STORMIN' THE CASTLE RETRO-PERSPECTIVE

LOOKING BACK AT THE EARLY DAYS OF STORMIN'

IN ORDER TO LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE BIGGEST AND BEST BIKER EVENTS IN THIS COUNTRY, WE'VE BEEN THROUGH THE FIRST 150 ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE, GOING RIGHT BACK TO THE BEGINNING, AND HUNTING DOWN THE ONES THAT REALLY HAD AN EFFECT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIKER HERITAGE IN THIS COUNTRY.

Like many rallies that've been running for 30-plus years, the beginnings of Stormin' The Castle are shrouded in myth and legend - bikers huddle round campfires, regaling each other with stories of 'before days'. Before what? I've no idea, but stories with many different actors and 'bikes. Having dug deep into the annals of history I've managed to glean some historical information. However, my interpretation may be a bit shaky - Iwas a latecomer to Stormin', not making it there until 1994 and, from that point until Istarted doing press for the event in 2000, Ididn't actually pay any attention to what was going on as Iwas just having a good time. Honestly, it's all just a drunken blur of revelry and misbehaviour. Everything prior to 1998 is based on the reading of ancient runes, various brass rubbings, and many ill-recollected drunken conversations, so don't blame me if it's all completely wrong...

Stormin' had its embryonic appearance at a place called Finchale Abbey in 1990. It was the annual North East MAG show, and in a typical act of NIMBYism a small number of nearby residents complained about the noise coming from the event, and loudly enough for the site manager to declare it'd be the last event there.

At the time the North East MAG rep was a fella called Paul Brierly, and he wasn't too happy that the event'd have to be shelved, and through various connections, spoke to Witton Castle at Witton le Wear, near Bishop Auckland, in County Durham, and it was agreed that the event could take place there the week after a Christian Worship festival, sharing much of the same infrastructure. No, seriously.

This was only three months before the September date, and left little time to organise it, advertise it, and book bands/ bars/caterers/generators, etc., and I'm told that several relationships didn't survive the process. However, with a lot of money borrowed/contributed, it went ahead, and Stormin', as it was called, turned out to be MAG's biggest contributor of funds that year. It had begun! The site's turned out to be excellent - it began with us using only one of the inner fields then, very quickly, the others too, and these tree-lined fields provide a great atmospheric setting to have a rally in.

Ozzy, one of oranisers, recalls discussing the provision of food and drink for the weekend with Witton's owner at the time. He asked if 4,000 cans'd be enough? Ozzy looked him in the eye, and said "for the first hour, maybe...", and says that, when they broke down the expected numbers, and the consumption capabilities of the average biker, the guy's eyes nearly bulged out of his head! He ordered a fully laded 7.5-tonne truck of beer, but they still ran out on Saturday night, and had to source more.

Sometime in the '90s, when a guy named Nick was the treasurer, at a debrief, the accounts were passed round for comment, and not one person queried one particular heading - Horty Imps, £354. I asked him later, and he said that 'horticultural implements' wouldn't fit into the required boxes.

From 2007 onwards MAG no longer ran Stormin' - the event was handed over to the committee of volunteers, but's still a major contributor to MAG. The committee's changed personnel over the years, but's always been predominantly rally bikers who run the event for no reward other than the joy of putting on a great rally.

In the early days, apart from the custom bike show, and the bands, Stormin' was always known for its MAG Demo' Runs. This was in a period when the demographic of bikers was mainly in their 20s and 30s, and people were more politically active than they are today. In 1998, 2,500 bikes joined the demo' into Newcastle, where city councillor Brian Moore made a speech saying he was lobbying the council for secure bike parking, and the right to use bus lanes - both successfully. Funny, isn't it, how 22 years later we still don't have both in many other towns and cities? Sadly, the Demos fell foul of government cuts to policing and, it has to be said, a drop in enthusiasm for them amongst bikers, too.