FRAMLINGHAM COLLEGE 28th - 31st August 2009
The National Rally was a great sucess - here is the report which will also be in the Journal soon
CLICK ON EACH PHOTO TO ENLARGE
A summary of the rally
Planning
It must have been just before the 2008 National Rally that Cliff Batley, our secretary, said he would like the section to host the 2009 rally.
Mark Dutton, our social secretary, decided to try and find a suitable location and to emulate the 2007 Myerscough event by contacting the Essex equivalent Agricultural College, Writtle, who after a long period explained that they were unable to allow us to use the facilities because of essential maintenance work. With 11 months to go and without a venue several other facilities were contacted including the Norfolk and Norwich Showground and East Anglia University, St Josephs College, Ipswich and the Royal Hospital School at Holbrook, but all were unable to help - one suggested we tried Framlingham College. Mark picked up the phone and made the call selling the concept of a bike rally on their well-manicured lawns.
The Location
The events manager Dan Wood of Framlingham College listened carefully to his patter and said he would research our request and get back. He came back next day with a proposal for a meeting at the college so we could discuss this further. We had mentioned that we were aiming to serve a high standard of food as part of the attraction and he suggested that we meet on Saturday morning at eleven so that during our visit we could sample a school lunch. Several members of our committee met at the College and were impressed at the quality of the food and grandeur of the dining hall, combined with the costs that he was suggesting for the meals. The grounds for camping were on possibly the flattest and best kept grass anywhere in the world. The accommodation was basic and clean and we knew instantly, as we hope you also did when you attended the rally, that this was the right venue.
The Logo
What were we going to name the rally? We thought of the St Trinians theme but the idea of having scantily dressed pretty girls as hostesses with fishnets and short skirts might not have portrayed the right image at a national event of the BMW Club so finally "we", the committee, decided on "Back to Skool" - we still retained the fishnets and hockey stick on the logo with a couple of college students riding a BMW R75/5. Our thanks go to Simon Roberts who designed the logo for us. (See top of article)
A very unique feature of this rally was the Raffle Prize that was a new BMW F 800 R. The idea was to try and attract more members to the rally, Two raffle tickets were included in the booking fee. Smaller raffle prizes were also available. Additional raffle tickets were for sale on site.
During the event the college dining room provided first class meals all weekend at extremely reasonable prices.
The college also set up a large tent serving beer and soft drinks all day with a hard floor and tables and chairs. In an adjacent tent it was possible to buy snacks all day and a separate coffee stall provided all day coffees and realistic prices.
It is worth noting that the College had set up a card system to pay for all meals and drinks. You paid for a card or two on which were several squares each containing a monetary figure. As you bought food or drink so these figures were crossed out thus after you had bought the cards no money changed hands.
The Weather
What would the weather be like? It was out of our hands really. The Rally is always held over the August Bank Holiday weekend and we know what to expect during a Bank Holiday! We were lucky, with some heavy showers on Friday and the remainder of the weekend being dry, warm and sunny.
The committee had also made provision for all day tea, coffee and biscuits which proved a great success for all arrivals and also as a meeting place over the weekend and also generated £620 for the East Anglia Air Ambulance
Parking was excellent in a large car park by the tennis courts and more parking by each accommodation house and all campers and camper vans parked on the field by their pitches.
Trade Stands
We had a long list of potential Trade Stands and finally started the rally with the following.
Lind Motorrad, Norwich who supplied the F800R Raffle bike and had several BMW bikes on show and offered test rides. We also had Pure Bike Tours, Ultraseal, Ultimate Ear and The Fellowship of Christian Bikers, who also provide a service in the chapel on Sunday morning.
Entertainment
A Rally of this size requires careful thought about what events and entertainment to provide. What were we going to offer our guests as daytime entertainment activities? We had the usual Ride-out ideas around the Suffolk countryside and managed to drag Mark Dutton’s in-laws into the event to organize a walk. We thought of the rally being themed around a school sports day on the Sunday. We think we pulled it off, it was certainly good fun while it lasted.
Ride-outs (on Saturday)
Seven ride-outs were planned but only six actually took place. They were colour coded to identify riders except the Off-Road one.
Off Road: Mark Weavers and David Cattee led this one with six riders on a variety of bikes. Green lanes and sandy off road tracks in Thetford Forest no casualties apart from two fallers!
Red Ride Out: Led by Mike Davies and tail ended by Paul Scrase. 14 bikes rode to the East Anglia Museum of Life for lunch and then to Pakenham Water Mill for tea and you could buy newly ground flour! Distance was about 80 miles.
Blue Ride Out: Led by Ken Mullett and tail ended by Pat Cockman through leafy Suffolk lanes to a café for tea then lunch at a pub and home. Distance was about 75 miles.
Green Ride Out: Led by Matt Butcher with Jon Price as tail ender 26 people on 20 bikes rode a route of exploration of towns and villages in Suffolk and Essex with lunch at Three Tunns pub in Finchingfield (biker friendly) and ice cream at Shotley Marina with reserved parking. Distance was about 150 miles.
Yellow Ride Out: This was for classic bikes and was led by Paul Round and rode through Suffolk lanes to Bawdsey (famous for radar development in WW II) with a sandwich lunch by the beach and ferry. Back through quiet lanes. Distance was about 70 miles.
Thanks to all the leaders and tail enders for bringing all back without mishap. Matt Butcher actually arrived back with two extra riders!
Walk
This was arranged by Caroline Dutton, Shirley and David Stannard and covered about three miles outward and three miles back. It was attended by 68 walkers who enjoyed the countryside walk to Dennington for a lunchtime refreshing drink and return afterwards to Framlingham.
The Evening Entertainments:
On Friday evening Winston the singing farmer provided the entertainment, a great act comprising jokes and songs to a large gathering in the sports hall, the acoustics were far from perfect but that did not stop everybody enjoying themselves.
Saturday evening finally came, we got the speeches and thanks out of the way, time for the raffle that everyone crowded into the hall was waiting for, who would win the bike ! Cliff explained that we would do the draw in reverse order i.e. 3rd 2nd 1st . Then Dick Boyd jumps up on stage and says no we can't do it that way, it will have to be 1st prize drawn first and then continue down to the last prize. After a couple of minutes discussion we decided to go ahead with the first ticket out wins the bike, The ticket was drawn and John Mount from Eire was the winner. The raffle then continued and prizes including a system 6 helmet, Autocom and vouchers from Hein Gericke, Touratech, Moto bins, Motorworks and other prizes from Held and Sportouring, all of whom we thank for providing these prizes FOC.
On Sunday evening we held a quiz in the sports hall and announced the winners of the various sports day events and the skills test, there were also awards for the best F,R,K and GS bikes, the spirit of the event award (a bottle of Bushmills) went to Gail from the southern section.
Sports Day (Sunday)
No "skool" event would be complete without a sports day! So Mark Dutton our Social Secretary had come up with the following "sports". These took place from 10.00am
Three legged race:
Sack race:
Wheelbarrow race:
Egg & spoon race:
Bean bag on your head race.
Welly throwing.
Tug of War unfortunately was cancelled because of lack of entrants!
Heats were first run with finals at the end. A great morning of entertainment. Congratulations to the winners of each event.
Skills Test
After lunch, starting at 2.30, Rob Bensley had supplied all the paraphernalia for the Skills Test.
This requires a competitor to ride his/her bike around a course through various tasks. The first task involved riding through cones both ways each cone had a bean bag on top so no touching or feet down! No photo.
The second leg was to ride over a see-saw plank!
Third game pushing a 40 gallon oil drum with your front wheel!
Fourth test was to ride through a high gate, suspended from which were water filled balloons which competitors had to burst as they rode through (drawing pin glove supplied) 5 ballons in total.
Fifth challenge was a speed event ride and stop by a lady manikin who was wearing a brassiere take of the bra, put it on yourself, mount your bike and ride over the line! This is Tracy!
Sixth test was to ride as slow as possible along a rope on the grass. No photo.
A great test of riding skills and well done to all who competed.
Summary:
So after getting the hang off things would you do it all again? Dick Boyd asked, as we sat over a morning coffee outside the pavilion basking in warm sunshine. Yes, we would if given the opportunity in a few years time but with some discussions, we know we could make some minor adjustments to make it even better next time.
Statistics:
Number of campers/camper vans: 336
Number of accommodation attendees: 253
Number of Day Visitors: 26
Total attendees: 615
Donations to East Anglian Air Ambulance from attendees over the Rally weekend was a very generous £670.00.
Many thanks to all who helped raise this excellent amount.
Firstly, our sincere thanks to all of you who booked and attended this Rally, whether for the whole weekend or as a casual visitor as it was you who made all the hard work and organisation so worth while.
We must also give thanks go to all the Framlingham College staff who worked tirelessly in the background ensuring that this superb location with facilities to match offered unrivalled hospitality. Even the burst main water pipe incident on Sunday which cut-off the whole of Framlingham town was handled quickly and efficiently.
Finally, the committee of the East Anglia Section offers a big thank you to those members that saw we were overstretched in a couple of areas and just simply assisted without question.
Many people conveyed their thanks to the East Anglia Section helpers at the rally. We finish this report with a few e-mails showing appreciation received after the event.
SOME UNSOLICITED EMAILS
From: David Williamson
Sent: Tue 01/09/2009 19:35
To: markdutton@cautrac.com; eastanglia.sec@bmwclub.org.uk
Subject: National Rally
Dear Both,
A brief note to thank you and your team for a great National Rally. The venue was excellent and it was great to be able to walk into the town. From the casual observer's point of view everything seemed to go very smoothly and we were very fortunate with the weather.
Having been involved with the Southern Section Rally some years ago I understand just how much work is involved and how much responsibility is placed on a small team.
Well done, we had a great time.
Best regards,
Dave Williamson
Chairman Southern Section.
From: Andy Raggett
To: eastanglia.sec@bmwclub.org.uk ; markdutton@cautrac.com
Cc: president@bmwclub.org.uk ; social@bmwclub.org.uk
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 11:12 AM
Subject: Framlingham - Thank You
Cliff, Jenny, Mark and all Framlingham volunteers
I just want to say a huge thanks to you and all the volunteers for staging a fantastic national rally for the BMW Club. Framlingham was the first national rally that I have attended since the London section event at Knebworth in 1993 and it is impossible to compare the two.
Over the weekend I heard nothing but praise for choosing a superb location with excellent facilities both for campers and those of us in the various houses. If only you could have gotten Robert Bensley to do a double act with Winston on Friday night, now that would have been a sight to behold.
Personally I would be more than happy to recommend that the 60th anniversary rally of the BMW Club in 2011 should be held at Framlingham, as I cannot see how it would be possible to find a better location.
Once again THANK YOU, see you all soon.
Regards
Andy Raggett
From Roger Barr
Hi Mike.
Just a few lines to say what a great job East Anglia section made of the organisation for the rally.
I thought the range of available ride outs was excellent.
The accommodation was very well priced and the food was particularly good value.
I do think the cashless system worked very well and quite how did you arrange such excellent weather?
Please pass on my compliments and very best regards to all the hard working East Anglia section members who together produced such an enjoyable rally.
Cheers Roger Barr
From Angela P. & Steve N.
We have thoroughly enjoyed this year's rally. The organizing committee should be extremely proud.
We went on the ride out which included Pakenham Mill (and were able to buy 6kg of flour - I am already looking forward to tasting the bread!) And the stop at MEAL was inspired; what an interesting place!
The college staff should also be congratulated for the high standard of catering, and their unfailing good humour and helpfulness.
We've had a smashing time and are already looking forward to next year ...
Thank you all very much.
Angela P. & Steve N.
F650GS / R1150R Rockster
Midland Area
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