Twits Rally

The Twits Rally, as you might expect, is run by the Twickenham based Twits Motorcycle Club.

The bar staff always seem to be really pretty young ladies too!

- Ted

So far there have been three rallies, at thirteen year intervals, 1977, 1990, and 2003, I am looking forward to the next one which should be in 2016! To be fair the Twits have another Rally now, called The Second In A Basket.

The first Rally was held on Purbright Common near Guildford and the main thing I remember of it is that for the entertainment on the Saturday they had a stripper!

The second Rally was just off the A5 near to Nether Hayford. The weather that weekend was extremely wet and windy, and this caused a bit of a problem. The rally was going to be based in a couple of marquees, but when the largest marquee was being erected, the wind got under it. It was last seen at about 1000ft heading in the general direction of Northampton! Naturally the tent crew gave in at this point so the bar had to be in a smaller marquee and there wasn't enough room for all the rallyists - and it was like a monsoon outside. This began the invasion of Nether Heyford, or at least the pubs there! They all did a roaring trade and at least one of them set up a shuttle service to get people to and from the rally site.

The camping field was deep mud in places, not fun on a touring bike with camping gear. But if you felt really confident there was a proper motocross circuit set up on the site, which at least a couple of people managed to ride round.

The third Rally was at a site not far from Amersham, which has now become their "other" rally site. There is a large flat field behind an excellent real ale pub which also does top rate food. The bar staff always seem to be really pretty young ladies too!

After hours was supposed to be in a marquee behind the pub with them running a late bar. For the Twits this went a bit wrong and didn't really happen.

I am not sure if there was a band or a disco out in the marquee, as I had to stay in the pub and make sure the bar staff were OK!

It was only a short walk into the village centre, which had a variety of pubs and eating places, but if you are a tight Yorkshireman (like me!) the prices seemed a bit steep.

- Ted Trett


Start of quotation Ted should have remembered the 1st Twits Rally was very cold. You were warming up your beer cans so you could drink them without ICE.

I was a member of the Black Friars at that time and one of our members "Big Phil" came down for the day, but ended up staying the night.

I was on my 350 Jawa. Now I ride a BMW R1200R (and an MP3 400 for work).

I still do rallies, but now seem to do more camping weekends with my club the Mayflower. End of quotation

- Rad‍ar


Start of quotation I was at the Twits rally 77. I've still got the badge. I seem to remember it was near Farnham but I'm not exactly sure where.

I was riding my 1975 Triumph Bonneville and went with a load of mates from the British Motorcycle Owners Club, the name of which sounds a bit tame but I can assure you that some of them were a bunch of nutters.

There were the usual drunken antics and as such I remember very well the big beer tent with the now infamous stripper on Saturday night. End of quotation

- Cobbo


Start of quotation In 1977 I was a member of Grange Farm MCC and this was one of my first rallies with the club. I went on my new Z650 which I still rally on today. It was my first winter rally. Brrrrrrr, don't know why but I got addicted to them.

My best memory of the rally was trying to see the stripper. A lad had a brain wave; he could get a better view on top of the tent, cut a hole in it and peep through. Oops, that didn't work he fell through the hole - lol.

I rode home that Sunday following my mates back light, that's all I could see. We stopped at a pub half way home, like you did in them days, then worked out my vision problem was a thick layer of snot over my eyes. Three pints and a wash sorted that out.

Be nice to go to the 2016 rally on the same bike. End of quotation

- Tony Graves


Start of quotation 1977, 4th December, 03.30, icy M4, Twits 1.

Late starting because of spending most of Saturday putting in a new engine.

Remember writing off the A65 on the way there (Reading), but not much else (apart from it was cold)......

When I finally arrived Sunday lunchtime it was all over. C'est la vie.

Travelled by bike, ambulance, police car, train, bus and a few miles on foot. End of quotation

- Buck Moore