Ghost MCC "Where you soaked to the bone 2"
Following the cancellation of MagnaCarta, Ghosts MCC had a bit of a shock this weekend. What was to be a small rally of about 2-300 turned into a bustling, packed 2,000+.
But no one was complaining as they had an ample over-spill field and the local cash and carry was visited a few times to get more beer and supplies.
At one point people were holding their breath as the local police were re-looking at the licence agreement, but two friendly 'boys in blue' popped round and were obviously pleased with the way things were being organised as they agreed to leave things be.
Many bikers had been riding all day, one I talked to had come from Wales but had gone via Braintree MagnaCarta to get to the Buckingham site. As Ghost organisers said, they couldn't really start turning people away, however full they got, after people had been riding so far.
It was a good opportunity for those who normally only go to the big rallies to experience one of the smaller ones although as Saturday got going it was evident that this wasn't one of the small ones anymore!
One down side was a guy who stacked his bike just before he got there, but apart from a few scrapes he was fine. The police were very impressed with the way the Ghosts handled it.
The bands were excellent, mostly covers but the last band on the Saturday did the best covers of Stairway to Heaven and Hotel California that I have heard for along long time.
My day started in Braintree although I was planning on going to the Ghosts rally anyway. But I decided, when I got a E-Mail about the cancellation, to check out the Braintree site to see what was happening. I found the gate being guarded by armed police in bullet proof vests and surveillance cameras. The MAG representatives on the gate (the police would only allow 4 of them), were only able to give out the most scant of details and hand out the official police press release.
On going to the local pub I was told by the landlord that he had been visited by the police the night before. He had been told to look out for bikers with back patches of four clubs ( HA, Outlaws, Road Rats and the Nomads) and to call the cops if he saw any of them. He was looking forward to the extra trade he was expecting over the weekend and wasn't expecting any trouble himself.
After gathering about 60 bikers we headed out for Buckingham and had a great ride to the Ghost site. Talk there was all about why the MaganaCarta had been cancelled and rumours were rife. The main concern was whether MAG could afford such an expensive non-event. It was soon decided to have a whip round for MAG and the MAG rep who was there was very touched by the result.
Everyone decided to put a brave face on events and were soon into the spirit of things, culminating in a water fight with anything from squeeze bottles to fully fledged double barrelled, pump action water cannons. Even rubber gloves were commandeered for water bombs.
This is the way bikers should go 'tooled up' for rallies, not put all biking events at risk like the few patch clubs involved in the disaster at Braintree. Helmets off to the Ghosts MCC for coping and giving everyone a really good time.
