WoT Rally
Sept 9-10, 2016
Gatecrashers & Skegby Nottinghamshire Scooter Clubs staged their 5th WoT Scooter Rally recently – so named after the venue location, Weston-on-Trent.
The event is held at the Ukrainian Youth Camp (one of those gems of a scooter rally venues that seem increasingly hard to come by). With two football pitch sized camping fields, two entertainment halls, modern shower/toilet facilities and multiple catering outlets, you could think of it as a smaller version of Mersea Island if you’ve never been before; however, with attendances regularly over 1000 its popularity is ever-increasing.
Trying to make sense of the daily changing weather forecast in the run up to the rally weekend is always difficult, and as with most rallies this year, rain was to play its part on Saturday morning. Arriving onsite Thursday to set-up as usual all was in order and the first caterer was also on site.
Friday morning soon comes round and so do early arrivals looking to pitch on their favourite spots. Great Friday weather saw high-hundreds through the gate and although the main room doesn’t open until evening, we always run a karaoke-style bar in the Northern Room. This kicked-off around dinnertime Friday and had no shortage of participants. Friday night bands were The Heavy Sol Band and Okasis; both went down extremely well to a packed main hall.
Saturday morning and it was clear the weather wasn’t going to be on our side with drizzly rain until early afternoon. This didn’t put-off around 17 traders pitching for the Parts Fair and although we had increased the volume of the ever-popular Paddy Smith patch, these soon sold out due to the high attendance numbers. We normally run a ‘Human Table Football’ knock-out competition with the inflatables, but with the weather this was cancelled, as was the Tug-of-War. We still however, managed a large number of entrants for the Custom Show. South Birmingham SC picked up ‘Best Attended Club’ and a special mention should go to Maria Davilia who rode her Modena 125 nearly 250 miles to gain the ‘Furthest Travelled’ trophy.
Saturday afternoon and the Rallyaoke Room was in full swing with folks taking advantage of being able to consume their own alcohol anywhere on site, including both venues. Our Bands for Saturday evening were Hung Like Hanratty (local lads who recently performed at The Bulldog Bash) and Ska covers favourites Big 10. Hung like Hanratty come with parental guidance (or that should probably be over 18’s only) returning for a second year; with classics like ‘The Ghost of Jimmy Saville’ and ‘Clean up your Dog Sh*T’ they went down an absolute storm, considering it was all their own material. Big 10 soon followed on with a set that got the whole room bouncing until the live music curfew clicked-in around midnight, followed by DJs playing floor fillers until around 2am.
On our way to shut the Northern Room down we were inadvertently delayed by the offer of free drinks from the Ukey Staff, so left closure until closer 3am, by which time Nev Shooter was a little worse for wear and glad to be rescued. We really need to photo the bags and bins full of empties we remove from the halls and the bar is always busy too – scooterists can really drink!
Sunday dawned with fine weather again and it’s always good to say farewell to lots of smiling folks thanking us for a great weekend. The site was tidy with most using the rubbish bags provided, which does make our tidy-up operation all the more easier – thanks.
Words: Andy Butler
images: Nick Webb