"I can't believe it's 13 months since we first saw this site" said D.V.L.C. No. 1 Jon Betts, on Saturday afternoon, to Sue Prettyman and myself following a hectic schedule. It was true. Over a year's planning and preparation had gone into this one weekend's activities.

While trying to locate a good venue for an evening do, Jon came across the Youth Camp on Mersea Island. For those that think Mersea is near Liverpool, it is about 10 miles from Colchester and is joined to the mainland by a causeway, or 'Strood', which floods a couple of dozen times a year (and is haunted by Britain's oldest ghost) and makes Mersea a true island.

The site, which covers about ten acres, had a hall for the do, toilets, a canteen, showers, all the facilities for football, good camping areas and even the decks, amps and lights for the evenings entertainment. Fantastic! Let's have our own rally!

So on the morning of 3rd September I was busy erecting signs from the A12 to the site. By the time I had sign-post myself to Mersea it was midday. I met up with the crowd from Scarborough who had arrived the night before(!) and been caught in the only bit of rain to affect the rally during a trip to Colchester for provisions. I unloaded the firewood for the beach party from my trailer, watched the hoisting of the D.V.L.C. flag and went home by car to return by scooter in the early afternoon.

A few more had arrived but by 7 o'clock things were still a bit slow. I did a fair bit of gate duty, welcoming new arrivals with a full colour programme, a site map and a free Paddy Smith patch. It was hard to judge numbers as they filtered through but a visit to the main hall showed numbers to be not quite what we had expected. Oh dear! Before I knew it the band were on to rather fewer spectators than they deserved, as those who saw the Faceless said they did a storming set. At this stage, the new arrivals were still putting up tents but the bar quickly filled up and there were over 300 in attendance, dancing to the records spun by Rene Spindler, Dave Porter and Tony Class.

The wind was cold outside and the warmest places were by the brazier on the gate and in the do. I started to set up the beach party with Doug, the "truly mobile" D.J. I built the bonfire above the previous high tide mark (bonfires were not allowed in the campsite) and briefed Doug to prime the wood with some of the petrol he was using to fuel the generator that powered equipment fitted in his V.W. van. Doug followed me the 100 yards back to the hall about 30 minutes later. "Did you put the petrol on the firewood Doug" I asked. "I couldn't find it" was his reply. Shit! The tide! I ran down to the beach to find my perfectly built bonfire being carried out to sea before I had even lit it. I retrieved it but it was a struggle to light.

At 2am about 50 people staggered down to the beach to be confronted by me making a pigs ear of pyromania. Two pints of petrol on the fire and a quick twist of the volume control on Doug's amp had the beach party in full swing. Further King Canute precautions were necessary to stop the fire being doused by the exceptionally high tide. Now it really was an island. The music was brilliant and Tony from the North Derbyshire S.C. decided to go for a swim. He was joined by other willing participants but when the radical faction of the D.V.L.C. thought I should join them, fully clothed with my camera round my neck, I decided to turn in. Even at 3am the late arrivals were confronted with a party in full swing until after 4am.

I did not sleep well or long enough. Up for a hot shower at 8am then down to the dining room for a full English breakfast and tea for £2.50. I didn't feel too bad, until I walked into the main hall and saw the mess.. It certainly looked as if everyone had enjoyed themselves, but suddenly they weren't there to clear it up. Mob- handed the hall was cleared in less than an hour.

The tattooist arrived and set up - but was moved to the more hygienic environment of the first aid hut, on the suggestion of Doug, the site warden. I met Jon Betts and went over the schedule for the day's events. The 5-a-side tournament started about 10 o'clock and took most of the day owing to the large number of teams competing. Alongside the football, we started the scooter events with the gymkhana. Now this was to be a beer and blancmange race but, having seen the disgusting vile green blancmange mixture, I did not expect any entries at all. However, two heats of three teams sampled the green stuff resulting in a final between the D.V.L.C. and the Screaming Perverts, Doug Ross and Binni who built a winning lead by flipping the blancmange down the drivers neck, much to the delight of the sizable crowd. All competitors were relieved that they didn't have to drink any more blancmange, or Pete Backhouse's home brewed beer. The football progressed as I organised the scooter jousting tournament. Incredibly, 24 people signed up for this event where teams of two had to knock the opponents passenger off with a pillow. There were three 'charges' followed by close order combat with the loser being the first passenger to put down their feet, fall off or be hospitalised. The event was incredibly good-natured considering the amount of violence being unleashed. The Gt. Yarmouth Wasps were the eventual winners of the knockout competition, victorious over the A41 Eagles, the D.V.L.C.(who were rubbish!) and the Ipswich Perverts. The football continued over lunch.

It was high tide again and the speed boat arrived. This launch towed a large inflatable sausage and other items behind which immediately attracted the attention of Tony, the N.S.D.C. amphibian. The rides were free, but those that tried it reckoned it was worth the £10 entrance fee for the 30 seconds they managed to hang on! Big smiles on the faces of the people on the beach. It made me feel good!

I sold some raffle tickets for the P200 which had been restored by Fairdeal Spares of Chelmsford, our principal sponsors for the weekend. Take up was quick and I soon had a reassuring lump of cash in my back pocket. At this point I had to leave the island to recover all my road signs because the traffic police had objected to them during an early morning visit. I was away for a total of 3 hours and was disappointed to miss the tug-o-war, which was won by the East Kent Sovereigns, and the scooter tug-o-war. This attracted the largest crowd as two scooters were roped to pull against each other. The eventual winner was the D.V.L.C.'s own Dave Thompson on a Vespa chopper who had to enlist a volunteer to sit on the front wheel to stop it tipping over. Victory was declared half a second before his clutch blew.

The D.V.L.C. 'A' team won the football, coming from behind to win, and then the custom show started. The most notable entry was an extended T5 with a mini back wheel! Very strange. Our excellent trophies, a 3" high statue of an Asterix-the-Gaul style Roman soldier sitting on a scooter, were presented to the winners.

When I returned to the site I found people still arriving and very quickly the evening's festivities began. The loss of Tony Class (who double booked himself) was not a problem as the music came fast and loud with Rene Spindler, Dave Porter, Doug and Mick Gauntlet on the decks. Doug, who did an excellent set on the beach the night before, was too far gone to repeat his performance inside the do on Saturday. This also ruled out another beach party- but I was too tired to worry. I continued to sell tickets for the raffle until I could sell no more.

The awards were made for the best turned out club, Fine City (though Chelmsford also deserved a prize as well) and furthest travelled, Fred and The Vulcan S.C. from Marseilles. The D.V.L.C. 'A' team got their engraved tankards for the 5-a-side victory and then the yard of ale contest started outside. Again, it was Peter's home brew that filled the yards as the wiser contestant stripped to the waist to tackle the beer. The Doncaster Skins complained about the taste, but it didn't stop Jock from the club winning with a time of 19 seconds.

I went to the gate and sat on my own next to the brazier as I listened to the raffle being drawn on the walkie talkie. The winner was Lars Lammers, a rider from Belgium- but where was he? We checked the entry list and found that he had arrived. Frantic calls went out but we gave up trying to find him and assumed he had gone home. We had his address but it was a bit of a shame that we couldn't present it to him. There was a bit of a scene on the gate as some locals tried to gatecrash at midnight. They later sneaked onto the site and, although they didn't cause any trouble, they may have been responsible for the damage to a tent and three missing jackets.

The do itself was excellent and even after the DJ finished at about 2.30am, some records were found in the cupboard and the music kept going until 5 o'clock. I awoke at 9am to bright, warm sunshine and queued for breakfast in the canteen. I made a point of asking people if they were having a good time and if it was what they were expecting. The reaction was "Yes, having a great time" and " No, this is nothing like we expected, it's better".

People with long journeys started to pack up and leave, but some, especially the A41 Eagles who threw themselves into everything, wanted more fun and games. Whilst we would have liked to organise more, we were knackered (especially Jon Betts) and our first priority lay with clearing up the hall and the site. By the time this was complete, most had left, declaring to return next year.

Postscript In total, 300 people paid to enter the site. Over £350 was made for Colchester League of Hospital Friends who help prop up the NHS by buying things the government should provide. Lars Lammers was contacted on Monday by Jon and collected the scooter from Felixstowe on the Tuesday. Lars was over the moon with the scooter which apparently would have cost three times as much in Belgium to buy. We sent everyone home happy. I know because I asked them before they left. The most common comment was "Why can't the NSRA do this for 3000 people when the D.V.L.C. can do so well as a club event?" Perhaps Jeff would like to answer that. Someone said it was the best scooter event he had ever been to and that was enough for me.

I worked out later that I had about three and a half pints of beer all weekend, but it was the thrill of making people happy for two days that kept me intoxicated until long after I had got home.

Everyone who attended owes a big thank you to Jon Betts for all his efforts in organizing the weekend. He could easily have been too busy to enjoy himself but I think he got high on the pleasure that those in attendance were getting, just like me. Sue Prettyman, Simon Barber, Tin-Tin and Doug the site steward all deserve credit for work before on the day.

The D.V.L.C. would like to extend an invitation to all the clubs who attended to return for Mersea Island '94 on 9th-11th September 1994. I hope in years to come, people will be proud to say "I went to the first Mersea Island Rally way back in 1993". Thank you for being there.

MARTIN LEECH

Next - 1994