East & West Midlands Present:
Midlands Mayhem 2

31st May - 3rd June 2002

Report by Nick Lappage

Oooh my head. That's what I'm thinking as I'm typing this. Pass me the after sun lotion purlease!!! It's all my fault from a ride out on Saturday - but more of that later.

Firstly, what a great rally. It was held at Barker Butts Rugby Club, just off the A45 in sunny South (ish) Coventry. The weather forecast , which I'm starting to trust at last, got it all right. Sun, more sun and even more sun. Thunder storms were forecast and they came too, but not until we'd all gone home, or at least most of us had.

For the first VSOC Rally of the year Jem and Paul, the organisers,  got it spot on. I was absolutely gob smacked as I arrived and saw how many people had already arrived, and were still arriving. I was even more amazed to see how many new members had turned up to their first rally. Welcome to you all.

I passed over my tickets to Chris and Mark at the gate and was given, in return, a goodie bag containing, amongst other bits and pieces, a Mayhem T shirt, the ubiquitous patch and a Cadburys Chomp bar (very handy after a Friday night on the sauce, I can tell you). I had a couple of spare tickets and was very pleased to learn that some kind person had bought them later that night - Thank you, whoever you were. In all over 430 people attended this rally - which is just blooming brilliant.

Sadly, some of the Scrumpies (centre 17) would be in on Saturday as they had just attended the funeral of one of their members, Trevor Stevenson, who many of you may remember as "Scooby".

So after rumbling around the back of the clubhouse we rode into the campsite with at least 200 tents all very well pitched. Loads of arms waved in the air as they beckoned to come over here (or was it go over there, don't bring that noisy bike anywhere near us?). I eventually found my old camping diehard mates, Jan, Tony, Rob, Paul, Andy, Fran and John, who greeted and plied me with tea and beer as we found out how to put up the new smaller version tent, bought from this years BMF show. The club house was great with plenty of food and beer to keep everyone happy, but I think the previous rally from the Gold Wing Owners Club did not prepare the staff for the likes of the VSOC. I've heard of first night blues, but to run out of Tetley's Smooth, Fullers London Pride and Jack Daniels before midnight is unthinkable. Mind you, we must have been a thirsty lot 'cos the bar was sometimes four people deep.

There was a disco in the main hall, which remained all weekend. The band playing on Friday were Jack Daniel's (so is that why we ran out of the booze?), and Saturday night was the turn of Smashed. Now I heard a lot of moaning about the sound but to be fair, they all did very well in, what is essentially, a tin hut. So well done to both the bands and the disco who entertained us all against such overwhelming acoustical problems.

A tattooing and Body Piercing Studio was in full flow all weekend, and many of the members got "ink done" or found themselves with another naval or lug 'ole. I've got to say the quality of the work was brilliant, but none of it's for me. No, I don't want pain if I can avoid it...

Anyway, the bar shut at just after midnight on Friday, so we could all get up to see a spectacularly sunny Saturday. Again the GWOC had done it to us - the breakfast queue was just too long for many to go on the ride out to Wellsbourne Market. However, we left at about 10.45am and were led along some great roads, with a route that meant we only came across one set of traffic lights and no cameras. Now you just try and find a route like that in our glorious Kingdom and I bet you'll find it extremely hard to do. Riding through the streets you could see all the houseowners coming out to wave or just gawp at the scene confronting their eyes. Plenty of kids cheering and frantically throwing their hands in the air. I even saw four teenage girls starting a Mexican Wave just by a pedestrian crossing. Toot Toot to them.

Wellsbourne Market is a basic market set out on Saturdays, where you can find many bargains from the likes of Del Trotter and Co. Indeed, his face was spotted on the side of one of the vans... We had about a three hour stopover, so we mooched and looked, ate a bit and took a gander at some of the bikes. 143 bikes rode in almost together which, again, is great. If you're at all interested, I've set up a page dedicated to the different types of artwork that can be found on our members bikes. Click here for (soon to be) loads of piccies of great bits of art. Oh how I wished I'd worn some sun screen and a hat. Plenty of redness to get rid off before the Danish International Rally in two weeks.

Now apparently there were silly games as well, but I must have missed them - along with a lot of others, so if you know more about these happenings let us all know what went on. Dinner in the clubhouse was very good value - £1.50 for sweet and sour chicken and rice. On the other hand, you could always go and have a try at the DIY Barbeque. Naked chefs? Well almost! At least they knew how to roll a sausage or flip a chop and always with a smile.

 Again there was the disco and the band - this time "Smashed" (that's their name not the act), who seemed to be very popular with some of the ladies in the crowd. Prizes were given for the Eric Wood's best Royal Star (with trailer) best Non Standard Virago, the best 750 Virago another one that I didn't get the name of - sorry, but intrepid reporting has it's pitfalls, especially when your being entertained by the Solent crowd - Cheers chaps. Still, I got the photos, that's something I suppose. Well done to the winners. The raffle was also drawn with many but not all prizes being claimed. The remaining, unclaimed prizes were given in a free draw, which is about the fairest way to do it don't you think?

Also, just before the band started up there was an announcement of a collection going round in aid of  Cancer Research, since three of our ladies had contracted the illness and wanted to be able to give something back to the cause. It's a rough world we grow in sometimes, but you always have to help where and how you can. So, many thanks to everyone who kindly donated and particularly well done to the girls who dressed up for this poignant occasion. I know there are others in our club who are suffering too, and I'm sure all our thoughts, wishes and prayers go to you as well.

Just as we thought the predicted thunder storms had arrived, owing to the fact that at 10.30pm there were loads of bangs and flashes going off outside, we realised - too late - that the fireworks, that were scheduled for midnight, had been and gone. Oh well, have one of these for effect....

Oh and in case you missed it, the bar shut at just gone four in the morning. My thanks to Ian who sent in this very striking shot of the one and only Bra Boy, also known as Dave Kenway.

Sunday came and provided me with one of the most chilled out days I've had in a long time. Breakfast lessons had been learnt, with the wait down to just a couple of minutes. Anyone who wanted to go on the ride out to Bourton on the Water could easily get there. For the rest of us needy imbibers, we could laze around and watch the dog show. Yes a real, honest to God, dog show with rosettes and trophies and everything. Or we could just catch up on the sun bathing (well not me anyway!). Custom Cruisers from Derbyshire were in attendance along with Scouse and his MAD tent and Paul Burdass showing off his wares, with a great new line in T Shirts imported from the USA. I've really got to get one of the glow in the dark eyes and skulls shirts - Cool.

Thankfully Malc, from Centre 9, who did go in the ride out to Bourton on the Water sent me this lovely piccie of paddling in the town. There was also a buffet at Bourton, which, by all accounts went down very, very well, with nearly another 150 bikes in attendance. Can't be bad can it? Eventually everyone came home - even those with trikes on an AA or RAC trailer, very unfortunate but these things happen. Mind you, very lucky to break down outside a pub! And even more embarrassing when it's finally delivered outside the tent and it starts first time! Oh the shame.

The Sunday evening's entertainment was just the disco, which actually gave the crowd the best night of the weekend. Good old East Anglia were dancing on the tables, yet again, when I showed them that more fun could be had on the stage. Hoorah - even Kevin Hoyte climbed the ladder and stood proudly surveying all around or was that his normal drunken grin? Jem finished off the night with a rugby song or two, all about some dodgy old French bit or something... I know we had a good time and that was what this weekend was all about. Meeting loads of new faces and catching up with the old ones (I'm sure there's a better way of saying that but I just can't think of it right now). So until we meet again, I'll leave you with this last photo as a reminder that we should all rest a little bit more before partying on again.