| The
Spat Out Of Hull Rally, 14th - 16th September 2007 - East Yorkshire
MAG |
Once upon a time there
was a flood which wreaked havoc in a valley. This flood spawned
a fund-raiser which came to be called the Tsunami Soiree. |
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Now it's a MAG fund-raiser,
but not focussed on the after effects of that deluge, so a name
change was called for and the Spat Out Of Hull evolved. It is still
a small essentially trad rally. |
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The Dene Park Sports
& Social Club on the outskirts of Hull provides a flat, well
drained field, reasonably priced beer and food and some of the friendliest
bar/kitchen staff I've seen in a long time. |
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One side effect of this
laid back atmosphere is that I cannot remember much in the way of
precise details – just lots of fuzzy happy thoughts –
good job I've got a camera and loads of digital memory. |
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Friday night's official
entertainment started with a one man band - I have to admit I spent
most of Friday talking to people, occasionally listening to them
and jut grabbing pics as I went to and from the bars, so have no
recollection of the entertainments. |
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A band followed later
on, and a guy called Rick did the MC'ing thing. The non-live music
was provided by Creature and the Deja Vu Roadshow. |
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One thing I did notice
is that, as in so many venues, there were almost two rallies in
one, as many smokers, encouraged by the mild weather, opted to stay
outside and were joined by non-smoking friends. I've a feeling that
winter rallies may be different. |
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Whilst the bar stayed
open until the wee small hours, I managed to leave without being
asked and drifted over to the bonfire. Here could be found much
amusement, like the guy on the unicycle wobbling around, or the
number of people who managed to fall off the ground they were sitting
on (takes much alcohol and meditation to achieve this). |
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Anji got out her fire
staff and did such a good job that Aidy, co-ordinator of the weekend
's frolics, was inspired to have a go as well. |
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As I was in Hull for
a weekend, I decided on Saturday to visit my family. But they'd
all left town for the day, so back to the rally and the comedy club
was just getting started. That Rick bloke was there again, being
all rude. Sadly, he is so good at it, you've just got to laugh. |
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He did introduce the
comics and mentioned their names again; sorry guys – I really
should carry pen and paper. First guy up got away relatively unscathed.
Second one might have recovered from me taking a photo as he turned
his backside toward the audience, except that Aidy decided there
and then to insert and inflate a long balloon at that moment. |
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Last man up borrowed
my camera – shame he only got the top of my head in. One of
Rick's throwaway lines caused me to whirl around and snap a photo
of some ladies sat behind me - “What is the collective noun
for a group of blondes - a thicket”. |
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Stood chatting for a
while outside - saw a beautiful sunset then back in to catch the
end of a band set. |
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Around this time Aidy
suggested it would be a good idea for me to be around with camera
ready when the last band finished. |
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Before the last band,
which was Night Owl, was the Balloon Bike Build Off (or something
like that). For a while individuals and small groups all over the
club were seriously engaged in inflating long thin balloons and
twisting them. Now we saw the fruits of their labours as a variety
of bikes and trikes, some with trailers, were arrayed on the dance
floor and voted on by the applause of the audience. |
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And then Aidy made a
trophy, out of balloons and presented it. And then he shouted “burst
those balloons” and all of those minutes of work were instantly
turned into limp strips of rubber. |
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Night Owl played their
set whilst I enjoyed more of the mild weather outside and conserved
my camera memory in anticipation of the Aidy Moment. And it was
worth the wait. |
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As he bestrode the stage,
removing his sweatshirt to reveal a white dress shirt, freeing his
hair to cascade down his back and grasping the waiting microphone
– Fruitloaf was born. |
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Bat Out of Hell has probably
never received such a rapturous applause. And the applause continued
through the song. |
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In fact such was the
power of this performance that Pete Walker hit the dance floor,
which provoked even more, ahem, applause. |
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We partied on long and
hard after that, with Creature spinning the discs to tease just
one more dance out of the throng. |
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Back around the fire
later on and yet more strange behaviour (though at the time it all
seemed so right). |
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Much impromptu improvisation
of a musical kind and singing of, well, a less musical kind until,
as the last saw horse collapsed in the embers of the fire, I retired
to my new tent. |
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