Its even more Bracing than Skegness
On November the 24th in the year of our lord 1864 Captain Howling of the steamship “ Stanley” rounded the end of the
Tynemouth estuary and looked in disgust and dismay at the at the schooner “Friendship “ driven on to the rocks of Black Midden , within minutes
he would be wondering how the hell he too had ended up crashing into the rocks
despite all the horsepower the age of steam had bestowed on him, The high wind
and rough seas had driven his ship well up on to the rock shelf , here with his
crew and deck cargo of cattle and horses he was close enough to shore to see the
village of Tynemouth but too far in this storm to get there .
There
was nothing for the crew of either boat to do but pray the Tynemouth lifeboat “ Constance” would reach them ,It did , but the lifeboat was
washed onto the deck of the schooner and then off again dumping two crew on the
deck in the process and breaking its oars , the storm then pushed them up the
Tyne and onto the mud bank.
Quickly
hundreds of people gathered on shore to watch the spectacle and the coastguard
arrived with ropes and a breeches buoy , a line was made fast out to the Stanley
as the Friendship broke up on the rocks and was washed away along with the crew
and two of the lifeboat men that fell on to her decks when the two boats
collided ,
As night
fell the rush and panic to winch the crew to safety increased and 3 men were
winched ashore before the lines snagged and
then snapped , In the dark it was too late to help further and the storm pushed
the Stanley harder onto the rocks at the same time washing clear all that was on
the decks .
Next
morning another line was rigged and the remaining crew of the Stanley brought
ashore but the scene was one of destruction and death as the bodies of cattle
bobbed around in the Tyne and the broken ship was scattered along the estuary
,32 people died that night the towns people were stunned and one man felt things
could have turned out better .
John
Morrison a military volunteer campaigned for a trained crew of men to be
stationed at the mouth of the Tyne and secured funds and equipment from local
businessmen and benefactors and so began the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade
very much as you see it today .
If you look around the three story watch house you can
see relics and pictures of the deeds done and equipment used, there are rockets
for firing lines to boats and winches and cables everywhere . In the tower
stands the still used signalling lamp and on all of the walls are pictures of
the crews past and present ……….Whoa up a minute ……in the photo just
there, in the middle is a chap that looks vaguely like someone I know ..look
there 5th from the left …yeah that’s the one about a foot or so
taller than all the others …..but without the beard and
shoulder
length hair wouldn’t he be the spitting image of our beloved John
Wright…hang on I’ll go and ask …….It is ! Honest the chap said that is
John and more than that he’s one of their favourite rocketeers no not racketeers that's something entirely different ,rocketeer he gets
to fire the rockets at the ships to get the rope on board …so now we know what
he gets up to when he’s not hanging around the bar at rallies ……where is
he ? We’ll go wind him up about the hair seeing as he ‘s had a pop or two
about mine Oi John !………( and was that really a Steamer called Stanley )
Anyway
where were we ..Oh yes Tynemouth and Whitley Bay on a lovely May weekend and at
this years I.O.C Gb rally , After years of getting on at John he finally gave in
and organised the rally in his part of the country and a good job he did of it
too,
The site
at the local rugby club gave us a great place to hide out in and drink coffee
and ponder just what happened to the Newcastle area mental picture I grew up
with , and if you’re a southerner I bet yours is about the same …well its
wrong ..the area up here is really nice , Good riding roads and pretty
countryside and apart from the language barrier the folks are really friendly
…so why haven’t we bin here before ? Well
apart from John trying to keep the good bits hidden there was one small even
tiny thing he’d kept quiet about , On the days of the year when the sun comes
out Whitley Bay and the surrounding area is one of the best places on the east
coast but that’s only if the wind drops !
Living
on the slightly flat bit of Lincolnshire I thought I knew a bit about how windy
it could be even as Spring really gets going , But I’m not sure I was ready
for just how nice a May day could be standing on top of the bay here …it was
bloody freezing.
When we
got to the rally site on Friday John, Jesse and anyone that came close was roped
into putting up the club marquee and a damn fine job they had made of it, By 4 o clock John, Jesse and
anyone who that came close were roped in to taking it down again .Weather 1
Bikers 0 .
Some of
us sneakily pitched our tents in the shade of Robin’s Winne hoping he didn’t decide to move it but kindly Linda wouldn’t let him
and she plied us with coffee …did you know he has heating in there ,might have
to get one of those !
By the
time it started to spit with rain the clubhouse opened and the whole idea of
rallying got better , Friday night was a good laugh, playing who’s not going
to make it to the rally and we all had Ray
down as a won’t get here, but he
cheated and without the aid of satnav and having not seen 26 of the 21 signs
John had put up he arrived at some unholy time of the morning with Sam and two
bikes in the van while we were asleep .
I’m
not going to run a list of all the folks that turned up you’ll have to seek
out the photo’s but suffice to say that some noticeable rough and tough go
anywhere members of the club were definitely missing and not all of those from
south of the Watford gap.
Saturday
morning the weather looked at first as if it had forgiven us for getting here
but it was still chilly and as folks suited up for the rideout the was the
occasional look of insanity in the faces of some of the riders the weather got a
bit damp . Quite a few of John mates
had turned up so there was a pleasant mix of bikes about from old triumphs to
new Hds even Sam had found a different V twin to play with but I think its still
a bit of a stride from Minnie to a 3½ Moto Morini traily
I wonder
if one of their 500s would slot into a 741 frame .Oppps shouldn’t have said
that there will probably be one by next year, never mind we’ll call it a scout
no one will notice .
It was
nice to see one or two new members turn up and if you are one and haven’t read
my twaddle before don’t worry you’ll get used to it
The
rideout turned out to be a success with a tour round the local area with a stop
at the Toy Museum for tea and snacks ,that were more than welcome and when did
you last see a Dan Dare radio set …always wanted one of those or maybe the
Smoking Newsboy or proper toy guns even gollywogs it was an endless list of political incorrectness …Brilliant
From
there we made the pilgrimage to Johns favourite haunt The Life Brigade Watch
House ,
Here we
were given the tour and history of the brigade and strolled around the watch
house peering at a photo of John with hair just as the queen did last October , Bet she was going “ Oi Philip
who’s that tall chappy with the long hair and beard in that photo …the
scruffy bastard ! “
I know
we were Ha ! Ha !
But
seriously it was really good and the bit at the beginning of this tale came from
there
As we
left the watch house John said we had a problem because he had organised a prize
for the best or most spectacular breakdown and we hadn’t lost a bike
But I
think John Chat must have heard him as within ¼ of a mile he cruised to a halt
with water in the carb …suspicious this ,but it did get him a tankard later
beating Wright junior’s attempt by losing one of Johns fuel caps ( bet you
still own him for it Phil )
Onward
then for a quick photo stop at the Avalon Hotel which is a real neat bikers
hotel in Whitley with bikes on the wall and decent bike mags to read sadly Frank
couldn’t figure how to get the Panther of the shelf and out the door. ( I
suppose it’ll be a late night raid by the Panther Owners Club Tactical Unit )
Saturday
evening was great, good food ,better beer and a couple of bands one playing
Geordie folk that was stirring enough to get Ray to spill a beer …not his own
(don’t be silly ) but the thought was there ,The second band even managed to
get Calvin up and dancing , well that’s what they said he was doing it could
have been he was just searching his pockets for loose change but no they said he
was dancing so I’ll take it as true .
Fred was
upset at missing the Eurovision but
was cheered up by beer and winning a pot for Best Old Blue Chief, ………he
keeps winning that !
And that
apart from the drinking and having a good time finished Saturday
Sunday
of course started off sunny and warm and we had a quick trip down to a flea
market in Tynemouth and parked in the biggest swarm of gnats in the north …oh
well free lunch on the wing , but even the market was different as it was held
inside a working railway station on the Metro line so although your wandering
around stalls there’s trains coming and going in the station !
And so
in the end we set of south again and oddly left the sun behind for the folks to
revel in quickly before the wind gets up once more
Ok so
you know the rules about why you weren’t there etc, so this time its something different lets play the Bugger All Game
How much
funding do the TVLB ( Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade ) get per year from the
government ?
Bugger
All !
How much
funding do the TVLB get from the Lottery ?
Bugger
All !
How much
funding do the TVLB get from TV phone ins or reality shows ?
Bugger
All !
Bet your
getting the hang of it by now
How much
do the volunteers get paid for pulling people off the cliffs ,boats off the
rocks ,dogs out of the sea in mid winter or stopping confused elderly ladies
chucking themselves into the sea ( as happened on the Thursday night )
Oh Yes ! You guessed it and there’s absolutely no way I would sod about on
that beach in winter even the watch tower is chained down to the ground ( see
pics )
So if
you didn’t go to the rally for whatever reason why not send a bit of the cash
you saved on petrol ,beer ,entry fee ,tyre wear etc to either John Wright or
direct to the TVLB ( they have a web site ) so they can carry on doing a job that you would not even consider let
alone for nothing except the thanks.
And if
you did go well there’s no reason you can’t send a few quid to make up for
the moaning you did about their weather ,accent or just for the hell of it
So there
you go another rally over and I’d like to thank John and his mates for
organising it and also for the guided tour of the Whitley Bay area, I would like to but I’m not going back on that beach till global
warming takes over, and he won’t come off till he’s finished playing with
his rockets
There’s quite a lot of things and folks I’ve left out of this report because
if I tell you everything then you never will get round to coming to a rally and
you’ll have missed the naked women and cheap bikes etc that we keep to
ourselves
I’d
also like to thank the lovely Sandra who helped me to get to the rally and back
in one piece see you at the next
rally.
Keith Bird 
