It’s the largest non-national rally in the British calendar, but what did our resident blogger, Stan, make of his first visit Mersea Island?
I don’t know what became of the anarchistic Scooterboy that was me in the 1980s, but recently he’s become quite a creature of habit. For reasons that are best summed up as ‘work’ the first two weeks in September have, for so long as I can remember, being set aside for a family holiday. As a result, attending Mersea has never been on the cards. Obviously I’ve read the rally reports and thought ‘That looks interesting’, but that’s about as far as any planning’s got. However, thanks to the uncertainty that goes with planning a house move, this year the holiday was put on hold and I found myself free on Mersea weekend. When a friend offered to cover my costs if I helped out on his stall it was too good an opportunity to miss…
Old school cool
The first Mersea was held back in 1993, when around 500 scooterists found a very basic set up with a single room and one food vendor. However, the potential was obvious and attendance doubled for the following year. Today, the event routinely sells out with around 2,500 people descending on the ‘island’. The venue remains the same, ‘Essex Outdoors’, but the scale and variety of entertainment is unrecognisable from those early days. Incredibly, the event isn’t managed by a company or even a consortium of clubs, it’s entirely the efforts of Colchester and District Vespa and Lambretta Club. Certainly the most user friendly organisation to have ever used the abbreviation DVLC…
Having set out our stall, I had a quick wander around the site and was, quite frankly, amazed at the scale of things. There are several camping fields, purpose built toilet and shower blocks, food vendors a plenty, several bars, a marquee that hosts the live music and custom show, together with a ‘Darkside’ tent, ‘Mess Room’ tent, Dyno challenge, a huge traders area and a games field, but more of that in a moment.
Over the weekend no less than 14 DJ’s spun a variety of tunes whilst three live bands took the stage on both Friday and Saturday night. It’s a mixture that attracts scooterists from across the UK and even further afield. Taking advantage of the site’s proximity to the ferry at Harwich, the German contingent was massive and included the team from SIP, who’d stayed in the UK for a few days after their appearance at the Isle of Wight.
If that wasn’t enough, just have a think back to the last time you attended a rally that had a Bucking Bronco ride and an air rifle range. I thought not…
Fancy that
Even with such an abundance of entertainment on offer, I was surprised to see a troupe of Morris Dancers winding through the site. However, my confusion was quickly cleared up after reading the programme which explained that both at the School Disco and Friday, and in general, fancy dress is encouraged. It also explained the ‘gender fluid’ outfits being worn by some well known faces.
Game on
One of the unusual aspects of Mersea is that thanks to tidal fluctuations, at certain times of day the main road is completely flooded, hence Mersea Island. It’s a pretty place and even has its own vineyard within staggering distance of the site but it does mean that there’s an audience to be entertained, and on Saturday afternoon that entertainment takes the form of ‘organised’ games. These range from the traditional Tug of War, to Beer and Banana via ‘Chucky Egg’ and the surprisingly difficult task of putting on a frozen T shirt in ‘Iced T’. The common denominator is chaos, with Ginger Tony (Our friend from Vespajets) doing his best to MC and keep the action under control. With spot prizes and name that tune for the less energetic souls, it made for a fun filled afternoon, there was certainly none of the usual ‘lull’ in proceedings that often blights a rally once the stalls have been perused and the custom show entries admired.
Custom show results
No rally is complete without a custom show and with 70 scooters entered this year, every trophy was hard won.
Best of Show (Phil Rudkin): Breaking Rocks
Best Vespa: Hammer Horror
Best Lambretta: Past and Present
Best Custom Vespa: Leave ‘em Laughing
Best Custom Lambretta: Retro Tattoo
Best Original Vespa: SS180
Best Original Lambretta: Model F
Best Display: Ollie
Punters’ Choice: Blues Brothers
Best Ridden: Old School
Best Auto: Golly Gosh
Best Custom Mural: Breaking Rocks
Best Brightwork: AVP
Best Oddity: Pendragon
Best Chopper: Black Dog
Best Vintage: Mighty Maicoletta
Best Street Racer: Shelby
Best engineered: Rossa Prototype
Most Iconic: Faithful Friend
Best Cutdown: Kingfisher
Island life
If you’ve never done it, take it from me that trading at a scooter rally is strange experience. Simultaneously you’re part of the rally but also separate from it, and of course both nights are ‘school nights’ so I can’t claim to have benefitted from everything that Mersea offered. That said, my first visit to Mersea was one that I’ll always remember.
If you’ve never made it to Mersea, perhaps 2027 should be the year that you try something different, I’m already negotiating a change in the family holiday schedule…
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