Forward and odd bits by Piglet.

General words and pics by Clouseau.

For the past nineteen years the rally held at this time of year on Mersea Island, Essex has always been known as the Arse in the Grass. This year however the organising club decided to pull out at fairly short notice. This was when 3 local bikers, Piglet her other half Nick and their mate Mark decided to step in and save the rally.

I was looking forward to this rally for a couple of reasons. I had arranged to meet with some close friends that I hadn?t seen since the Icy Knee last November and also it was totally unexpected that I went at all.

I had planned the Celtic Warriors, the weekend before, well in advance and didn?t think I would be able to play two weekends on the trot. However, I was on-call on Thursday night so had Friday off, result! This rally is fairly close for me so I managed to get the bike packed and get a couple of hours kip on Friday before setting off.

The weather forecast was not too good, even though Friday was sunny, so I decided to wear the waterproofs, instead of trying to cram onto the bike somewhere. Wrong decision! The ride to Mersea was a blinder and it just got sunnier. By the time I reached the site I was baking. The site is also one of the best I have been to at East Mersea Youth Camp.

As it is next to the sea the wind was biting so I managed to find a bit of shelter and pitched up. Wandering about I was amazed to find a toilet block with showers, a canteen and the hall where the bands would play, plus loads of chalets and other stuff.

I soon found my friends and the weekend well and truly started. I trolled up to the Mersea brewery/vineyard and came back with a 5litre container of their finest ale. It was only a few minutes walk up the road and well worth it.

The late afternoon and early evening period was spent catching up and getting some food inside, ready for the onslaught that somehow I knew would be coming later.

It was good to see so many people I knew, even though we are all local I was pleased to see so many different clubs just chilling together, great atmosphere for later.

The disco had been making noises for a while, so we all headed in that direction just before the first band of the evening, Mighty Resonators, got under way at about 8ish. These guys played some cracking R+B numbers and you should have seen the dance floor heave. The other band, Loaded, played anything from Sex Pistols to Green Day and everyone just carried on dancing to them. I couldn?t help thinking that the atmosphere and the energy that everyone had was more like a Saturday Night, it was that good. The hall got hotter as the night went on, which meant that the drink flowed, obviously! When Loaded had done their stuff the disco kept us all going for a few more hours.

Saturday saw another sunny day, even though the wind was still cold. It also saw the usual consequences of the night before. I am never ever going to drink that much again, ever ?..well possibly once more, but that will be the last and final time, oh yes it will.

The canteen was open early-ish for breakfast and the day had started. Several more people arrived throughout the late morning and I bumped into a few more old mates. This was proving to be a very good rally, even though the numbers were slightly down on previous years, about 650 partygoers still managed to show up.

The afternoon saw silly games followed by the bike show. The pics show just how good the entries were. However, the Harley?s did have a marquee all to themselves, except one mean black one who refused to go inside! The winners were, Best custom-Black gsx,Best Streetfighter-Bandit Buell, Best Trike-Suzuki bike trike, Best Classic -Red Ariel, Best engineering-V Max, Best Paint-Triumph 650, Best Rat- Nik's Future Bike, Best in show-GSXR Chop, and Best Harley which was sponsored by Andy Harris Of Harley Tech (Maldon Essex) went to a Blue S&S Chop,(sorry but lost the bit of paper with the reg no's on)

The marquee housed the first two bands to entertain us on Saturday, starting with Inscape who I missed (sorry) and then Brian Said who did their own stuff, I think and were not bad for starters. The other two bands, Livewire and No Shame played in the hall, which had a layer of wood shavings/sawdust over the floor. Good idea as it made the dancing easier, and probably the cleaning up easier as well! Luckily the raffle was drawn without the usual tediousness and all tickets were posted at check-in.

Again the choice of bands was excellent with Livewire kicking ass with some great covers and No Shame just putting the icing on the cake with some truly masterful versions of great classics. The dance floor never stopped all night and everyone had a great time. The atmosphere from Friday night just rolled on into Saturday. There are loads of clubs in the Essex/Suffolk/ Norfolk area who know how to party and it certainly showed this weekend.

Thanks to Piglet and all, who organised this superb rally. It will be on again next year 21^{st-23rd April. So book early!}

^{Thanks from Clouseau, Kautari MCC}

^{A big thanks from Piglet, Nick and Mark to: Andy at Harley Tech, Peter at PM Motorcycles, Ian the Pa Bloke and every one else for their support for making the Rally work.}

I could make out some sort of an outline and an enormous object spun into view, loomong up large and uncanny out of the sky. It resembled the upper half of a large spinning top and was about the size of a gasometer. There appeared to be a dome on top, the inside of which was flashing a strange blue light.' This is part of an actual report involving an alleged UFO sighting at Langenhoe mear Mersea Island back in 1965

Mersea is Englands eastern most inhabited island and is situated about seven miles from Colchester in Essex. It is also home to the Bum in the Mud rally in April each year. This year the event attracted over 800 people and a bloody good time was had by all. The rally site is one of the best i've seen being right next to the beach( for 'beach' read 'mud' but hell, it's still the seaside,alright?) and wander round the site revealed about twelve or so stalls and Leigh the Tattooist, plus four food stalls. As Friday afternoon drifted into evening it was time for the first band of the night, FUBAR, who went down very well. Next were female-fronted covers band, Time Out, who were also most excellent. The main band was colchester's best kept secret, R&B band The Mighty Resonators who kept the hall rocking untill 1.30 or so.

Saturday dawned warm and sunny and, by mid-day the first band of the day, The Company, were playing in the marquee. A bit later the bike show was setting up in an adjoining marquee while Marie and Beth played an accoustic set. Considering the Celtic Warriors were holding their do the same weekend the standard of some of the bikes in the show was outstanding. Fifty quid went to the winner of each class,plus a handmade trophy, with a hundred nicker going to 'Best in Show'

As bands continued to play throughout the afternoon, Skruff's famous silly games were in full swing. I managed to miss the tug of war and pillion bundle, But did catch the treatment of the rally virgins- they were made to sit on a chair wearing googles and a snorkel, and a good dollop of Andrew's liver salts was tipped down the snorkel, swiftly followed by a couple of cans of larger. I'm sure those poor buggers had froth and foam oozing from every orifice.Then to cap it off they were totally egged. I beat a hasty retreat to the marquee to find i'd missed the third band of the afternoon, Dead End, but did manage to catch the superb Red Alert. The evening's bands were back in the hall and kicked off with young ska band, The New Town Kings, followed by Blacktooth and then a Guns and Roses tribute, Lose Your Illusion. While the Ministry of Loud disco filled the gaps between the bands the Marquee was transformed into a dance/rave tent. Not usally my cup of tea, but it seemed popular with a lot of people. The main band of the weekend was the legendary punk band, The Vibrators. Celebrating their 30th year in the rock buisness this year, these guys can still really rock.

So, all in all, a bloody good weekend- eleven bands,rock disco,rave tent,cash bike show and not a UFO in site...all for ?15, not bad eh?

Sunday morning, i was heading back towards colchester leaving Mersea Island behind. Suddenly a huge shape loomed over head emitting a strange humming noise and emitting an eerie blue light...me and my big mouth.