Kevin’s Chronicles

This month’s episode in Kev’s life looks at the turbulent period in the 1980s when his natural affinity to lead shone through, as he restored harmony to the scootering scene

Part 4 of our homage to scooter legend Kev Walsh. This time we take a look at number ones, nationals and millionaires

The beginning of the 1980s was a turbulent, but none the less exciting time within the world of scootering. The mod revival, which had been created by more than just Quadrophenia, had faded away as quickly as it had exploded on to the scene. What it left behind was something that in a way no one knew what to do with. Overnight, scooter ownership had gone from a fragmented entity into something which was gripping the entire teenage nation. Of course, there had always been areas where it had never stopped flourishing, such as in the northern counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire. Even down south, there were pockets where it had survived. Now, however, it was a mainstream force across the entire country, and it needed joining together. Those that realised this fact, also knew of its potential. If it could be harnessed, then only greater things could come from it.

Piece of the action

Kevin Walsh was one of those people, and was by this time in a position of authority to be part of this new revolution. Established as general secretary of the LCGB, he was making the important decisions as to how they moved forward. It had been a traumatic time for both himself and the others that had run the club, the events of Southend in 1979 still raw in their minds. Learning from the mistakes, they had come out of it much stronger and united. Membership was again on the increase, making the club the largest official one within the ranks of the UK scooter scene. There were other players involved though, and they also wanted a piece of the action. No one person or group was going to take control of how the future was going to be shaped. It would have to come from a collective of those that had the biggest influence. One thing no one doubted, was that Kev and the LCGB would play a major role.

So it was finally to be. In 1981, it was decided that all those parties interested would meet up to plan the way forward for scootering in the foreseeable future. The LCGB, of course, would be there, along with number ones from the biggest clubs. Also invited were those that were involved in magazines of the time. They were a vital link, because they were seen as the major conduit to connect with the scooterists at large. There was no mainstream publication as such, although Scootermania magazine had taken over precedence in this role. It was run by

Kev went directly to the police constabulary involved to sort the issue, and persuaded them not to pull the plug on the event. After tense negotiations and promising the rally would be trouble-free, they agreed.

Martin Dixon, who had a good standing amongst the scootering ranks. Martin was vocal in both his opinions and ideas of how he saw the way forward. This was not so much in the way of suggesting that he wanted to control everyone else, but that he was determined to be somewhere on the top table. Martin’s magazine was given the task of promoting the meeting in the first instance.

Taking control

The meeting would take place at a hall in Wolverhampton, the idea being that it was a central location for the whole of the country. Though certain parties had been invited, it was open to anyone that wanted to attend, and club number ones were encouraged to take part. A roomful of club number ones would take the word back to their members who would, in turn, spread the word even further. That's why they were so important. As you can imagine, the room was packed with people, all of whom had an idea of what they thought was to be the best way forward. It was a recipe for disaster, and inevitably it descended into chaos. With people shouting their opinions and disagreeing with what others were saying, the meeting was going nowhere fast.

This is when Kev stepped in, using his skills as a workers’s representative to calm down the situation. He had always been proud of his job and the way he had gone about it in such a professional manner. “If I can calm down a factory full of workers, then a room full of people with opinions will be much easier,” was his view. He was right, because within minutes the meeting had become quiet again, instead of the shouting and hollering that had taken place beforehand. Kev was chairing the meeting, and only allowing one person at a time to make their point, whilst the others kept quiet. It was a surreal moment, as many began to take more notice of how Kev was controlling things, than listening to what was being said. It wasn’t so much that he wanted to be the leader, but that he was naturally good at it.

Sounds like a good idea

Several important things came from the meeting that day, none more so than securing what was to be the concept of how rallies were to be run in the future. The initial suggestion had come from Tom Petch, the number one from York Scooter Club. Formed for several years, the club was certainly one of the biggest in Yorkshire. Tom had been around for a good while and was well liked, with people happy to listen to what he had to say. His idea was simple: to hold about ten rallies around the country from Easter to Autumn, being the best months of the year, weather-wise. That way, scooterists from all areas would

have at least one rally on their doorstep, making it fair for everyone. These would be held at different seaside resorts, making them far more appealing than inland rallies, as there were better facilities to accommodate people in the way of B&Bs. In the end, the idea was whittled down to nine rallies spread evenly between resorts across the country. They were to be called the nationals, with the first one held over Easter Bank Holiday each year.

What also came from the meeting was just who exactly got designated each job. It was going to be a monumental task organising everything and then putting it into action. There was to be no committee as such, but rather a group of people that would sort out any issues. The two main people were to be Kev and Martin. Martin’s job was to promote the rallies through his magazine. This would be by way of advertising, followed by a report on each rally. The idea was that the better he made them sound, they more people would want to attend the next rally. It was a good idea and would, in time, make the magazine more like a chronicle where everyone would subscribe to it, as they would then know what was going on.

Kev was promoted to the head job, but the head of what? He would explain later that someone needed to sort out all the issues with the councils where rallies were going to be held, remembering many of them didn't want scooterists, because as

far as they were concerned, they spelt trouble. There was also the issue of liaising with the local constabularies that would be heavily involved in policing each event. There were a whole host of other things to organise and, in fact, the list seemed endless. It wasn’t a paid position, either, so where was the reward?

For Kev, It was simple. It would help promote the LCGB, and that mattered more than anything. He now had the perfect platform from which to achieve his vision of taking the club forward and seeing it grow. As far as most were concerned, the LCGB was now in control of running the national rallies, and for Kev, that was perfect.

Let the nightmare begin

As far as Kev was concerned, the first year of the nationals was strange. It had been talked about for some time, but then it became a reality and was happening every month. There were a few incidents, but that was bound to happen, and had been predicted. The nationals had grown in popularity, with thousands of teenagers descending on a resort for a weekend away, fuelled with alcohol, and that wasn't going to run smoothly. Kev’s biggest nightmare was that of persuading councils to allow a rally to go ahead in their town. Don’t get me wrong, some welcomed them with open arms at the thought of all the trade they would bring, and certainly to drinking establishments. Other councils would do everything in their power to stop scooterists descending on their towns, even gaining an injunction in the most extreme of cases.

Those that didn’t want a scooter rally held would also use the Police as extra leverage to stop it happening. This was nonsense to Kev, and he was determined to do something about it. At one particular rally there was major opposition, with the likelihood that it wouldn’t go ahead. The problem was that the rallies were printed in Scootermania in advance, and cancelling one wasn’t an easy thing to do. Kev went directly to the constabulary involved to sort the issue out, and

persuaded them not to pull the plug on the event. After tense negotiations and promising the rally would be trouble-free, they agreed. The outcome was that he had achieved something no one else probably could have done, having once again used the skills he had perfected at his place of work. This was probably the reason why he was put forward to run the nationals, as those at the meeting in Wolverhampton could see his leadership skills even then.

It hadn’t gone unnoticed either by Walter Firman, the police chief with whom he had negotiated with. From then on they would become good friends. He suggested that Kev should become a liaison officer for future scooter rallies. If Ken had problems around the country with any particular Force, he was happy to put in a good word, which clearly would go a long way. Kev was now involved in a number of areas that no one ever really got the chance to hear about. To him, all that mattered was delivering a rally on time and without a problem. For now, that's the way it would stay, with all sides happy.

Making it even better

As time progressed, so too did the size of each rally. Within a couple of years, they had begun to grow considerably. The Idea that Tom Petch had first come up with had proved to be a great success. The problem was, the more people that attended, the more that was required to keep the scooterists occupied over the weekend, and particularly if the rally was held over a Bank Holiday. The most popular pubs in the town would be under siege throughout a rally, with many people having to settle for drinking outside. There was always a hall or venue for the night-time, and bands were having more of a presence, along with the popular DJs. The campsites would be full and dealers had become a large part of being situated on or near them. So, too, were the custom shows that, depending on the location, might be inside or outside.

No one was complaining. If someone had an idea for making money, then this was the place to be, with thousands of potential customers in the same place and at the same time. It soon began to snowball, with all sorts of entrepreneurs beginning to turn up.

This certainly wasn’t frowned upon, because the more there were, the bigger everything would get. By 1984, and with the rally season in full swing, Kev’s scootering life was about to take another turn. It was at the Morecambe rally.

Whilst sorting a problem with Clive Jones from CJ Scooters, for the first time he would meet someone who would have a major impact on both him and how the rallies would be run in the future. Clive had brought along with him a friend by the name of Chris Burton.

He was a businessman and, by all accounts, a relatively a successful one. From a business perspective, Chris saw the huge potential presented by the thousands of scooterists.

He viewed them as a commodity from whom money could be made. It wasn’t long before he and Kev got chatting, and Chris told him of his plans to make the rallies even bigger.

The whole discussion was based around money, and how much they could make. It was suggested that both them and the LCGB could become wealthy in the process, perhaps even millionaires. All Chris had to do nwas convince Kev that this would be a good idea.

Kev was no fool though, and those that were already involved had built things up nicely since 1981, so why rock the boat?

Like everything in life, there is no reward without risk… but was he prepared to take the plunge? That was a decision only Kev could make, but I’ll save that for the next instalment.

NRC and rallies turn to riots Stu Owen