Organised by the Mutants are Go Rally Club and Tsunami Riders MCC, hence "Joint" Rally, nothing to do with long cigarettes, the Joint Rally was my first rally of the year and as the weather forecast was good, was chosen specifically to try out my new tent. The Joint Rally is held at the Old Elthamians Rugby Ground every Easter. I arrived about midday on Friday and immediately noticed that they had a bright orange gate across the entrance, a good tip for us when we use the site in July! £12.00 later I had badge, ticket, timetable and rubbish bag; and it was time to set up the tent. Fortunately, the weather forecasters had got it spot on and it was a glorious sunny day for setting up tents and after a few failed attempts, the tent was up and I was off to the bar with "Pops" Green, one of the Tsunami riders.
There were several trade stalls at the rally already set up when I arrived, again something for the rally committee to discuss, they seemed to be attracting a fair number of visitors. Any road up, the first band in the afternoon were a bunch of lads doing a kind of death metal screaming music; not the usual rally stuff and the hall emptied apart from some teenage girls who appeared to be with the band...
The first proper band were "Black Tooth" a sound, heavy metal covers band who filled the hall and got the dance teams started; I noticed Danny and Brian from the UFO club doing their circular dance routine and Shelley and Ted from the Isle of Wight bopping away. Next band on were "Bad to the bone", a rock covers band who kept people on the dance floor until about 1:00 a.m. While the day had been warm, the night was really cold and I was so glad that I had packed three sleeping bags and a new self-inflating mattress, all of which kept me toastie in my sleeping bags but the three zips became a little complicated when needing a wee in the early hours!
There was some icy stuff on the bike when I got up on Saturday, but the sun soon cleared away the frost and a bacon sarnie from the grub van warmed me up. My camping neighbours, (Harley riders with skull headlights etc...), who had come from Yorkshire decided to visit Chistlehurst caves rather than go on the organised egg run to kiddies homes. I thought I would hang around the site and see if I could pick up some tips from the Tsunami silly games and also I'd heard that there would be a rugby match on site in the afternoon.
Old Elthamians lost the rugby in a close 20-22 defeat to Bettshanger, the silly games were better but not quite as violent and no blood spilled. As with our rally, there are lots of children at the Joint Rally and the silly games reflect this. A popular game was musical chairs and, after the kiddies had finished, it was the grown ups turn! In my role of Bexley silly games organiser, I felt obliged to take part and lasted three rounds until being barged off my chair by UFO Danny whose next round was upended by UFO Brian who pulled the legs of his chair away! I noted these tactics for use at our rally.
Any road up, come the evening and Bexley reinforcements arrived in the form of Andy and Lee Adie, Stuart and Viv Wood and Dave Jackson. The Saturday night bands were not up to the standard of the Friday night; "Cat & The Hot Tin Trio" were a Rockabilly type band with double bass, not my scene but even Rock & Roll expert Andy was not too impressed, "not as good as the WildKatz" he said. The last band, "Running on Empty" was ok but not up to Bexley dance standard.
Back to my tent, another zipped up night and it was Sunday. The raffle and prize giving took place at 11.00. Everybody, except Dave Jackson, had given me their raffle tickets from the night before and I had them all spread out on a table in the hall; "Blimey you're keen to win a prize" was one of the milder comments made. Any road up, I didn't win a raffle prize but Andy did, an Easter egg! Shelley from the Isle of Wight was awarded the long distance female award. She was well pleased as she had missed out on the same award at our rally when another lady from the Isle of Wight travelled slightly further. While I missed out on a raffle prize, my Super III outfit was awarded the best sidecar outfit award, it's the first time one of my bikes has ever won anything.
Goodbyes said; off home and to the Pied Bull. The Joint is a well organised rally and gave me some ideas for when we have our rally at the same site in July.