston rings were obviously too big in diameter. They were the wrong radius, and the wrong cross-sectional shape for the standard piston fitment. But small details like that are nothing to these lads. What they lacked in tools and actual correct parts, they more than made up for in enthusiasm and humour. George Peppard’s 1980s American special forces heroes The “A” Team, would have fully approved.

If you find yourselves stuck at a rally, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire “The Brid Team” Crazy Fools!

Friday saw even more riders arrive than the previous day, and more of the same drinking and laughter filled the campsite, with much talk of catching up on lost time for the 18 months or so we all lost to the dreaded virus. Many headed off to the infamous pub crawl around Kelso’s cobbled streets, while the others stayed on the site waiting for the night entertainment. Soul played in the smaller room, The Substitutes (Maximum Who) played the main room, followed by the silent disco for the insomniacs back in the smaller room, it all went down a storm.

What day is it?

By the time Saturday morning came, things felt a bit confusing and strange. Quite a lot of riders were heading home having had two nights at the rally, but even more riders were also still arriving. The rally officially starting on a Thursday had meant that it already felt a bit like a Sunday morning to some.

Saturday daytime live music was served up by The Odels. The female vocalist’s powerful voice shocked a few of us that haven’t heard them before. I certainly hope they come back to a rally soon, highly recommended

Col’s custom show rallery

Custom show results

Best Vintage Vespa: Little Miss Havoc
Best Vespa: A Way of Life (PX & sidecar)
Best Vintage Lambretta: 683 XVT (White series 2)
Best Lambretta: War Bird (Series 2)
Best Automatic: Vespa Primavera (Harlequin special edition)
Best Engineered: Auld Shuggie (1958 Vespa)
Best Chopper: Crime (Madspeed Lambretta)
Best Paintwork: Calamity Jane (pink Lambretta)
Best Murals: INXS (Lambretta)
Best Chromework: OJE 62 J (old school blue Lam cutdown)
Best Engraving: Breaking Rocks (Lambretta GP)
Best Non Vespa or Lambretta: Heinkel Tourist (orange and black)
Best in Show: Breaking Rocks (Lambretta GP)

All the show entrants/ winners and owners can be seen in the gallery photos above.

Walking around the campsite again on Saturday afternoon it was hard to gauge numbers attending the rally because of so many arriving and leaving across different days. But, Kelso is a well-attended rally that is for sure. It’s well spread out and has areas to cater for all rally-goers. The main camping area does get quite lively, but the segregated area for camper vans and motorhomes is more chilled with a mini-festival feel to the area for those wanting more creature comforts on a weekend.

SLUK Support

The standard of scooters is going through the roof these days, and it was good to see a fair number of scooters dotted around the campsite sporting SLUK made products. Not only looking good, but showing some greatly appreciated support for what you see and read on here (thanks to all of our customers).

The weather had been very kind pretty much all weekend, and the glorious afternoon sunshine had scooters shining in the sun right across the campsite.

Saturday night’s headline act was the legendary Specials band member, Neville Staples and his band (who go down brilliantly every time they play) followed on by more silent disco shenanigans in the smaller room, and then before you know it, Sunday morning arrives and another superb rally is over.
I left for home slightly earlier than I normally would have from this rally, but not without going to see the rally organisers first. I consider many of them friends, and I always try to make a point of showing my appreciation for the countless hours of effort they all put in to make the rally run smoothly. Equally, I know how gutted they were for the two years the rally couldn’t go ahead, so to see it back with a bang was good all around.

The obligatory massive thanks go to all the organisers and all the UK’s scooterists that attend and make this rally what it is.

Carry on camping

On a final note, whilst walking around the site over the weekend and taking the photos you see in the gallery, I twice heard motorhome drivers being rude and borderline abusive to the gate staff about the cost of parking their vehicles. The diplomacy shown and courteous explanations given by the stewards was way beyond anything I could or would have ever offered!

I am by no means whatsoever having a dig at any of the car, van, or camper drivers that turn up – most of which double up as backup for breakdown cover, or just simply helping carry luggage and spare fuels. And to some of us that help is absolutely priceless. But if you’re in the 1% that turn up to a rally scooterless in a motorhome with the intent of moaning about the cost of parking it, do the other 99% of scootering a favour, and stay away.
In my own personal opinion, the National Scooter Rally scene doesn’t need or want you there.

Words and photos: Col

Col’s Kelso rallery