WOT? Rally
3rd - Borderline MCC - 1 July 1983
Just outside the village of Bordon, in Hampshire, is a large hotel with impressive grounds. This used to be a Lithuanian Country Club, and somehow the organisers managed to get permission to hold a rally in the woods behind the club and use the bar and main hall for the entertainment areas. The catering and most of the games, though, were kept to the camping area.
At least one club wished they had kept their Friday night celebrations there, as their human pyramid collapsed onto the hardwood floor of the hall. I don't think there were any serious injuries, though. Other than that, the evening progressed well and unusually comfortably, ending up around the bonfire singing songs accompanied by guitar.
Saturday morning, as usual, had a low-key start, with more people arriving, breakfasts being eaten and more beer being consumed. During the afternoon closure, we all traipsed back to the tents and prepared ourselves for the usual rally exertions.
Whilst waiting for these, I encountered a problem I hadn't before. I usually only take a few films with me, in those pre-digital days when there was a limit to the number of photos you could take. I took more with me on long 'weekends', such as Shetland rallies, (and bought more as and when required and available), but for local ones, such as these, only a couple. I met a quite attractive girl who, after a bottle of Vodka, was convinced she wanted to pose naked on her motorbike. I have to admit, it was mostly me trying to convince her. I took quite a lot of photos of her, as did a few passing rallyists. As a result, I only had about half-a-dozen shots left for the rest of the day.
I have no bad memories of the weekend, so I have to assume all went well. I do have a vague memory of enjoyment and I was eager to go again next year, so that would appear to be the case.
I do know the wet T shirt and wet Y front competitions happened, using the organisers own Question-mark branded shirts and pants. The separate Miss Rally was also contested, but I have little physical record of those.
I do not recall any bad weather from the weekend or any other 'Wot Weekend', but in July that's not much of a surprise I suppose.
- Phil (the Spill) Drackley