Sticky's Chopper		Dave's Go kart		Bones sticking Trifles balls on

Thursday late afternoon, Holiday in Holland, and Ive been hyped up for this run for ages! More than established as a top run with a well earned pedigree. The main camp site was all ready buzzing on my arrival on Thursday afternoon I just new the first night was going to be kicking! The twelth scooter run hosted by the Speed demons and supported by The Armed Forces Scooter Club. Thursday night was a drunken blur with a rush to get the tent up and get some cold Dutch beer down my neck. We were joined by solo riders and big UK clubs all with the same intent of extending Holiday in Holland just that little longer than the normal weekend. A few German riders were in but not too many, quite a few young bits of totty though, ooooh makes ya feel old! Dave Bellis, Jonno and Weggers were all ready on site with the stores and equipment big up to the advance party!

The Crew		Daniel		Dia and Wayne		Dave & Weggers

Headache and a blistering hot Friday morning, cold shower, shit and a shave. Best rally shorts on and whitest legs the run had started! The hub of the place was an adequately sized pub with three dance rooms, a long bar and toilet facilities. My fellow club members who were also intent on serious liver damage spent Friday getting sunstroke and assisting in the setting up of the place in anticipation of the scooter riders, who no doubt would be spewing off the ferries late Friday. Pretty soon the scooters arrived and I recon we had a serious increase on numbers from last year. So much so that the grassed area earmarked for the fun games had to be used for campers and subsequently the games were reluctantly cancelled.

Jonno		Dia packing up		Para Regt		AFSC Logo

With the AFSC massive all here now is as good a time as any to try to thank those who went the extra mile to not only sort our clubs run out, but those who played a pivotal part in organising Holiday in Holland. Carol, big up to you darling for not freaking out too much with me spending all the time on the net. Big up to Dia Ransom and Dave Bellis for just doing what you do best, we don’t take it for granted and your efforts and genius just blows us all away each and every time!

Dave setting Sticky off	Borgo the mod	Sean in a sea of dancers

Dave Bellis came up well tops with the kit package and Johnno and Weggers were the best humpers and dumpers ever, never once was there a complaint and in that heat kudos to you all! Dave Bellis sorting the quarter mile in the light of a mass exodus of club members down town was a credit, thank you Dave well bloody done! Massive respect also to the Anglo German relations we have, The Cloud 9 guys are very welcome  and it was great to have the Jetsons along side as well. We don’t take these friendships for granted and we all look forward to supporting each others events ……..and of course drinking beer!

Blade		Weggers		Rosi		Lisa

Top spot goes to Craig Ballantyne who gave up his Saturday to work full out in extremely hot conditions fixing the poorly scooters. Craig thank you for your skill mate and beers for ya next time we meet! I know Kathleen would have been well gutted to not being able to come but no doubt she will be reading this at work!

The Crew		Mick		Dan & Sean		Jetsons Crew

I’ll add a bit more to the “People of note” at the bottom of this write up……….

Salford Knights		Simon Cuerden		Blade & Ian		Qtr Mile

Darkness falling and the sounds of Detroit and Ibiza fill the air, time for the nighter. I got down to the venue  around ten o’clock, no queue, a warm friendly buzz in the air that smelled a little aromatic and heady. Grabbing a hand full of blue chips it was time to have another drink I made my way to the dance floor where the superb German Disk Spinners Sunny and Champ were on the dexs! While sipping my drink I decided to take a look around The Palace. The main room was open and ravers were brockin out as Sticky dropped Nitrous Remixes onto the dex the place was alive with eager Scooterists doing their funky thang on the dance floors.

The Jetsons		Wills & Blade		Dave		Run Shirt

Needin another drink I decided to go check out the downstairs freak room, the dex were being used to demolish raga and drum n bass in a Euro thrash wave that had the walls booming. Crazy freaky freaks down there! Not scary but mellow birds on too much sugar. You didn’t as much hear the music as have it pushed into your blood stream via your skin, I was getting drawn in deeper can’t stay gotta keep on moving on. I was on a quest for soul and down stairs was stealing my soul. The dj was obscured by a cammo net and he or she just kept on dropping classic jungle tunes like Fire and chopper and a few hardcore ones thrown in, standing by the DJ box I thought the production that went into this room was 10 out of 10 there were bright coloured backdrops on every wall and this room had a more relaxed friendly vibe than the main room. Not every ones cuppa but who needs a cuppa at this time of night?

IOU 20 Quid!		Mary		Camp AFSC		Gulf War

I stayed in this room till the set finished ravin away. As I walked back upstairs to the Northern room I was greeted by Larry Trinder’s carbon Copy, boy do I love this tune so I went and found a space on the floor and danced away like a nutta to the beat! Champ and Sunny began their set so I made my way to the stage to dance by the loud, help my fillings are falling out, sound system!
 

John's T5	Sherry with fans	Mick & Rosi

As the set finished so did my stamina and I decided to go and check out the main room and bar again. As I walked in the DJ was rinsing out the old skool. Feelin a bit worse for wear I went and sat out side and watched the party going on behind me. Here I noticed just how many people there were and hundreds were more than happy just to stand sit and chill outside. There were a couple of German scooterists swinging their handbags about but it was all just piss and steam and no one really got hurt.

All in all I had a super night I thought the vibes could have been a bit better in the main arena? but I have to say Keep Drum n Bass in its palace. excellent venue for an excellent party!

Dave & Dia's scootz	Jonno's Scoot	Simon's Scoot

Saturday comes all but too quickly and it was a shower and breakers, seven euros and fifty cents, what a diabolical rip off! Still we were in need for serious sustenance due to the thrashing of the previous evening. Saturday kicked off with Dave trying to rally the troops for the quarter mile and there was a little misunderstanding that was easily rectified with not too many teddies chucked into the corner. So far we had provided the door, marshalling and now it was time for the quarter mile. Dave and crew did us well proud considering none of us had ever done anything like this before. It started on time, finished on time and was executed with the panache expected of the AFSC, well bloody done!

Dave & Simon B's Scootz	Is this the most photographed Scooter ever?	Qtr Mile, Dave's SX 200 in the background

Late afternoon was the custom show and Sticky and I judged the winners as follows: Best over all “Too Darn soulful” best oddity “Punk Panther” and some other top customs that elude me …..I’m afraid at the time I was very very drunk. Photos and more details will follow as soon as some one nudges me in the right direction. Saturday afternoon Wayne’s brother from the Salford Knights was presented with a birthday cake and we shared a BBQ with The Salford boys, we were also joined by Pete Merchant and his daughter Rebecca, nice to think we had such scootering luminaries as Harry Barlow and Pete Merchant at our table! We only needed Arthur Francis and Eddy Grinstead for the complete set! Well that’s enough name dropping for a while!

Steve arrives on The AFSC Racer	welcome	Some of the site	AFSC Scootz

Saturday evening was spent trying not to cry from laughing too much, can’t say how long it’s been since I laughed so much! Well not since the mangle episode and me Aunt Mabel. Sunday is always tinged with a little sadness as the camp site slowly packs up. Farewells made, new friends made and it was time to hit the road. We look forward to IOW with a touch of Cloud 9 in-between.

Camp AFSC	Bones & Mick	Rosi

Simon Cuerden’s Overall Verdict

Venue 10 / 10
Security 10 / 10 The Armed Forces Scooter Club did it!
Toilets 7 / 10
Production 10 / 10
Atmosphere 11 / 10
Bar Service 8 / 10
prices 7/10
DJ of the night Sunny & of course Champ

Shouts out to, or “People of note” continued:
 

Weggers, Ian & Simon	Chris Atkin leading the charge	Simon B's SX	The Modfather & Elian

Gotta say it was a right buzz to work with the Demons again, both our clubs bring entirely different ingredients to the mix and I think we both raise our games. We loved it and it was great to see Tracey and Sticky plus all the club members both German and South East England.

Well after a big deliberation for the following awards, the under listed people became worthy of note over the weekend…………………
                 

Pictures by John Wymark