Bikersweb.co.uk Chaos Crew Forums - MC ROTTUM's Summer Party 2003

Well, that really was a hot one, even though we'd named our party the Summer Breezer.

A few of us arrived on the Thursday night for an early start on the Friday morning, so we had a few beers in the bar - until 2am.

Bob arrived on his Harley waking us up around 7am the next morning. So staggering out the tent I left Brenda to go back to sleep for a while longer, but it was already starting to heat up in there and pretty soon she was also up. With a rather muzzy head myself, we got the gate set up, and by 9am we were ready to open up. Ola was on her way but severely held up in traffic on the M25, and Barry was off to our old venue to pick up some stuff we thought we may need. A few more jobs done left us with not a lot to do by the time the sun was full-on at midday. Folks started to arrive shortly after and the only worry we had was what they were going to do for food, as even though the catering wagon had turned up the night before, due to a multitude of reasons the other vehicle with the food hadn't even left their hometown when they were contacted late morning, and with long delays on the M25 it didn't arrive until 7pm. Still, no one complained, everyone was chilled and the bar was open. By the end of the afternoon Claire, Kay, Mick, and finally Lee were all on site with us, welcoming folks with a shot of schnapps as they arrived. Most looked like they would have preferred a cold pint, but that wasn't so far away and Chris spent a vast part of the evening very busy at the bar - it just didn't look that way as there were rarely more than a couple of folks in there 'cos most people were outside as the evening took the temperature down a slight notch. No band on the Friday night but Womble kept us all entertained. Once we'd got the gate closed around 11.45pm I wandered over to the bar to get a pint only to be told that there had been a whip-round, and if I could play and sing Barry Manilow's 'Copa-Cabana' it could go to the children's charity of my choice, otherwise the *******s were going to drink the money (so they said!!!). I had 'til midnight to learn it. Bodge the words, string a couple of chords, and it'll be fine I thought. So, come midnight I played it. Totally fumbled and mumbled nonsense for the one verse I sang but got rather inspired on the choruses when I realised there was another chord or two in there. 'SING', I shouted halfway through, stopping playing, and they did, then I carried on again which got over the glitch in progress.
After that was done everyone joined in on a rousing version (is there any other?) of '500 Miles'. Once finished I had a pint and counted up the money for the NSPCC, there was £30 there, good stuff, well done folks. So remember, if you ask for a tune and I don't know it, I may well ask you to put your hand in your pocket for some cash (if I attempt it) for charity from now on.
The rest of the evening wound down eventually around 4am when the last folks went for a couple of hours sleep before the sun came up again and roused them from their tents with an amazing amount of heat.

Saturday morning dawned far too early it seemed, and once again it was damned hot. Breakfast was being served by the Monet Events catering team (with Frank from them 'entertaining' folks with wild tales of 'out of body experiences', 'chats with Hendrix' and many other suchlike. They could well have been true - it didn't matter. As Gordon said later that evening, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story".
The morning wore on with folks heading out for the day to find somewhere a little cooler, one such group going visiting at some caves where it was very cool. Not too many people turned up during the day, leaving it later in the afternoon and early evening when it might get cooler - well, maybe a little!
It started getting a little wet around five as we had a few supersoakers with us, and an unending supply of balloons so it seemed, which made marvellous (and sometimes rather large) water bombs. This lunacy slowly escalated with quite a few folks joining in the fun. I, myself was guilty on more than one occasion of walking amongst a group of people with two or three filled balloons, suddenly bursting them and soaking everyone in range, but mainly myself. Vern brought with him six water containers, each capable of holding 18.5 litres which made a nice cold shower for anyone wanting one. Womble, once again, was looking after the music for us, and we'd booked HAVOC (booking through www.mandyb.com) for the evening entertainment. HAVOC are fronted by Mandy B and turn in a great set. She really has one helluva voice, and a band to match. With their excellent sound and lighting system we had a great couple of sets from them and managed to have a couple of encores too.
Between the band we had our drinking competitions, solo and team. This party we decided to make it a little different to our usual 1 litre German bierkrugs. We got hold of six half-yard of ale glasses that glow green under ultraviolet light. Barry's wife Barney brought her bagpipes along and did the honours piping both the beer into the room and during the contest. Sorry, but I didn't get the winners name in all the excitement. Team drinking next. The Monet caterers fielded a team and won, though it was close - no it wasn't, not even slightly close.
Trophies were given out for Long Distance Male: Peter Fraser (483 miles) though that didn't include the mileage he clocked up whilst 'playing' during the ride through the night on some of the better roads a few times on the way down from Scotland. Long Distance Female went to Tina Sale-Pulford (198 miles). Legionnaires MTC took the Club Turnout trophy home, and Best Bike went to Jacks for her sweet Virago.
We changed the way we ran the raffle too as it gets pretty boring standing there waiting while the ticket owner is found before drawing another. All the numbers were pre-drawn once ticket sales were finished, called out, written up and placed in the bar and prizes given out. Done and dusted in record time.
The rest of the evening after the band finished had Womble playing tunes through 'til around 4am, with most folks returning outside to chat and catch up.
We run two small parties a year, this one and one at the end of February. This one had around eighty people there. Some said it's because we hold it the same weekend as the Bulldog, some said it's because the weather was too hot (that makes a change). But mainly folks said it had been a really chilled out rally. One of the 'great' little ones. Same faces, year after year. We look forward to seeing you all again next year at our 5th February Freezer the weekend of 27th-29th February and then later in the year, 6th-8th August to celebrate 15 years on the road for MC Rottum here in England. Keep checking your rally listings for further details.

Many thanks to Chris & Wendy at Five Oaks Equestrian Centre for letting us hold our party there. Very Special Mention also for Brandon Loo Hire in Aldershot for providing our loos 'cos they were the only firm we called who gave us a good price on our disabled loo. Some were asking £150.00 for one!!!!!! We got ours for less than half that.

Most of all, thanx to all that came along and made it (and yes, I know I'm biased) possibly the most chilled rally I've been on.

:) :) :)