Thanks for all the positive and constructive messages regarding the Yorkshire Pudding Rally we have received both on here and by email, its always good to hear nice and also constructive comments. The reason we have taken so long to comment on this page is that for the first time we were invited to put a MAG stand on at the Bulldog Bash and as it was the weekend after the Pudding and we had to be on site for Wednesday / early Thursday morning we had to get home unpack and then pack again to get there and set up for the gates opening. I have done a couple of things this year I have never done before, first the Rock and Bike in Derbyshire and the Bulldog Bash and I can tell you its been an eye opener for me as to what a lot of customers expect from an event, dont get me wrong people had a great time and enjoyed themselves tremendously but their expectations as to facilities, lay out and general standard of care and understanding seemed to be put on a back burner for those weekends as I never heard a peep out of the customers as regards the events and the budgeting at the events certainly had different priorities to our rallies. I like to go to small rallies as well as the larger ones, I like to go to rallies behind pubs and I enjoy most type of rallies large or small. In doing this I see what other people consider acceptable practices by MCCs, MCs, Charities, MAG groups and just people who put on rallies to line there own pockets. How many rallies do you go to with sheep, horse or cow droppings still wet while your putting your tent up, it should be 21 days and a grass cut between hoof and foot a lot of rallies dont bother, but E.coli is a real and present danger in fields. Thats why we clear all fields 3 weeks before and we give you hand washing facilities at all our rallies. Toilets are always a problem, the simplest way to have a toilet within YOUR ideal tent to toilet distance is to open your eyes when you arrive and go and camp there. As well as people saying we have to walk to the toilet and its to far, we have people asking us to move them as the door slamming on a night keeps them awake! All our rallies have 24 hour cleaning and its costs a fortune, it cost as much if not more as the toilet hire its self, but we try to have all toilets usable all the time. I have seen recently toilets closed with tie wraps as they are no longer usable until the scheduled clean comes in a few hours! Or those rallies behind pubs with only the pub toilets to use, ah the sweet smell of the cess tank over flowing as the pub is not equipped to take the amount of waste from 150 bikers on the drink. Our toilet ratios are some of the best in the UK I can assure you and for the record the pudding had a 30% increase in toilets this year and 24 hour cleaning, if the toilet wasnt close enough for you then look when you arrive and camp as near or as far as you like simples. Bands, never, never never will you please everyone all the time, but reading whingebook you sometimes get the feeling you cant please anybody anytime, but only this weekend watching the crowd at the Bulldog singing along to the Kommitments tribute band and Bad Manners at Rock and Bike, WHAT IS BIKER MUSIC?? There isnt any one type or style you can only try and give every taste a little of what they fancy. Food vans. We trust these people to give you what we consider is good quality and value for money food. We choose them because they have supplied the type of food we would eat ourselves and the fact they have an owner operator (not a multi van operation with kids running it for them) But its your consumer rights that count here and its your right to go back to the food van and complain if you have not got value for money and this includes, cold, hot, burnt, undercooked, overcooked, not enough portion or just too expensive. Its your right as a consumer to take it back, you gave them the money, if you dont get satisfaction then come and see us and we will get it sorted there and then. Or you can sit there not happy and whinging to your mates whilst the other people in the queue get bad service as well, then go home and put it on whingbook. Whats the right thing to do if there is a real problem? Trade stands are struggling, these people who have taken the step to live an alternative lifestyle by being a rally trader are having a hard time and around 30% if not more have gone out of business over the last 4 years, they have felt the same financial pinch as you have. As for getting new stalls we feel that there are very few ones coming on to the scene (if you know a stall or see one let us know and we will invite them) when we do find one they wont often come back due to not taking enough money because you the customers dont buy anything due to cutting your cloth accordingly yourselves. Dogs at rallies, do you want to stop them? all dogs should be on a lead and should be cleaned up after, if that doesnt happen then the owner is a bad owner and should be told if you see them leaving dog mess on the grass. At the Bulldog this weekend I saw one of the organisers who had a dog with him and it had a number two and he got a bag and cleaned it up, no attitude, no holeyer than you attitude, just a considerate dog owner. So if you want to keep bringing dogs to rallies, clean up after them please. Yorkshire MAG has around 25 very dedicated organisers crew, who give up holidays to help build up and strip down the rallies. These people also go to meetings through out the winter as we are planning the rallies. They get no pay, in fact it costs them, but its there hobby and there way of helping the cause of riders rights. We have around a hundred helpers at Valley and Pudding and over 220 at the Farmyard all working 4 hour (or sometimes more) shifts throughout the day and night and again for no pay and to help the cause. They to read Facebook and they see some of the more cutting comments and it guts them when some of the more persistent and none diplomatic contributors say untrue, not thought out and hurtful things. I spoke to one volunteer over the pudding weekend who has stopped looking at Facebook after a rally as when she is knackered, skint, with a washing basket overflowing and at work with a load of catching up to do, she just felt despondent and tearful after reading the comments by the usual suspects. But like I say, if you have 1700 people at a rally and happy people rarely post on Facebook! when you get a few adverse comments, take them on board and make a note, but put it into perspective its less than 1% of the customers who waved goodbye on the Sunday and said thanks for a great do and see you next year as they left for home are the ones who count. So all in all we had some nice weather at all 3 rallies this year and what a difference it makes to us the organisers to be able to get stuff on and off the site without being up to our chodders in mud, our lifeblood volunteers who stand manning a gates and a hundred and one other jobs in the sunshine and not rain. And try to remember that the volunteers who give up weekends and holidays, who spend money whilst being onsite helping dont do it for a club who will use the profit to build a club house or finance a trip to the NEC bike show on coach, or the club Christmas party. Or Mr big who puts it on so he has an income for the rest of the year. No they do it for the enjoyment of creating a place for there fellow bikers to have fun and enjoyment, there payment is being part of something that gives other bikers pleasure and seeing smiling happy people, whilst raising funds for riders rights and trying to preserve a lifestyle they love. You might not agree with everything and you might want different things to what they want and if thats so, get involved and help us out! Thanks for supporting our rallies and riders rights in 2014, looking forward to 2015. Ride Free (thats what its all about you know) Yorkshire MAG
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 09:12:59 +0000
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