It’s an early leave, as I broke my journey up to feed my inner geek by stopping off at an airshow, to meet Guy, my son (that’s not him pictured above).
Several hours later, we set off for Banwell near Weston-Super-Mare for the latest Farmyard Bash.
Western
It’s held every other year at Court Farm, a working farm with camping onsite, as well as a western (or maybe Weston?) style bar complete with real hay bales. They’re not as comfortable as they look, though, and fortunately, there’s plenty of room in the large barn with tables to sit at if you don’t want to set off your hayfever.
Old school fun
The bar runs for 3/4 of the length of the room and the staff do a great job of keeping the punters’ glasses full all night.
The Farmyard Bash is run by SWSC, who, when they put on the first Farmyard Bash (or Party as it was originally called) wanted to have an old-school scooter rally, with fun and games, alcohol, and bands, but most of all FUN. Their aims haven’t changed and all of the above is supplied in droves.
Palooka 5
Friday night’s band is Palooka 5, best described as a brilliantly fun surf band and who had the crowd begging for more at the end of their set. This is the second time they’ve played the Farmyard Bash, and they went down every bit as well as they did the first time.
Saturday starts off, after breakfast at the burger van, with a small, but perfectly formed ridden custom show and then a scooter gymkhana, sadly no one had any spectacular tumbles for me to immortalise, but it’s still great fun to watch.
Caz and the Traitors
Saturday’s first band is Caz and the Traitors. I first saw, or rather heard, this band at Oddballs Rally. Caz has a fantastic voice and covers a lot of excellent female led iconic, mostly punk, songs. Once again, they didn’t disappoint, and if you get a chance to see them, you should definitely do so.
Thunderbeers
Remember, I mentioned the fun and games? Well, it’s back outside to catch the Beer Puppeteer. Imagine a cross between Thunderbirds and a beer shampoo, and you’ve got the idea. The object of the game is to drink a pint of beer in the shortest possible time, but realistically, most of it ended up over the participants.
Stomach churning
To round off the fun and games, we watched the Mr/Mrs Greedy eating competition. Notice I say watch, because this game is unquestionably a spectator sport and certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted. The food consists of just about the worst (or best if you’re watching) combination of foodstuffs imaginable; chillies are probably the nicest item on the menu, but calls not to rub your eyes after eating them go unheeded with hilarious consequences.
Other delicacies include haggis and surstromming, fermented Herring from Sweden and one of the world’s smelliest foods, surely enough to turn the strongest of stomachs.
Whoever said there were no youngsters on rallies?
Surfin’ Turnips
Back to the bar with the next band, Surfin’ Turnips playing ‘West Country folk music’, heavily inspired by The Worzels, with a Scrumpy twist, they, as with all the bands over the weekend, have the place bouncing.
These aren’t the Funkdillies or Delray Rockets…
Next up, Funkydillies, a 70s-inspired funk/soul band who fire out a great set of 70s standards. The last band of the evening is the fantastic Delray Rockets, an absolutely fantastic Rockabilly band, with all the fire and bass you need to finish the night.
Bedtime calls and overnight rain put an end to a brilliant weekend. Everyone that I’ve spoken to about The Farmyard Bash all agree that it’s an awesome rally and one not to be missed.
Words and photos: Booga
SLUK Shop
We’re always adding new products to the SLUK Shop. Here are two of the latest additions. We’ve got the SLUK Cooler, a head cowling designed to increase the cooling for Lambretta cylinders.
We’ve also got this handy Innovv tyre inflator, it’s a great product that can also be used to charge your devices and has a useful light as well.
