Thanks to a hardy band of volunteers who went down to Danson park on Friday evening to put up the marquees, they were already in place when the Saturday contingent began arriving from 8:30am, which turned out to be invaluable...
...Because throughout Saturday morning and early afternoon it rained. Then stopped for a sunny spell or two. Then really rained, with a thunder accompaniment at selected times. Fortunately the marquees and the gazebo were excellent cover and kept it off the club gear, and off those of us who waited in hope for it to desist. A photographer for the Kentish Times turned up pretty early and took some group pictures of the assembled club members before beating a hasty retreat.
During the first break in the weather, Barry Drew was observed diligently wiping down his bike which had been out in the open. The complements on his attention to detail must have spurred him on because he then moved on to other people's bikes, including mine, and was later seen going at it with a bottle of polish and a rag! Mutterings in the background about a cleanliness secretary post being created for Barry were cut short when the heavens opened again, undoing much of his good work.
Still there were 18 bikes lined up on the club stand and people were walking up throughout the day. Overall though, the bad weather meant the attendance was low throughout most of the day, but after the second downpour there was at least a dry spell during which Paul Bailey showed off his jet-powered trike Colossus in the arena, followed by a team of motorcycle stunt riders that featured one member who was only ten years old. He got to ride a mini quad bike, mostly.
Despite the high-profile presence of local and national companies like Aye Gee, Kia cars, Skoda (ahem) and Vauxhall, the biggest draw was probably the demonstrations by former contestants of the TV "Robot Wars" competitions, who had brought their creations along and were showing how deceptively strong some of the lifting devices were by flipping up old washing machines clean into the air. Bear in mind that the self same washing machines took two people to carry into the little scaffold-sided combat area to begin with...
The weather put off anybody who was contemplating sleeping over on the Saturday night (myself partly included), but Sunday dawned bright... and largely stayed bright, to the extreme relief of many, not least those who were faced with being seriously out of pocket if more rain kept the crowds at bay. There were more appearances by Paul Bailey's Colossus and some rocking tunes from the pint-size band Fungus who set up and played under the gazebo during the afternoon while we enjoyed a beer or two.
At about 2:00pm the club mounted a parade of bikes around the arena during which we paused for the compere to have a few words with Lee Sykes and during which I discovered what happens if you give it too much revs on damp grass, though I managed to stay upright. Special mention must go to Steve Romeril who as you may know has done himself a mischief, foot-wise, but who made it along to Danson Park anyway. Somehow the people staffing a display of electric mobility scooters were persuaded to lend him one for the day, which made getting around a lot easier. What they didn't reckon on, I'm sure, was Steve using it to participate in the bike parade. As you might expect his limited top speed left him trailing badly after a couple of laps of the arena but he still had enough battery power to give Tracey a lift back to the club stand.
All in all Sunday made up for the disappointing start that some people had on Saturday. There were 24 bikes on show and all participants received a brass badge (think horse brasses) to commemorate the event. A big thanks must go to Lee Sykes for all the liaison and to the volunteers who put the marquees up in the rain on Friday night, plus everyone from the club who turned up on the day.