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FIRST SKIVERS RALLY
 It was a drunken night at the party after April’s AGC when a few of us from the North East Region started thinking about putting on a new rally.
Jayne pulled out her huge diary and started going through the weekends: “Can’t do 16th or 30th June, that’s the Farmyard and the Broon Dog; can’t do July, that’s the Broken Pistons, the Sewer Rats, the Misfits and the Dragonslayers, can’t do etc. etc…”
Then, after a beer too far, someone (can’t remember who) said “why does it have to be a weekend?” and the Skivers’ Rally was born!
Brian at the Oak Tree pub near Teesside Airport had a camping field; we wouldn’t need a licence as the pub’s licence would cover the rally, so all we had to pay for would be a couple of Portaloos and a band.
What a brilliant idea, let’s do it!
In the sober light of day, we reviewed what we could remember of the night before.
“Did we really agree to do this?”
“Whose stupid idea was that?”
“A rally in the middle of the week? – you’re completely nuts!”
But hang on a minute… no-one’s done this before right?
And the kids are off school, so we could make it “family-friendly”, with games and such.
All we could lose is the cost of a couple of Portaloos and our reputations as sensible, level -headed people…
OK, just the cost of the bogs then!
So we had a word with Brian at the pub and he was up for it, so we priced up the bogs, asked around for bands and printed up some flyers.
Jayne was brilliant – she flew around all the local clubs and made a nuisance of herself until they bought tickets, she arranged sweeties and goodie bags for the kids, got space-hoppers and sacks for the games, sweet-talked Brian into doing breakfast and a BBQ and generally ensured that everything was covered.
The Rally ran from Tuesday afternoon, 8th August to Thursday morning, 10th August.
I rolled up on Tuesday night, still recovering from drinking too much and marshalling the gate from 12 – 4 am at the Yorkshire Pudding rally, to find the party in full swing.
So I grabbed a pint and joined in.
At such a small rally, there wasn’t much to do in the way of marshalling, so we got stuck into the beer and the music.
The band “French Letters” from Billingham, were great, running through a repertoire from the Beatles to AC/DC.
Not bad for a young 2-piece playing in the corner of a pub!
Once the beer had flowed for a couple of hours, AC/DC’s “Big Balls” went down a storm, with everyone singing along!
The bar ran out of Black Sheep around 9pm and the John Smiths went off an hour or so later, so I was reduced to drinking whisky.
Wednesday morning dawned bright and clear as I woke up to the merry sound of kids playing and Boeing 737s landing at the airport, which was only a few hundred yards away.
Brian laid on a full breakfast for a couple of quid, which settled my hangover nicely! I picked a bit of litter, collected a few glasses and went down to the field to join in the games.
A couple of dodge-ball matches convinced me that too much exercise was not the best idea, so I got a pint and watched the sack races, 3-legged race, water fights and other silliness – kids of all ages were well happy!
 Wednesday night was a repeat of Tuesday’s festivities and Brian sold out of beer yet again!
We had told him to get extra, but he said he’d sold more beer in 2 nights than he normally sells in 2 weeks!
The band were a bit braver tonight, risking a couple of their own numbers which were well received – a cross between Blur and ZZ Top, most refreshing!
Again, they rounded off with “Big Balls”, which had become the theme song for the rally.
We had great support from the Praetorian MCC, the Tees Riders and the Estonians, as well as the Stalwarts from Darlington, Middlesbrough and Durham MAG.
Clearing up on Thursday morning took all of half an hour and people wended their way home with smiles showing through the hangovers.
The kids had really enjoyed it as well as the grown-ups and we’ll definitely be running it next year.
Well, it took “Big Balls” to put on the world’s first mid-week rally, but it paid off. A total of around £180 was raised for MAG funds and lots of happy and surprised punters will be booking again next year.
If you can’t get the time off work, then skive.
Jayne will call the boss and pretend to be your Mum!
The last words go to Praetorian Pete, who said “Whoever came up with the idea of a midweek rally must have been inspired My kids and the other members of the Praetorians; all they have spoken of is how much they enjoyed themselves.
This is a good sign that NEMAG are catering for the needs and wants of the Northeast biking community”; and Pete’s 10 year old daughter, who said “Dad! Can you get my ticket for next year? It was brilliant”.
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