F V M C C


Forth Valley Motorcycle Club

Established 1966



Crann Tara Cruinneachadh ( Fiery Cross Rally )
23th-25th September 2005

The meaning of CrannTara

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After last years Crann Tara turned out to be a wee belter of a rally we decided on a return to Amulree for this years event. Exactly a week before the event, fate dealt a hard blow, and due to a burst water main the Amulree hotel had to pull out of hosting our wee doo. Unfortunate is a word that springs to mind. Sheer blind panic were the words that sprung to my mind. There was one thing for sure, we were determined the rally would go ahead as planned.
The Monday before the rally saw me and Chris covering a coupla hundred miles in torrential rain riding around every rural hotel we could think of in Central Scotland looking for a new venue. Carol being the smartarse that she is went on the internet and found us a possible new venue by ten o'clock in the morning. That evening saw her and Sue heading off to the Glenisla hotel in Kirkton of Glenisla for a meeting with the owners Richard and Elspeth Munro. I would have gone, but we got that wet that Chris's alarm fob got soaked through and left us stranded in Fintry with an immobilised bike which required a quick two up blast back to Bo'ness for a spare key fob which fortunately stayed dry and worked when we got back to his bike.
Carol and Sue had more luck when they arrived at Glenisla and had a very favourable meeting with Richard and Elspeth.
Again we were off to a hotel where the owners had never seen such a squad of bikers let alone be their hosts for a whole weekend.

We'd like to extend a massive thanks to them for even considering the challenge never mind taking on such a task with only four days to prepare.

Thanks Richard and Elspeth.

Tuesday and Wednesday of that week was spent trying to make sure we contacted everybody who was coming to let them know we were now going to Glenisla. We used everything available, email, snail mail and we're dreading our phone bill, but we did our best and managed to get in touch with everyone (we think).
Thursday was spent having a quick run up to Glenisla on the bike. Carol and Sue had arrived in the dark and were unable to comment on the state of the camp field. For the second time this week I covered two hundred miles in horrendous weather. It wouldn't have mattered in any case coz we were all headed there on Friday regardless but the field was fine. It even had a couple of toilets on site which given the time we could have negotiated having them both open and saved the cost of the portaloos. As it was only the gents with the dodgy door was open. Ahh the luxury of porcelain toilets at a rally. Maybe next year we'll cater for the ladies.
Friday came and as usual we were our usual disorganised selves. We didnt set off until three in the afternoon and the first of our guests had already arrived.

Pete West, never being one for being late at rallies, having been there since midday had organised the siting of the portaloos, had been and visited our hosts, set about copious quantities of the friers best brew (bucky) and was busy making dinner for himself and Dave N. Time to get the tent pitched and get set up for a rally.
Friday night was a great wee chill out night with only about 50 or so folks turning up. mark had set up a Peavy amp with an MP3 player in the function room and was playing music which nobody was listening to and folks were just sittin around bletherein, meetin, getting drunk and havin a laugh. As we all had only four days to get this organised Richard, our host was unable to get a late license for the bar so 11:00 oclock was to be our chuck out time. Nobody seemed to mind as we'd set up a couple of gazeebos in the campsite and we all retired there to drink carry oots and sit around bletherin some more. I think it was about 2:30 am when we finaly got to bed. Thankfully the horrible weather had gone away and the sky was clear with only starlight above us. A fantastic wee night.






Saturday dawned and the sun shone bright. It was even warm enough to walk about in tee shirts. After visiting the bar for a quick bite to eat it was back to the campsite. Because the weather was so good Carol had decided to set up the book in in the gazebo.
For me and some of the FVMCC it was off for a run up to the Lecht ski centre so I cant comment on the shenanigans at the campsite during the day but Carol said it was a fantastic wee chilled out afair with everybody sitting around, enjoying the sun and having a great time.


biggest hair of the weekend

The economies of scale means you can only do so much with a wee rally so Saturday evening we saw our only band The Inflatables. Wee Bob from the Michelin MCC fronts the Inflatables and did a grand job belting out his tunes. A wee bit slow to start but once they were warmed up they had folks bouncing around doing the Buckfast wiggle on the dance floor.
The intermission saw the usual hand out of prizes awarded to the deserved few who had either came furthest, lived longest or shortest, done something dumb, or brought along the most punters. This was done in my own inimitable style of complete disorganisation and ensueing chaos. Those of you who have been to a Forth Valley Rally over the last few years will know what I mean. i dont know what order I called the winners but they were as follows.




Youngest Ralliest
Oldest Ralliest
Furthest travelled female
Furthest travelled Male
Best Bike
Grot Bike
Club Turnout award

Michael Shields (Rampant Lion Rally Club)
Frank Steel (aged older than Methusela)
Jill Saunders (Timewarp MCC)
Stu Allister (Anasazi MCC)
Joe Plumley, again, (Saddletramps)
 Since the grot bike in the car park was mine it was decided to award a tale of woe instead. This went to Harry Downie (Louden MCC) who on entering the campsite, looked for his bro's trike instead of looking where he was going and ended up stuck under his bike.
Louden MCC (or is that the Buckfast Liberation Army)




Awards over it was time for the raffle then back to the Inflatables. Warmed up by now and having had a few beers they got right into their second set and had folks up jigin for the rest of the evening. Without a late license the bars were closing at 12 midnight. The band, having everyone up on their toes played on a wee bit longer than we'd expected but were worth it as they'd practised a few new numbers that were to be their finarly. Bob and the Inflatables did a great job on the night playing from 8:30 until midnight and having folks bounce around under the auspices of dancing all night.


The bar shut all that was left to do was empty the pub and head down to the FVMCC Gazebos complete with 12 volt strip light.
A second night of merriement under the stars with Jock Welsh trying to get a wee sing song going but failing abysmally. (nae wonder Jock; "My grandfathers clock" kinda killed the atmosphere but ye did a no bad rendition of Mustang Sally. If only you knew the words)

Gordy, ah hope thats your hands at the top

We sat bletherin until about 5:00 when even the hardiest had to give in as the clear sky meant the frost was starting to bite our toes.
All in all a great wee rally and considering we only had four days to get all back on track I think we did well.

A massive thanks to all who came. Without you it would never happen
And a massive Thanks to Richard and Elspeth at the GLENISLA HOTEL for having us and helping pull us out of a hole.

NB: The special "Spirit of the Rally" mention must go to Ian Shields of the Rampant Lion Rally Club. As soon as Ian got outside the fresh air hit him and he seemed to loose all sense of direction. After he was spotted trying to negotiate a flower pot that wouldn't get out of his way he was helped over to the campsite by Frank Steel. Imagine needing a hand from the rallies oldest ralliest.




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