Setting off with cloudy skies and sunny intervals looked promising for our annual trip to Silverdale. That promise was broken as we approached Lancaster and drizzle started to form. It seemed that every two miles after that we saw it turn to light rain, heavy rain and upon arrival at the rally, torrential and very windy. Large muddy ruts appeared as bikes and trikes got stuck around the site but it didn't take long to forget the weather once alcohol started flowing as we enjoyed ourselves in the marquee with live bands and the rock disco.

Does anybody remember more than I do of Friday night????

Saturday was such a difference as the sun was out and the wind had dropped to near stillness. Accrington MCC marched into the village en-mass to the Silverdale Arms for lunch and a pint (or two). Good tasty food but a little expensive (£9 for Cumberland sausage and mash). A beautiful sunset was seen over the Morecambe Bay.

In the evening it was back into the marquee with a variety of bands some playing their own stuff, a Ramones tribute band, and others playing classic rock songs.

Dave ended up dressed as a scarecrow and there was a wager to be sorted as John D said Nina should wear a bikini who responded by saying if he wore one then she would. You bring one and I'll wear it he said. She did just that bringing the tiniest of G-string style bottoms for John and barely a little more cover for herself. Not a pretty sight. Well, Nina was but John didn't do anything for me. A quick waltz followed by a bounce around on a space hopper in front of the stage won the bet.

Once again it was a great rally in a superb location which could only have been topped by good weather all weekend.

Ride safe, AMCC

Leyland Eagles Rally 2008

What a difference a bit of sunshine makes as we enjoyed a warm and dry rally in Lea Town, just outside Preston. Although the sky was slightly cloudy, it caught many people out leaving lots of them looking like lobsters by Sunday morning.

After setting up, Ian and Janine sat around with the Millennium contingency and enjoyed lots of banter, beer and sunshine before joining them again in the marquee for the night time entertainment. Friday night saw C.O.S.H.H. provide a couple of spots and an encore with a large selection of old punk. Although it was good for any aging punks, it was a bit too much for many others.

Meanwhile, Pete and Frank socialised in the Saddle pub arranging a trip out to Blackpool with some members from other clubs for a Saturday afternoon pub crawl. Ray “The Gorgeous One” arrived early on Saturday morning and joined them on their seaside saunter.

The Saturday afternoon hosted a wedding blessing in the marquee, which brought its own biker humour, with the Millennium girls serenading the groom who works for the AA with the song from the advert “I'll be there”. Congratulations to the happy couple.

Ian, Janine and Harley then set off on the trike for a ride out to Blackpool Honda to see what was on offer and called in at The Outside Inn, Whacky Warehouse Pub for an excellent tea.

Back on site there was a stunt rider preparing to do his bit on the car park. Foxy from Millennium BC had fastened her helmet to ride off site and clicked into gear just as the stunt rider was announced. Big cheers from Millenium BC and shouts of “Go on Foxy, pull a wheelie” and “Give us a stoppie” as she tootled off at 5mph.

Back around the tents, someone decided to put sheep muck on top of the garden candles to ward off flies. Don't know if it worked but it caused much amusement with comments like “These candles are really crap” and “shit hot rally this year”.

What small things amuse you when you are shit faced!

Saturday night started with a guy with backing tapes singing to a mix of songs from Oasis and Take That, to Mika and The Fratellis. Amazing how many people sang along and danced about to most of it too. The P.L.O.T. headlined with a mix of classic rock to finish a great weekend partying at the Leyland Eagles Rally.

Accringtons Off Yer Sprocket Rally, 23 rd - 25 th May 2008, let's hope we get this kind of weather too.

Ride safe, AMCC.

Leeds Lions and Gemober 2008

The start of a new Rally year for most of us saw half of the club go to Leeds Lions whilst the other half Attended Gemober.

Friday night at Leeds Lions proved to be very cold and very windy with a chill factor well below zero. The marquee only helped us find sanctuary from the wind and almost everybody inside were wearing coats, hats and gloves to try and keep warm. Freddie and Sandra had to make temporary repairs to their poles with gaffa tape and cable ties on the Friday and Dawn, Richard and the kids struggled to erect their tents in the strong winds.

Overnight snowfall left three inches depth on the field and the biting wind continued into Saturday where we saw many abandoned tents due to broken poles and zips. Lots of people were making decisions to risk staying another night or to go home to nice warm central heating. More snow was forecast and we decided as a club that the more people that went home, the colder it would be in the marquee. As they were leaving in droves we followed suit and packed up.

ACCY MC on tour, or Ray's hat on holiday! [ see pictures when you get them]

What did the other half of the club get up to?

ACCY MCC on tour, or Ray's hat on holiday!

A small but perfectly formed bunch of AMCC under the "leadership" of our brave Rally Sec, Robert of the long hair, set off as club reps to the Gembo rally at Pollards lane Leeds .

After a short but pleasant journey there, only marred by Ray re-designing Wazza's numberplate, we set up camp deep in the Aire valley to be welcomed by the news of constant free brews and cheap food on site. All duly taken advantage of.

Then to the pub! The Abbey Inn Pollard Lane, now comes heavily recommended by Ray and the discerning drinkers. Eight special real ales all ready on draught, so they just had to be drunk. Some people managed almost twice round. ( Did I mention Para Dave was with us ??).

The bands both nights were good (I think, but who knows after six bottles of cider).

Oh! Did I mention it snowed? Three inches on Friday night led to the question shall we go home? No the sun came out so some of us tripped out to Leeds , some even did the Armouries.

Still, back to the beer, and three more inches of snow on Saturday night. Lucky buggers us! The sun came out for packing up ( it was Sunday) and all made it home safe and sound.

Ride Safe JohnD, reporting from Gemober & Ian from Leeds Lions.

Mobile Chaos 2007

Heavy mist greeted us on the trip up to Silverdale and Mobile Chaos Kamikaze Cave Run Rally along with the M6 roadworks, making it a slow pace riding to the site. The day did brighten towards tea time but at least it wasn't windy or cold so it was tolerable. 36 Accrington members brought us the trophy for best club turn out as we partied like Accrington MCC do, drunken debauchery and singing out loud. The farmer had reported that the clothes had been stolen from his scarecrow and the hat later appeared on the head of the chairman Mick Gummidge. A special appearance was made by Crusty the Clown from The Simpsons, and a cowboy from Brokeback Mountain also showed up.

Millennium were out and about with some dressed as French Maids, Coach nestling down for the night between Dot's Thighs, and Punk having a bad hair day, or had he been trying to go blonde? Rumour has it Coach was trying to re-enact the nativity but was having trouble finding a Virgin and Three Wise Men.

Robert and Christine entered the Air Guitar Challenge and Mick from Mobile Chaos appeared to be playing a bass guitar for real on stage with one of the bands with people thinking he really could play, but the observant ones amongst us noticed it wasn't plugged in.

Once again another great rally put on for us in marvellous settings, trees, rocks, caves a view of Morecambe Bay, superb bands in the Marquee. Well done to the dedicated Mobile Chaos Crew.

Icy Ale Rally 2006

December arrived and so did the cold weather but Ian and Janine braved the elements to travel to Grantham and join the Druids at their Icy Ale Rally.

The Padiham contingency had unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute so it was just the two of us. What a nice run the Woodhead Pass is on a nice day and we had plenty of sunshine as we wound our way across country. Half way and a warm up in the pub was due so we stopped at the Red Lion just off the M1, Worksop turn off. Chicken and King Prawns in sweet chili sauce on a ciabata, mmmmm.

We arrived at the rally and set up the trailer tent to find our neighbours were the Black Widows RC so we introduced ourselves then joined them in the pub for beer and merriment. The following day we went off to Grantham and were a little disappointed so we went the other way to Melton Mowbray which is a more lively place and had a look round the market stalls and a warm cuppa in a cafe bar.

Saturday night saw us partying again with the Black Widows, imbibing more alcoholic beverages and this year the DJ had some Rammstein for us. The wind got up a bit overnight and it was awful for riding the trike home on Sunday but we had a great weekend. Thanks to the Black Widows for entertaining us and The Druids for hosting a great rally.

East Leeds Lions 2006 Gallery click here

The beginning of another rally year for most of us saw the start of more Accrington MCC mayhem here in Leeds. A nice sunny weekend for our Easter break, loading up the bikes and trikes, riding through Ilkley, baht 'at, well no hat if you were on a trike and into Emmerdale country for a weekend of fun with our biker friends from around the country.

The only criticism of the weekend was the similarity of a lot of the bands and their playlists. Even the DJ played "Wishing Well" along with just about all 8 bands. When we got home we put Radio 2 on to clear our heads as we unpacked and guess what ???? yep, "Wishing fucking Well", no joke!

We had a rally virgin in our midst and plans were hatched during a day out in Otley. Cling film and beer were purchased and Robert spent half an hour doing 8 kilo's of the white stuff in his tent before we hit the marquee.

p.s. white stuff refers to bags of flour.

Saturday night and our virgin was feeling rather nervous but on the occasion he wasn't looking over his shoulder he suddenly found himself almost naked, shrinkwrapped to a pole and covered in flour and beer. That was just before a massive flour fight amongst Accrington members where nobody was safe, even the chairman.

Vicky from "Jesters" was going round stamping people and Ray got the brunt of it and awoke in the morning covered in purply pink blotches. Frank tried to wash him down with a fire bucket but maybe he should have used the water to douse the burning hair of Ray as Animal took a lighter to his chest. Perhaps he should have thrown him in that

"BLOODY WISHING WELL".

ICY ALE RALLY 2005 PHOTO GALLERY

The day had started so well with everybody turning up on time and a wonderful pub lunch just off the M1 on the Worksop junction. A real fire to warm us through and prepare us for the rest of the journey.

Tents pitched we headed for the pub to sample a pint or two of the local brew and came upon a guy from Holland wearing big clogs. This prompted Frank and Ray to sing an old classic “A Windmill In Amsterdam” to the amusement of the everybody in the room.

Before long all the Accrington members were singing along. As soon as somebody shouted “I saw a mouse” the rest of us burst into song “where? there on the stairs, where on the stairs? Right there, a little mouse with CLOGS on, well I declare going clip clippity clop on the stairs. Now you all know the words you can all join in next year.

Saturday was a job and a half getting John sorted with the police following his accident but once done we were back in the pub for a few drinks before gathering round the brazier for an early evening warm.

The theme for headgear on the Saturday night was Burger King Crowns as we took to the dancefloor. Prizes for best bike etc were being announced and furthest travelled was our new found friend from Holland . As he received his award Ian shouted “ I SAW A MOUSE” and the whole room responded, yes the whole room, with our Dutchman removing his clogs to applaud us by clapping them together.

Rock and Rodents made sure Accrington left their mark at another rally along with Ray who was trying to convince everybody that he was Fucking gorgeous shouting loud and proud. “Yes it's true, your eyes are not deceiving you, it's me, I'm fucking beautiful.”

He didn't convince me, but did he have the girls flocking? Shhhhhh! Yvonne's listening.

Grantham police eventually got to John at dinner time on Sunday just as we were about to head home.The trek home was cold and a warming brew and bite to eat in a roadside caf was more than welcome. So was a hot bath at the end of another fantastic weekend away with Accrington MCC.

Ride safe (especially at roundabouts) see you in 2006 at the rallies we love to attend.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year from all of us at Accrington MCC.

NEW PICTURE GALLERY!

AIMCC TAKE AIM AND FIRE RALLY 05 PICTURE GALLERY

Blustery winds awaited us as we started the weekend on Broadway (well in the Broadway pub, Accrington ) with a full English breakfast. Travelling along the M66 and M60 was uncomfortable as the wind blew us around but once on the A6 we were more sheltered and enjoyed the ride down to Derbyshire.

An early arrival allowed us to pick our spot at the top of the field overlooking some wonderful countryside and just as we finished setting up camp we got a downpour. This didn't last long and by no means did it dampen our spirits as we prepared to introduce Accrington to the Aim & Fire Rally.

With plenty of tinnies and bottles of beer the afternoon soon passed into the evening when we descended on the function room to party hard. Not often we see girls behind the disco but this weekend we had two sharing the music selection and two live bands each night too. Friday night saw Accrington in a beer fight amongst themselves much to the amusement of other revellers and we all know who started that one (don't we Rami?)

Saturday afternoon Janine and Ian went for a ride into Matlock Bath on the trike whilst the rest of us found a quiet pub just down the road for a bite to eat and a few more beers to prepare us for another night of rock & roll and mayhem.

The start of the evening saw a fantastic firework display with a constant 20 minutes of bangs and flashes lighting up the sky followed by a wonderful warming bonfire to ease the chill of the frosty night air.

It would appear the music was too loud for Janine as she stuffed her ears with tissue and it was so warm that clothing was being shed as we rocked away the night before descending once again upon the bonfire before bed.

Robert was slow to pack away his gear on Sunday and was getting rather frustrated as he battled with the bungee straps much to our amusement. Sat at the gate waiting for him, Ian had music blasting from the trike and we all headbanged (with our helmets on) whilst straddling our motorcycles with howls of laughter coming from rally Control.

Another great weekend and we have this one pencilled in again for next year. If you want to join us have a word with our Rally Sec who orders the tickets. We're sure you will enjoy this rally in 2006.