Modrapheniacs 10th Anniversary Rally at Sandford.   March 12th-14th 2010

Like the Charity Shield, for us Sandford is the traditional curtain-raiser to another rally season and was preceded by a frenzy of Facebook comments with various friends counting down the number of sleeps and getting rather excited at the thought of the first weekend away in 2010.  The weather forecasts had all been bad, and I got rather obsessed with trying to find one which didn't predict heavy rain at some stage of our ride down to Dorset - but there were none.  We had to accept the fact that we'd get wet, it was just a matter of where, and for how long.  We'd taken the major step of bringing the older children, the teenagers who hopefully would enjoy the weekend away but not need to be babysat and not get up to too much mischief. 

So we met at the usual petrol station on the outskirts of Bognor - me with Sam on the back, Champs with Dolly, Tina, Lee, Angus with Leon and Trina in the van as backup.  As we reached the Chichester roundabout the timing couldn't have been more perfect as the rest of our gang, Gail, Sid and Mark, were coming along the road at exactly the same time.   So we headed west, and after a couple of hiccups (Sid needing to relieve himself on the motorway hard shoulder!!) we stopped at Rownhams for fuel and a rest.   No rain yet, although the clouds were gathering.  Talisman Terry joined our entourage and we headed off again, but this time the boys all sped up and went ahead, leaving me, Gail and Tina trailing behind at a more leisurely pace.   As we passed through the New Forest a van going in the opposite direction beeped us - and we found out later that it was Mr March from the A5 calendar, John Barnett!  He probably spotted my dayglo pink jacket a mile off...

When we reached the usual queues of traffic around Bournemouth we threaded our way through, leaving Trina behind with a map and SatNav, assuming she'd find her way without any problems.  We arrived at the Bakers Arms pub which is two miles away from the caravan park - still without a drop of rain proving that weather forecasts are a waste of time - and settled down for a spot of lunch.  No sign of Trina, and we all started to worry, with reason as it turned out as a flurry of phone calls ensued when she couldn't find us.   Eventually we were all reunited and then set off for the final leg to Sandford, to be greeted by Andy Vass on the gate demanding money in exchange for an exciting-looking goodie bag which contained all sorts of Modrapheniac-branded treasures, including fridge magnets, a patch, pen, sticker and rock sweeties. 

We headed for the bar as the queue to pick up caravan keys was huge, eventually sending the children down to collect them.   Why have a dog and bark yourself?   That's one of Lee's favourite sayings...  Anyway, one of the main talking points of the weekend was Salisbury Phil's moustache.   He looked like a cross between a porn star and a mexican, and seemed very proud of it despite all the disparaging comments.  I took plenty of photos so you can make your own minds up...

After checking out the caravans we had a quick shower and then headed out for the evening’s fun.  Spent most of the early evening catching up with people we haven't seen for ages, and Lee took part in a Pacemakers table football challenge - it was him and Dennis vs Shane and Daz.  I'm not sure who won but they were very noisy!  Poor Emma Cox was hobbling about, aided by a lovely pink walking stick, due to a dancing injury which forced her to temporarily hang up her dancing shoes until her physio gives her the green light – who would think that scootering could be such a dangerous hobby?  The first live music came from a young ska/punk band, and they were very good – in a manic, frenzied kind of way.  The Northern room was busy too with plenty of people shuffling on the dancefloor including an extremely flexible lady that could do the splits in a very short dress, which the Choirboys were enjoying enormously!

I spent most of the night catching up and chatting, not really paying much attention to the second band who were playing a variety of covers.   The big screen was a constant source of amusement with various messages being posted, including some footie banter, general mickey-taking and some declaring their undying love (it’s amazing what a few ciders can do…).  On one of my visits back to the van to top up my Strongbows I found Leon babysitting Angus who had fallen asleep.  Angus has a knack of peaking too early on a Friday and tonight was no exception.   The other boys seemed to be having fun, mainly in the amusements but had also hooked up with a couple of girls, so were well occupied.

At around midnight the Northern room shut and moved into the main room.  This was good in one way as it meant that the dancefloor stayed fairly busy, but I personally missed the mixture of music that is usually played later on.  I headed back to the caravans and popped next door to find Gary trying to work out how to cook an oven-baked pizza – I suggested he turned off the grill and tried the oven instead... 

Saturday morning brought some lovely sunny weather and I popped into the adjacent caravans to see how everyone was doing.   Sacha was rather tired having been kept up all night by Rich's snoring - something which is hard to escape when you don't have the luxury of a spare room.  Tina was bedbound, with a 'migraine' which apparently she always gets after a big night on the booze.  She was being nursed by Dolly and I them to it, wondering if she knew that her scoot was decorated with toilet paper, feeling this wasn't the right time to tell her about it...

We visited the custom show and although it wasn’t massive there were some lovely scoots on show and all tastes were catered for.  We popped inside to look around the stalls, but there didn't seem to be as many as usual.  I later found out that there were more outside, doh!  I then visited reception where I filled in some forms for next year – which seemed ridiculous at the time but takes so much stress out of the forthcoming year, knowing that the caravans are booked - apparently it’s over half full for 2011 already!

Steve and Gail were taking their boys to Monkey World, but we followed the rest of the club into Wareham for a quick drink by the river which is a very picturesque spot. The town’s mayor told us off for parking the scoots on their precious flagstones, worried that we’d spill oil on them - he didn't seem to be worried about the various vehicles at the market just a few yards away though - grrrr...  We were going to eat in the pub by the traffic lights but it was shut - another victim of the recession - so instead we rode back to the campsite and headed for the neighbouring pub, just in time to catch the rideout as it left for Swanage.  In a haze of two-stroke I took a few photos then headed inside before I was choked by carbon monoxide fumes! The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling, eating and drinking – with plenty of banter and lots of laughs.  Gary was on good form taking the mickey out of the boys, but they were giving it back to him too, it was very entertaining.

A few late arrivals meant that the rooms were busier on the Saturday evening.   The first band were brilliant, the highlight of the weekend for me.   They were called The Corsairs and were a rockabilly/psychobilly threesome and they played a fantastic mix of covers, from The Coral to The Jam with some Wurzels in between.   The lead singer mounted his double bass for Wipeout which was very impressive.   I was compelled to dance when they played Stray Cat Strut, it was just so good.  The rest of the evening passed in a bit of a blur, the second band playing 60s and ska covers were followed by Terry Walters who played a great indie mix.   Once again the Northern Room merged with the main room later on which I think was  a real shame as it seemed to kill the night for me - I do like a late boogie but Northern Soul can be a bit limiting (much as I love it in short bursts) - there's nothing like a good mixture to keep everyone happy.

And so Sunday dawned with plenty of sunshine for our trip home. Although I made it back in one piece, we passed Gary & co in a layby and it turned out he'd blown another piston.  Tina had to bring hers back in the van too, making it an eventful finish to what had been yet another superb rally.   Well done to the Modrapheniacs - it ran like clockwork, as always, and I'm already looking forward to the 35th anniversary next year!!