REPORT: WoT Rally

A traditional ‘old skool’ rally at a great venue with top entertainment and a superb atmosphere.

Stu Smith gets neck deep in the action at Weston-on-Trent.

The W.o.T Rally was previously known as the Shires Rally and it’s now in its sixth year being held at the Ukrainian Youth camp, Weston-on-Trent, Derby. Camping is a treat at the countryside venue, which also offers good, clean facilities with on-site washing, showers and toilets facilities available.

Arrivals started turning up early on the Friday morning. The weather offered a few pesky showers here and there but there was never any risk of this taking the edge off things. Over the course of the weekend the roughly 1200 attendees were treated to an outstanding line-up of fun events and entertainment. On Friday night Mansfield band Pretty Big Guns supported The Interceptors.

On Saturday night, and back by popular demand were the highly entertaining Hung like Hanratty who supported the outstanding headlining band The Superskas, and on both nights visitors to the northern room were treated to an outstanding mix of soulful tracks.

BOOM!

As day broke on Saturday morning, and as heads cleared I set off to have a look round the dealers’ market area. As I approached the stalls I was greeted with a cheerful, ‘Morning!’ from Lee ‘Yam-Yam’ Ellam, Finley (six) and Katherine from KT Glitter. After a quick chat with them and an initial wander round the market I walked back over to the main field to talk with Stafford Humbugs SC. Phil from the club explained that it had originally started in Stoke-on-Trent in 1985. The club then closed down in 1998 but in 2004 Phil re-ignited it and it’s now got around 200 members all over the country. Phil said: “We go to most rallies, we’re rally going scooterists and we think the W.o.T Rally is great! It’s a proper ‘old skool’ rally, with good music, a good crack and good friends.” During our conversation, one of their team, Chris, arrived back having been the last man standing from the night before. Phil added: “Oh, and it’s also my 48th birthday today, which is another good thing because my birthday usually falls on the W.o.T rally weekend!”

Over the course of the weekend the roughly 1200 attendees were treated to an outstanding line up of fun events and entertainment.

I then got chatting with Chris and Bev Skelton. They had ridden in from Nottingham the day before. Also having enjoyed the previous night’s entertainment they were taking a moment with a coffee. Chris said: “We love this rally, it’s set out really well, there’s great refreshments and the entertainment is always fantastic.”

Dave Boam of White Lions S.C had also ridden in the day before on his very clean Lambretta Li series 3. I asked Dave about his scooter and he told me: “It’s a standard Li 150 with a clubman exhaust. I bought it in 2014 from the guy who’d bought it from new, so it’s only got one previous owner. Since I’ve had it I’ve just had the side panels resprayed, but apart from that it’s the same as when it came off the production line!”

ACTIVITY

Not too far away were members of the Warwickshire Scooter Alliance (WSA). ‘Texas Tom’, was being ably assisted by Craig fixing a couple of issues on his Lambretta Series 2. Both were being supervised by the on-looking Chloe (Fish), Tracy and Rose. While the repair work was on going the girls managed to pose for a photo on Paul Marshall’s GP and ‘Kev’ the Mods’ Vespa PX. I asked Chloe about Paul’s GP and she said: “He’s the chairman of the club. If you’ve got a problem or you want anything, you go to him.” I then asked them what they thought of the W.o.T Rally. The girls said: “We come to it every year, we get our camp set up on Friday and then we get things going! We like the venue and the entertainment’s great!” In the meantime, ‘Texas Tom’s’ Lambretta fired up to the sound of a loud supporting cheer.

After speaking with the WSA, I took a steady walk over the area, which I named ‘the hub’. ‘The hub’ is situated in the middle of the two main entertainment rooms and the refreshment stands, it’s also the area where the custom show takes place and is the main focal point of activity.

I then went further down the campsite and visited The Modern World SC. The club’s Lloyd Franklin said: “We formed the club in 2006, there’s 35 members and we’re all scooter riders. Our motto is ‘ride safe – keep the faith’, which is an overarching statement about keeping the diversity of all the aspects of scootering together. We’re made up of Mods, skinheads and punks, we’ve all got one thing in common and that’s the love for the scootering scene. We love the W.o.T Rally because it’s a great venue, everyone stays in one place and we all have a great time!”

ACTION

I moved back into the trader’s area. KT Glitter was now busy completing glitter face paint images of Mod targets and scooters, further up I spoke to Joby of Target Accessories who had a great selection of scooter accessories on sale. Also at Joby’s stand were Keith Rose of Beer Pigs SC and Joey Wood of WV1 SC who was checking out at a Motek spot lamp for his 1967 SX150. Further into the trader’s area Dobin and Macca had set up their scooter repair clinic. While working on Matty from Woodbacks SC’s Vespa, Dobin said: “Macca and I are great pals and we’ve been friends for years. We used to run separate scooter repair stands, but in 2005, when Macca got to the Isle of Wight too late and he missed his spot I said, ‘Why don’t you jump in here?’ and we’ve been working together at rallies ever since.”

Back down near the campsite entrance was the well populated Skegby SC marquee. Situated a short distance away from them were Kev Beardsley of Ska Bandits SC and Mick Lewis of Grantham Day Trippers SC, who’d both ridden in on their outstanding Lambrettas.

PACE

Returning to my pitch for a bite to eat and a cuppa I spoke with my neighbour Dennis Atkins, who’d ridden in on his 1971 Vespa Super (150). After some light refreshment and on my way back up to ‘the hub’ I spoke with Paul and Julie Croyne. Paul and Julie had ridden in on their Li series 2 and explained that they’d recently returned from a 15-day 2800-mile scooter trip to Adria, Italy!

At ‘the hub’ were Dave and Adam Edmonds. Dave had ridden in on his beautiful Vespa GS and Adam was on his Jet 200. Nearby was Pat Price of the Oddballs Crew and Shep of the Lambretta Chopper Owners Club, who’d entered their scooters into the custom show.

As the pace began to pick up, Mark Newland in the traders’ market was busy selling a wide range of clothing lines, framed scooter scene pictures and useful tools.

In the meantime, back at ‘the hub’ the custom show results were announced and best in show went to ‘Midnight Oil’. And just in the nick-of-time before the evening’s entertainment started up, Neil Auwkit arrived on his TV175 series 2 with Steve ‘Bo’ Allen on his ‘Pretty Green’ LML.

As the traders began to dismantle their stalls; and after a brief shower of rain the sun broke out and cleared the skies for the evening’s entertainment. In the main room Hung Like Hanratty set the pace off to a cracking start and The Superskas delivered an infectious performance. Throughout the evening I moved between the main room and the northern room. The blend of tunes in the northern room was fantastic. As the night drew to an end I drifted back to my tent and settled down ready to make my way home in the morning.

TRADITIONAL

Thanks to Andy Butler and the Gatecrashers and Skegby SC team we were treated to a well organised traditional ‘old skool’ scooter rally. If you want to know what it’s all about, make sure you don’t miss out next year, because after that, and like so many others you’ll want to keep coming back year after year.

Words & Photographs: Stu Smith