Our rally - held on August Bank Holiday 2002

The event started early, as members started arriving on site the preceding Monday. So by the time the first Pirate "Press Gang" helpers arrived on Wednesday, the rugby pitch was already tent city.

Thursday the sun came out with a vengeance and it became very warm, other "Press Gang" helpers arrived and started getting the site ready. The portaloos arrived and the fencing was erected. All was well with the Rugby Club staff and they were really looking forward to the next few days.

Friday all hell was let loose, more Press Gang were drafted in and the VSOC members started to arrive en-mass, the booking in tent was heaving all day. It all went without a hitch and the rugby field was filling up with tents nicely. In the evening the Clubhouse opened in earnest and supplied an evening meal, and there was the disco afterwards for anyone with any energy left to dance to.

Saturday saw yet another fine day. Despite the late night some revellers had, the site started to see people up and about at 6.00am. By 6.30am the tea tent was quite busy and the Press Gang were kept busy filling the hot water boilers, also the shower block saw a constant stream of people looking to wake up under a nice steaming shower. Breakfast was at 7.30a.m and many took advantage of the Full English fry-up for £3.00. By 9.00am the first of the groups were off on their rideouts. About 10.00am the man from Ginsters Cornish pasties arrived with a photographer and proceeded to give out free pasties to everyone around. So anyone who missed breakfast had a nice Cornish pasty to keep them going. Even some who had breakfast managed to eat one. Others kept one to take on their rideout. By 12.00 noon the site was virtually deserted and the Press Gang took a well earned rest and some took to their beds. No rest for the Press Gang as the bikes started to arrive back on site, it was off to man the tea tent and open the shower block. Evening meal was served and cleared away for the nights entertainment. The disco got the crowd into a dancing mood, so by the time the main band came on everyone was well excited. The band "Jurex Jurex" from Torquay started off well and just got better through the evening, when they came on for the second session the crowd went wild and the clubhouse was heaving with writhing bodies. They even managed an encore to everyone's delight. Although Centre 18 dressed up as their namesake Pirates, we were upstaged by another Centre who dressed in evening dress and looked immaculate, even though some of them had the arse cut out of their tuxedos. The beer flowed well all night and there were no problems getting served. When the bar finally closed and everyone staggered outside there was a BBQ doing great business at £1 per burger/hot-dog and of course the tea and coffee was on overtime.

Sunday morning saw a cloudy but warm day, and the early birds were queuing at the tea tent already. Again a steady stream wandered up and back to the showers before going in for the fried breakfast. A few members had to leave for home due to various reasons and many other groups left quite early for their own rideouts. A quiet day on the site again, gave us the chance to sort out the draw, before the first groups started to arrive back and it all started again. The draw saw 103 prizes donated by local businesses and collected by Centre 18 members. The evening saw the disco start every one off dancing before the 2nd group of the weekend came on. The band "Mississippi Burning" was a blues band, not to everyone's taste but they were very good musically. The prizes were given for the bike judging, we decided on engraved penknives for the prizes, makes a change from cups. Again when chucking out time arrived the BBQ and tea tent was in great demand.

Monday was all too soon in coming. Most of the members now were packing up and preparing to leave. We supplied breakfast and showers for the final time, and of course the tea tent was topped up through the morning. We spent most of the morning saying farewell and safe journey to all of the old and new friends we met during the weekend. There was still a hardy couple of dozen tents staying for a further few days so Norman stayed until the Tuesday. That's commitment for you.

The Swiggin in the Riggin rally was a tremendous success, all down to the hard work and dedication of Centre 18 members.

Click here for the Photos