The original National Scooter Day (NSD) took place on 12th September 1981 and was the brainchild of Tommy Marr, a well-known Worcester scooterist back in the day. This was the forerunner event leading to the National Scooter Rallies that have taken place ever since.
The first National Scooter Day was held at the Three Counties Showground, Malvern. We visited the site during the recent National Scooter Day 2 ride out to pay homage to the original rallies 40th year anniversary on Saturday 18th, 2021. The ride out was led by Norman Lambert and Gary Smart who both attended the 1981 rally.
Out To Grass
NSD2 was planned by Andrew and Julie Barlow, Richard Greenway (another 1981 attendee of NSD, aka Captain Chaos) and Steve Bird as co-hosts to celebrate the anniversary of the inaugural event. A number of scooterists who attended NSD2 were at the original rally. The 2021 event was held at Out To Grass on 17-19th September with the venue set in the beautiful countryside of the Malvern Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty which the ride-out took scooterists through on a tour of the fabulous scenery.
Welcome to the pleasure dome
Some 90 or so scooterists attended and enjoyed the superb facilities of the well-organized campsite with ample hookups, terraced pitches, and clean toilets and washrooms. Entertainment in the domes included music sets from various DJs playing ska, northern soul & mod tunes with Vaseline headlining on Saturday night and Chalky entertaining us on Friday. All in a surreal beautiful landscape setting.
The awards for Best Lambretta (Tony M Beeton, an original NSD attendee from Cambridge), Best Vespa (Gary Gould, an original NSD attendee from Ebbw Vale), and the Best Auto Scooter (Shaun Smith, Pershore, Worcestershire).
BLESMA
The rally was dedicated to the Memory of Staff Sergeant Simon Cuerden who helped set up the Armed Forces Scooter Club and was instrumental in the support of BLESMA as the club’s designated charity.’
All in all, everyone who attended NSD2 had a good time with a vintage clothing stall, excellent catering on offer and the rallies sole beneficiary being British Limbless Ex-Servicemen’s Association (BLESMA), a very worthy charity helping our injured troops & personnel. The total raised at NSD2 for BLESMA is an incredible £919.29 (including £120.00 sponsorship for BLESMA T-shirts) which is a tremendous sum for this new event! Greenway Landscape Architect’s also sponsored the rally patch so everyone who attended had a free one on entry to the event.
Bigger for next year?
As the event was such a resounding success it is planned to hold NSD3 over the weekend of the 16th-18th September in 2022, although we’ll be confirming a new venue. This year the weather was dry, warm, and sunny so come along to the event next year and experience a ‘cracking’ rally in beautiful countryside. Come and enjoy this little gem of a rally that you won’t want to miss.
Words and photos: Richard Greenway
NSD3 are investigating alternative venues for 2022 and the dates may vary as we are keenly aware the ticket price needs to be kept reasonable for all our lovely scooterists to attend in greater numbers so watch Worcester 332 COG webpage for announcements.
OTR increase their price so we have decided another venue will be chosen but equally as picturesque & in the countryside near Malvern (Details to be confirmed).
Richard Greenway aka Cpt.Chaos.