Shittin' Bricks Rally

15th June 1990 Thick as a Brick MCC

                   

- Phil the Spill

To be honest, it's not a name I would have chosen for a rally, but I have been to worse. Not the sort of thing to bandy about in polite society, I should imagine.

This was held in the same Cheshire field as one of the Piston Broke rallies in the 1980s. I wasn't aware of this fact until I actually got there, as the name of the village was not one I had bothered to commit to memory. As far as I was aware, there were no large towns in the area, so not much point in leaving the site, (except walking to the pub), for the weekend. This suited me, as I had more than enough riding to do in the upcoming week, as this was the first stage of this year's Shetland run.

There was a prize for whoever brought along the 'Best Dressed Brick'. I cannot recall who won it, but there were several entries from various artistic individuals, some painted, some actually dressed.

Rally virgins belonging to the organising club had to wear hard-hats, with funnels attached to the top, into which more seasoned rally-goers were invited to pour any noxious but non-toxic substances. After a sufficient level of messiness had been reached, the individual was thrown into a nearby stream/ditch to wash it off.

Other clubs seemed to have more extreme methods of initiation.

On the Saturday, there were a few interesting games, including jousting, dizzy stick - utilising builders' hods instead of broomsticks, and brick lifting - which is harder and more dangerous than it sounds.

There were also the usual non-organised sort of games, such as burnouts and donuts on the road outside the site.

There was a fair sized bonfire during the night, but the mid-summer weather didn't really require one. I can't remember if there were any prizes for women exposing parts of their body, but several gave a good display all the same that evening, as did Puker's companion Miriam on Sunday morning, who insisted on 'doing their thing' with the tent wide open. I didn't realise what was going on until after they had finished.

As well as Puker and his partner Miriam, Charlie Cobbe and some members of the Sorcerers MCC were there and also on their way to Shetland, and we would meet up again in Aberdeen on the Wednesday. There may have been others, but these were the only ones I recognised.

For the next stage of my trip north, I was going to visit my sister, who was not too far away, in North Wales. Then on to the Simmer Dim Rally.

- Phil (the Spill) Drackley