Wonderful Worthing
Saturday, April 2, 2022 Every year the Worthing Custom Show goes from strength to strength, getting everyone’s taste buds fired up for the rest of the year…
Developing a successful scooter event is the result of careful planning, preparation, hard work, a great team and credibility. In 2019 Karen and Mike Theedom along with Michael Caiels took over the reins of the Worthing Custom Show; after delivering a belter of a day and introducing some new features, they’d set the foundations for further success. Little did they know that it would be three years before it would take place again.
Having been battered by the lockdown restrictions the event was finally confirmed for 2022. If proof were needed that scooterists were ready for the season to commence it was in Worthing’s ticket sales, which sold out almost immediately. Despite a flurry of snow only a couple of days before, the weather cleared and as soon as the gates opened, scooters started arriving from far and wide. The turnout in the car park offered a wide variety of scooters, which gave everyone an opportunity to have a chat, a look round and a catch-up.
Everyone arrived at the event in the knowledge that they were not going to be disappointed. Good quality street food was available along with the opportunity for a pint if you fancied one. The atmosphere was vibrant and full of energy, and the activity outside the venue was supported by a wide selection of dealers and traders inside the building selling scooter memorabilia, parts and clothing.
Show time
The main attraction is the custom show, which exhibited some fantastic scooters from all genres. Twenty-five scooters were on display, some of which had been booked in since 2019 and they sat among several stunning, previously unseen, first-time-shown machines.
After the custom show results were delivered, the main hall was cleared to make way for the evening’s entertainment.
When the doors reopened local DJs Steve Bowden and Mark Foxon from Mod ’n’ Soul got the evening off to a great start. Then the live band, Skadogs, followed with an opening set of Reggae, Ska and Rock-Steady. After they completed their opening set there was a short break for the raffle prize draw. Once the prizes had been given out the Skadogs returned to the stage and the fun continued into the early hours.
Speaking about the event’s organisation Karen Theedom said: “We’ve had the event planned for a long time and although there’s the usual ‘what-ifs’ we were all ready to go and very excited. We had scooterists from all along the south coast, London and Kent come and visit us. The atmosphere was amazing and a lot of people told us how nice it was to be back to normality after such a long time; the weather was beautiful but cold, however that didn’t stop everyone having a great time.
“We know that the past couple of years have been difficult for everybody, so we would especially like to say thank you to everyone who’s stood by us and supported us through those challenging times.”
The event raised over £2000 for the chosen charities, which were the Worthing children’s ward at Worthing Hospital and the Aldingbourne Trust for people with learning disabilities.
Next year the Worthing Custom Show will be celebrating its 10th anniversary and the team are already making plans to make sure that it’ll be one not to be missed.