Dear Members,

As you know our A.G.M. took place over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The Formal Notice of Motion Amendment was passed that means that Assistant Rally Marshals Plaques are available on all rallies. Also the election of Officers took place and I am pleased to say that we have a full Committee for 2008.

The following were elected:
President: D. Jackson.
Vice President: J. Harrison.
Vice President: G. Rickels.
Chairman: J. James.
Vice Chairman: L. Stoneman.
General Secretary: J. Harrison.
Treasurer: M. Owen.
Equipment Officer: S. Seller.
Newsletter Editor: Mrs J. Jones.
Publicity Officer: M. Hill.
Factory Liaison: R. Murray.
Scottish Secretary: T. Hamson.
Northern Secretary: P. Turner.
Midlands Secretary: S. Borg.
Southern Secretary: C. Gott.
Northern Committee: C. Langford, A. Bell, Mrs S. Conway, Mrs J. Harrison.
Midlands Committee: R. Sinclair, J. Vernon, Mrs P. Bayliss, Mrs D. Owen, P. McArdle.
Southern Committee: B. Smith, Mrs L. Sapsford, G. Morris, N. Vernon.

At the A.G.M. we had to put a new rule into place to allow us to retain our 28 day Exemption Certificate (See details of rule in chairman’s Chatter). We have now received the new certificate.

This is the last Newsletter for 2007. With this Newsletter is a Renewal of Membership form. In order to receive your 2008 Rally Book as soon as we have them, please return the form with your remittance as soon as possible. The Membership fee is still £10.

Regards,

John Harrison

CHAIRMAN’S CHATTER.

For those of you unable to attend the A.G.M. in Harrogate, you may not be aware of a potential problem regarding the Club’s exemption certificate that arose before the meeting. Our exemption certificate expired at the end of August and certain relevant communications from DEFRA went astray in the Post. The significance of this correspondence was that we were required by DEFRA to make a small change to our rally rules but by the time we found out about this it was too late to put it to the meeting to have the change formally ratified. It was agreed with DEFRA that provided we notified the whole membership of the proposed change at the earliest opportunity, we need not call an extraordinary general meeting and could put the proposed change to the 2008 AGM. If we agreed to this then our certificate could be reissued immediately. This was done and our certificate has been reissued pending implementation of the rule change in 2008.

The change is in no way contentious and the wording is already implicit in our existing rules. For your information, the change will require the addition of an additional clause as follows:-

Rally rule (11b)
Care should be taken not to damage the site or surrounding locality. Trees, fences, buildings, equipment and stock should be respected.

I doubt if any member will object to the wording of this additional clause. Certain other points arose from the missing correspondence that will have an effect on our rallying.

1. A rally is deemed to begin when the first unit arrives on the site, and to finish when the last unit leaves. This includes the rally marshal. As we have a 28 day certificate, the only difference this makes is if the rally runs over more than 5 days it will be necessary to complete an extended rally proposal for the Vice Chairman to process.

2. Any new member must have been a member for a minimum of 24 hours before joining a rally

That’s the serious bit out of the way.

The nights are drawing in already but the season is far from over, there are lots of rallies still to come this year, if you haven’t tried an Autumn or Winter rally yet, you could be pleasantly surprised at how warm and cosy your caravan can be when it’s cold outside. Try it, you might like it.

Jim James

RUMBLINGS FROM THE VICE’S CHAIR.

As I sit down to write this and think over what to say, I suddenly realised that another year is nearly over and I am again juggling text on the computer compiling the 2008 Rally Book. Where has the time gone?

Hazel and I have just returned from our 15th Rally so far this year and are heading for 135 nights out and about by the end of December. I would like to thank all the Rally Marshals we have met on our travels through the North of England and Scotland, in particular the Scottish Secretary who took his holiday in order to put on the two excellent Scottish Rallies.

The 2008 Rally Programme at the time of writing has 42 Rallies listed but we still need more, but not too many more on the Bank Holidays though, as there are 3 at Easter, 5 at Mayday, 5 at Spring Bank.

Running a Rally is not difficult, so come on you first timers; it gives you a lot of satisfaction knowing your fellow members have had an enjoyable time. Also don’t forget you don’t have to wait until you have 20 units coming or be running a 5 nights plus rally before you can have an Assistant Marshal to help. So First Time Marshals get help right from the start. If you don’t have a site in mind I have a list of sites that have indicated they welcome rallies and can provide contact details on request.

For those with Internet access, try this link www.caravancampingsites.co.uk and follow the instructions to find a site it’s very interesting and saves a lot of travel time looking for a suitable location.

If you are thinking of running a rally in 2008 please get your Proposal Form in to your Area Secretary ASAP as this year there will not be another Newsletter after this one, so if you miss the Rally Book it will have to wait until the Spring Newsletter to be publicised. The last date for inclusion in the book is 31st October; however this is so I can layout the pages before I send them to the printers. However, if I know a proposal is coming, I can leave space for it and insert it after the first proof comes back.

See you out and about somewhere, safe journeys and happy rallying.

Len Stoneman.

TREASURERS TIMES.

Hello and welcome to this first edition of Treasurers Times since the A.G.M. and to start with let me give you a run down of what has happened financially over the last year.

Firstly the club has again managed to make a small profit of £402 which is slightly better than the previous year, but rally income still did not cover its total costs albeit this year the shortfall was only £14, and I am hopeful that this years rallies will be self sufficient following the introduction at last years A.G.M of the £1.50p minimum administration charge. I am grateful to all the Rally Marshals for collecting and sending this into the club, and I must again make a plea for more people to come forward and run some rallies. It isn’t as daunting a task as you may think and most people really enjoy themselves after the initial shock is over.

Another thing I must mention is that our subscription income has also fallen this year by £729, which also means our membership is falling. I am grateful to those members of the club who man the stands at the various shows around the country for all the work they do in trying to recruit members but with a bit of help from other members we can push the numbers up even further by simply talking to people when you are out and about. If you see someone on a site where you are staying, with an Elddis Caravan or Motorhome, why not ask them if they are members and if not tell them about the club, it’s a great way to recruit new members and also make new friends with similar interests to ourselves.

Finally before I go, let me just say thank you to David Bird, his mother Gwyneth, and all those who helped him to run the A.G.M. this year, I know Di and I enjoyed it and I’m sure everyone else who attended did as well, So thank you all for a well run rally. Also Thanks go to Thelma Hay for her contribution from her famous Book Stall and Tombola, another £300 for the club.

One final word, I have just received the A.G.M. accounts from David showing a profit for the club of £122, so once again, David well done and thank you.

Moss Owen.

TEENAGE & JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE.

For the junior & teenage members who have not yet met me, my name is Daniel Sellers and I have been elected to be your representative for the coming year. My aims for the year are to try and get the junior & teenage members together at rallies for some fun i.e. maybe a few games of rounder’s against the adults, can't have them sat down relaxing can we?

I will also be doing some fund raising with Mum’s and Dad’s help, nothing to worry the adults too much, we don't want them breaking into a sweat at the sight of a junior member with a book of raffle tickets!!!

Any monies going to charity will go to the ‘Guide Dogs for The Blind’.

Hope to see you on a rally soon.

Daniel

FROM THE EDITORS DESK.

I would like to thank David and Gwyneth for yet again running an enjoyable A.G.M. Chris and I really enjoyed it. I would also like to thank everyone who has contributed to the Newsletters this last year and hope that you continue to do so during the coming year.

Please don’t forget to renew your membership so that you receive your copy of the new 2008 Rally Book as soon as it becomes available early in the New Year.

Rally reports can either be sent to me by post or by e-mail. Please note that the deadline for articles in the next Newsletter is 1st March 2008. Please don’t hesitate to contact me by telephone or mobile. Please note: I always confirm receipt of e-mails.

Nadolig Llawen – Merry Christmas.

Janet.