If anyone fancies a Nearly End of Season Bash in the glorious Cotswolds, we could do worse than the Ogri Rally on August Bank Holiday weekend. I can probably arrange to have an area taped off for BIRD if enough want to come.
It's a damned good rally, with sunshine (usually), two bars, one of which is a real ale bar with around 20 real ales, a baguette stall, and a tented seating area with a TA field Kitchen at one end and a food wagon at the other. The Field kitchen produces such gourmet feasts as curry, chilli, roast dinners and all the bits in between down to sausage & mash. The food and drinks are availible on a 24 hour basis and are reasonably priced.
There is a grassed chill-out area outside the marquees, in a ring of trees, under which can also be found a wealth of trade stands, and there is generally an entertainer or two on the Saturday afternoon. Inside the marquee, apart from the bars and baguette stall, there are usually three bands each on Friday and Saturday Nights. Silly games are held on the Saturday afternoon with such delights as a moped obstacle course, tug of war, barrel tossing, and the obligatory inner tube fight on the pole over the water tank.
A custom bike show is held and there is usually a TA firing range and other military bits and pieces, and the Colossus Jet Trike is also usually in attendance (closely monitored by the airfield fire service, but I think that's as much because they want to watch it as anything else). For the aircraft buffs among us, it is a live airfield and there is always the chance of seeing a Hunter, Gnat or Jet Provost taking to the skies along with the usual light aircraft. Ogri's very own pilot, Dom, does pleasure flights to the Severn Bridge and back in a 4-seater (Cessna I think) for a modest fee.
The tickets are ?18 each and cover entry (on bikes) and camping from Friday mid-day to Sunday mid-day.
Now the snag, if we want to do it, we'll have to get the tickets ordered quickly. They are limited to 1500 tickets and went on sale on 2 January. Nearly 300 have gone already and the other club orders aren't in yet. Ogri has a sweepstake going on how soon they'll sell out this year as last year they went before the end of February and two other rallies usually held around then have been cancelled. In other words, we need to get in quickly.
The good news is, as club members, we can reserve tickets for a while so no-one has to pay out straight after Christmas. If you'd like to go, but aren't sure you can, get a ticket, because if it turns out you can't make it there's a waiting list kept by the rally secretary that runs into hundreds, so there's never a problem reselling them. Oh, and for those who are interested, a large chunk of the profits is donated each year to Wheelchairs of Fire, a charity that provides wheelchairs to children, and a very worthy cause.
You can probably see from the last paragraph that this is not a blatant bit of "My Club" promotion, since the tickets always sell out anyway, but it is something that I thought a lot of you would enjoy (like last year's EOSB on a much larger scale - so hairy bikers everywhere). Hunter and I will be there anyway, whatever.
And for anyone who wants to check out the venue beforehand, there is a party held there every month, ?3 per head for entry and camping, food van in attendance. The next one is on 27th January. BIRD attendees at present are Hunter, Smix and Artemis with possibles of Lumpy, Yoshi & Minibird.
STOP PRESS......... Tickets selling incredibly fast. The rally secretary thinks they'll be gone by the end of January, so if you want one, let me know asap or sooner.
It's a damned good rally, with sunshine (usually), two bars, one of which is a real ale bar with around 20 real ales, a baguette stall, and a tented seating area with a TA field Kitchen at one end and a food wagon at the other. The Field kitchen produces such gourmet feasts as curry, chilli, roast dinners and all the bits in between down to sausage & mash. The food and drinks are availible on a 24 hour basis and are reasonably priced.
There is a grassed chill-out area outside the marquees, in a ring of trees, under which can also be found a wealth of trade stands, and there is generally an entertainer or two on the Saturday afternoon. Inside the marquee, apart from the bars and baguette stall, there are usually three bands each on Friday and Saturday Nights. Silly games are held on the Saturday afternoon with such delights as a moped obstacle course, tug of war, barrel tossing, and the obligatory inner tube fight on the pole over the water tank.
A custom bike show is held and there is usually a TA firing range and other military bits and pieces, and the Colossus Jet Trike is also usually in attendance (closely monitored by the airfield fire service, but I think that's as much because they want to watch it as anything else). For the aircraft buffs among us, it is a live airfield and there is always the chance of seeing a Hunter, Gnat or Jet Provost taking to the skies along with the usual light aircraft. Ogri's very own pilot, Dom, does pleasure flights to the Severn Bridge and back in a 4-seater (Cessna I think) for a modest fee.
The tickets are ?18 each and cover entry (on bikes) and camping from Friday mid-day to Sunday mid-day.
Now the snag, if we want to do it, we'll have to get the tickets ordered quickly. They are limited to 1500 tickets and went on sale on 2 January. Nearly 300 have gone already and the other club orders aren't in yet. Ogri has a sweepstake going on how soon they'll sell out this year as last year they went before the end of February and two other rallies usually held around then have been cancelled. In other words, we need to get in quickly.
The good news is, as club members, we can reserve tickets for a while so no-one has to pay out straight after Christmas. If you'd like to go, but aren't sure you can, get a ticket, because if it turns out you can't make it there's a waiting list kept by the rally secretary that runs into hundreds, so there's never a problem reselling them. Oh, and for those who are interested, a large chunk of the profits is donated each year to Wheelchairs of Fire, a charity that provides wheelchairs to children, and a very worthy cause.
You can probably see from the last paragraph that this is not a blatant bit of "My Club" promotion, since the tickets always sell out anyway, but it is something that I thought a lot of you would enjoy (like last year's EOSB on a much larger scale - so hairy bikers everywhere). Hunter and I will be there anyway, whatever.
And for anyone who wants to check out the venue beforehand, there is a party held there every month, ?3 per head for entry and camping, food van in attendance. The next one is on 27th January. BIRD attendees at present are Hunter, Smix and Artemis with possibles of Lumpy, Yoshi & Minibird.
STOP PRESS......... Tickets selling incredibly fast. The rally secretary thinks they'll be gone by the end of January, so if you want one, let me know asap or sooner.
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