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History Of The
Evicted MCC
The Evicted was originally called the
Boathouse MCC, and was formed at a Chester inn called…yep you guessed it…the
Boathouse on Monday 27th October 1980 by Les Dillon. This also happened to be
the day he got married to his first wife Gill, (is it no wonder the marriage
only lasted 18 months), thankfully the bike club lasted a lot longer
This pub was a popular biker's hangout, and
was packed with bikers every night of the week, and since Les worked at the
boathouse and had been a member of the then disbanded ‘Cheshire Albion MCC’
the landlord (John Bell) suggested that he should form a new club. The interest
was fantastic and there were 76 initial members. The committee selected on the
first night (Les & Gill’s honeymoon) were Keith Capper (Chairman), Tom
Flood (Treasurer), Les Dillon (Secretary). & Keith Roberts & Mike
Needham as committee members. Mike and Les, due to their commitment and workload
over many years, became honorary lifetime members. With both still being active
members today (although Les did take a 6 year sabbatical in the mid nineties),
with Mike occupying one of the major committee positions in time to help lead
the club into its transformation into the ‘Evicted’. Of the original
committee only Les & Mike remain.
Our first official run out was to Rivington
Barn Nr Chorley…. 26 bikes turned up, from 100cc to 750cc…and it was bedlam.
As anyone who's ridden in a convoy knows, 26 bikes can cover quite an area. But
with such a difference in size of bikes it took a lot of herding to keep us all
together (I'm sure we lost a few on the way out). Anyway it was a great day
out…and then we had the thrash back, which to this day remains an Evicted
tradition…the last one back is a tart.
We remained in the Boathouse for nearly two years, until the landlord decided he
would like a change of clientele, and proceeded to kick all bikers out, and tart
the place up for the Lar'dy Dar’s… Will these landlords never learn?
A few years later a new landlord took over
and tried to encourage the biker's back but it was never the same.
So there we were…. Publess…. And so the search began to find another venue
within Chester. The Lock Vaults came to the rescue. But what do we do about our
name? We thought, if we named ourselves after the pub again, Lock Vaults MCC,
and got kicked out again, we could end up changing our name every couple of
years; and so, The Evicted was born. Just as well! We moved to the Cestrian and
then the Railway Inn. Also, The White Lion (which is now derelict…. nothing to
do with us of course) and then The Griffin, just outside Rossett (The first move
out of Chester). After that came The Nags Head, just off the Wrexham industrial
Estate, and our nomadic search for our very own HQ has now settled at the ‘New
Inn, Pontblyddyn, Nr Mold, North Wales. So it turns out the name Evicted was a
good choice.
The Railway Inn was a good location; we had a room above the bar. We were there
for many years. We organized inter club competitions with the Sticky Bears MCC
and the Wheelwrights MCC. We played darts, pool and 5 a-side football (during
the cold, wet winter months) not that they were any competition for the
Evicted…. Ha!
After doing a few rallies in our early years, we were pressed in to holding our
own by the organizers of the smaller "invite only" rallies. And so we
organized our own, and with a name like the Evicted, we had to call it "The
Flying Boot". The first Flying Boot Rally was held at the Railway Inn at
Marshbrook, in October 1982. It was invite only because the pub could only hold
about 150. About 230 turned up…mayhem ensued. It didn't help when we got about
40 members from the Manchester 282 and 30 members from the Empress MCC. They
weren't bitter rivals, but all the Saturday afternoon silly games like the
tug-of-war, and boot throwing always seemed to be the 282 against the Empress.
At the end of the day, everyone had a good time and there was no trouble, but we
kept a closer eye on numbers in future.
The Flying Boot Rally was like a roller coaster ride. At first, it was a major
success, but even then we knew it couldn't last forever. So on the 5th
Flying Boot, we had the border of the badges in bronze, with the intention of
silver for 10 years and gold for the 15th and final rally. Good call.
After a few club membership problems, and changes in committee members, we had a
few quiet rallies. But we came good in the end, and the last 3 rallies went down
a storm. So much so that friends ever since have been trying to talk us into
holding another Flying Boot. It was a nice touch, when, at our final 15th
Flying Boot, Brett from Scotland (who won the most coveted trophy for the
week-end…The Order Of The Boot….) got up on stage and thanked everyone in
the Evicted for arranging The Flying Boot and wanted us to continue. Sadly, all
things must come to an end. Or must they? The ‘Flying Boot’ was revisited
after a few years absence with an ‘at the time’ one off charity rally that
has now continued for a further two years (2004/2005) so watch this space as
they say.
The club still meets every Monday night
(Wives, Children, & Pocket Money permitting) so come and see us, just be
aware of buying the legendary 3rd drinks round.
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