The BMW Club East Anglia Section

The location of this year’s National Rally was easily selected following the success of the 2009 National Rally also organized by the East Anglia Section. Framlingham College in Suffolk was therefore again confirmed as the location.

Dan Woods was still the events manager and therefore had the previous rally to draw on. The usual meetings were carried out and all was set for another excellent rally. The grounds for camping were on possibly the flattest and best kept grass anywhere in the world. Slightly smaller in area this year as the college had since installed an all weather hockey pitch on the field. The accommodation utilizing the school pupil’s rooms is ideal for the venue.

During the event the college dining room provided first class meals all weekend at extremely reasonable prices.


The college also set up a large tent serving beer and soft drinks all day with a hard floor and tables and chairs. The free coffee and tea stall had been located in this tent this year and provided all day beverages.

It is worth noting that the College had set up a card system to pay for all meals and drinks. You paid for a card or two on which were several squares each containing a monetary figure. As you bought food or drink so these figures were crossed out – thus after you had bought the cards no money changed hands.

Parking was excellent in a large car park by the tennis courts – this was the arrival car park and the booking in facilities had been moved here and located in a tent. By each accommodation house there was also parking for bikes or cars. All campers and camper vans parked on the field by their pitches.

This year’s logo was similar to 2009 but with a 2 instead of “to” – “Back 2 Skool” – we still retained the fishnets and hockey stick on the logo with a couple of college students riding a BMW R75/5. (See top of article)


This year the first arrival day Friday was a beautiful sunny warm day which allowed the campers to erect their tents in the dry. We then experienced an all wet day on Saturday followed by another sunny day for the Sunday.


We had four trader stand this year

Lind Motorrad, Norwich.
The Fellowship of Christian Bikers
Continental Tyres.
Adventure Bike Shop


A Rally of this size requires careful thought about what events and entertainment to provide.

What were we going to offer our guests as daytime entertainment activities? We had the usual Ride-out ideas around the Suffolk countryside. We thought of the rally being themed around a school sports day on the Sunday. We think we pulled it off. There should have also been an inflatable assault course, bungee run and Gladiator duel but these did not turn up!

A very unique feature of this rally was the 1st Raffle Prize which was a very nice BMW K1 motorcycle. Many other raffles prizes were also won



A very important part of the Rally is the organisation required to book in attendees before the event, allocating rooms (singles or doubles) and campsites and camper van pitches.
This was again ably carried out by Jenny Batley and her dedicated team of helpers.


To greet attendees on arrival is another essential job and Peter Dutton ably carried out this task with a team of marshals, in hi-vis jackets, drawn up to cover the main gate entrance for Friday and Saturday. Peter had also erected signs on various roads leading to the Rally location.



Four ride-outs were planned but only one actually took place due to the poor weather – rain all day. Ken Mullett led this ride-out through leafy lanes to Orford Quay for morning tea and on to the Ramsholt Arms on the River Deben for lunch. A stop for afternoon tea was taken at Debenham Tea House (they actually made ceramic objects here too). Mike Davies was the tail-ender. In all we had fifteen bikes which all required a good clean at the end!




Entertainment had been arranged for each evening.

Friday evening: A disco provided music.

Saturday evening: After the Raffle at 21.00, a band had a large audience listening and dancing to music, again in the sports hall. Many dancers were in “school uniforms”!

Sunday evening: Also in the sports hall, prizes were awarded for the “sports” events and all involved in the helping with the National Rally were all thanked. The disco then carried on.

Sunday was the day for school sports – no “skool” event would be complete without a sports day! So Mark Dutton had come up with a variety of sports. These took place from 10.00am

After lunch, starting at 2.30, Rob Bensley had supplied all the paraphernalia for the Skills Test.
This requires a competitor to ride his/her bike around a course through various tasks.

A great test of riding skills and well done to all who competed.


Summary:

The 2013 National Rally was again a great success and hopefully everyone who attended enjoyed themselves. Firstly, our sincere thanks to all of you who booked and attended this Rally, whether for the whole weekend or as a casual visitor as it was you who made all the hard work and organisation so worth while.
We must also give thanks go to all the Framlingham College staff who worked tirelessly in the background ensuring that this superb location with facilities to match offered unrivalled hospitality. (This year we had no burst water main!).

We are pleased to report that £469.60 was raised for the East Anglian Air Ambulance. Many thanks to all who donated.

The Team

Many thanks to the team for again organising a first class Rally.