1982 To Present (2011)
(Updated 19/06/11)
(spot the occasional wind up in the page!)
A Brief History
The idea for the Rally came from the local Shetlanders who had attended various motorcycle rallies in the UK and FIM rallies abroad. Some of the main instigators were Steve Henry, Wilbert and Leslie Johnson, Kenny Johnson , Sproo (Neil Sutherland) and Tommy Watt.
The main idea was to have a rally that was similar in format to the FIM etc - i.e all inclusive. The first year the rally ticket cost £20 which included: badge, food and drink, plus bus to Lerwick on the Saturday night for the carnival.
P&O Scottish Ferries gave a 50% discount on passengers and bikes. This was a great help and still continues with Northlink at 30%. If lost it would probably kill the rally. P&O lost the franchise for the route as from October 2002. A new company NORTHLINK FERRIES took over the run using two new boats (also one new one for Orkney - Scrabster). The ferry routes were re-competed by the government in 2006 and CalMac won the contract. As Calmac are a major stakeholder in Northlink the name will remain and the Ship liveries. All the ferry crews will however have to be trained and be fluent speakers of the Gaelic to enable interchangeability with the west coast fleet.
First Memories
I remember reading
the little bit in Motor Cycle News or was it Motorcycle Weekly "
How do you fancy a rally in the Shetland Isles?"
I applied as did as load of others from all over Britain, Ireland and abroad. I always remember Steve Henry (the first rally secretary) telling me of the phone calls and letters he got with wonderful questions like ' Is there not a bridge - do we have to take the ferry' ' Is Shetland not really located in a box in the Moray Firth' and similar things.
Anyway the rally got going and I (Stuart Tod - Caithness) along with John Hinkley ( Watford) are the only non-Shetlanders to have attended all rallies to date. We lost Puker to another event in 2005 - just me and you now John!!!. There are only a small number of local islanders who have been to all the rallies. As of 2006 there are only 2 Islanders, Steve Henry and Stewart (Animal) Fraser. This is still the case in 2009.
The rally has been held at Vidlin on the east of mainland Shetland apart from 1995 when it was held at Hillswick. The move in 1995 was due to the fact that Vidlin Hall was being used as a temporary school and was also being enlarged.
Nearly every year on the saturday a Jarl Squad have turned up for the festivities. They used to be the main Lerwick squad, dressed in Viking costumes, from the winter Up Helly Aa fire festival. Over recent years the task has been taken up by the Brae squad. In 2006 it was the main squad again as former Rally Secretary, Mark Manson, was the Guizer Jarl for the year.
Low points of the rally have been an accident in, I think, 1986 when 2 rally types were badly hurt in an accident. Both recovered fine. The death of a rallyist in 1996 due to old age, a dramatic burn out by a Honda Melody in 2005 - nuff said!!!! (see 2005 page)
Why I keep going, and others:
the locals - so friendly, warm and generous; the crack; the
lack of bar licence; the real ale; the scenery; the music; and the meeting of many
friends old and new.
I with a lot of other felt the rally
was getting very mundane, staid or whatever. The introduction of real
ale for 2005 made a big difference and also the fact that Hom Bru played
at the rally again for the first time in years. The rally's still good
crack and it is what you make of it. Weather does help also. Even more
real beer in 2006 with 6 different Shetland brews. The real beer keeps getting
better and was very good quality in 2009 (26 barrels drunk). Think the total for
2011 was 32!
I have put some photos for all the years I have photos (not 92 - 94 as I used a video). I hope they are of interest. If you have any interesting anecdotes concerning 'The Dim' e mail me at thetods @ btinternet.com ( IF E MAILING INCLUDE "SIMMER DIM " IN THE TITLE PLEASE OR IT MAY GET DELETED WITH THE SPAM) and I will try and include them in updates.
The photographs are listed by year due to overloading of memory when compiling page as a single item.
For Previous Simmer Dimmer's - I heard
at the 2000 rally the bad news that Margaret O'Regan had died earlier
in the year. For anyone that knew or had encountered Margaret
she will never be forgotten - A heart of Gold but just a wee bit mad!
For those attending up to 2008 then we also lost Duncan McOmish.
Ruby Beagley (Allan) and Dr Al Holding departed in 2010