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Northern Raiders (Centre 4)Fourgasm Rally 2001(Report by Nick Lappage)
By the time we had to go outside, the rainy weather had gone, so we could all talk a lot longer together or you could always go back to the tents and carry on the party there - but please, not til six in the morning again eh? Oh go on then - just let us all come along. Talking of six in the morning, I don't think Scouse and Caroline from the MAD Tent were very happy when the Catering van started up the music that early on Saturday. Your free breakfast was either a Bacon or Sausage burger, with beans or tommies and then hop over to the long queue for the teas and coffees. Apparently the urns took a long time to warm up as the ladies (and some of the gents) wanted to use the power sockets to dry their hair!
Few could resist the temptation to relive the Titanic scenes from the bough of the toy ship (didn't the signs say under thirteen's only?). Others decided to go down to Whitby (Dracula's landing place) or up to see the Angel of the North (Giant, rusty, aeroplane/lady, metal statue). Or you could go roaming into the lovely countryside nearby. Whyaye, theev gorrit all ooptheer! A charity shave was being performed during the afternoon and then Saturday night brought on the raffle, presentations, Karaoke, Band and Disco.
The winners of the best bike awards were very late in coming down to the stage, probably due to the bar being so far away (it wasn't that far). Well done lads. There was even an award for the Worlds Loudest Snorer. 30 prizes were drawn in the raffle - who won the colour telly then?
Noo, Ah think the singin' was the best. Many people will always remember fondling (oops, fondly) Angie's dulcet tones as she sang totally out of tune to "Don't It Make Your Brown Eyes Blue?". I have never seen a standing ovation before, let alone tears of laughter (some running down peoples legs) from a mere karaoke. As I've always said if you're going to do something, do it BIG. Otto was given a unique beer stein for arranging the Czech trip and another one was passed to him for Lorraine's involvement as well. The Flying Oysters were the band for the night (and Sunday). They went down even better than Friday's band.
Loads more beer drinking ensued and the re-emergence of a now famous, very nearly naked Otto on his bike in the dance hall. I've censored the picture to hide any embarrassment, but nice flames mate! Oh and when did the sirens go off then? So you think you're safe in those suits do you?
On the return to the rally site there was just enough time for doing whatever you needed before the Open Forum. This Open Forum was the second one held and is meant as a question and answer session to the VSOC National Committee. It was a very important forum this day as it decided the political issues that had dogged the last two rallies, and eventually quashed any ideas of misconduct or wrong doing, which is a pleasure to see (no, not the misconduct or wrong doing...) If you want any more information on this please contact your centre rep. Unfortunately, dear reader, this was the last bit I saw as I had to leave early and come back home. Here's some quotes from the VSOC Online Forum about the weekend:
Big thanks to the Northern Raiders who most definitely put themselves out to ensure that we had a great time. Will get up for the karaoke next time, now I know what the competitions like.
You may or may not have heard of the legend of the Hartlepool Monkey Hanging.
Click here Well, here are some piccies of the rally and as far as I'm concerned they sum up all the fun that we had...
These pictures are in Low Resolution. If you want High Resolution copies, contact the
webmaster That's it from me for now. Maybe we'll all meet up at one of the End of Season Parties that are going around or at the NEC Motorbike Show. If not keep checking the dates and news sections of the site for further information and we'll all meet again in 2002.
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What can I say? This is the first rally I've been to where it's been held on the site of a Nuclear Power Station! The rally was actually at the Hartlepool Power Station Social Club near the Visitor Centre which was (reassuringly?) shut. It was pretty dismal weather when we arrived at about 8.45 in the evening. The sun was just setting - giving that lovely red sky that we all love (or was it the fiery light from the petrol refineries?). Having said that, it's dead easy to find the rally site from anywhere nearby as all you had to do was to follow the big, flaming, gas burning tower. So up went the tent, with a little help from our friends (thanks for the torch, Paul) and off we all went in search of food, beer and the VSOC way. The fun was just about starting as we entered the club, with a band called simply, XL. They can be contacted at 
There was dancing a'plenty, with more than a few flips and turns - Nice one Otto! Nearly all of us progressed through the night, reacquainting ourselves with old friends and finding new members on their first rally, only to be told that the bar was shutting at midnight! Booo!! Ah well, the food stall outside provided us with more musical entertainment and we could always drink the cans from behind the bar at £1 per can (so long as you bought them before midnight or thereabouts).
Anyway we could all read up or revise on the Northern power of speech, with a very funny little booklet found in each rally pack - How to Speak Geordie , where we could now order food ("Gissies, tetties and bagies"), beer ("Broonsalroond/Gizabroonjack" or "Fowerfedz"), whisky ("Gizashort") and, well, you know, the usual rally stuff ("Gantethehop?"), ("Mindshesweelstacked") etc. Of course, in the morning you could say "Ah wes palatick!".
On Saturday or Sunday, you could go on a Biking Pub Crawl (Treasure Hunt to you and me), where you would solve clues and if all correct you would be awarded a limited pin badge - very nice. Or there were various local areas you could go to. We decided to go to Seaton Carew, a local seaside toon where there was a historic quay. Here you could learn all aboot the way of life on board ship and even have a go at the training centre, honing your skills at navigation, steering, rat catching and rigging amongst others.
Sunday brought on the Ride Out to Durham, and what excellent weather we had all day. Fantastically warm and sunny! We parked about fifteen minutes walk away from the town centre and spent nearly 2 1/2 hours checking out the sights. My it's along walk up to the Castle and Cathedral. I guess someone knows their way around here though, 'cos we found one of our lads bikes parked right at the top. (I suppose the locals may have objected to over one hundred bikes parking on the lawns).
So once fed, watered and shopped, we all met again to have a ride through the countryside. It really is beautiful up here. It's a shame some of the drivers can't be a bit more patient as they tuck in to the pack of bikes after tearing up on the outside. Still, live and learn eh? There's nearly always a story to tell on the return from one of these ride outs, and Mel from Northern Ireland seems to have earned his place in the rally books for this little gem. Now you know that the marshals wear fluorescent yellow vests so that we cant miss them? Well It would appear that the hapless chap followed the wrong yellow vest somewhere out there and took a different turn to the rest of us, carrying on for a while until the unknown crew turned round and asked him who he was. How many people do you know can lose over one hundred bikes just like that?
