Great Yarmouth

I cannot believe it’s been 25 years since I first joined the scooterist ranks and ‘powered’ my way up the A12 towards Yarmouth for the 1983 rally. Back then the trip aboard my ‘T’ registration Vespa 50 Special seemed more like an epic journey, even though it was only about 80 miles each way for me to the Norfolk coastal town. However, without any backup plan like the RAC or AA, no idea of direction and my underseat grey plastic toolbox filled with little more than a couple of cheese sarnies and a flask of tea (thanks mum), it’s quite amazing that I actually made it at all! Thing is though, I did, and from the moment I entered the host town and became aware of our fantastic scene I was hooked.

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Antwerp, Belgium

Despite the wintry weather at Gt Yarmouth the week before, this didn’t perturb a respectable number of scooterists from the UK and Europe from donning rain, wind and snowproof clothing again and riding their scooters to the now well established Antwerp Custom Show in Belgium.

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With the British weather as it has been lately, I was relieved to be greeted with a reasonably fine day, well, dry at least and surprisingly warm. The M6 was unblocked for once and I even got to see a scoot (or two) on the way down (which doesn’t usually happen with me until I’m right on top of a venue) in the form of the new owner of Helpless Dancer merrily adding some road grime to his gold plating and engraving.

Arriving at the town hall in Burton I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was there ample free parking but enclosed, manned and covered by CCTV – now I’m not too great a fan of big brother keeping a watchful eye over things but I thought in this case it gave riders extra peace of mind when leaving their scoots behind. Walking into the first, small room, I initially thought the show wasn’t that well attended, that is until I found a second room full of entrants!

For an event so early in the year there was certainly a good turnout (must be something to do with the Brewers putting their profits back into the scene in the form of a free show) with a fair old variety of machines. Memphis Belle and Deckchairs at Dawn represented the full customs, while new scoots such as Old Skool Blue – a delicately smoke flamed GTS – and 2 Fast made their first appearances. Reggie Taylor had brought along his Modded-up motorised Vespa, assisted in some way by his dad as he is still to young to have done the work himself!

In the second room Luna-tic proudly showed its new colour scheme off, a green Kandy has been used as base with vreeble laid over the top – a favourite paint effect of mine from some time back. And nine AF Rayspeeds lined up on one wall, looking very sweet indeed, along with the Vespa smallframe Rumours, which still looks well.

As I was looking for a couple of parts to repair my GS with I was chuffed to find yet another room tucked away and packed to the rather attractive cast iron beams with dealers. Turns out there wasn’t enough room to accommodate everybody, so some had to make do with pitches in the car park, one scooter club that turned up en masse and a little late had to display their scooters outside! I still didn’t get what I was after though…

Award wise Memphis Belle cleared up, taking five trophies away including best of show, Not Quite Right SC cheered and jeered themselves after winning best club, little Reggie’s Vespa bagged one and second female entrant was collected by a thoroughly embarrassed Mick Burgess whose young lady, Mandy had had to leave early!

For a first ‘do’ the year seems to be boding well, the weather held up all day encouraging a good attendance, both in scooters shown and numbers attending, so hats off to the Brewers for another fine event!

Richie

The evening do

Burton Town Hall is a beautiful place boasting a massive hall complete with wooden dance floor, overlooked by huge stained glass windows and a decent sized crowd of revellers came to dance the night away at the free evening do. Early on it seemed a bit ‘wedding reception’ with dozens of teenagers at the family friendly event (it only needed Peter Kay to go skidding across the stage on his knees and the scene would have been complete!),
but as the night wore on mums and dads sent the kids off to the back of the room with crisps and a bottle of Rola-cola and let the adults have some fun.

The dance floor soon filled up as a selection of quality DJs spun some top tunes; one of the popular floor fillers was the chart topping Welsh Northern Soul diva, Duffy with her brilliant single Mercy. It’s been a few years since the charts had Northern in them!

Modern classics mixed seamlessly with popular oldies and kept the floor busy until 1am when the fire alarm cleared the building and the fire brigade forced us to go home earlier than planned. Not to worry, a great night out was had by all.

Iggy

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For some years now, Ginger has been threatening not to organise another egg run, and after 20-odd years of putting them on who can blame him. After each successful event though he relents to public request and agrees to do just one more…

This year though it seems events have finally taken the decision away from him – in its present form at least. The health authority that is in charge of the area has decided to close the hospital and bring all the services under one roof at another location – health cuts or politics, you decide.

For me, Ginger’s is the ‘proper’ start of the scootering year. Before smudging and scribing for these hallowed pages it was my first chance to catch up with everybody, these days though it seems it’s my only chance in the year to ride with what’s left of my original mates – the only time we all get together and so an event I really look forward to.

All started out well and, as I set off, the forecast rain had still to arrive. In fact the sun even came out for a (very) brief period. Taking a detour to make sure Danny and Dawn had got their scoot taxed and tested, I headed off through luuurvely Widnes to partake in a little of ZootScoot Geoff’s hospitality. Every year he lays on free brews and snacks for scooterists making their way to Lowton and as such has become the first meeting place for riders heading in from north Wales, Cheshire and of course the Warrington area in which he has his shop.

Bang-on quarter to 11-ish the first impatient scooterist kicked his scoot into life, starting the rush to gulp the drinks and get lids and gloves on, leaving Geoff shrouded in a noxious blue haze – we were off!

Arriving in Lowton, we found an unusually congestion-free road. Worrying only for a minute, it seems after (understandable) complaints from local residents that a second car park had been opened to allow free access to the neighbouring housing estate, one which we didn’t see and rode straight past! After a quick look around the scoots in the car park and finding Ian Harrop of the VMSC to pay him my registration verification fees (thanks for your help, it’s in the hands of the DVLA now!) it was back on the scoot as I tried to push my way to the front of the queue to shoot ‘the off’, only to be left like Charlie the cat as the police had already waved Ginger away…

Not to worry though, I found him stopped about a mile up the road in order to bunch everyone up into a larger group. It seems that after meetings with the powers that be, outriders and an escort couldn’t be made available as it has been deemed that gatherings of over seven people are now to be regarded as ‘illegal’ gatherings and therefore the authorities couldn’t be seen to be assisting in unlawful activities. The police, however, did have a presence as their cars continued their ‘normal patrol duties’ in the flow of scooters ensuring good relations between irate motorists and scooter riders.

Back to the plot and, with a suitably impressive group amassed, Ginger waved everyone off for the second time, to the joy of those people still waiting at the side of the roads, waving their flags and generally enjoying the spectacle and fumes. As the ride progressed though, the weather turned foul and I regretted my earlier optimism! Teeming rain drenched the riders, many opting to duck into one of the many pubs for shelter and send one unlucky rider on with arms full of eggs collected from those inside.
On arriving at the hospital, I was surprised to find (for somewhere that was supposed to be closing to save money) a large metal structure had been erected to provide dual level parking, making it hard to judge how many had actually made it all the way. With the rain still falling, many stopped only a short while before heading home or back to Lowton for the custom show and entertainment.

Most arrived back at the hall just in time for the heavens to unleash what was left right on top of the unfortunate judges who stuck to their task. The weather though had an effect on the outcome of the results as a number of scooters that would undoubtedly have been awarded prizes simply didn’t arrive.
Even with the weather being so bad, Ginger’s rideout still attracted around 2000 hardy people. Whether (no pun intended) the event takes place next year or not is still undecided. The venue though is established and in an ideal location for any number of other children’s hospitals in the area such as Alder Hey, so in one form or another I’m sure another rideout will still take place, which, as ever I’ll be looking forward to. All that remains to say is a big thank you once again to Ginger for organising another successful event and to apologise in advance for any incorrect show results – my notebook was like me, soaked through!

Richie

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Having been unable to attend their first do I thought no big deal there will be others. It wasn’t until I received the positive feedback that I realised what I had actually missed out on. So the A1 beckoned in search of the good times!

The idea behind these monthly events is to recreate the rally atmosphere that so many thirty- to forty-somethings are unable to attend due to family commitments.

With a top rallygoing DJ, (Tony Class) and the cream of live entertainment, (two top acts at each do).To be quite honest, I think they have cracked it.

Set in a beautiful old building dating back to the 13th century with a recent £250,000 refurbishment complete with an upstairs balcony, perfect if one feels inclined to jettison themselves off in a moment of madness! With no saucepan lids to flatten in the process, perfect!

There are Spanish style villas to trash... I mean crash, adjoining the building, a mere stumble away. It also boasts a restaurant serving traditional cuisine, and no the tomato sauce is not watered down and the rolls are definitely vacant of scabs!

After Tony’s spontaneous spinning The Petty Hoodlums worked their magic with a wonderfull array of (not quite the usual sounds) from The Jam, Kinks, Yardbirds, Booker T & the MGs, with more attitude than Bin Bag Laden! They finished with an explosive rendition of My Generation complete with Hammond organ and practically wrecked their equipment in the process! Fabulous!

The Small Fakers topped the bill with an eclectic set of classics as well as stonking versions of Watcha Gonna Do 'Bout It, Tin Soldier and the like. We were also treated to some of the more obscure pieces, Donkey Rides A Penny, I'm Only Dreaming to Happy Days Toy Town, the list goes on. Matt ‘Steve Marriot’ Bond has fantastic stage presence and vocally pitch perfect, his age, stature and, more importantly, his barnet is right on the button. There is nothing fake about this outfit they are the real deal. They are now very much in demand so watch out for them at Camber.

The night went on until 1am and everyone went crazy for it, the crowds spilling out into the cold night air more than content and counting down the days for the next shindig, which is on 28 Feb at Timbers night club, Stotfold, Hitchin, featuring the magnificent Hiwatts and the highly polished Overtures & the resident DJ Mr Tony Class. This function is supported by The Frontline SC, The Incrowd SC, The Pilgrims SC and The North Herts Scooter Collective to name a few. This is a highly recommended evening out for all who like to party.

The Welwyn Staggs scooter club meet every Wednesday at the Ludwig Arms, Welwyn, Herts. Cheers to Pete, Basha, Jim, Kelley, Mindy, Steve & Julie... you people ROCK! Go Mental,but ride safe!

Wolfy

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Once again early February heralded the Birmingham Olympic SC pre-season do, used by many as a kick-start to the new year and a great chance to catch up with old friends about what they’ve been doing over the winter period. Oh yes, there’s also a bar and some great DJs playing music until 2am, so you can drink and dance as well!

Arriving fashionably late for our host, Vince’s 7.30 appointment with other club members at the venue (thanks for your hospitality by the way, and congratulations to you and Jane!), we retired to the already packed bar for a few pints. Already the range of accents in attendance spanned the corners of the UK with regular rallygoers swapping stories of winter rebuilds, parts recommendations, ‘must do’ rallies of the year, plus all the usual gossip (most of it unprintable for legal reasons, but suffice to say that’s it at the social events where the real nitty-gritty of opinions of good and bad dealers can be heard!).

The dance floor was soon packed with smiley, happy people, dancing to an eclectic mix of tunes ranging from the classic traditional to less common alternative. For Olympic members and friends this was also a chance to remember Steve Bywater who had sadly passed away at the end of 2007. I think all would agree that as a club they did him proud.

Outside the buzz was just as good, with the smokers holding court in the fresh air, the constantly open doors causing management at one stage to close the bars (five-deep at the time!) because someone had spotted a bottle of wine being consumed that was not purchased there. A definite contender for ‘weakest link’! Thankfully someone with far more sense realised that the vast profit waiting to be served was better than a riot and so things continued as normal until eventually the last song was played and people started to disappear towards their lodgings.

The 2008 season is well and truly here, and I for one cannot wait!

Andy

The Olympic SC would like to add that Steve Bywater’s daughter and family were there in memory of him. They would all like to thank everyone for donations to the air ambulance, £700 was given at his funeral.

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Bee and Jay would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was involved and turned up on the day for the first annual Pink Ladies’ Breast Cancer Research UK Rideout, in making it the success it was, and giving those special ladies with breast cancer such a day to remember for us all. There were so many to thank it is an impossible task.

Bee and I were astonished to see such an array of pink, we salute you for the dressing up of scooters and the Harley Ladies and Bikers who joined in with the fun. Our guest of honour, Tutti Frutti – all we could hear on the ride out was your siren and it was brilliant! Alex from The Scene was our DJ for the day and Orange Street the band, you brought the crowds flocking in, and Mahaa scooters, you made a girl very happy! Thanks also to all the businesses that sponsored us, donated raffle prizes and gave us money. All of you have played a part in this and made a difference also raising the profile on scootering, not to mention bringing scooterists and bikers together. Well done!

And for the next one, we are planning to do the Ladies’ Ride Out every two years so next year we will plan a Cancer Research UK Ride Out for all of us, it’s in draft now as we speak. If you require more details of this event please contact us on 02392 691161. Finally, Bee and I would like to say thank you so much for dipping into your pockets and purses to raise what we think is going to be a staggering amount for Cancer Research UK.

Bee and Jay

Top /\ | Full write up & more images in the FEBRUARY 08 issue, now available as a back issue order.

Almost the end of another successful scootering season and it was time for the Gorehounds SC to put their name firmly back on the scootering map with a 25th anniversary dance.

We book a small local venue, Cambusbarron Social Club, which holds a maximum of 130 – that will be big enough, surely?

By 7.30 there about 50 people in the hall. The music’s playing and it wasn’t all soul – surprisingly a bit of Madness, The Specials and even SLF. Then it happened, bus after bus, old Davie from the social club looking concerned says: “Gary I think you’ve got more than 130 in here,” to which I reply, “I want another pint mate!” Clubs in attendance were The Animals, The Ghosts, The Globbies, Clyde Panthers, Falkirk Wasps, Falkirk SC, Edinburgh Reivers, Ayrshire Groundhogs, Happy Jack SC. By this time I reckon 200 are in the hall, all dancing away. The presentation of gifts to the founder members took place and farthest travelled was Sharron from the Happy Jacks SC (Swansea), and best supported club were The Ghosts.

The first band, made up of some of our scootering mates from the Kilmarnock area, takes to the stage. Minty and friends – Dodgy Jammers – gave us a few old Jam numbers. They were superb considering they had only played a handful of practice sessions and only formed for the do. Then the raffle, with Neil and Alleena running the show, with more prizes than a gift shop.

The buffet was wolfed down, with only a bowl of tomatoes left. I’ve never seen so many hungry people in one place (thanks to Tam and Audrey for their efforts here)! I catch old Davie coming over with that concerned look on his face, he says: “Gary, we might have a problem.” I’m thinking ‘here we go, whit is it noo?’ To which he says: “I think we might run out of drink!” Another good night then!

It was then time for the main event, a young band from Stirling – Organised Chaos – absolutely brilliant, playing a vast array of tunes from SLF to the Sex Pistols to Green Day, they had the crowd screaming for more and nice lads too.

Then the O’Curry fellow and Gilly took to the decks once more to finish the night with another hour of soul classics.
A superb return to the fore for us Gorehounds, a roaring success made only by the club members who worked hard – you know who you are. Our sponsors who donated gifts for the raffle, Warrior Clothing, Cambridge Lambrettas, Scootering magazine, Rally Spares, Sharron (Happy Jacks SC), VFM No1’s committee. Most importantly we would like to thank the people who turned up to make it a great night.

See you all again for a new season of fun and frolics in 2008!

Gary

Top /\ | Full write up & more images in the FEBRUARY 08 issue, now available as a back issue order.

AAfter our fill of Christmas turkey, scorched pudding and eggnog it’s always nice to see the new year in with like-minded friends from the scootering world.

Held once again at the Beauchief Hotel in Loughborough, VFM’s end of year bash is always well filled with faces from all corners of the UK and in some cases further afield; in fact the Liege ST had travelled over 400 miles to attend once again!

With DJs Pitchie and Tesco at the decks the compact room soon filled with people, ready to party in our time-honoured fashion. Soon soul, ska, and indie filled the airwaves of the Leicestershire town. The fancy dress option always goes down well, perhaps showing scooterists flamboyant characters. So it was quite usual to see various insects, superheroes and cartoon favourites bopping away with such superstars as Michael Jackson, Rocky Balboa, a pair of Amy Winehouses and an Elvis!

At the bar you could also spot many other faces from stage and screen mixed in with nurses, the Little Britain quartet of Daffyd, Bubbles Devere and Lou and Andy, and there was even a burlesque dancer – very saucy Mrs G! Some nationality changes also took place with some Belgians becoming Spaniards and Russians, and even the VFM’s premier duo also getting into the spirit to become cowboys, how apt, sorry!

Of course by the midnight hour most costumes were a little dishevelled but the atmosphere was still electric and many people partied away well into the early hours, not thinking of the repercussions the morning hangovers would bring.

So that was it, goodbye 2007, another year full of memories some happy, some sad. Now I’ve just worked out there’s only 11 weeks to Easter!

Happy New Year to you all!

Dinnertime Dave

Top /\ | Full write up & more images in the FEBRUARY 08 issue, now available as a back issue order.

This year’s freakish climatic conditions saw to it that setting out at noon on Thursday, me on my Vespa 250 and my boy on his T5 cutdown, we not only saw several scooters en route, but also by Saturday lunch at what could be termed a sans scooter rally, a music festival with a scooterist slant if you will, there were several hundred on site.

The jaunt down was pretty much uneventful; the disparity in cc’s between the GTS and T5 was pretty much counterbalanced by the fact that my son’s about seven stone lighter than my goodself.

onsequently, we were scooting along at 60 plus all the way, even hitting 70 on occasion, and we were on site by 4pm.

Mr Quartermain furnished us with the key to our chalet where we were able to avail ourselves of not only a shave and a shower but a smoke too before hitting the do at 9pm just as the night’s opening act ‘The Communicators’ were taking to the stage in the main room. On lead vocals we had a rather rotund character by the name of Big Mitch and with his nine-piece outfit (the trombone player was decked out as a bottle of Newcastle Brown!) served up a stonkin’ set of ska standards to the rapturous delight of those assembled.

Top /\ | Full write up & more images in the JANUARY 08 issue, now available as a back issue order.

A change is as good as a break, and while you can’t argue with the popularity of the Bridlington Trade and Custom Show, we chose to wait until November before riding up to Harwich for a rough crossing over to Holland in weather that saw the Thames Barrier close and the East Coast of England standby on tidal wave warnings...

MASSIVE ONLINE GALLERY IS NOW AVAILABLE >>

Top /\ | Full write up & more images in the JANUARY 08 issue, now available as a back issue order.

This event has become a bit of an annual pilgrimage for us over the past few years, so with a trio of Lincoln SC members our journey started with a Thursday night ferry crossing from Harwich to the Dutch Europort. Already on board the ship we found Darren and Wendy from the Colchester Deviants SC, so after encampment at a suitable table we spent the night chewing the fat over quite a few lagers, oh my head!
The next morning our beauty sleep was ruined by the tannoyed arrival announcement and the next few hours, four to be precise, were spent hazily travelling across the flat lands of Holland, over the Belgium border and down into the beautiful valleys of the Walloon region not far from the Luxemburg border. On arrival in Tillf, 10 miles to the south of Liege, our hosts, the Liege Scooterist Tribe met us with a very warm welcome and very cold beer, lovely.
Soon the chateau courtyard started to fill with other early arrivals; funnily enough most of these also seemed to be from the UK. Included in the numbers were groups from The Bolton Spartans, Birmingham Olympics, Dirty Mills and as usual some colourful Tartan Army from North of the Border

Top /\ | Full write up & more images in the NOVEMBER 07 issue, now available as a back issue order.

Top /\ | Much more stuff in the magazine

Shires isn't far for me. In fact one tank of petrol does it nicely for the Malossi, just three junctions of the M1 South and then the A38, not far from the original Shires venue either, and sign posted! I had wondered what the attendance might be like this year, what with the revised date being at the tail end of such a gorgeous hot summer and it being a camping rally. As I arrived in the early evening mist of rain, having travelled down after work, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many tents were already pitched.
I could hear the music blasting from the main marquee, and to make me smile even more, the rain stopped! The venue is acres of open land alongside the river, with a couple of marquees erected for the occasion, the largest being the main room with a bar included, and the smaller being the Soul Room. There’s also a few portable loos and showers dotted about the site.

Top /\ | Full write up & more images in the NOVEMBER 07 issue, now available as a back issue order.

Top /\ | Much more stuff in the magazine

In the October 07 issue of Scootering!

The World's Biggest Scooter Rally? Scootering have the BIGGEST coverage of it, five full pages plus a pull-out centrespread, PLUS extra images on the online gallery here... (Images by Andy, Sticky, Richie and Lobby)

• Enter the massive online gallery - over 110 images!

Top /\ | Full write up & more images in the OCTOBER 07 issue, now available as a back issue order.

One of the good things about Mersea Island scooter rally is that it is of the old school mentality and therefore in theory can be as cheap or as expensive as you choose.
One of the bad things about Mersea Island scooter rally is that this year, despite charginga fiver for car parking (the money raised all going to charity), an excessive amount, in my opinion, of four-wheelers were there. I mean, how many excuses can you have?

• Enter the online extra gallery

Top /\ | Full write up & more images in the Oct 07 issue.

Photos from Euro Lambretta 2007, hoster by Lambretta Club Deutchland. A full 4-page report and more pictures is in July 2007's Scootering.

ENTER THE EURO GALLERY!

Full write up in the July 07 issue.

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Scooter Sunday at London's Ace Cafe, celebrating 30 years of the Vespa PX and 60 years of Lambretta scooters.

Loads of extra pictures here!

Full write up in the June 2007 issue. (buy online!)

Top /\ | Much more stuff in the magazine (back issue)

A beautiful island off the Italian coast, full of scooters from around Europe.

Loads of extra pictures here!

Full write up in the June 2007 issue. (buy online!)

Cobblestone Run 2

Loads of extra pictures here!

Full write up in the June 2007 issue. (buy online!)

Margate Rally

Loads of extra pictures here!

Full write up in the June 2007 issue. (buy online!)

Top /\ | Much more stuff in the magazine

Antwerp Custom Show

And for those that want more, here are some extra photos of people and scooters not published in the magazine..

Olympic SC Annual do

Loads of extra pictures here!

 

January 2007: Milan Show Special

The Vespa GTV range are in the showrooms now and boast this rather lovely vintage green colour, and a grey. Meanwhile Piaggio announced a GTS 125 in Milan, pictured here in ‘delicate’ shade of yellow...
MILAN SHOW GALLERY • SCOOTERING SHOW GIRLS!

December 2006: Paris Scooter Show gallery

NOVEMBER: Woolacombe 2006

Online Photo Special

Had a good time at Wooly? Wanna see more of the Wurzels? Or simply like looking scooter rally photos? Well there's a large selection here which you will NOT find in the magazine, and vice versa - so now you know!
• Open the gallery HERE

OCTOBER: Isle of Wight Scooter Rally 2006

Online Photo Special
The Isle of Wight scooter rally is regarded by many to be the biggest scooter event in the world today. As such, we simply don't have enough space in the magazine to print all the photos, so on top of the 130+ in Scootering, there's another 70 or so to be found in our online gallery. Found yourself yet?
Open the gallery HERE

SEPTEMBER: Exmouth Scooter Rally - September issue

Online Photo Special
To read Bill Mac's full review of this year's Exmouth Scooter Rally, and to see the photos used in print then you'll have to buy the September edition of the magazine.

Open the gallery HERE
(Photos by Lobby)