As ever, the gridlock in the car park caused by inconsiderate 'neighbours' prevented my leaving for the rally on time &, as ever, I rolled up later than expected to Esher Rugby Club (cést la vie!!). I rolled in to be greeted by the usual round of cheery felicitations from all at the control desk &, after receiving the customary wrist band & goody bag, I wobbled off down the gravel path (ahhhh scary) to the camping field to pitch my tent. With the assistance of Dave & Mary I was soon all set up & feeling instantly warmed by the usual Rejects good-natured camaraderie. After sorting out the 'wendy house' for the weekend I was back up to the control desk to offer help & spent the remainder of the morning & most of the afternoon with assorted fellow Rejects (special thanks to Margaret for the 'guided tour', Jackie for the lolly & Al for the great company!) watching faces, both familiar & unfamiliar, rolling up & trying to be useful.

Early evening arrived & my niece, Debs, & her partner Ant wheezed up in her old VW bus & I headed off to get them settled in. This done we hit the bar to start the evening's shenanigans to be greeted by the first band, The Look, all dressed up as Aladdin Sane look-alikes.

Two sets of glam rock, 70's style, soon had the party started & the newly discovered tall Archers certainly helped my evening along nicely thank you very much ;-) Ian, Anne & Steve did a howling blow-up guitar set & everyone danced the night away, some on the tables & bars(!), to an array of hits (& some misses!). One thirty a.m. arrived & niece, partner & myself all wobbled back to her old bus for a late-night cuppa & a chat accompanied by some very nice vintage Jimi Hendrix. Twenty past 2 found me too tired (& tiddly!) to function anymore & I hit my pit, sleeping right through the cacophony of parakeets that I was assured woke half the camp site up each morning; not me though - side-effects of the Archers maybe? ;-)

Saturday morning had me showered, coffeed & heading off to see what was in offing. After some consideration, I decided not to go on the ride-out & instead spent a sunny, perfect day whiling away the hours rekindling old friendships & catching up on 'family time'. I even managed to get in a little aromatherapy as well, fixed a locked shoulder & an aching back, and was pleased to have the opportunity give a little something back.

Saturday night had us all heading bar-wards once again to start where we left off the night before. The entertainment was preceded by prize-giving time & imagine my surprise (disbelief actually) when 'Baby' won the best XV535 prize - I really thought it was one of the famous Rejects wind-ups!!! I'm still chuffed to bits that someone else considers her to be as beautiful as I do :- ). Just time for a quick Archers or two - thanks Al ;-) & then off to catch the second band, '3 Go Mad', & boy did they!! Nick (aka the dark horse) Lappage lead the dancing & they dropped two great (& VERY loud) sets of some really excellent covers. Ant saw another side of both myself & Debs as we head-banged along (can anyone explain why it never used to make me dizzy when I was younger, but it does now?!?). Ian T even bopped about a bit with us - beer nice was it Ian ;-)? Sets done, T-shirts hanging from the lights, (don't ask!) it was off outside to cool down & socialise some more: man, was it hot that night! Debs by this time was persuading Ant to fix her up with starter bike - what have I done?? It has to be said, the highlight of the night had to be Otto riding stark naked around the clubhouse on his V-Max with two 'hitch-hikers' aboard :- ) Debs is getting to like this biking lark more & more by the moment! Even later back to bed than Friday, once again sleeping through the parakeets - this Archers definitely has something going for it methinks!

Up, not exactly with the larks, (or parakeets as the case may be) Sunday morning & by now utterly shattered I eventually started to put things away, the feeling of 'rally come-down' making me that much more sluggish. Debs & Ant wheezed away in the bus and I packed up: Dave, you are 'the man' on the tent front!! 'Baby' once again loaded up, it just remained to head for home. A quick goodbye & a thank you to all at control, a final natter to the great leader, & I headed back to the 'smoke', partly with a HUGE smile on my face having enjoyed the weekend so much & partly sad 'coz it was all over.

You know, Ian T said it doesn't get much better than being in any field with friends: well I reckon there's only one thing better, & that's being in a field full of Rejects. Thanks, as ever, for a BRILLIANT weekend & what I am sure will be my most enjoyable rally of 2003 (& this is not the voice of prejudice talking……….).

Annya
Centre 14

A journey to the other side of Watford  --- To Esher Rugby Club, Surrey
(by Mike Godwin, Centre 9)

Promise of 24-hour free tea and coffee, Local Attractions and Run-Outs, Three bars on site

three sets of segregated showers (Males, Females and Don't knows!!!), On Site food and night time picky bits Bike awards and Raffle, Silly Games Disco and two live bands.... And much more... was tantalising us onwards as we slowly edged round the M25 towards our destination. What a poxy motorway, mad drivers lane changing, speed traps on every overhead gantry but hey ho the sun was out.

Good directions by Steve Tyson's South London & Surrey Centre 14. A mega field greeted us at the far end of the main rugby pitch with the dilemma of where were the rest of our groups. Quite easy drift around to find a clump of mates sun bathing and sipping wine. After all pitched the serious matter of partying set in after many of us had eaten at the pub on the roundabout. A roundabout with serious entertainment value well for Esher that is!

As the sun set and the palm trees gently swayed with waves lapping on the shore a flight of parakeets ....... Hang on wot's goin on ere. Not just one but hundreds of green red necked parakeets came back to their nightly roost in the trees at the club. Bloody peacocks last rally what next we ask ourselves. A mad glam band assaulted our senses on the Friday night, seemed like nice boys. A fairly tame VSOC on Friday night by our usual rally standards.

Saturday brought forth more sunshine check for hangover - nope ready for action. Some went on the ride out to a Posh House and some opted for a rideout to the Matlock Bath of the south - Box Hill. A quick drink at Buckas cafe then off to conquer the heights of Box Hill. Local Harley guys warned us that horrendous speed humps had been put in to ruin the run up via Zig Zag lane. a wonderful switch back of a road. Good job they don't drive in Nottingham. Humps? Nah.. gentle hillocks.

Some fun corners and then a circuit round some trees and the beautiful view over Surrey from the peak.

Back to base for silly games or rather slow bike riding with honours going to a Virago XV1100. Food, drink, Birds, drink, food, sheep... sorry.., birds, then down to serious partying with a good band Three Go Mad and they did and we did.

Dancing...


 



Skipping...




Otto usual...

 

Just a good time...

All had a great night, it was even WARM, goodness knows what time we turned in.

The Sunday brought out the wonderful early birds of the non-feathered variety. Sod it the suns out and Ade was kindly cooking some bacon, which he shared with us.

The ride back for many was right though the quaint south of London via Richmond and Kew to the Ace Cafe for a cuppa before heading north . First time at the Ace for some of us.

A great weekend roll on the next rally. Thanks to Steve and the crew of centre 14

And another report from Mr John Stevens of Centre 12

South London Rally

After the Yorkies, I said the next rally would really have something to try to beat. Never for one moment did I think the first attribute to be beaten, and so soon, would be the noise of the peacock…..but South London, not to be outdone, parked us alongside a colony of 6,000 Indian Ring Necked Parakeets. Now this could be a problem for most people, as parrots tend to wake early and are quite vocal. I have a passion for parrots though so one of the highlights of the weekend for me, was looking out of my tent around 5am on Saturday morning, to see the sky filled with Ring Necks like a plague of locust. They were under attack from a flock of crows, but being vastly outnumbered, the crows soon retreated, which gave rise to more screeching and calling from the victorious parakeets. It occurred to me that by the end of the Rally they were more likely to become Wring Necked Parakeets, but like the Yorkshire Peacock they lived to see the departure of a large number of happy bikers, some sporting parakeet feathers from various garments and motorcycles, after another brilliant VSOC rally.

We arrived later than intended due to the delayed arrival of Hans and Han who had ridden over from Holland. They were due to be at our house by 11.30am, but due to a slight mis-understanding, turned up at about 5pm, having taken the scenic route. I was dreading leading 6 bikes through M25 rush hour traffic, but it went much better than I could have hoped. Having pitched the tent on Thursday night, my first task should have been inflating 6 sofas to furnish Centre 12's gazebo……but we found the sofas not only inflated, but occupied by beer swigging, marshmallow munching party animals.

The Friday night band, The Look, is fronted by our very own Colin Hawkins, (AKA Lee Dur). They went down a storm with continuous dance floor activity and chorus singing to prove it. Colin was appropriately dressed in his Lee Dur Kneivel suit, commissioned specially for this gig. Another Centre 12 member, Tel the Hat Custance, became a surprise guest on stage with a guitar solo introduction to one of their final numbers, and it was great evening all round.

The ride out on Saturday to Polesden Lacey was the first VSOC rally ride out, in my experience, to try passive marshalling (second manning), and I was very impressed with how smoothly it went. PMR radios helped enormously to control the supply of marshals to the front and it was only necessary to block three junctions on both the outward and return legs of the ride.

When our Indian take-away arrived on Saturday evening, the gazebo and sofas became our dining room, although by now 3 of the sofas were feeling a little let down! Still, they served a purpose, and it was then time for another wild VSOC party night. The band was very LOUD, and the room hot. So there was a good deal of partying al fresco….until Otto gave his usual appearance on his V-Max. This was followed by a second performance with a naked Otto sandwiched between two ladies………. one of whom had more on display than she might have expected, or wanted……so the boys enjoyed the 'show' as much as the girls………..although I did hear a female voice call out "Put it away Otto, we've seen it before!".

Unlike most people, I was disappointed not to wake up in time to see the parakeets leaving their roost to go off to decimate some poor farmer's crop for the day. It took longer than usual to pack away, but eventually we said all our goodbyes and set off on our meagre 30 mile journey home, arriving just in time for the French F1 Grand Prix!

A brilliant weekend, in which all of my interests, (Bikes, parrots, F1) were satisfied. Thanks to all of Centre 14 for a great time.

John Stevens