Dear Members,

As you know the Clubs A.G.M. took place over the August Bank holiday weekend. The new Committee for 2007 is as follows:

President: Mr. D. Jackson.
Vice Presidents: Mr. J. Harrison & Mr. A. Roberts.
Chairman: Mr J. James.
Vice Chairman: Mr. L. Stoneman.
General Secretary: Mr. J. Harrison.
Treasurer: Mr. M. Owen.
Teenage Liaison: Miss T. Fisher.
Equipment Officer: Mr. S. Sellers.
Newsletter Editor: Mrs. J. Jones.
Publicity Officer: Mr. M. Hill.
Factory Liaison: Mr. R. Murray.
Scottish Secretary: Mr. T. Hamson.
Northern Secretary: Mr. D. Bird.
Midlands Secretary: Mr. S. Borg.
Southern Secretary: Mr. C. Gott.
Northern Committee: No Nominations.
Midlands committee: Mr. J. Vernon. Mr. R. Sinclair. Mrs. L. Sapsford. Mrs. D. Owen.
Southern Committee: Mr. N. Vernon. Mr. B. Smith.

There are four places on the Northern and two places on the Southern and Scottish Committee vacant. Anyone interested in filling these places should please contact the General Secretary. We would like to fill all these places.

With this Newsletter there is a Membership Renewal form and a questionnaire. If you want to renew and send the questionnairto me with your renewal I will send them on. The renewal fee for 2007 is still £10, good value you must agree! To ensure that you get your Rally Book in early January please renew as soon as possible. P.S. Don’t forget that we need some Committee Members.

Regards,

John Harrison.

CHAIRMAN’S CHATTER.

My first task as Chairman is to thank all those who worked so hard at this year’s AGM at Littleport, I shall be writing to M&M Leisure on your behalf to thank them for both the magnificent BBQ they provided for us and the entertainment, albeit unintended, when an ad hoc committee attempted to erect a large gazebo in the pouring rain with one totally incorrect fitting. It had to be seen to be believed.

During my term of office I shall do my best to be available to listen to your constructive comments and suggestions and although I cannot promise that all of them will be acted upon, all relevant ones will be discussed fully. I hope that I will be able to continue the support and dedication to our club provided over the past 3 years by my predecessor Ken Wooton. He and I have worked closely together during his term of office and have developed what I am sure will be a lasting friendship.

Ken, together with the power behind the throne, Joy, have provided some big shoes to fill, myself and Jan will do our level best to continue with the good work. The past 3 years as Vice Chairman have always been interesting and sometimes challenging and without the support of my wife Jan it would have been many times more difficult, we have spent some, shall I say “interesting” evenings reading and re-reading and re re-reading the early proof copies of the rally book, and believe me, if a relationship can withstand that it can cope with anything. But even so I would not have missed it for anything. I hope that this will not discourage our new Vice Chairman, Len Stoneman and I look forward to working closely with him over the next 3 years.

The first few weeks as Vice Chairman are particularly difficult as he has to get to grips with the technicalities of the preparation of next year’s book as well as co-coordinating all of our rallies and dealing with and developing new advertisers. To make this period a little easier can I ask that those of you who are contemplating running a rally or rallies next year to send in your proposal forms as soon as possible, the more time we have the easier it is to get the new book out early. You would not believe how difficult it can be to add just one additional rally after the book has been laid out.

On the subject of rallies, some of you will know that it is a pet hobby horse of mine, our club exists for the purpose of providing opportunities for members to socialise, this is usually by arranging rallies where people can get together and enjoy themselves in whatever fashion suits them, but it doesn’t have to be a rally, there is no reason why social events can’t be arranged without caravans or motor homes (I shall have to be careful to include motor homes in all statements in future as our new Vice Chairman has a big one).

A prime example of this is the annual winter walk, this is simply a get together without an overnight stay but this could equally well be a theatre evening or simply a meal, as long as it is made available to all members via the Rally Book or the Newsletter. I am also concerned over the number of members who don’t take part in rallies I am sure if more could be persuade to try a rally they would derive a great deal of enjoyment from it.

You will see elsewhere in this Newsletter some of the results of the comments made on the questionnaire circulated at the AGM, we are still analysing the forms and will hopefully be able to circulate a questionnaire to the rest of you for your comments in the future. Remember, it is not my club or the committees’ club, it is your club and if you don’t tell us what you feel is wrong we can’t fix it.

With your help I am sure we can strengthen our club and provide the services which you the members want. Enjoy the remaining rallies this year and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in the coming year.

Jim James.

RUMBLINGS FROM THE VICE’S CHAIR.

As your newly elected Vice Chairman, this is my first contribution to the newsletter and for those people who do not already know me here is a brief pen portrait of myself.

I was born last century in East London and have lived in Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk. I have been happily married for 29 years, so Hazel my wife tells me, and we have one daughter of 27, Jenny, who is a Primary School Teacher and lives in Barrow in Furnace Cumbria. Last Year we moved to North Lincolnshire in order to reduce the journey to Cumbria and downsize on garden and bungalow allowing us to explore more of Britain and Europe.

We joined the Elddis Owners Club in 1999 when we bought our first Motorhome, which was a retirement present after working for BT for 26 years. Our first year rallying with the club was limited as I went back to work again, so just four rallies attended. On the first, we met Ken and Joy Wootton, our out going Chairman and they made us feel like ‘old’ friends, which we still are.

On our second rally in Lincolnshire we were again made welcome and lasting friendships were forged. To date we have attended some 80 rallies all over the country and have clocked up approx 140 nights away this year, not all rallies, so if you see our Elddis Autostratus RB on a commercial site, come over and have a chat, our dog Quatro does not bite.

I am presently getting to grips with producing next years Rally Book, so if you are thinking about running a rally in 2007, please send a proposal form to your Area Secretary ASAP. Hope to see you on a rally soon.

Len Stoneman.

TREASURERS TIMES.

Hello to you all, this is my first column since the AGM and the end of my first year as Treasurer, a year I have enjoyed immensely. It was quite a nerve-wracking experience for me to stand at the front of that audience and give my first report.

If you weren’t there then this is what I told those present:

Firstly, the club has made a small profit in 2005 reversing last years’ small loss. We had agreed at a committee meeting prior to the AGM that a fee of £1.50p be requested for each van attending rallies to cover administration fees, and the Rally Marshals return will be altered to accommodate this charge.

Whilst on the subject of Rallies I would remind all Rally Marshals that if they are running a social event it should be self financing and not included in the Rally Marshals expenses on the return, a separate charge should be made for this event and only direct expenses to running the rally e.g. tea, coffee and biscuits etc, for flag should be included in Rally Marshals expenses, and as long as the admin charge above is covered there won’t be any need to increase subscriptions so keeping to £10 for another year.

It has been my great pleasure over the last 12 months to meet so many old friends on various rally fields and also a great pleasure meeting new ones, if you haven’t been on a rally yet come along soon its great fun and I don’t moan all the time, only when I am trying to balance the books of my favourite club.

Finally, it is that time that comes round every 3 years and time to say goodbye and a big thank you to another chairman, Ken Wootton, who has carried out the office magnificently and been a great help to all the committee members, myself included, whenever it was needed.

Jimmy James has a hard act to follow, but so has Len Stoneman in stepping into Jimmy’s shoes as vice chairman. So I say goodbye to you for now but Di and I hope to see you all soon on a Rally field somewhere soon.

Moss Owen.

TEENAGE & JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE.

Hello and thank you to everyone who has helped to raise money for ChildLine during the past Year. I am very pleased; in fact I’m ‘Gob smacked’ that we have raised OVER £1700. I don’t know the final total; as some money has still to be deposited into the bank, so watch this space!

The loose change jar raised £88, and the 5ps collected totalled over £130!!!

A special thank you to Drew for the hours spent counting money! An extra BIG thank you to everyone, but especially to those Rally Marshall’s who organised fundraising events on my behalf, when I was unable to attend their rally.

I have decided to remain as the Junior and Teenage Representative for the coming year. The Charity I have chosen to raise money for is BLISS: who work to provide every child, especially premature babies an equal chance of life. My brother was premature and without the equipment provided by a charity similar to BLISS would not be here today! BLISS purchase vital equipment and supplies as well as providing support for parents of premature babies.

The theme for the year is handmade cards: I will have handmade cards on sale at every rally I attend. The cards will be 80p each or 7 for £5, and my Mum or myself will have made all of them. I would also like to say Thank you to Paul McArdle and Cemex for their generous donation towards the cost of the Children’s trip to Duxford, during this year’s AGM rally. Without the donation we would not have had such a brilliant day out.

If you are attending a rally and would like to organise a fundraising activity for BLISS, please contact the Rally Marshall or myself to discuss your ideas.

Thank you again for your generosity.

Tiffany Fisher.

Full details of the 2007 range of Elddis caravans are now available, and for those who attended the Littleport AGM there was an exclusive look at the new Crusader Cyclone, brought to the rally by M&M Caravans. The main changes for next year is the adoption of the black 'aero' graphics, first seen on the 2006 Crusader for all Avante, Odyssey and Crusader models, rather than different marking for each range.

All 2007 models now have a choice of two upholstery options and many models now have wrap-around seating available as an option at extra cost. A nose weight indicator built into the jockey wheel is standard on all Crusader models, as is a CD/radio which can be connected to an iPod/MP3 player. Prices are either the same or less than 2006 models, however, talking to a dealer, margins have been cut for them, so this could have an impact on a part exchange.

The Avante 472 has been dropped. New models are Avante 544, Odyssey 544 and Crusader Cyclone.

Full details of the new motorhomes have not yet been released. There is a new Peugeot Boxer HDi available soon and the 2007 Autoquest and Autocirrus should be on this new base vehicle. From what I've seen, black graphics will be used on the motorhomes as well. No mention of the Autostratus as yet through. Check the Explorer website for more details when available at www.explorer-group.co.uk.

All 2007 tourers have been designed to accept the new light weight BP Gaslight cylinders, as well as traditional Calor steel cylinders. The BP cylinders are made out of plastic and fiberglass, they are lighter in weight than steel cylinders and come in two sizes, 5kg and 10kg. More and more caravan dealers are stocking these gas bottles as well as some garden centres.

Home delivery is also available directly from BP. Regulators are available from Truma to connect to the caravan. More details are available on the website www.bpgaslight.co.uk where a list of dealers is also available.

Last, but not least. At the Littleport AGM I had the pleasure of receiving from our President Derek Jackson, his collection of Rally books, Newsletters and club paperwork that he has collected since 1973. These are a fascinating archive which I have the honour of looking after. These will all be kept so that as a club we have a permanent record of what has happened over the last 30+ years. If any members have articles or items that they would like to donate to the club archive, they would gratefully received.

That’s all for now, hope to see you rallying, hopefully before the 2007 AGM in Harrogate (Thought I’d better start promoting it now since I'm running the rally!).

David Bird.

FROM THE EDITORS DESK.

With another A.G.M. over we now look forward to the remaining rallies of the year. Thanks must go to Ken Wootton for acting as our Chairman over the past three years – he has put a lot of time and effort into our club.

If you attend a rally and have enjoyed it please feel free to write a rally report (even if you haven’t been asked to do one) as I’m sure the Rally Marshal would be pleased to hear of your enjoyment.

Rally reports can either be sent to me by post or by e-mail. Please note that the deadline for articles in the winter Newsletter is Sunday 10th November 2006. If there is anything you would like me to put in the Newsletter or if you have any ideas for improving it please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Please don’t forget to renew your Membership in order to get your copy of next year’s Rally Book as soon as it is available.

Best wishes – Cofion Cynnes.

Janet.