Well with the wet Summer we had we could only hope for a bit of decent weather for what was to be Philip’s first Chairman’s Rally – and weren’t we lucky!!!!
80 caravans descended on Hardwick Hall for the Bank Holiday weekend and the Centre welcomed visitors from East Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, South Staffordshire and of course our old friends from Derbyshire.
There were a few murmurings on arrival as the field was not to the same standard as is usually expected from such a prestigious site but we knew things could only get better as the song goes!
Friday evening started nicely with a quiz and a game of sticky fingers and we were entertained by the Teenage Committee on the disco.
There was a full programme on Saturday with a Children’s Club hosted by the teenage committee where there were games of stand up bingo and hand painting and lots of crafts for the children to attempt.
The dog agility provided lots of hilarity – no the dogs did not like the high walkway – the eventual winner was Oscar and his owner Josh Storer.
In the evening we were entertained by soloist Karen Kristian who managed to get the room, well Marquees, rocking and a supper of jacket potato and cheese, chilli and coleslaw was provided by the marshals and not forgetting of course the teenage committee provided the disco.
The children enjoyed a disco in the early evening and even the very young ones learned how to do the mimic man.
The Sunday evening social supper of hot road pork cob followed by desert was followed by Centre Flag and a Charity Auction and Charity Raffle – both of which together raised just in excess of £500 – thanks to everyone for their generosity for donating prizes for the raffle and also for the auction.
As is usual on these
rallies thanks to those centre members who helped with the clearing up
on Monday morning and of course the biggest job is the dismantling of
the marquees.
I would like to thank everyone who helped over the weekend, Andy, Joyce, Sharon and myself really did appreciate it, it made our role as marshals much easier. It is typical of this Centre that whenever help is needed there are always plenty of you on hand, whether it’s seeing people on, erecting and taking down the marquees, helping with the catering or whatever needs doing, thank you.
The two charities I have chosen to support are Portland College in Mansfield, a national specialist college for students with physical and/or mental disabilities and the Nottinghamshire/Lincolnshire Air Ambulance. With your help on Sunday evening we managed to raise £295.50 from the charity auction and £230 from the raffle.
A sincere thank you to all of you who donated items and took part in supporting these two worthy causes, as we approach the end of my first year as Chairman we have already
Unfortunately on the Monday morning as people were getting ready to leave the site, three members reported that they had had their fresh water containers tampered with. It appears that a dye, possibly food dye, had been added to the water barrels and consequently through the water system into their caravans. Whether this was carried out as a joke or not, it is clearly not acceptable and if anyone has any more information as to who is responsible please let me know.
Regards
Phil