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Friday

Well we turned up in the car on Friday night having said, all the way from Leicester, that the roads were really quiet. We only saw three bikes and they were going the wrong way from the show! Having set up the tent in the overspill campsite, we broke open a couple of tinnies and made our way up to the entertainment - what a long walk that was. The usual marquee had disappeared but was replaced by the enormous exhibition hall (shed?) - so there was going to be no traditional pole climbing then, eh? Not to be outdone, one of the North East members of the VSOC (we all know who, but I shan't name him!) climbed up and over the entrance door, clinging to the netting and wooden beams - stark naked again of course. Somebody's gotta have some photos of that! Don't worry though, the girls got on the fellas shoulders and removed, or at least lifted, their tops for the lads. Are there any photos of this as well? My camera's not what it should be - I can understand why professionals use those big lenses now!!

Still, the band played on but I couldn't tell you who they were or what they were playing - possibly due to the really bad acoustics or was it the beer? The programme does remind me that Bon Giovi were playing. Mind you, we could all hear the 'You Fat Bastard! Who ate all the pies?' jibes to the compere - you'd think he'd have learnt from last year.

Met up with a load of new people and many old friends, drank more beer and went to the other, quieter, beer tent. We were only there for a couple of drinks when Angie fell asleep on the table. And this is her night for drinking!!! Oh well, time for a few more and then off to the tent for some good old snores. Our tent was that far away, we could hardly hear the revs and bangs of the ignition kill switch bandits - so there are some blessings in this life.

Saturday

Up with the lark we were. Thank God the toilets were reasonably close. Oh alright then, we made it to one of the Breakfast Vans for a little light refreshment at about 10.30 and went on into the show.

Most of the usual bike displays were there -  notably, Harley Davidson weren't (the breed was represented by Black Bear from Newmarket though). Met up with Mick from Street Specials MCC - shame his bike wasn't there but he was selling some of old cast offs. There were loads of bargains all over the show, but as we are already kitted out we managed to avoid the thrust and heave of the leather and helmet tents (shame really - I like a bit of thrust and heave). We did, however, find a van selling off the remaining items of Noose jackets and boots that were going for a song (one jacket in the bag please), and a couple of those nick-nacks you just can't seem to do without.

Having worked our way to the VSOC stand, we got ourselves a lovely cup of tea, 'cos they're nice like that and exchanged views on the show so far. In general, I think we found that it seemed smaller than last year, but it was certainly compact. Where were the live bands throughout the day? Oh well, at least the MCN girls were there in their shiny silver hot pants.

The arena had quite a bit going on. The vintage speedway demonstrations showed the old boys have still got what it takes - one guy was 74 years old and still winning!  Moto Cyclowns, Jumpin' Jake Semtex - that's loads of smoke, explosions and bike stunts, long jump competitions, Moped Enduro racing and all of that to the fabulous sounds of the Sixties. I felt like I was  in a Heartbeat set for a while.

We took in a quick view of the young girlie singing group and watched out for the MCN dancing girls too. Well worth it, but just a shame that the Pit Stop Pub ran out of draught beer.

The Fire Brigade were there giving a chip pan fire demonstration, which is always useful to those who haven't been told what to do - and bloomin' spectacular too - you just don't realise what can happen.

There were plenty of classic bikes to see, from AJS to Vincent. I did notice a Norton 'FatLass' which could be hired out at the weekends!!

The daytime show shut at about 6.00pm. Paul at the VSOC tent ( who got some great bargain Noose boots after finding out about my jacket) kindly invited us to a bit of a BBQ, and after we went down to see the evening's entertainment at the big shed. There was some kind of Country band on which was OK but - well, you know...Then on came the Irish Queen tribute band 'Flash Harry' who kept the crowd singing 'til the early hours, even after the band stopped. More nakedness from the lads and ladies on the rafters and shoulders.

We must say that we hope the young person who was found collapsed by the side entrance to the shed is getting better - this is when the volunteer Marshals and emergency services are really appreciated - well done to them!

Sunday

To be honest, the day's entertainment was much the same as Saturday . The sun shone a lot more though, so I had to buy yet another cheap hat (£1 bargain) to cover my already bright pink head. Shaven and bald can be cool but not when you're sunburnt!

I had to go over to the Suzuki (GB) stand to enter the free bike competition - you never know do you? As it turned out, one of the BMF marshals, Jonathan Rosenthal, who hails from Leicester won the terrific GSX-R. Lucky lad.

It's a shame that the best club bike competition wasn't held. Most of us were looking forward to that. So, after all the weekend had to offer, we decided that it would be best if we went home a little earlier than normal and catch up on a bit of rest - all this walking, fresh air and sun can really take it out of us young'uns.

The BMF have released the attendance figures and reports from their press release (dated 21/5/2001)state: "attendance was nearly 5,000 up on last year at 86,526, making this the second most successful event in the BMF Show’s 41 year history, just 400 visitors short of 1999’s all-time record attendance."

Now that's got to be good!

If there's any pictures you'd like to share here, e-mail nick@nlappage.freeserve.co.uk

See ya'll at the Welsh National Motorcycle show

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Last modified: January 31, 2012