A few weeks ago, we were heading to Llandudno, the final BSRA National Scooter Rally of the 2025 calendar.
We dropped lucky, really. On Thursday night, we had a massive storm with powerful winds and rain. It gave way to damp and misty conditions early on Friday morning, but at least it was calm.
Let’s ride
It’s 145 miles to Llandudno for me. Our group of three set off towards our rendezvous point at Uttoxeter. We met a few clubmates and other friends there, then headed off for the next leg of the journey.
We were pretty lucky, really, only getting a few miles of rain on the way. Others weren’t quite so lucky.
Scooterboys live on
Fellow Mansfield Monster Lewis isn’t quite 22 yet, but has just built this lovely GP with his dad. It’s inspired by a classic scooter owned by the late Gary Leivers. The scooter has been built from bits on a budget and won. ‘Best Streetracer’ at Mablethorpe this weekend. Scooterboys live on…
Beware of the Arafs
The ride went by really quickly, and we’d soon crossed the Welsh border (thankfully, nobody WAS at the checkpoint), where suddenly everything felt a bit foreign, and we were all on high alert for wild Arafs (there were signs for them everywhere but we didn’t see any).
About 15 miles from town, Steve’s scooter had had enough and conked out. It was during that pit stop that we heard about a big diesel spill on the outskirts of town. When we arrived, a lad on a new Casa Lambretta was just dusting himself down, and I heard a few others had fallen on the spilt fuel. You could see and smell diesel all the way into town.
Four in a Bed
After an extra-long and disorganised check-in process at our B&B (which incidentally won Four in a bed on TV – I don’t know how), we finally got to our rooms. We gave up trying to get the landlord to serve us at the hotel bar (multitasking certainly wasn’t his strongest point), so we went straight out to the pub (after a nice shower, of course).
Victorian splendour
Llandudno is a beautiful town, steeped in Victorian history and also has loads of decent pubs for us to enjoy ourselves in. I always look forward to this end-of-season event. If you’ve not been, or have missed it for a while, get yourself booked in for 2026.
A pub crawl ensued, and because the town was so busy, we tried to keep to the less well-populated boozers. A good laugh was had, friends caught up with, and good-humoured banter was swapped with people I’ve known for 40 years or more.
Big shoes to fill
The rally’s central hub is Venue Cymru. VFM put this event on, with LCGB hosting Saturday’s custom show. It’s a big venue and costs a fortune to hire and staff. That’s why organisers need our support. Without them, we’d have no National scene.
We made our way to the Venue in heavy rain (or was that Saturday night?) and soon got served with some typical Welsh beer made from the bulb of daffodils, filtered through slate-filtered mine water (or at least that’s how it tasted).
Most of the people in this photo will be tucked up in bed before midnight.
Gig or a do?
I’m not overly bothered about seeing bands on a rally (unless it’s a particular favourite of mine). If I want to go to a gig, I’ll go to a gig. So, as usual, my bunch of reprobates and I got up to the do whilst the band were halfway through their set. As the band left the stage, most of the punters also left the venue. Despite the place being busy for a Friday night (whilst the band were on), it quickly emptied, leaving a humongous main room looking quite empty. Not ideal for the DJs who followed them. It’s hard to maintain an atmosphere for a thinning crowd.
A big surge in country music has led to a rise in scooterist line dancing (probably)…
Remember the days?
I can still feel the atmosphere of a banging do from decades ago. That wall of sound and emotion hit you as soon as you walked through the doors and stays with you for a lifetime. Remember the heat and sweat from a full venue, condensation dripping from the ceiling, everybody bouncing to whatever was being played – a mixture of music all under one roof. A love of scooters binding us all together.
The VFM Collective
Our Col and Bomber pose with Tori and Daz, two-thirds of the scooterists who run VFM. Meanwhile, the third member of Fun Boy Three, Big Kev, will be growling at people on the front door.
These three (Daz, Tori and Kev) took over VFM when Steve Foster retired a couple of years ago. The VFM Collective are a group of fellow scooterists who organise a few events each year, including Scarborough, the Isle of Wight, Llandudno and Mablethorpe, plus Carry on Abroad in Lanzarote.
Have your say
It’s here I want to ask readers what they think about the way nighttime events are these days. The majority of attendees are treating them like they would a gig. The band finishes, and most people go home for toast and cocoa. Rallies have never been like that, but they are now, and the soul room is often busier than the main room later on.
In years gone by, we were all a lot younger and happy to stay out until the death. I’d say the average age of scooterists is 57 now. Not everybody can party like it’s 1999.
Do you think putting bands on later at night would help keep venues busy longer by encouraging those who want to see live music to stay out later? Or should we go back to just having one room of music at suitable venues and try to keep some atmosphere in the dos? Maybe a rally with no bands would be a winner, like Cleethorpes used to be.
It’s a double-edged sword. The soulies are used to having their own room, but are two rooms of music at the detriment of a good overall night?
Have your say in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
Welsh rarebit
Anyway, back to the do and after chucking out time I got the missus by the earhole and dragged her off to bed (she’s very lucky).
The following morning, after a lie-in and a hearty Welsh breakfast (exactly the same as a full English – just in case you were wondering), it was soon time to have a speedy look around the Trade & Custom show. I say speedy, that’s because I arrived just 15 minutes before the fabled Number Ones meeting.
Number Ones meeting
In the past, this was where the calendar for the following year was thrashed out, and dates for next year’s Nationals would be published. Not so anymore. Organisers face too much pressure from clubs and individuals putting events on that clash, so for the last two years they’ve been forced to announce the calendar earlier in the year.
During the meeting, event hosting costs were mentioned, with some venues reporting eye-watering overheads. We also discussed how the National scene is progressing and whether the criteria for a National Rally could be relaxed. In the BSRA constitution, to host a National, a venue with a minimum capacity of 1000 was required. Allowing smaller, suitable venues to be considered would give organisers a broader range of towns to look at and lower running costs in what is becoming a slightly smaller scene. We’ll have to wait and see what the future brings.
Pricing
Scooterists have always been lucky not to pay over the odds for events. It was just £12 on the door at Llandudno. Try going to any other event in a place as big as that with a live band and two rooms of music, and you’ll be paying much more than that. A 60s show at Venue Cymru later this month costs £29.50 in advance, and that’s for a two-and-a-half-hour show. Even so, there was no real talk of raising prices for scooterist-run events.
Let out to play
After two hours sitting around the big table nursing a hangover, we were let out to play and headed swiftly to the pub. A great afternoon and evening was spent laughing and joking over a few fine ales. Then, like a repeat of the previous night, it was time to head up to the do for a few drinks before bed.
Keep ’em coming
I mentioned scooterboys earlier in this write-up. Young scooterboys and girls are on the rise, whether wearing traditional 1980s clobber or just being themselves; it’s always good to see them out and about enjoying themselves. Long may it continue.
Springlike
A beautiful Sunday morning greeted us, with hardly a cloud in the sky, and it was unseasonably warm. The ride home felt more like spring than the middle of November, and there were plenty of scooters on the A55 going home.
My Series One snapped a throttle cable near Nantwich (thanks to everybody who stopped to ask if I was ok), but I was soon back on the road again – albeit with a poorly adjusted new cable only giving me about ¾ throttle for the rest of the ride home.
It’s all over, folks
That’s it, another year of small-wheeled madness over. It’s 40 years since I first attended a scooter rally (DISC ’85) and despite the thoughts of my parents when I was a 14-year-old mod, soon to be scooterboy, I doubt I’m likely to grow out of it just yet.
I’ll see you all at Scarborough at Easter, if not before.
Words: Iggy
Photos: Booga
Custom Show results
Former Young Guns SC member Jordan Lewis, has created this fine machine. Doolally won ‘Best of Show’ at its first outing
Top awards
Best of Show: Lambretta GP200 Doolally – Jordan Lewis
Best Ridden Scooter: Lambretta GP 200 Masterblaster – Dene Longstaff
Punters Choice: Lambretta GP 200 Doolally – Jordan Lewis
One scooter that is never without controversy is Dave Oakley’s Sieg Heil. History should never be erased; if it creates a stir, opens a debate, and helps inform people about man’s wrongdoings, then it should be applauded.
Custom Class
Best Lambretta: Lambretta GP200 – Sieg Heil – Dave Oakley
Best Vespa: Vespa PX – John Walsh
Best Street Racer: Lambretta TS1 GP The Boss – John Knott
Best Chopper Cutdown: Lambretta LI 125 The black Dog – Shaun Watson
Best Lambretta pre 1959: Lambretta M 125 – John Walklate
Best Lambretta S3/SX: Lambretta SX 200 AF Racer – Mark Price
Best Lambretta GP: Kingdom of Heaven – Howard Cleves
Best small frame: Vespa Avatar – Richard Watson
Best Vespa pre T5: Vespa Rally 200 USA special- Polly Richardson
Best Vespa T5 onwards: Vespa P200 The Parades Gone by- John Arksey
Tubby’s PX
A couple of years ago, Stockport Crusader Ian ‘Tubby’ Higgins died after a short illness. He left his mod-themed custom PX to his longtime friend, Darren Groves. Daz has had it reworked slightly and showed it at Llandudno, where it was awarded best Vespa (pre T5).
Ridden classes
Best Lambretta: Lambretta Serveta Li Silver Special Calamity Jane – Cheryl Ward
Best Vespa: Vespa T5 The Greatest Love of All – Tim Lovell
Best Street Racer: GP 150 on Frank Sanderson frame – Brian O’Neil
Best Chopper Cutdown: Vespa PX 200 chopper Top Banana – Darren Simmonds
Best Lambretta pre 1959: Lambretta Model B 125 – Brian Clough
Best Lambretta S3/SX: Lambretta SX 200 AF Racer – Mark Price
Best Lambretta GP: Lambretta GP Team AF Rayspeed – Iain Cleeve
Best small frame: Vespa 125 Primavera – Martin Preston
Best Vespa pre T5: Vespa PX200 Tubby’s P2 – Darren Groves
Best Vespa T5 onwards: Vespa T5 Kingsworld – Michael Stockwell
General Classes
Best Mural: Lambretta GP200 Kingdom of Heaven – Howard Clewes
Auto Scooter: Ducati Cruiser 175 – Rob Miller
Unrestored Scooter: Zundapp Bella – Brian Cook
Non Vespa/Lambretta: Zundapp R50 – Briam Cook
Best Indian scooter: Lambretta GP Bonzo – Mark Rogers
Best Spanish: Lambretta Jet 200 The Iberian – Midge
First time entrant: Lambretta LI 150 Special On the Buses – Charlie Thomas
Vinyl Graphics: Lambretta RB250 S-Type – Don Garratt
Best Heritage: Lambretta LI – Ralph Appleby
For my two penn’orth worth (not that it’s even worth that) most people have seen the usual suspects of bands over the years. Bands monopolise a good chunk of the night. Splitting the rooms for different genres means a split audience and often the same songs will get played in the ‘rooms’ during the night. Only problem with not doing the previous mentioned stuff means the do just become an expensive version of the local pub doing the same near the venue, with no entry fee and cheaper beer. As you say Iggy, we’re not getting any younger and the toll of doing rallies for 20-40 yrs is starting to catch us up. So in summary I don’t have an answer, but if you look at towns at a weekend, venues and different events they’re all struggling and I think it’s a general malaise within the UK not just scootering.