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Since the club started in 1991 we Tigers have had a desire to party with fellow bikers. Travelling all over the country meet up at rallies and parties and also putting on the odd bash ourselves.
In 1995, after a few years of staging one night events, we found a venue (pub with a field) to stage a full weekend rally, and in September of that year the Soggy Moggy was born at the Red House in Longstowe. The rally was a success, we had 120 bikers turn up and party and we didn't lose much money - even after paying the pub landlord for breakages. What our 120 guests did not know at the time was that a few weeks before the rally there had been a bust up in the club and over half the members had left, leaving just 8 of us to run the rally.
By the next year the pub had changed hands and the new owners were not interested in holding a bike rally there. The club also needed to rebuild, so plans for another rally were shelved and we went on the hunt for a site to use for the following year. One of our members was invited to a charity event held in the restaurant at Wood Green Animal Shelter, and suggested this as a possible venue. We negotiated with the shelter and the Second Soggy Moggy was held there, using the restaurant for the entertainment and their event field for camping and silly games. With a turnout of 200 we comfortabley fitted in the venue which had a fire limit of 250. Nothing got broken and in addition to the agreed fee, we also donated the proceeds of the raffle to the shelter, That and our charming personalities persuaded the shelter to let us book the site again for the next year.
By the next September word had clearly got around about our rally as the turnout increased more than twofold - we had 450 through the gate. On Saturday evening as we watched all 450 heading for the restaurant for the evening entertainment, we were hoping the staff couldn't count (if they could they didn't let on). The venue was rammed, the music was load and the bar was almost drank dry. Another sucessful year. We even made a profit, well we would have done if we didn't decide to donate it to the shelter. The only complaints came from stall holders because there was nobody around in the evenings.
The next year we moved everything onto the event field with the entertainment in a marqeee. And so it was for the next 23 rallies - the second weekend of September was the Soggy Moggy weekend. Attendences increased up to a peak of around 900 - for a few years we would sell out before the end of February. And each year we made a generous donation to Wood Greeen.
Over the years there were some notable rallies - especially for the Tigers
A chemical splill closed the A1198 - Tigers were taking it in turns to collect bikers from the A14 junction and lead them through the back streets of Godmanchester to avoid the closure. The next day we set up a bike washing station for anyone that had ridden through the spill before the road was closed.
The last Bacardi Breezer - Soggy Moggy goers always make a good effort to drink the bar dry, and our bar providers usually bring enough stock to prevent them. But there was one year when the bar was reduced to a single bottle of Cranberrry Bacardi Breezer in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The Roman Legion marching to the arena and taking part in the games - One of Team Jig-a-Jig's amazing fancy dress outfits
On a couple of occaisions it was very Soggy Moggy - to the extent that Tigers needed to bail out the marquee near the stage to avoid the PA equipment getting submerged
The final rally on the site was definitely not Soggy, one of the hottest days of the year with temperature reaching 33C - Howard rigged up a cold shower for people to cool off and we hired fans to cool the Marquee
After 26 Soggy Moggy Rallies at Wood Green Animal Shelter which raised over £250,000 for the Shelter, Wood Green decided that the 2023 rally was the last one to be held there because they were selling the fields we used for housing development. Unfortuanately we did not find out about this until after the rally or we would have done something special. It was only after pushing them to confirm the date for 2024 that they eventually told us.
But us Tigers didn't give up and we found a better site Ramsey 1940's Camp so the Soggy Moggy could carry on. As attendence at Wood Green had dropped to around 600, we agreed to use this as a limit for the first Rally on this site, and for the first time in while we had sold out before the event. After the new site we received a lot of really positive feedback from both rally goers and especially the volunteers that run the site - such a change from the indifference we had from wood green in later years. The 1940's committe were so pleased with the event they wouldn't let me leave the site until I had made a booking for next 3 years. Sticking with the fund raising nature of the Soggy Moggy, we are pleased to announce that the 28th Soggy Moggy raised over £7,000 which was shared by our selected charities:
Unfortunately our traditional date of second weekend in September was already booked for the next few years and so the 29th Soggy Moggy Rally was held on the first weekend (5-7th September 2025) and we clashed all manner of differnt events so lost some of our regular stall holders and rally goers. We increased our limit to 700 and almost sold out again. The first rally on a new site was always going to be a learning exercise and so for the second attempt we made some improvements. A seperate Real Ale and Cider bar reduced the queues for to get a drink. A different PA configuration improved the sound in the hall so it could be loud without being deafening. And we even managed solve the overflowing portaloo issues.
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