Scary isn't it how time flies. It didn't seem a whole year since the last Mersea, but there we were again. Now in it's third year the D.V.L.C.rally appears to be getting quite a popular weekend, perhaps due to the £10 entrancefee (including Paddy patch). When I arrived about 6pm Friday evening people had already arrived.

A few minor changes this year, there were two separate evening do's, one being in the Marquee, complete with chill out area, re-arrangement of the camping area (which ended up spewing over onto last year's anyway), a family enclosure for those camping with kids and good clear road signs.

The do got off to a good start, with the usual meeting of mates old and new and lots of drinking and dancing. A good happy atmosphere continued all night, with both do's going on till 5am, when the last few revellers finally flaked out.

The beach party came to an abrupt end, due to the fact that some dozy twonk had built the fire literally on the sand forgetting that the tides do have a habit of coming in, thus sweeping the wood out and reducing the fire to nothing but a few twigs floating out to the sea..... Sad.

I awoke on Saturday morning to a familiar sound that chilled me to the pit of my delicate stomach. Rain! Never mind, it won't last, we said. Mmm, undeterred, I headed for the canteen, for the cooked breakfast and regulation four cups of tea. According to rumours, some loons leapt in the swimming pool straight afterwards. It was probably warmer in the water and from past experiences it does cure a hangover.

By lunchtime, when everybody had bashed hell out of the Simpson game, it was still pissing down. In the two main marquees, of which both were massive, various second hand dealers set up stalls along with additional stalls selling a wide range of products keeping many people dry and entertained at the same time in one, and the other was used by many other people either to repair machines or prepare their scooters for the forthcoming custom show later on in the day. The main hall was opened along with the bar, and music was blaring, so everyone had somewhere to get away from the rain.

Lunchtime saw one of the few events which could be conducted inside, an arm wrestling competition with about 12 contestants battling it out for the Mr Muscle trophy, this was eventually won by Simon (Vikings SC) in a three way final with Stuart L (Ed) 2nd and Buster (GofW) 3rd.

The Go-Karts ran for about an hour, but the ground was so boggy that nobody managed to get any further than the first bend without crashing. When the rain eventually eased a little the Scootacross finally took place. No-one was very keen on going first due ot the state of the track, after all the rain. However, it ended up going really well with plenty of spills and entertainment for the crowd to watch, with the winners being:

Class A - 1st Ian "The Menace" Collins (Taffspeed). 2nd Glen Payne, (N.O.L.U.R.S.C.).
Class B - 1st Graham Fisher, (GP SC). 2nd Ian "The Menace" Collins (Taffspeed),
3rd Tony Hackett (Yarmouth Wasps).
Class C - 1st Nick Paolucci (Oxford Roadrunners). 2nd Rick Miles (East Kent
Sovereigns). 3rd Andy Saggers (Yarmouth Wasps).
Class D - 1st Brendan McAsher (PRAT SC).
Combination 1st - Graham & Mrs Fisher (GP SC).
Best Novice - Jason King (Pink Pigs).

The Scooter Tug-O-War was held and was won by a triumphant Dave from the D.V.L.C.for the second year, but not before burning out another clutch, only purchased at Brid.

The afternoon passed with a few "hair of the dogs", mooching around the plentiful stalls in the marquee, then came the Custom Show. Some 25-30 lovely scooters including a beautiful silver Rod that for Vespaowners like myself, reminds us what it's all about. Big Simon's Rhapsody in Chains sported a couple of extras, including a very scantily clad lady chained to it, which led to thirty or so scooters moving next to it as the scooterists appeared to be more interested in Simon's accessories (I wonder why?) It was nice to see other various machines from the continent entering, showing that their custom scene is also growing.

The results of the Custom Show were:
Best Custom - Sieg Heil
Best Lambretta - Sieg Heil
Best of Show - Sieg Heil
Best Vespa - Morrisey
Best Vintage - Li 150 Series 1
Best Cutdown Chop - Little Bitch

By about 6pm it was time to get a hot shower and changed for the do. Feeling refreshed, we joined the huge queue for the canteen, ready to fill our stomachs for a long night of heavy drinking.

After 9.30pm both do's were in full swing, Dave andGeoff in the marquee DJ-ing and Eddie in the main hall. Both do's saw packed dance floors for mot of the evening.

As I flitted between both do's I noticed that a big crowd had gathered outside, I went to investigate, being a nosy sod, and found to my surprise a Fire-Eating Scooterist giving everyone a free show (don't try this one at home kids).

At 10pm the trophy presentation was scheduled to take place, however, due to huge demand, a large screen appeared and the Bruno- McCall fight was shown. Excellent, I could go on for hours about the fight but I'd lose the plot. The result, however, went on to encourage the party of the year.

A big thank you to Marco and Eddie for supplying the tunes during the fight. Trophies given out, official stuff sorted, time for a serious attempt at alcohol poisoning and of course the highlight of the weekend, the Take That DancingCompetition. It was a tough one to judge, with the Mansfield Monsters and the London Vikings giving it all they had and Rachel from St George Elite getting her tits out (although what this had to do with Take That I will never know). In the end it was a semi-final between the Monsters and the Vikings, but the Vikings won in the end, with Big Simon and Little Simon stealing the show. (We think they should join the Chippendales).

The do in the main hall was still going strong after the bar shut at 2am, before I finally died at 7am Sunday morning. The usual diehards were still on the dance floor when I retreated, like Eddie and Jayne from Rossington SC and oif course Eddie from the Dirty Devils and Marco still DJ-ing. (Age will catch up with them all sometime). Apparently the Mansfield Monsters and the Vikings had gone to bed a few hours earlier to catch up on some beauty sleep. (Obviously age has caught up with them), or were they exhausted from the take That Dancing Competition?

Sunday came round all too soon and typically the sun shone all day. The Pink Pigs SC, who I believe were runners up in last years Five-a-Side, had challenged the D.V.L.C. to a game, unfortunately none of them turned up (cowards). No activities had been planned for today as most people tend to head off quite early, or as I find it's just too difficult to stay vertical for any length of time.

The final number of rally-goers through the gate this year was just over a thousand including many scooterists from the continent including a large contingent from Austria who had traveled up on scooters. This made it double on last years numbers. The weather could have been a bit kinder, but no-one seemedtoo upset and I for one will certainly be back next year. The date for next year is Friday 30th August to Sunday 1st September.

Results of trophies were as follows:
Furthest Traveled Club - The Austrian Club, with a ridiculously long name
Furthest Traveled Solo - Basil from Dumfries
Best Turned Out Club - The Great Yarmouth Wasps
Mersea Mr Muscle '95 - Big Simon London Vikings SC
Top Take That Dancer - The London Vikings
Top Take That Dancers runners up - Mansfield Monsters
Winner of Lambretta Raffle - Mark Watts (Essex)
Lots of other prizes were kindly donated by Scootering Magazine.

DI WILSON