I’ve known Nick Jolly for well over 30 years now and he is an absolute legend of the scooter scene. He has an impressive scootering CV having produced his own scooter magazine in the early 1980s, owned a scooter shop and, perhaps his greatest achievement, he co-founded the VFM collective which is still going strong today.
As Nick is relatively local to me, hailing from Guildford in Surrey, his was one of those names which you heard bandied around in reverend tones before you actually met the person. I had bought his magazine, my friends had bought scooters from him and I was there at the first ever VFM do at the Ponda Rosa at the Isle of Wight rally in 1984. That was the one where the manager allegedly did a runner with the bar takings! However, I didn’t really meet him properly until around 1986 at one of the dos at Camberley Football Club.
In the late 1980s Nick organised weekenders in the New Forest where we’d play rounders and then hike for miles to the nearest pub. A huge baseball fan, he arranged for a group of us to go to the Isle of Wight for matches and beach parties. His scooter shop, Surrey And Hants Scooters was based in Ash and produced custom-show winning machines including Juicy Fruit, below, which is featured in my custom 80s scooters post here.
These days he’s still a regular rally-goer, when football matches permit. Nick attends Aldershot Town matches both at home and away, but in the sunny summer months he can be found on rallies and rideouts, and still has the moves on the dancefloor, dancing to his favourite Northern Soul music.
Having been diagnosed with MS three years ago Nick wanted to raise some funds to help provide MS nurses so is riding an arse-numbing 2500 miles to Zanka in Hungary to the Vespa World Days event in June. He has set up a charity page and would be grateful for any donations towards this very worthwhile cause.
Here is the story of Nick’s first rally and what scooters mean to him now.
Nick Jolly – My First Rally
How did you first get into scooters?
In 1975 I saw some lads in parkas with mirrors and crash bars following my school coach and thought WOW! My first scoot was a GP150 which I bought in 1976 when I was 17 from a soul boy mate I knew who no longer used it, so I nabbed it for £50!
What was your first scooter rally?
It was Brighton in 1980.
What job were you doing at the time?
I left school in 1975 and became a butcher until 1984 so I had enough money to get drunk and slept in a dodgem car at the seafront fair.
Were you in a club at the time?
No, in the late 1970s there were no clubs that I knew of.
What are your memories of the rally?
I rode the GP 150 on my own, it was about 60 miles away. Brighton had a fantastic atmosphere and at the time it was the most scooters in one place I had ever seen. I met a few like-minded people from Surrey and Hants who gathered in Farnborough on Thursday nights and was invited along. This club became Junction 13 SC which is still going strong today.
Was the journey home eventful?
It was SLOW!! As it turned out my exhaust tail pipe was blocked with carbon!
What type of music were you into?
I was into jazz funk (and still am) so appreciated the soulful side of the music scene. There’s no particular track but it’s always northern soul over ska!
What was your favourite custom scooter of that era?
I remember being blown away by some of the brass and copper plated Lambrettas at Bournemouth in 1980.
Do you still have a scooter now?
I have owned scooters since 1976 and I bought the very first Armando’s 225 Special in 1982, I think. I sold it in 1984 to Dizzy to help finance The Ralliest magazine. I started The Ralliest as a way of being involved in scootering full time and leaving my job as a butcher which was impacting on my fun time!
Scooter mechanics was a natural progression as the Lambretta was always breaking down, usually the exhaust coming loose. I taught myself to paint and I’m proud that my talent grew over the years to producing show-winning machines at Surrey And Hants Scooters.
I created Hall of Fame in 1989 and still have it. I painted it and built the engine with Mark Halsall, and Keith Barnes did the murals. I also own a Taffspeed tuned Italjet Dragster.
I am currently on my sixth GTS 300 as I purchased a HPE model this week and need to run it in before Sunday 2nd June as myself and two clubmates will be riding to Hungary for Vespa World Days in Zanka.
Three years ago in 2016 I struggled to get out of the front door without support and in 2017 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. By riding to Hungary I am planning to raise funds for MS nurses via The MS Trust. Please read my story and support if you can.
Thank you, Nick, for sharing your story! I do hope you raise plenty of money for MS and keep on keeping on in the scooter scene.
More My First Rally stories
Read more My First Rally stories using these links (in alphabetic order)
– Ali Richards
– Bill Mac
– Dave Lloyd
– Dean Percival
– Dizzy Holmes
– Iggy Grainger
– Jo Jackson
– Lee Parker
– Lee Richards
– Mike Oxley
– Niamh Pennington
– Nick Jolly
– Norrie Kerr
– Roger Williams
– Sandra Smith
– Sarah George
– Sean Robinson
– Stacey Gardner
– Steve Bone
– Sticky
– Stuart Owen
– Vince Wooloff
A legend on the scene and an honour to know.
Yes indeed, and I hope he has a decent seat for that mammoth ride to Hungary!
Decades after the event I can recall like it was yesterday the J13 fancy dress night at the Wooden Bridge where most of the Saint George Elite SC slept under the bridge.
Spent many weekends with Nick & the J13 crowd. Hal you days.
Lovely memories!
Great to see this article, I used to produce all the stencils for the graphics for Nick, cut from frisk film with a scalpel! I worked on the Juicy Fruit in the photo, along with a few others that made it into Scootering magazine. Wishing Nick well.
Wow brilliant! Steve Bone’s first rally story is on the website too, the owner of Juicy Fruit 🙂