It’s hard to believe that this year marked the tenth anniversary of the Bulldog Run rideouts which attract scooters from all over the south every May. The aim is to raise money and awareness for the Bulldog Rescue and Rehoming Trust in Midhurst which is a charity run by Dizzy and Tania Holmes. Their vet bill alone was £85,000 last year, and they are reliant on donations for paying for this and other operating expenses.
Dogs are rescued from all over the country, nursed back to health and then rehomed. The trust employs a small number of staff but also has a huge team of dedicated volunteers as well as a board of Trustees who keep everyone in line.
As well as the rescue and rehoming services, the Bulldog Rescue also offers a bulldog clinic, behaviour advice, breeder services and a microchipping facility. If you want to find out more then visit their website where you can make a donation or learn about all the services on offer.
Newsflash :
Dizzy has just announced that the sale of stickers, patches, badges, teas, cakes and the auction raised the grand total of £1691.58! Thanks to everyone who came and donated to this fantastic cause!
Bulldog Run Pre-Meet
We met in the McDonald’s car park in Chichester as usual, which soon became overrun with scooters. I do feel sorry for the normal punters who had come for a sausage McMuffin breakfast treat, but it’s only once a year and we soon disappear in a haze of two stroke.
Sarah George from Area 51 is chief organiser, with help from her clubmates with marshalling, making cakes and providing cups of tea. Her son Joe was selling patches (designed by husband Adrian!) and doing great business, all in aid of the bulldogs.
There were some early arrivals from Brighton in the form of The Dolphins Lambretta Club who reported rain over in East Sussex. Luckily it held off in our corner of the county with almost-perfect conditions all day.
I awarded Johnno Johnston the prize for most patches on a jacket, with them overlapping on a flight jacket AND denim cutoff!
The Pompey Invasion meet in Cosham and then ride over to Chichester en masse, filling up the car park with scooters of all shapes and sizes.
Pete “Booga” Davies was doing good business with his Bulldog Run stickers and on reporting duty for SLUK.
By 11am we were ready to ride to Midhurst, so after the marshalls got a motivational hug from Johnno we set off!
I took a lot of photos of the riders as we rode up the A286 so have saved those for a separate post as there are so many of them! Here is a link to the scooter riders at the Bulldog Run 2019.
Arrival at the Bulldog Rescue
And so we arrived in Midhurst, with scooters parked on every blade of grass which was available. Dizzy and Tania’s neighbours get very excited about this invasion of their locality, waving from their front gardens and coming along to see the scooters on show. The whole town is aware of the rideout, and locals look forward to our arrival.
Tania was out front, meeting and greeting everyone. Scooters arrive from as early as 9am in the morning, but most don’t get there until after 11am, and stay for an hour or two.
Dizzy was in the front drive selling pin badges and doing great business despite being distracted by Jamie and Tony!
Jennifer was one of many scooterists who were lavishing attention on the dogs, the reason we were all there. There are eight kennels in total, which are always full. Some scooterists have even rehoused bulldogs themselves as a result of the rideout.
With all the cakes sold and scooters counted we headed a couple of miles south to the Greyhound Pub. They’d set up a burger stall and outside bar to keep the hoards of scooterists sustained while they chatted.
Scooter Count
I usually count the scooters and this year was no exception. It’s difficult to work out the best time to do it as scooters arrive and leave all the time, but once everyone seemed settled I headed into the road to do the ‘official’ count. This year I thought I’d video it, so if your scooter was parked in Carron Lane then there’s a good chance you’ll see it on YouTube using the link below.
I was interrupted by some A5s at the end of the road but managed to remember where I’d got to! I counted 205, and Tania later reported another ten, making an official grand total of 215, although the real figure is probably higher by 10% or so to allow for early leaves and late arrivals.
Off to the pub
Once we’d all had some refreshments and the Area 51 team had sold out of cake, it was time for the pub. The Greyhound is a couple of miles south of Midhurst and provided a burger stall and outside bar, to take some pressure off the pub itself.
Dean Percival was on his Captain Pugwash chop, and you can read his My First Rally story here, it was quite an adventure for a 13 year old!
Once everyone had left the rescue, Dizzy and Tania arrived for a well-earned pint and a rest! Dizzy has his own My First Rally story here!
John Barnett had brought his classic custom Lambretta, Rhapsody and Blues Reprise. It’s such an incredible scooter, with the most awesome engraving as well as a top notch paint job.
When the Definitely Maybe boys started congregating for their ride home, I bossily made them get into a nice line, and I think they were joined by some others and it made a great photo opportunity!
I nipped behind for a quick rear view too!
And finally it was time for us all to leave… It had been a brilliant day and I didn’t get nearly enough time to speak to everyone. Well done to Sarah for the great organisation, to Dizzy and Tania for hosting us and to the residents of Carron Lane (and Midhurst as a whole) for putting up with our annual two-stroke invasion.
2019 Rallies and Tips
Don’t miss out!
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
