The end of the road?

Markstock 5
Saturday 12 June 2004

Right from the start it was obvious that this would be a different sort of Markstock to the others. Up until now the Football Team had never been to one though I’m not sure of the reasons why, maybe they didn’t know of its existence. This Markstock welcomed BRFC and wives, Marple Phil, Naomi, Karen and Louise, and Big Rick (officially invited for the 1st time) as first-timers. Usually Markstock preparation was organised 2weeks in advance, but this one was ‘organised’ months and months in advance. The budget was greater than the previous 4 events added together, and there were luxuries that previous markstock generations had never seen before like colour TVs and trailer tents! Markstock had well and truly hit the big time. However there was a great increase in the level of bureaucracy and inefficiency. More worryingly the Charter was manipulated by Big Pete (the now self-declared Director of Policy) into a pseudo-political manifesto, who altered most, if not all, of the founding ideas. In a slightly sinister way Big Pete managed to brainwash a good number of people into thinking that there had always been a speech as he sought to eradicate/manipulate/deny the past.

Overall though Markstock ‘04 turned out to be my favourite markstock of all. A number of sports and games took place during the daylight hours. A few bouts of arm-wrestling during which Piggy came perilously close to losing to a girl (Louise). Piggy’s opening speech, which had never been don before proved to be controversial, not especially well-prepared and a bit nasty in places. Naomi threw water over him 2 or 3 times. A hideously drunk Romiley Rob took great offence, declared his unconditional support for the BNP, outed himself and disappeared along with the rest of the Marple crowd in the early hours of the morning. Group drinking games took place throughout the evening. After odd howling was heard from the woods some badger-spotting took place. Towards the end there was a good deal of loud, drunken singing and sports games were the order of the day. The weather was uncharacteristically good for Markstock. I don’t think John went to bed the whole time.


Markstock 6
Saturday 11 June 2005

Long before this Markstock took place, the level of bureaucracy had spiralled out of control with planning meetings taking place almost every week. Bouncy Castles (cost would have been ruinous), controlled fighting/competitive sports (rejected by me and Mr T) ruled out. The hierarchical structure, which had never really existed in the past, seemed to dominate Markstock Policy and was being rigourously enforced. A large number of new posts (such as diplomatic officer, womens officer etc.) were now being advertised and being a ‘markstock co-ordinator’ was starting to feel like a full-time job. Naturally, there were some disagreements and a couple of resignations took place before the BBQ namely by Shiz (which is all it was when it boils down to it) along with veiled threats of possible boycotts and strike action.

This event welcomed Jaya, Paul Hitchcock, Russel and Ann-Marie as first timers. With marple Phils kebabs the standard of cooking had improved enourmously since the dark days of 1998-2000. Pete’s speech wasn’t as controversial as I feared, though the masses got restless and ensured it terminated early. This event seemed to lack the spontaneouty of previous years though since there seemed more of timetable to it compared with the more easy-going relaxed atmosphere of previous years. Overall not bad, but not the best.


The future
Markstock seems to be at a crossroads at the moment – it could continue in its present centralised, top-down structure format or it could go back to the more spontaneous grass-roots level participation. One thing is for sure, Markstock will have to continually adapt to changing circumstances. Will Piggy lose his enthusiasm for speeches? The shock factor can very quickly become repetitive. Due to the sale of the trailer tent will we be sleeping under the stars in 2006? Or has Markstock finally come to the end of the road?

Markstock analysis

Markstock 3
Tuesday 13 June 2000

Markstock had survived and had even picked up a few first-timers (Matt, Ollie and the first women[!] Liz and Jo). It still hadn’t pleased the authorities though who didn’t consider the event mainstream enough for a Saturday night slot and had moved it to the even more obscure mid-week slot. The plan had been to stick with the Monday, although the England vs Portugal (2-3) was on so there was a last-minute re-shuffle.

Closing time at this Markstock was again at 12. The Homebrew had been ditched and the dark periods of hardship, shortages and poverty consigned to memory. Again it was a World Cup/Championship summer, but no TV was provided. A badminton net was available and many a happy hour was spent playing badminton, which was even more fun after a few drinks. I think I drank about 6 cans, around the same as the previous year and I had work the next day.


2001
No Markstock this year, possibly due to Mark strawberry picking in Denmark in the early summer. He had also moved to Marple this year and the new venue might not be popular with the punters. I was also trying to get a dissertation done in Scotland and the Wild East trip to the Balkans started earlier than the previous summer.


Markstock 4
Saturday 29 June 2002

Markstock regained its Saturday night prime-position status and the venue was the larger stadium of Marple. However, the number of founding 8 members had dropped to an all-time low of Me, Pete, Mark and Mike. Perhaps the authorities had been right. maybe Markstock was destined to be a small-scale event, frequented by a few diehards. On the positive side, some of Mark’s new friends had appeared from Marple. It was my first encounter with Romiley Rob, his ‘friend’ Keith, as well as Jonno. Rob Whalley (who I hadn’t seen for several years) also made an appearance. There was also a friend of Mark’s called Ric Shalcross who appeared briefly.
The weather was more March than June and we spent a good deal of the time in the tent trying to keep warm (Pete, of course, wore shorts). Piggy later complained to me that Keith had spent most of the time trying to look up his shorts. Naturally, I assumed this was typical Big Pete vanity and dismissed it. Roughly two years later Romiley Rob, under moderate pressure, was ‘outed’ to my surprise and it transpires that Keith was a ‘special’ friend. Maybe Pete didn’t imagine the shorts incident after all....

Rob Whalley was mid-way through a gun-fetish and had brought 2(!) air-guns with him. The next day the only four left at the BBQ spent a good deal of time firing dozens of pellets at targets in the woods.


2003
No Markstock this year, perhaps due to me being in Lithuania most of the year and there being a reluctance among the others to cast-aside another “founding 8” member.

Opening the archives

This is where you can go back to brush the dust off the archives

Markstock 1
Saturday 26 June 1998

I don’t remember how or why it all started, one idea is that it was an end of A-level celebration. The very first Markstock was held on 26 June 1998 at Mark’s old Ladythorn cresent house. We put the tent up on the Friday and then watched England beat Columbia 2-0 to go through to the knock-out stage of France98. There was a very definite Woolworths theme at Markstock that year Mark, Lee, Mike and Paul Tunnicliffe (was last heard of moving to a house in Bolton) were all working there. Only Me, Chris, Mark, Pete and Mike stayed over. There was also a character called Jim (aka Syph) who I’ve never seen since. The 8 brave souls who turned out that dark, wet and cold night will forever be referred to as “the founding 8”.

I believe this was my first encounter with Big Rick (who most people thought was a total stranger who’d crashed the party, rather than mark’s brother-in-law), who spent most of the evening watching the football indoors and only appeared only when food was available. The weather was dire (about 11degrees and very damp) and we unsuccessfully tried to persuade one of Mark’s next-door neighbours to come over, but her Dad was having none of it. One look at the drunken mayhem that was occurring next door caused him to mutter “Absolutely not!” and the door was slammed shut. That night we also ran out/forgot food and had to make a mid-BBQ dash in a Vauxhall Nova to Spar on Dairyground. When we returned the BBQ flames were about 20ft high with Lee and Mike pouring more lighter fuel onto it!
Big Pete pitched his own tent beside the main tent as he wanted his privacy. The next morning there was a fair amount of vomit outside the entrance.

Incidently, Pete attempted a “Petestock” rival event later that summer. The event only had 3 guests (Me, Mr T and Piggy) and involved drinking a sizeable amount of Rum (my Grandad loved the stuff) as well as Whiskey and watching Tomorrow never Dies till 4am. It proved to be a one-hit wonder that was never repeated and has long since been forgotten.


Markstock 2
Monday 30 June 1999
Second year on and Markstock was feeling the pinch – relegated to the unpopular and obscure slot of Monday night. In fact, things were so difficult that Mark had started brewing his own beer (whose name escapes me). The Homebrew must’ve been about 12%, was a blackish/dark reddish colour and tasted more wine than beer. But it was freely available on the black-market, no one complained and it kept the cold out!

The number of guests dropped to an all time low of 7, though Jack Baraclough (whom I’ve not seen since Dec99) was a new guest.

Pete’s mother later told me that Pete had emptied the contents of his stomach (mainly the Homebrew) on the kitchen floor that night and wasn’t best pleased about the whole thing. I struggled into work at the NEAB dazed and hungover the next day.

Would Markstock survive, or would it go the way of Petestock and vanish into the void of obscurity and cheap daytime TV…

Markstock: myths and legends

Mark has mentioned that there might not be a Markstock in 2006. The shock and horror on Piggy’s face was a treat! However, in the grand scheme of things this would be a perfectly normal event in the Markstock ‘economic cycle’. I shall attempt an analysis of Markstock’s and dispel some myths.

Myth#1
“There has been a Markstock every year”
In 2001 and 2003 no Markstock events took place.

Myth#2
“On Big Pete’s orders, no women have ever been invited to Markstock”
Despite what Pete may say, there have been women coming to Markstock since 1999. The only women-free events were in 1998 and 2002. However the majority of the guests are male and woman are still excluded from full membership, even in these politically correct times!

Myth#3
“markstock is always held on a Saturday and involves a spending the night in a tent”
The records indicate that Markstock’s have been held on a Monday and have been terminated at Midnight.

Myth#4
“Big Pete has always done a welcoming speech”
This is actually a very recent trend starting in 2004

FACT
Mark, Big Pete and myself are the only guests with 100% records. Chris (in Skiathos in 2002) and Mike (Australia? 2005) are close behind on 5/6.

FACT
Markstock has only been held in the month of June.

FACT
There has always been a Markstock charter, though in recent years the theme has been hijacked through the efforts of Big Pete to become a political mouthpiece for beliefs that, to be polite, feature on the fringes of mainstream British Politics. The content of the first Markstock charter related only to BBQs!

FACT
Historically there has always been a genuine attempt to introduce everyone and make all guests feel welcome

the next blog will trawl through the Markstock archives.