THE ELVER RALLY'S

THE ELVER RALLY'S

CHAPTER 64

1980,81,82

( Photo 1 ) . Three of the Elver rally badges, courtesy of Wobble, if I have one, I cant find it.

There were three or four Elver rallies that I’m aware off, there may have been more, but my memory fails me on the final count, they were all based in a small English village called Framilode in Gloucestershire.

The rally’s were held in a field behind a pub called the Darrel arms.

I believe the first rally was in 1980 and the following rally’s were in held in the years 81,82, and possibly 83.

I’m not one hundred percent sure of what event happened at which year of the rally’s as I do not remember much about them, I can only remember going to one of them, I am for this blog relying on my friends Brian and Wobbles memory’s for some of the events that happened at the rally’s.

I have grouped all the rally’s together, so the events mentioned below will relate to all the rally’s over a four-year period.

Some of the guys that went to the Elver rally’s were :-

Vorn.

Brian.

Elver.

Wobble.

Myself ( Frog).

Big Roy.

John Pig.

Plus more that i cant remember.

The Darrel arms is now a private house and as served its last pint in 1991, so no more bike rally’s are held there.

This may have been Vorn`s very first rally, he was what we called a rally virgin, and rally virgins have a special introduction into the rally scene, you can even call it ceremony it can take many shapes, it is all part of the fun of rallying.

I will not detail any of the experiences the rally virgins are put through in this blog, there will be a separate blog dealing with the many ways the virgins experience their first rally.

( Photo 2 ) . Outside the Darrel arms.

ELVER

One of the boys with the nickname Elver is mentioned in another previous blog Chapter 52 called ( NICKNAMES 1), so because this is about the Elver rally’s I will not go into too many details on how he obtained the Elver nickname, Elver managed to win an Elver ell eating competition at the rally, where he had to drink/eat full pints of Elver ells.

Believe me seeing this event is more disgusting than it sounds.

( Photo 3 ) . Beaker climbing out of the river Severn.

( Photo 4 ) . A wet Beaker.

THE SEVERN RIVER

The village of Framilode is situated alongside the river Severn, and luckily for us the Darrel pub faced the river with just a small green and a small village B road cutting across the green, separating the pub from the river bank.

The river being so close to the pub always gives the opportunity of someone being dipped into the ever flowing Severn, it is all part of enjoying the rally weekend.

On this occasion Beaker managed to get himself thrown off the river banking and into the river.

Well when I say throw himself in, he did it with the help of four other people, these included, Brian, Wobble, John Pig and one other that know-one seems to remember who it was, well it was more than forty years ago, at our age now, I forget what I did a minute ago let alone four decades ago, strangely I can remember more from back in the day then what I did yesterday.

Beaker slid down the banking and in to the river, when he climbed back out, he looked like a drowned rat, a big drowned rat, but a drowned rat all the same.

Well everyone enjoyed the spectacle of a wet Beaker.

( Photo 5 ) . Brian, saying Hi, outside the pub.

UNWELCOMING LANDLORD

I can remember another local pub just down the road in the same village called THE SHIP INN, as soon as we entered the pub the fat English landlord told us to get out, we had hardly put a foot over the threshold before he started shouting at us.

The landlord refused to server us, and was actually on the phone to the police as he was shouting at us.

We went into the pub for a pint not a fight, he made it quite clear he was not going to serve us, and repeatedly told us to get out, there were around half a dozen village regular sitting in one corner, all looking like scared rabbits, some of them staring down at their pints not daring to make eye contact with us, the landlord kept shouting and gesturing to the door with one hand and holding the phone in the other, I was half expecting him to grab a sawn off shotgun from under the bar he was so wound-up, so we told him to fuck off and left the pub.

We were outside and within seconds of us leaving the pub door slammed shut behind us, and we could hear a series of bolts being slammed shut, we could still hearing him shouting behind the door, his attitude gave us the impression that we were not welcome in the pub.

We just laughed at his behaviour, it was uncalled-for but expected, it was his loss, we would have put money over the bar for a few pints and a couple of cold pies, and then we would have just left to go back to the rally site.

Like I said we only wanted a couple of drinks, but we were used to this kind of crap happening to us, the landlord reception was what we half expected.

( Photo 6 ) . Brian and Vorn at the camp site.

TOOLS

At one of these rally’s possibly the 82 rally a so called back-patch club turned up in a large van and a few bikes, demanding entry to the rally field, these guys had not paid for tickets and had an aggressive attitude, to be fair the club running the rally the Hermes mcc, refused them entry by blocking off the entrance to the rally site.

They would not leave, so the police were called.

The police arrived they spoke to both party’s and then took a back seat and watched from the side lines taking no interest in what turned into a showdown between the ralliest and the back–patch club.

It turned out that the large van had tucked away in the back a collection of tools, mainly axes, pickaxes handles, and homemade clubs, someone said they spotted a shotgun and a large amount of chains, it was obvious that they were there to cause trouble for some unknown reason, maybe trying to get a name for themselves, who knows, well it didn’t work out, whatever they intended to do at the rally, didn’t happen, with the intruders facing over 200 bikers who all collected at the gate ready to take them on, they decide take their tooled up van and what bikes they rode in on and leave, and that was the last we saw of them, I have no idea what MC club they were, I’m sure they were not major league.

The police presence was useless, they stood back and watched the confrontation between the two groups of bikers, it looks like there were two sets of tools at the rally, one set wearing blue uniforms.

Once the unwanted visitors left it was all back to the pub for a few more pints.

When Brian was leaving the camp site he had to negotiate a sea of tents to get to the main entrance gate, as he weaved his way around the tents and their invisible guide ropes he was literally balancing as he progressed slowing, Beaker was outside a tent, he said to Beaker “grab the rack quick”, Beaker did so, immediately, if he had not done so Brian and the bike would have flattened a nearby tent beneath him and his bike, but was disaster averted, because of Beakers quick response.

( Photo 7 ) . Chilling opposite the pub with the river Severn beyond the wall.

THE MORNING AFTER

The morning after, Brian went around to Vorn`s tent, he un-zipped the entrance flap to the tent and leaned in, it was early in the morning and then Brian started to rattle a chain as loudly as possible and he also had his hunting knife in his hand, (yes, we also carried tools of sorts with us), Brian started shouting at Vorn who had just woken up, Brian was shouting things like “ quick get up, they are back, and they have come to fight, they are all tooled up ”.

Vorn in his half awake state looked like a scared rabbit caught in a cars headlights, Brian said he scared the shit out of Vorn with his early morning prank.

As this was Vorn`s first rally he was encourages to drink a cocktail of larger, piss and other crap from someones boot in the pub, to the encouragement. of the onlooking bikers who were assembled there watching the rally virgin initiation.

On the Saturday, a ride was organised to ride into the local town called Stroud, nothing of note happened there except for wobble for some bizarre reason went shopping for a pair of denim jeans, which highlights how exciting the ride was to end up clothes shopping, Wobble picked a posh shop to do his shopping in, the assistants in the shop were all too happy to get the scruffy mud covered bikers out of their shop, Wobble did buy the jeans, and I bet he still as them forty years later, he never throws anything away.

And that is all I can say about the Elver rally’s, not the most memorable of rally’s, but better than some I have been too, well at lest it did not rain, and we all arrived home safe and sound.

( Photo 8 ) . More chilling by the wall, Vorn and Wobble sitting, it looks like Vorn is giving Wobble a Cwtch, John pig sitting on the wall, and a dry Beaker standing.