I set off on Saturday morning to meet a few of the NW guys at the Raven café on the A49 at Whitchurch ( bit of a bikers meet ) first stop was Nantwich which was very busy due to loads of round heads and cavalier fighting hand to hand in mortal combat . Basically there was a big re-enactment of the 1644 Battle of Nantwich, which Cromwells men won ( I think ) and is commemorated every year. Gun battles , canons firing , people dressed up in period costumes . This guy’s outfit rivals the infamous twat suit, we both look as daft as each other me thinks.
.Large crowds of visitors have been experiencing and enjoying this re-enactment of the famous local battle for many years and it attracts folk from all around the country taking part. The battle took place in January and when Lord Fairfax defeated the Royalist army 365 years ago, local people celebrated this victory by wearing sprigs of holly in their hats and on their clothes. The commemoration of the battle has always been called ‘Holly Holy Day’. The main activity of the ‘Holly Holy Day’ commemoration takes place on Mill Island which is located near to the town centre. I didn’t have time to stop and take it all in as I had to get down the road.
We all arrived at the muddy & potholed car park of the Raven at exactly the same time, just before 1pm. Hal had come down from Yorkshire to meet colinjanes in Warrington and they had then hooked up with MattW, Philzafuka and their mate Coo who only became a GSer that week when he picked up a nearly new 08 GS. Not even registered on the site yet and he’s off to his first GSer event. So a quick couple of shots and we were off again.
Coo’s new bike in the foreground , Namibian orange apparently. Phil was on his 12 GSA, Matt on his v nice red 1100, Colin and Hal on 12s and me on my 1150
L to R Coo, Hal, Phil, Matt and Colin.
As we left down the A49 half a dozen parachutes were dropping into what was RAF Tilstock across the road from the cafe, now a disused WW2 airfield which is a parachute centre. It once held two of the largest gatherings of parachutists in the UK with over 650 registered skydivers 1990 and 750 skydivers in 1991 Unfortunately I didn’t manage to grab a shot this time because they were already too close to the ground to get the camera out .
We had the basic directions from Si but Phil and I both had the sat navs on so he volunteered to lead and I acted as tail gunner . The ride down was uneventful, although just before the rally point some of the guys had seen a BAB panic and plough straight across a roundabout on his 675 triple, the dryish weather brings out them inexperienced bikers . It was very sunny, not really cold but viz was a pain because we seemed to be riding into the sun most of the time. Broseley was only about 40 miles from where we met but we decided to ride straight therewith no detours and set up the tents. We arrived just as it clouded over, briefly , but the sun came out to play again half an hour later.
Put the tents up
Parked the bikes out of the way so the paying customers could park their motors, said Hi to Si and checked out the venue.
It was now 3pm ish and we couldn’t be arsed to get geared up and ride to Ironbridge for a late lunch, especially when we found out there was a chippy 200 yrds away, which… turned out to be closed . So it was crisps and a Ginsters from the garage shop and then into the pavilion.
Inside the pavilion Proff was admiring Camille.
“ And now let’s see what you could have won ! “
4 O’clock, time for a few beers ………..Matt, Phil & Coo
Checking out some bikes…………..
……bikes and beers. Nowt else is there ?
Simon decided to have a couple of goes on his exercise bike. No wonder he’s a lot slimmer than Phil
“edit : trying to get the link to work, standby “
2 hours later everybody is starving and some more than slightly drunk already when the food turns up . It was well worth the wait. Well done Suree and the kitchen staff !
It was fab food and also blessed by the gods
Si’s dad finds and unusual perch and takes a welcome break from serving beer to a load of tossers.
Eventually t’entertainment turns up and Si gives his little lad a drumming lesson at which point Flip comes running in thinking some pissed GSer is wrecking his new snare drum.
The band waited until a bit more alcohol and been consumed ……….
……….. and then they were on and the party really started
The drummer seemed vaguely familiar
Didn’t recognise the singer but he sounded good and put on a good show
The guitarist put some shades on later and claimed to be Bono but the only thing the two have in common is their height
He could pull some funny faces too
The band were really great knockin out some old favourites and some recent stuff too plus a few slightly unusual covers too , Abba anyone ?.
……….. the crowd seemed to like it …
Some were just happy being bystanders
Some were happier just drinkin’ and couldn’t decide between the beer on tap or Proff’s cider, so they had both……… ( the chunder outside his tent the next morning told the whole story )
The band took a well earned break around 11pm………
So a bit more propping up of the bar…….
………and larkin’ about , check out those Marty Feldman eyes
The band back come on and decided to enlist the help of 1 female and 1 male member of the audience as backing singers for a guys against the girls sing off. One was much easier on the ears , and the eyes , than the other…
Never let this man behind a mic’………
The backing singers even did a bit of dancing onstage together ……….it was a hell of a lot better than their singing
No surprises as to who was voted as the best singer and she was pleased with the result …
Rog didn’t seem to want to leave the stage and stayed on with the band for their next number until they kicked him off……..
………and Rog went back to doing what he does best ……………dancing with the laydeeeez.
……….and chatting up Liz , Flipfly’s much better half…..
……right under Phil’s nose…..
But he didn’t care ………….
……………….Rog’ had drunk so much Vodka that it took him a while to realise Liz was wearing jeans
So he gave up and took her dancing again…….
By now the band AND the crowd were in full swing ………
<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i218.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid218.photobucket.com/albums/cc139/Rushy_02/Shropshire%20Bash%2009/2009Jan24_GsersinShropshire_2320.flv">
All that was left was for Phil to thank everybody for coming and for enjoying themselves so much……..
I wobbled back to my tent just before 2 am and had a fairly sleepless night thanks to the drumming of rain on canvas several times …………woke to the smell of sausages being cooked outside Hal & Colin’s tent behind me and like a few others made myself a brew to start the day, wearing my Robin Hood tights …………
That’s pretty much it, I didn’t partake of the full english on offer in the restaurant but those that did said it was very nice. Great ride home in the sunshine again at a steady pace after a boozy night and very little sleep , roads were a bit damp in places but a very pleasant but oh to short ride home.
Thanks again Simon, Suree , Phil and all those involved.. it was a great antidote to the lousy weather .
See you all at the next one
Ian aka Rushy
.Large crowds of visitors have been experiencing and enjoying this re-enactment of the famous local battle for many years and it attracts folk from all around the country taking part. The battle took place in January and when Lord Fairfax defeated the Royalist army 365 years ago, local people celebrated this victory by wearing sprigs of holly in their hats and on their clothes. The commemoration of the battle has always been called ‘Holly Holy Day’. The main activity of the ‘Holly Holy Day’ commemoration takes place on Mill Island which is located near to the town centre. I didn’t have time to stop and take it all in as I had to get down the road.
We all arrived at the muddy & potholed car park of the Raven at exactly the same time, just before 1pm. Hal had come down from Yorkshire to meet colinjanes in Warrington and they had then hooked up with MattW, Philzafuka and their mate Coo who only became a GSer that week when he picked up a nearly new 08 GS. Not even registered on the site yet and he’s off to his first GSer event. So a quick couple of shots and we were off again.
Coo’s new bike in the foreground , Namibian orange apparently. Phil was on his 12 GSA, Matt on his v nice red 1100, Colin and Hal on 12s and me on my 1150
L to R Coo, Hal, Phil, Matt and Colin.
As we left down the A49 half a dozen parachutes were dropping into what was RAF Tilstock across the road from the cafe, now a disused WW2 airfield which is a parachute centre. It once held two of the largest gatherings of parachutists in the UK with over 650 registered skydivers 1990 and 750 skydivers in 1991 Unfortunately I didn’t manage to grab a shot this time because they were already too close to the ground to get the camera out .
We had the basic directions from Si but Phil and I both had the sat navs on so he volunteered to lead and I acted as tail gunner . The ride down was uneventful, although just before the rally point some of the guys had seen a BAB panic and plough straight across a roundabout on his 675 triple, the dryish weather brings out them inexperienced bikers . It was very sunny, not really cold but viz was a pain because we seemed to be riding into the sun most of the time. Broseley was only about 40 miles from where we met but we decided to ride straight therewith no detours and set up the tents. We arrived just as it clouded over, briefly , but the sun came out to play again half an hour later.
Put the tents up
Parked the bikes out of the way so the paying customers could park their motors, said Hi to Si and checked out the venue.
It was now 3pm ish and we couldn’t be arsed to get geared up and ride to Ironbridge for a late lunch, especially when we found out there was a chippy 200 yrds away, which… turned out to be closed . So it was crisps and a Ginsters from the garage shop and then into the pavilion.
Inside the pavilion Proff was admiring Camille.
“ And now let’s see what you could have won ! “
4 O’clock, time for a few beers ………..Matt, Phil & Coo
Checking out some bikes…………..
……bikes and beers. Nowt else is there ?
Simon decided to have a couple of goes on his exercise bike. No wonder he’s a lot slimmer than Phil
“edit : trying to get the link to work, standby “
2 hours later everybody is starving and some more than slightly drunk already when the food turns up . It was well worth the wait. Well done Suree and the kitchen staff !
It was fab food and also blessed by the gods
Si’s dad finds and unusual perch and takes a welcome break from serving beer to a load of tossers.
Eventually t’entertainment turns up and Si gives his little lad a drumming lesson at which point Flip comes running in thinking some pissed GSer is wrecking his new snare drum.
The band waited until a bit more alcohol and been consumed ……….
……….. and then they were on and the party really started
The drummer seemed vaguely familiar
Didn’t recognise the singer but he sounded good and put on a good show
The guitarist put some shades on later and claimed to be Bono but the only thing the two have in common is their height
He could pull some funny faces too
The band were really great knockin out some old favourites and some recent stuff too plus a few slightly unusual covers too , Abba anyone ?.
……….. the crowd seemed to like it …
Some were just happy being bystanders
Some were happier just drinkin’ and couldn’t decide between the beer on tap or Proff’s cider, so they had both……… ( the chunder outside his tent the next morning told the whole story )
The band took a well earned break around 11pm………
So a bit more propping up of the bar…….
………and larkin’ about , check out those Marty Feldman eyes
The band back come on and decided to enlist the help of 1 female and 1 male member of the audience as backing singers for a guys against the girls sing off. One was much easier on the ears , and the eyes , than the other…
Never let this man behind a mic’………
The backing singers even did a bit of dancing onstage together ……….it was a hell of a lot better than their singing
No surprises as to who was voted as the best singer and she was pleased with the result …
Rog didn’t seem to want to leave the stage and stayed on with the band for their next number until they kicked him off……..
………and Rog went back to doing what he does best ……………dancing with the laydeeeez.
……….and chatting up Liz , Flipfly’s much better half…..
……right under Phil’s nose…..
But he didn’t care ………….
……………….Rog’ had drunk so much Vodka that it took him a while to realise Liz was wearing jeans
So he gave up and took her dancing again…….
By now the band AND the crowd were in full swing ………
<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i218.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid218.photobucket.com/albums/cc139/Rushy_02/Shropshire%20Bash%2009/2009Jan24_GsersinShropshire_2320.flv">
All that was left was for Phil to thank everybody for coming and for enjoying themselves so much……..
I wobbled back to my tent just before 2 am and had a fairly sleepless night thanks to the drumming of rain on canvas several times …………woke to the smell of sausages being cooked outside Hal & Colin’s tent behind me and like a few others made myself a brew to start the day, wearing my Robin Hood tights …………
That’s pretty much it, I didn’t partake of the full english on offer in the restaurant but those that did said it was very nice. Great ride home in the sunshine again at a steady pace after a boozy night and very little sleep , roads were a bit damp in places but a very pleasant but oh to short ride home.
Thanks again Simon, Suree , Phil and all those involved.. it was a great antidote to the lousy weather .
See you all at the next one
Ian aka Rushy