Dear Members,

As you know we held the A.G.M. over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Your new Committee is as follows:

President: D. Jackson.
Vice President: J. Harrison.
Vice President Financial: A. Roberts.
Chairman: K. Wootton.
Vice Chairman: J. James.
General Secretary: J. Harrison.
Treasurer: M. Owen.
Equipment Officer: M. Fountain.
Newsletter Editor: J. Jones.
Publicity Officer: M. Hill.
Factory Liaison: R. Murray.
Scottish Secretary: T. Hamson.
Northern Secretary: D. Pedder.
Midlands Secretary: S. Borg.
Southern Secretary: G. Addison.
Scottish Committee: No Nominations.
Northern Committee: P. Turner. D. Bird. D. Medley. F. Illingworth.
Midlands Committee: A. Borg. S. Sellers. P. Bayliss. E. Horn. G. Davis.
Southern Committee: L. Pharis. N. Vernon. C. Gott. M. Button.
Teenage Liaison: Tiffany Fisher.

If anyone from Scotland would like to join the Committee please contact me or Trevor Hamson.

With this Newsletter will be a ‘Renewal of Membership’ form so that you get your 2006 Rally Book early. Please rejoin now.

Regards,

John Harrison.

One of the highlights of any year in our Club is the A.G.M. This year it fell to the Midlands to organise this event, Steve Lickley, his committee and helpers had more than their fair share of problems to overcome but all was ironed out by the time our Ralliers arrived. A marquee was the focal point of this A.G.M. and it was used to its full extent with live entertainment, a Disco, video horse racing and of course the Annual General Meeting.

The fun on the field was worth watching with the Children’s sports and a sideshow of Geoff Jones and myself being placed in the stocks, we were then being pelted with wet sponges and buckets of water, never mind it was all in fun and raised a bit of money for a good cause. So, a vote of thanks to Steve, his family, the Midlands Committee and all who helped to make the Holme Pierrepont A.G.M. such an enjoyable event.

Please remember, if you were lucky enough to win a prize in the raffle, take a moment to write a thank you letter to the people who kindly donated it, they will appreciate this gesture and look kindly on us if we ask for another prize for the 2006 raffle.

The weekend following the A.G.M. our Club had a stand at the Lawns Caravan Show; we used a new set of display boards kindly made by Clive Gott which proved very successful.

Martin and Lesley Hill set up our stand in the Explorer Group area and with Joy and I, Paul and Janice McArdle, Derek and Freda Pedder and the Medley family, took turns representing the Elddis Owners Club to the public.

It was very pleasing to see some fresh faces staffing the Stand, Darren and Serena Medley had brought their children Charlotte and James with them, Charlotte and James did a great job keeping the Club leaflets topped up in the ‘Vans on show. Thanks to their work we enrolled 6 new members but also gave out a fair number of leaflets to let others decide after further consideration, time will tell if they join.

Please enjoy what is left of the Club year, maybe we will see you on a Rally somewhere. Safe journeys.

Ken Wootton

First of all for those of you were not at the A.G.M. and don’t know me, let me begin by introducing myself to you. My name is Moss Owen and I live in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. I was elected to the Office of Treasurer at the A.G.M. after serving as a member of the Midlands Area Committee for the last 12 months. I have taken over now from Arthur Roberts who will now revert to his role as Financial Vice-President and take a well earned break from all the hard work he has put in over the years. Arthur will be a hard act to follow but I feel glad to know that should I need his help he will be at the other end of the phone.

I am writing these few words to you having just returned from a very busy time at the AGM (It was the Midland Area’s turn to run it this year) and Arthur has handed over things to me, with the club in a financially stable position, which it is now my job to maintain in the future.

Finally can I ask that you all now send all your correspondence for the Treasurer, i.e. Rally returns, bills, cheques etc to me not Arthur.

Thank you for your support now and in the future.

Hi, I’m Tiffany Fisher (15 years old) your new Junior & Teenage Representative and I have chosen Childline as our charity.

Childline offers help for children that have been abused and other such horrible things.

I do lots of things in my spare time, for example I help my Mum with her Beaver Scouts. I also go to Explorer Scouts, so I do lots of fundraising there.

I would like to thank all of you who have already contributed toward my chosen charity: we raised £174.80 at the recent AGM. I have issued a challenge to young and old alike. The challenge is to fill as many Smartie tubes as possible with 5ps. The person who has collected the most Smartie tubes of 5ps by next years AGM shall win a prize (junior & adult prizes).

With the help of my family and friends, I have already collected enough 5ps to fill 2 Smartie tubes!!!

If any junior or teenage member has an idea for fund raising, or would like to organise a fund raising activity at a rally, please contact me.

You can e-mail or telephone me to have a chat about your ideas. Every rally I attend I shall have a large sweet jar with me. I would like to fill this jar with 1ps and 2ps or any other coins you donate during my year as Junior and Teenage Representative.

I look forward to meeting you at future rallies. Come and say hello, don’t be shy!! I look forward to meeting you soon.

Tiffany Fisher.

Compared to last year, the number of enquiries I have received does appear to have gone down, however they are as varied as ever. From the usual request about handbooks to the request asking if it is possible to fit a roof rack to the top of his tourer to carry a boat as it was too long for his car. Have a guess what the reply was!

During the summer we went on the Dutch rally and when we were there we visited the Dutch Elddis importer, Weel Caravans, two other Elddis dealers and countless other caravan dealers, including one in Germany. We could not have been made more welcome at all the dealers and we were able to look at the Dutch only, Crusader Cyclone with fixed single beds. When we were at Weel we were able to discuss the difference between the British and Dutch models, what changes were going to be made for 2006, and what developments they have planned for the future. I was able to update my collection of Dutch brochures, which now ranged from the 1993 Wisp Deluxe to the latest 2005 models.

On the subject for brochures I would like to thank Len Stoneman and Roy Kay for their donation of brochures to my collection. As ever, if you have any photos, brochures or articles about Elddis, I would appreciate these.

On our way to the the Netherlands we were stopped by Lincolnshire Police to check to see if we owned our caravan. It was 2am and you could not see another car for miles. After satisfying the Police officer that we did own the caravan and where we were going, (the rally book came in handy, especially having my photo in it), he explained the reason he stopped us was due to the high number of stolen caravans being moved about. He said in the last few months he had recovered in excess of £170,000 worth of stolen caravans. Even though we were stopped for 15 minutes, it is nice to know that Lincolnshire Police take caravan theft seriously. That's about all I'll say now.

The 2006 models should be in dealers soon, and I've already seen them at the Lawns Show. By the time this is published I will have visited the factory and been to the Northern Motorcaravan Show (running a rally here next year), and then there is the Earls Court Caravan Show, so it's quite a busy time of year.

David Bird.

What a super A.G.M. run by Steve Lickley and helpers! Thanks for all the effort they put into organizing it. The entertainment was excellent. Da-iawn.

Please note that the deadline for articles in the Winter Newsletter is Sunday 6th November 2005. If there is anything you would like me to put in the Newsletter please don’t hesitate to contact me

Rally reports can either be sent to me by post or by e-mail. Please note that due to the high cost of printing and postage rally reports should be kept to a maximum of 250 words.

Cofion Cynnes – Best Wishes.

Janet.