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This year the weather forecast was bad for the Friday. Unfortunately the forecast was correct it heaved it down, but still the people came. There is something about Cornbury Park that makes it a very special site for an event. Maybe it’s the majestic avenues of trees and the hundreds of deer roaming the park, or maybe it’s the peaceful aura the place seems to have. Whatever it is we’re just damn happy to be there.
Despite the rain, Friday soon evolved into an excellent party with Russ page doing his usual brilliant DJ magic. The bar opened around 4pm and Graham Bull (Thames Valley Rep) had arranged for a few barrels of real ale to be put on the bar, (this was almost gone by 6.30pm and we had to get more ordered for Saturday!) Graham Bull and Bob Lippit (Somerset Rep) ran the real ale bar, while Chairman Rick ran the main bar ably assisted by his brother Bill and their mad mate BJ.
The live music for the evening started with a band called ‘MOFO’ who went down very well. They were followed by ‘The Clangers’ who really got the Party atmosphere going. The marquee was packed with people dancing and boozing and having a damn good time. Rick was behind the bar serving (and occasionally tasting) the beer with only an occasional break to stagger up to the stage to do a bit of compering.
Behind the scenes an all too small group of dedicated NABD folk were doing all the stuff that makes a rally work. Jim Meredith (Webmaster) had once again been lumbered with the job of ‘Site Gaffer’ which meant he had to make sure everything happened when it should.
Finally our Friday night top-of-the-bill band ‘Voltage’ took to the stage and gave us a real rockin’ time. The bar had to finish serving around 12.30 (ish) but the party didn’t stop until well into the early hours. During the early hours guitars were found and ‘Amanda’ gave us a set of acoustic folk with her brilliant vocals. This really eased the pain of clearing the beer tent ready for the Saturday morning.
Once again the ‘Hulse’ brothers and crew sampled..er; served the beer and it was diminishing rapidly. Worriedly, Rick called for another beer run, which we felt sure would last the rest of the event. This was not to be, it was like serving a thirsty army that had just crossed the desert. Yet another beer run had to be done for the evening stint. This was in addition to the extra barrels of real ale found by Graham Bull and his mate Monster.
During the day unbeknown to everyone quite a lot of things had gone tits-up behind the scenes, but it was covered by ‘Hulse’ banter, and Russ page with his quick wit and excellent music.
The afternoon began with a cracking set from ‘Adrenaline’ followed by an ‘off the cuff’ free mike jam-session that seemed to go down extremely well. All the bands got together and played a bit and punters got up and strutted their stuff to the entertainment and pleasure of the crowd. Mainly Paul from ‘The Beer Monsters’ filled in with a constantly changing line up of other musicians from bands like ‘Adrenaline’ and ‘Inferno’. It took a while for any punters to get up and sing but Rick soon bullied and blagged the first couple of people to have a go and then it really began to roll. Many thanks to Russ Page for coming up with the idea.
Meanwhile outside the marquee the bike/trike show was in full swing. The weather had improved immensely and there were fifty-seven machines entered in the show. The standard of entry was impressive and the judges (volunteers from Reading MAG) were hard put to decide on which bikes and trikes to choose for the trophies.
Being a family event there was lots for the kids to do. We had a bouncy castle, bouncy slide, octopus roundabout thingy, treasure hunt, and even a ‘Nippers bar’ with sweets and soft drinks. We are planning even more of this type of entertainment for next year as we want this event to become the best family event on the bike scene. Rose Fitton (Events Co-ordinator) had been diligently working the NABD stall all weekend selling merchandise and had record takings of over £2,000.00 which justified all of her hard work.
One of the advantages to Cornbury Park as a rally venue is that despite the torrential rain of Friday there was barely a hint of mud to be seen. Another great advantage is that Lord Rotherwick (the owner of the estate) is a keen biker and supporter of the NABD always willing to make a personal appearance.
Later in the afternoon we were joined by Lord Rotherwick and his little son Gus who had agreed to come along and present the trophies. While chatting with Rick he mentioned that he had flown his new plane over from the USA earlier in the week and had a nerve racking few minutes when the fuel pump had began playing up over the Atlantic causing the plane to drop several thousand feet in a few seconds. Rick suggested that he take Jim Meredith with him next time as “he’s pretty handy with a spanner”.
I think ‘Lord Rodders’ as Rick insisted on calling him has sussed out that it’s impossible to get Rick to take anything seriously when he’s got a microphone in one hand and a Newcastle Brown Ale in the other. Though to be fair Rick did compliment Lord Rotherwick on his recent stand on the Diesel Spills issue which got a huge well deserved round of applause from the crowd. Recently, he took action in support of the diesel spills campaign, and got the Minister of Transport to start cleaning up the roads. The M40 was shut in places that very weekend for cleaning. Lord Rotherwick actually rides a BMW R1150 RT and hates driving cars if he can help it, especially in the London traffic.
The trophy giving went off without a hitch and all trophies were claimed. As usual we won’t mention all the winners by name (as we have once again lost the bloody list).
The furthest distance trophy was won by Dougal and his lady who had travelled from Berlin (even though they only live down the road in Oxford). The best Club turnout once again was taken by the Calladarium MCC for the third year in succession. (There must be a club out there that can beat them for next year....Or is there?)
Soon after all this ‘Inferno’ were back on stage to get the party into full swing. They were followed by the ‘Beer Monsters’ who were introduced by Rick as the best rally band of 2004. Suffice to say they repaid his faith in them in grand style. The final band for the evening was ‘Doghouse’ who as always had the marquee rocking.
The party once again didn’t finish until the early hours of the morning just in time to see the deer leaving the campsite as punters started to surface. I have never seen a campsite so full at nearly midday. Everyone very slowly getting up, nurturing his or her hangovers. We felt so knackered running it that I am sure it was a great rally and all those who came really enjoyed it.
According to the gamekeeper we still hold the record for the least amount of rubbish left on site after an event, this was helped by all of the thoughtful rally-goers who put their rubbish in the bags we provided. Thanks to you all for your support and making the rally a good one, and to all those who grafted beyond the call of duty to make the weekend a success. We had around 700 through the gates and I think everyone had a wonderful time. As is always the case it was left to the usual eight die-hard people to pack everything away and clean the site and to them we owe a very special thanks.
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