When I went to the first Woolacombe scooter rally in 2000 I didn’t think I’d be here again in 2019 celebrating its 20th anniversary. It’s a testament to the superb organisation by SWSC and brilliant location that makes it a firm fixture in the rally calendar now.
Our journey was a bit like one of those horror films where characters get bumped off one by one. There were five of us when we set off, on four scooters. Of those five, just four people made it there and on only two scooters!
It was the traffic around Salisbury that split us up initially. Lee and I were at the back of the pack, on the GTS which was (in theory) the reliable scooter in case anyone had any problems. However, what we didn’t realise is that the others took a short cut to avoid the town’s roundabout lottery. That, coupled with our own short cut through Wilton to the A303, meant that we didn’t see them for the rest of the journey!
Each time we stopped, however, we got in touch with the others but only heard tales of woe from Mark. Initially they’d stopped to adjust Snowy’s clutch, but then his scooter gave up completely with a blown piston. When I say ‘his scooter’ it was actually girlfriend Gail’s scooter! Luckily Gail was able to pick him up in the car so he made it to the site later, forgiven for killing her bike.
Next, Mark had issues with his throttle cable, and when he checked it he found it was hanging on by a single thread. Luckily he had a spare so after a quick stop they were back on the road. Finally, when they’d got as far as Tiverton some 50 miles from the rally, Mark spotted smoke pouring from Jez’s water-cooled Lambretta. The water pump had gone! There was much talk about whether he could get to Woolacombe by AA and then back home again if it couldn’t be fixed but it seemed too much of a risk so he called it a day and was recovered back to West Sussex by the fourth emergency service.
For myself and Lee, we had an uneventful, unexpectedly solo trip in the end, stopping for lunch at Tiverton and enjoying the ride in the sun.
We took turns riding, with me getting the glory leg of the journey, the last one, through beautiful North Devon and onto the site at Golden Coast Holiday Park.
Our caravans were in the back of beyond, and once we’d settled in I took the scooter out for a little ride to see who else was around. I stopped by the rally staff’s quarters and had a quick chat with Ana and Buster. I loved Buster’s sparkly scooter which was featured on the rally patch and is a tribute to Spangles, a staple diet of mine in the 1970s!
I then popped into the bouncers’ lodge to catch up on the gossip and then headed off back to the caravan to wait for the others to arrive. Which they did, eventually…
Friday Scooter Gallery
Friday night fun
Some things never change on a rally but sometimes we need to move with the times and a great example of this was the organisers’ attempt to reduce single-use plastic. Punters could buy a £1 plastic glass as a souvenir to drink from and it would be replaced if needed for your next drink and could then be washed up and used again. I think this was a great idea as I hate single-use items, although there was a slight flaw in the design. The first Woolacombe rally wasn’t in 1999, it was 2000. Yes, I know the maths is complicated, as it’s not like birthdays where we count our actual birth-day as the first one, but if 2019 is the 20th rally then the first had to be in 2000! 1999 was the final Finlake, fact fans, which was replaced by Woolie…
By the time the others had all got ready and we’d enjoyed a few drinks in the caravan we headed up to the do which was rammed. I’d been looking forward to seeing Bootleg Blondie but they far exceeded my expectations. But before the band came on Andy Greenslade took to the mic to announce that one of the shuttle buses was out of action after an idiot had broken in, smashed all the controls and taken the handbrake off. It seems like the most mindless thing to do and meant that the site had to get a smaller mini bus out of retirement to help out, causing longer queues all weekend. It’s a shame we have such cretins in our scene, when 99% of people are just there to enjoy themselves.
Debbie Does Woolacombe
Although I’d seen them at Warmwell, Bootleg Blondie absolutely smashed it at Woolacombe. There’s something about the main room as a venue which makes it really intimate and makes a great atmosphere when the crowd are up for a party. The dancefloor was jam-packed, and having the bar overlooking the action meant that everyone got a really good view. You could watch them from the back of the room comfortably (which Lee did) or be right at the front, next to the stage, in the thick of the action like me!
It had been announced as ‘Debbie Does Woolacombe’ and she certainly did! With several costume changes, all of them brilliantly authentic and looking exactly like Debbie Harry, lead singer Debbie Harris is just incredible. I wanted to be her, on stage having the crowd in the palm of her hand, singing all those fantastic songs.
I found a kindred spirit in a lady behind me who seemed to share my super-fan status, singing along with every lyric of every song. As a crowd we danced, bounced and sang our way through their set which perfectly mixed up their massive crowd-pleaser hits with some of the lesser-known album tracks.
I clicked away with my camera and the photos proved that everyone was having a brilliant time. It was one of those ‘you had to be there’ nights, similar to Smoove & Turrell’s set at the Isle of Wight (you can read about that here!).
Sadly, all good things must come to an end and once the band finished they came down into the crowd for photos. I got in on the action too, when the superfan was having her photo taken, grabbing the guitarist like the drunken fool that I was.
Disco Daz took over on the decks and kept the dancefloor busy until the wee small hours. Each time I tried to leave he put on a song that I just HAD to dance to. Lee and I finally started walking off at about 1.45 but immediately ‘our’ record came on, Nolan Porter’s If I Could Only Be Sure. So I dragged him back in and completely embarrassed him by forcing him to dance with me! It was actually at Woolacombe in the early 2000s where it became ‘our’ record, I’m not actually sure why, but I think in the early days he was an old romantic who used to grab me for a smooch when it came on.
Friday Evening Gallery
Saturday hangovers
Saturday dawned and I didn’t feel too bad while I was horizontal, but being vertical was a challenge, and a bowl of cereal didn’t make it any easier. I couldn’t lie around all day watching Friends on TV though (tempting though it was) so was dragged to the custom show for a bit of fresh air. I have to apologise that my photos from this period of the day aren’t up to my usual standard. I usually attempt to take interesting, artistic shots, but squatting down at ground level was completely beyond me when I was feeling delicate.
There were some lovely scooters on display in the bright sunshine. Bill Mac roped me in to give the trophies out, which was quite exciting when I got to give them to the owners. For the rest, I put them next to the winning scooters, hoping that nobody would switch them with another one!
Best Lambretta and Best Mural
Gary Wickham’s Lambretta has won a ton of trophies already despite only being unveiled at Scooter Expo in July (see more photos here), and at Woolacombe he added two more to his collection. These were for Best Lambretta and Best Mural, and they reflect the attention this stunning scooter had throughout the morning. This is definitely in the ‘ridden not hidden’ category, with Gary riding over 300 miles to the rally from his Norfolk home.
Best Vespa
The Best Vespa silverware went to the remembrance-themed T5 below.
Best Paint
The Rattler won best paint for its brightly-coloured livery.
Best Engineering
Best Engineering went to this water-cooled Allwyn Pushpak which has a few interesting features!
Best Streetracer
Dave Barrett’s tidy RT230 Lambretta won the Best Streetracer trophy.
Full Woolacombe Custom Show Results
Best Lambretta : Breaking Rocks In The Hot Sun
Best Vespa : Remembrance / British Legion T5
Best Streetracer : RT230
Best Engineered : Allwyn Pushpak
Best Cutdown / Chopper : W764 RAF
Best Restoration : Model D 804 UYX
Best Paint : The Rattler
Best Mural : Breaking Rocks In The Hot Sun
Best Auto : Series 2 Lambretta with GTS engine (owned by Lobby)
We then went for the obligatory wander around the stalls. I asked at the ScooterNova stall if they had any hangover cures and was given a Love Heart sweet by Rik Kaye. Sadly it didn’t have any magical powers… I politely refused Ann’s offer of a Parma Violet, knowing it would tip me over the edge in a bad way!
Saturday lunch at the Red Barn
Knowing I needed a ‘kill or cure’ solution for my self-induced sickness, and because we were creatures of habit, we rode the short distance into town to the Red Barn for lunch. After a hearty burger and a couple of Diet Cokes I felt half human, at least human enough to start taking some better scooter photos again.
I’ve always loved the Soul Surfer Lambretta and it looked perfect in the sun with Woolacombe’s golden beach and surfers just a few yards away. It’s owned by Trev Mason and has a Super Monza engine built by Charlie Edmonds. The eyecatching blue of the colour scheme represents the sea and the inside of the legshields is the surf board. It’s got ruthless power too, according to Trev, so ticks all the boxes!
When we were leaving the site I’d noticed some monks heading in the same direction, and my curiosity got the better of me when they arrived at the pub so I went to investigate. It turned out there was no special occasion, no stag party or 50th birthday celebration, it was just an excuse for Robins SC to get dressed up for the afternoon. Hearing they were from Bristol I then made the fatal mistake of asking if the Bristol Rovers-themed scooter was one of theirs. The derision was immediate and they started muttering about being from the other side of the river, or some such thing. It turns out they are City fans, and one of them follows me on Twitter so hopefully forgave me slightly for my faux pas. He’s worth following if you like witty one-liners, check out ModMuffin.
I had a quick wander round the surf shops and took more photos of scooters in the sun. I didn’t want to leave as we needed to ride home and it meant the rally would be over, but time marches on and we wanted to do as much of the journey back to Sussex in daylight as possible.
It was just us and Mark riding back, blasting along when there were no pesky cars in the way, thrashing along the motorway at speeds that scare the hell out of me. But we made it back by 8.30pm having had a brilliant 24 hours at the Woolacombe Scooter Rally. Massive credit and thanks go to Stuart, Andy and all the other organisers, bouncers and helpers who put together this awesome rally. I’ve been to most of the 20 years it’s been held there and long may it continue.
Saturday Gallery
Thanks to Mark Turner for kindly allowing me to use some of his photos.
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