Celebration Time (come on!) – The Red Kites 10th Anniversary Do
Red Kites Scooter Club and friends flocked to their home town to celebrate their 10th anniversary – bringing the scooter season to a close and raising funds for Oxfordshire Mind.
Most clubs don’t need an excuse for a gathering and social occasion whatever the weather or destination, and we’re no different. However, 10 years of club scooting, and happy antics was surely a golden opportunity not to be missed for organising a club celebration and an ideal reason to party.
Founded by Michael Clark in 2007 in a small Oxfordshire town, our club has bought together members from Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Aberdeen! Some Kites fly away for a while, but they always have a habit of returning, if only for a brief moment.
Thame Snooker Club was bursting at the seams with 120 eager Kites and fellow feathered friends, eager and enthusiastic to celebrate our anniversary bash, commemorate the end of the scooter season and help raise funds for Oxfordshire Mind (a charity close to our hearts) www.oxfordshiremind.org.uk
As usual, Paul and his fantastic bar staff managed (just) to keep up with the thirst quenching needs of party goers who were attacking the wooden (non-sprung) dance floor with gusto, gyrating to a wide range of northern soul, ska, punk and other fancy dancy types of music! Emma Cox’s infamous ‘cheesy hour’ was included when Tiny took a turn on the decks too, which provided a moment of sheer happiness, watching a packed dance floor of inebriated and enthusiastic scooterists stomp to Tiger Feet which was simply the highlight of the evening (for me).
Numbers swelled in the tropical heat of the function hall, and it was a total joy to greet and catch up with friends from afar who had braved the chill and frost. Huge thanks to the Solent Cougars travelling from Southampton, and Kevin and Caroline from Bournemouth, friends from Hertford,
Northampton and more, mingling with closer mates from Aylesbury, Banbury SC and Oxford Roadrunners – one giant happy mass of good friends and loved ones.
Furthest travelled was neck and neck between two Scottish travellers, RKSC Dave Deans driving from Aberdeen and good friend Dumpy who flew in from Inverness, which I’m reliably informed has a mahoosive 104 miles between them, thereby Dumpy would’ve won the trophy if we have had one!
For the first time, we took a club decision to avoid the raffle fiasco which often breaks up an evening of mayhem, fun and jollity, and instead donated all ticket sale profits of £550 to our chosen charity. Red Kites have a freebie ticket each, but worked hard for our golden ticket, setting up, covering the door, looking after our fabulous DJ Emma Cox (thank you Emma… you were totally blinding and gorgeous in that purple tassel frock) and snapping the party fest atmosphere (with MY camera, which for once, didn’t come back with pictures of lightbulbs, fittings… and hairy arses).
No bands, no raffles, just beer and shots – we danced (reasonably), sang (badly) but fully embraced the “beer and shots” line from our flyer and partied from dusk until dawn (well – until the bar shut).
Red Kites would like to thank everyone for their love and support – which filled the room and our hearts.
Words & Photographs: Serena Chamberlain