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The AFSC Pre Season charity function. Curiously subtitled "Blocky and Bish go on a Birthday Bender", contrary to popular rumour, this was not some kind of convention to riding homosexual scooters by me and the big Welsh fella, but it was really our birthdays. Dunno what the big man from Newport did on Friday night, but me and my fellow Essex boys used our proximity to the great Metropolis that is London to avail ourselves of its numerous hostelries and some live music thrown in courtesy of "Smashing Time" and Brum's "The Elements". Both bands are well worth watching, but given I'd drunk my way through countless pints of everything, I could be talking total bollox.

So having had no more than 3 hours kip, I was rather rudely awakened by my alarm telling me that it was time to head to Pompey for The AFSC Pre Season charity Do in aid of "BLESMA". My phone alarm doesn't actually say "BLOCK, TIME TO GO TO POMPEY" etc, but being relatively well organised, I had a faint inkling I was the duty bloody driver! Given that this was basically a marathon p*ss up, and the fact that my scoot was still recovering from the Arctic tundra conditions that were Great Yarmouth (yeah I rode there and back!) we'd decided early that the Land Rover was the better option. And given the pissing rain on the way down, I'm glad we did.

Heading onto the M25 I realised that I'd forgotten the tickets for the do whilst attempting to down a gallon of black coffee (All police members, this is of course a complete exaggeration and I was completely sober having had a full 10 hours sleep, a hearty meal, and numerous bladder clearances prior to driving my car). A quick phone call to Shane ensured that we would still be allowed entry to the evening do.

Arriving in Pompey via the A3, was as usual a total pain in the bottom, with fave trouble spots at Hindhead and the Portsmouth traffic system ensuring my given ETA at Bagzys was totally ridiculous and obviously incorrect. However, when we did arrive, the usual outstanding Chez Baker hospitality was in full effect (Cheers mate) whilst we waited for the WombleMobile and Johno to arrive. And arrive they did, Johno on crutches given the restoration work currently being undertaken on his lower leg. Once we'd got the ritual AFSC abuse out of the way, we headed to the Baffin's arms and Moneyfields to get on the razz. Now at this point the usual Essex shout of "Tents Up first, Bunk Up later" came to the fore, but was binned in favour of utilising the floor at HMS Baker. Good call. So onto the Baffins. I understand this pub is used by the Pompey scooter scene, so our behaviour was obviously acceptable whatever the weather, but we were actually very well behaved despite attempting the land speed beer drinking and talking bollox records. Some early arrivals were already on the pop and the usual meet and greet ensued. All the usual suspects (Minus No1 and Dai) were in situ and normal banter prevailed. I should also mention that Evel Knievel also arrived in the shape of Marshy, who we hadn't seen for a good while. Nice to see you mate and look forward to watching the Purple Helmets do their funky display at a showground near you this year. Blitz crew arrived and set up shop with a nice selection of AFSC paraphernalia on sale. I also made contact after 18 years with the Vikings scooterists set, led by Hoggy and Dave. Great to see you boys and Hoggy, look forward to taking up the offer at Bisley mate. Also met Rich from Saffron Walden and the Whitby ride up crew is now slightly more organised, especially with Andy and Lou looking to sort military transport for support. Entertainment for the afternoon was a couple of acoustic sets by some local lads, and good efforts by both, although tuning lessons are available from Bish. At a small price I hear. Anyway, a very good turn out from the locals and about 35 AFSC made for a cracking afternoon. We were also treated to a buffet by the landlord, which went down very well I can assure you. Our gratitude to all at the Baffins.

Now the afternoon do was meant to have ended at 5pm, however, we were still there at 7.30, so we basically de-camped and moved 500m to the Moneyfields (Note to members: There was no money on the fields) sports club. By all accounts this is a decent standard non-league football ground. Judging by the state of the pitch, it's also used by the Pompey Elephant racing team as well. Some of our more intrepid members had actually pitched tents behind the goal, and I had a brief chuckle to myself whilst surveying the scene. Into the do and already an early crowd was being entertained on the wheels of steel by The BlitzMeister. Good set Craig, I was actually really impressed. The locals and AFSC members poured in. We reckon we had over 60 members on the ground, which is bloody excellent, although short of where we'd have liked to be. Fantastic to meet up with Batty again and I will be calling you mate, do not worry.

As usual with our repressive Health and Safety laws, the smoking area out back proved popular, and the bar was three deep in scooterists before 9pm. Fair play to the staff though, we didn't wait long for a drink. The do looked to be a total success in terms of attendance though, which is bloody great. The fire-limit of 300 looked to be reached by 2130hrs. Entertainment on stage was provided by model village, who gave us a rousing 10 song set of original indie pop. Well done and keep an eye out for these lads. Later on, we got a cover set by local heroes, "The Hiwatts". Now you're all aware of my musical thoughts on Covers and tributes, but these guys were very good and gave the crowd what they wanted. I understand we did have a raffle but by this point, I was somewhat under the influence and quite obviously never won a prize. I believe a number of items were auctioned, with Local acting Hero, Gary Shail doing the honours as raffle supremo and auctioneer. Gary played Spider in Quadrophenia and was a very nice, down to earth bloke, who didn't bring his gun to the event. (Think about it). By the end of the evening, he was a very nice and very drunk bloke as well! lol. Emma Cox, our very good friend from the West country, did her usual outstanding job on the decks, which enabled me to give my Essex two step demo to a couple of the lovely Pompy ladies. How we laughed!

And then of course, it was all over way too early. Hugs and Handshakes time for the departing membership and look forward to seeing you all soon time. It was one of those days when you wanted an all-nighter, and unfortunately not to be. A terrific job by Shane, Bagzy, Denise, and everybody who took part. special mention to the youngsters who sold all the raffle tickets, and I'm sure we made a good amount for a tremendously good and topical cause. It looks like Whitby is next up for me as family stuff will prevent my rallying attendance in May...but hey ho...lets go!!!!

As always, apologies for not mentioning the entire club, but you know who you are, and you know you had a top time.

Cheers

Blocky AFSC


POMPY LARGE	GROUND IN GENERAL	GROUND IN DETAIL	ARIAL PIC

"The *AFSC* Pre season function Roll of Honour"
1	Simon Cuerden
2	*Carol Cuerden*
3	*Dai Ransom*
4	*Shane Hayter*
5	Bagzy Baker
6	*Jonno*
7	*John Tattie Tate*
8	Craig n Viv
9	Rex
10	Bish
11	Spence
12	Joey
14	Dinger
15	lee Rushworth and Sarah
16	Taffy n Blue
17	Smudge
19	*Daz*
20	*Spud Slater*
21	*Dave Buf*
22	*Blocky + 3*
23	*Dave Rapson*
24	*Emma Cox*
25	*Andy and* *louise* *Dent*





"THE SPIRIT OF ROCK N ROLL IS FAR FROM DEAD AS LONG AS IT HAS IT SAVIOURS OF THE HI-WATTAGE KIND" (AND Magazine)