Ian and Yvonne threatened to not run this popular rally again after this year and obviously it worked as 35 units booked for the May Bank Holiday weekend.

Thirteen vans and two motorhomes arrived on Thursday, and at the evening tea and coffee the Rugby Club dropped the first bombshell, that those parked on the hard standing would have to move as the Inland Revenue rented this for parking. Two Motorhomes and Ian’s car were moved and next day there were only ten cars from the Revenue parked there, as it appeared most had taken the day off.

On Friday the remaining units arrived and Ian was wondering where he could pitch them as the Rugby Club had put weed killer on the practice pitch and this was out of bounds, but all the vans were sited safely in the end.

At 9:00pm the North East stock of cheese and wine was spread out in the club house and all had a great evening. Ian said that Yvonne over estimated the cheese, and he will be having cheese on toast for the next fortnight.

Saturday evening saw us all in the club house again for the social with a sit down meal of chicken, jacket potato and salad, followed by apple pie and ice cream.

At flag on Sunday evening Tony Illingworth thanked Ian, Yvonne and their assistants Ian and Dorothy for running yet another great rally in Durham and confirmed that it would be run again next year.

The weather all weekend was sunny with a cool wind and the occasional shower, but this did not stop anyone walking the short distance to the shops or along the river.

When on site it is so peaceful that it is difficult to realise that you are less than 15 minutes walk from the centre of Durham. Don’t miss next year, I will be there again, see you there.

What can I say, the rally that had everything, wind, a little bit of rain, but mainly beautiful sunshine and hundreds of birds of the feathered variety.

The WWT at Slimbridge is one of the most pleasant rallies you could ever wish to go on; it has the canal with its scenic walks to one side and the WWT at the other. Most people used their free passes to go into the WWT site and explore the numerous species of wildfowl, not to mention the visit to the ‘duckery’ where some of the lucky ones witnessed either a gosling or duckling hatch, fantastic! Then we went on a tour to see how they were reared and released back into main stream.

One morning a number of happy campers gathered around Brian Mosley’s caravan to request his presence. Brian then appeared from his caravan dripping wet fresh out of the shower with only a towel covering his modesty, where he was greeted by the Elddis choir to sing a very special happy 70th birthday, out of tune be it, but it was the thought that counted.

Other days some people just lazed around and drank several bottles of Pimms, (I wonder who they were?) and then attempted to barbecue. Talking of barbecue’s, there was a communal one on the Sunday afternoon and everybody sat out having their tea in brilliant sunshine, wine, cake and sweets were generously supplied by Brian and Judy Mosley to celebrate Brian’s birthday (see photo on left).

It wasn’t until later on that most of us retired into the Marshal’s luxurious marquee and continued with the festivities, singing songs, the best one being lead by our resident cub Arkala, Graham Scarll, “The Rinki Tinki Song”. There were certainly a lot of jovialities coming from the Marshal and Assistant Marshal’s quarters that evening.

On Monday morning at 11.00am we all gathered for flag to have our refreshments and biscuits and the usual speeches, but one of them was a classic, the Assistant Rally Marshal, Pauline Bayliss, presented the ‘New Ralliers’ Brian and Pat Lethbridge with their plaque (see photo on right) along with the following comment. “I would like to apologise if we were a little rowdy last night, it was a one off, we are not normally so noisy” said with a very serious face.

This was a great rally set in lovely surroundings and is definitely one that should not be missed next year.

Thanks to Di and Moss, Pauline & Charles.

This was first in a series of three rallies on the theme of ‘Trains and Boats and Planes’ to be run by Richard & Davina, Gregg & Margaret assisting on this one, this year. If the other two are as good as this, they are not to be missed.

This rally was well attended, by around 18 units. The social was a DIY BBQ, followed by trivial pursuits with a twist, a dart thrown at a dartboard indicating categories. The Sinclair’s attended this rally so guess who won. Yes you guessed it teamed with Louise & Sarah Pharis, unbeatable, well one point between them & the Dons anyway.

Sam Kent celebrated his 11th birthday & there were three wedding anniversaries (see photo) Edmund & Daphne, Pete & Caroline, Greg & Margaret. Margaret supplied a cake iced with all the couple’s names. Edmund & Daphne supplied wine to celebrate also.

Sadly the steam train was unable to run on the Sunday, & the diesel had to take its place. We are very much looking forward to the next one, see you there? I hope that you decide to do them again next year. If you do you can count us in.

A lovely Monday morning and we set out for Redcar Racecourse after the terrible storm of Saturday; it was lovely to see the sunshine again. Tom, our Rally Marshal welcomed us to Redcar, he sited us along with six more caravans.

8pm saw us at the Marshals van for tea and coffee and to meet our fellow ralliers. The weather was still good for the barbecue on Wednesday. The weekenders arrived on Friday bringing the total of caravans to seventeen. Tom, Matty, Lilly and helpers put on a lovely buffet tea on Saturday which we had sat outside in the sunshine again. Thank you for a lovely rally.