Just back from the rally at Fordingbridge, having been there from Thursday evening through to Monday morning. What can I say? The weather gods had clearly been bribed enough, as we had four days of solid sunshine with enough breeze to take the edge off the direct heat. I got a sunburned nose – need I say more?
As it was billed as an inexpensive Easter holiday, the Club deliberately kept events and formal entertainment to a minimum. We had only three scheduled events – the Retrolympics, a communal Pizza night and the ubiquitous Sunday Coffee Morning. For the rest of the rally, we were encouraged to discover the local area and to take advantage of the fact that we were situated in one of England’s favourite holiday destinations. Some people headed to the coast for the beaches, some into the New Forest for dog walking and the scenery, and some went to discover the numerous watering holes within walking distance of the site.
Regarding the planned events, the Retrolympics got the expected level of engagement and more than the expected level of laughter.
Cheating was rife and the fact that the organiser managed to come first in two of the events surprised only those who expected him to win all three. We understand that the format will be retried at the Weybridge rally, so be warned 😊.
We had booked pizzas from the local Italian restaurant and collected them at 6 pm on Saturday. Delicious pizzas, which were mostly still warm by the time we returned and dispensed from the rear of the Chair’s Morris 1000 Traveller. Apart from being invisible to a reversing Nissan in town (stopped and shouted at before making contact, thankfully), this proved a most effective delivery vehicle.
As a transparent ploy to make sure that we had some cakes for the coffee morning, we organised a cake competition. This was hard-fought, with Mr Kipling trading blows with Tunnock’s and Bonne Maman. However, as we disqualified shop-bought cakes, it came down to three bakers. The popular vote went to Alasdair Robson’s cheese scones, with demands for a Stewards’ Enquiry being denied, even though cheese scones are savoury. There may be the makings of a long term grudge match here… all the better for the rest of us who get to enjoy the cakes. 😊
Each evening saw us sitting out round a raging fire-pit, setting the world to rights, arguing over what music should be played and generally enjoying the chat and the excellent company. Much debate was sparked by the suggestion to play songs with a girl’s name in the title in alphabetical order. While some obvious classics like Valerie and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds made the cut, we struggled a bit with “U” (a song by The Queers about Ursula and her development – look it up), “Z” (Beautiful Zelda by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band) and “X” (to our eternal shame, we ended up with the theme from Xena – Warrior Princess).
All told the rally was an excellent event with good company, lovely caravans and motorhomes and perfect weather. One to do again next year.
Attendees
|
Name |
Unit |
|
Mike and
Sheena Tucker |
Digue Armorette |
|
Gavin Bowen
and Alethea Stewart |
Bedford CF2 |
|
Arthur and Marian
Goodland |
Elddis Voyager |
|
Matthew, Hayley and Sam Bakewell |
Sprite Major
RL |
|
Heather and
John Downard |
Constructum Condor |
|
Jayne Scott |
Ace Airstream |
|
Dan Cook and
Hazel Davies |
Sprite
Musketeer |
|
Richard Robson
and Maria Parisi |
Volkswagen T25
Holdsworth Camper |
|
Julie Strong
and Mike Roland |
Fairholm Bambino |
|
Alasdair
Robson, Rob Davison and Bunny Robson |
Hymer B564 |
|
Jamie and
Lucy Robson |
Hymer B534 |
|
James Mclean
and Rachel Sharp |
Sprite 400 |
Thanks to the attendees of the rally for the great photos.
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