With this Newsletter are the Formal Notice of Motion Forms and Nominations for Committee. Please use only the forms provided. The Formal Notice of Motion forms must be in by 3rd July 2005.

Please note the new venue for the A.G.M. Also, Committee nominations are to be in by 14th August 2005. Please remember that All Committee Members must be proposed and seconded every year.

Thanks to all the people who have helped me over the last year, especially Arthur Roberts for addressing labels and Janet Jones for leaflet copies, also Jayne, Dave and Matthew North for help putting books in envelopes and licking stamps. Also I must not forget my wife Ann who also helps with everything.

Re the Rally at Oosterbeek published in the last Newsletter, the Rally Marshal did not complain about Mr and Mrs Dodson, only queried their make of van which turned out to be a Compass. Although called a Magnum it is a Compass and therefore they cannot be a member of the Elddis Owners Club.

We still have a few copies of Derek Jackson’s 30 year history of the club available at £3.50 including post and package. These books are a must for members.

Regards,

John Harrison.

Although this may be a quiet time for Rallying, the Club has not been idle, further into the Newsletter you will see a message from Trevor Hamson, Trevor was co-opted to the post of Scottish Area Secretary at the October 2004 committee meeting and has certainly started as he means to go on. I will leave you to read his message as he will explain what he wants to do better than I can. However do not believe him if he says he took a lot of persuading - only a little!

The process to change our Club’s Logo is going ahead at a steady pace, we will soon have mugs and men’s ties for sale and Merille as Equipment Officer is looking at Club clothing as well as a number of exciting additions to the Club Equipment range. Our web-site now carries the new Logo and colour scheme, if you have the chance, take a look at it. Explorer has offered to supply all the Flags we require and we are waiting for them to review their overall buying policy, as soon as this is complete they will have the Flags made and sent to us. As Flags are also being supplied to the other two Owners Clubs in the Group we are also waiting for a consensus of opinion before Explorer can finally proceed.

One event which has become important to our Club is our presence at the N.E.C. The final figure for new members recruited at the show was a terrific 33. Our thanks go to the keen members who staff our stand. Joy and I hope to see you at one of the Rallies or events during the coming year, if you see us come and have a chat. Have a safe and enjoyable year.

Best wishes to you all.

Ken Wootton.

I hope you all like the new look Rally Book, apart from the obvious changes to the cover layout and the use of colour for some adverts you may have noticed that I have now included the Guidance Notes for Rally Marshals on pages 8 to 10 instead of sending individual copies to all Rally Marshals. If you are running a Rally this year, please read the notes, they have been updated and there are a number of changes from the last version. If anyone is contemplating running a First Rally then these notes are an essential guide.

Serious bit over. There are a lot of new venues for Rallies this year together with a lot of old favourites which Jan and myself are looking forward to attending, in fact as I write this I have just finished hosing the mud off the car and the `van as a result of attending an excellent weekend at a new site, (the 4 wheel drive works!)

See you around.

Jim James

The papers, plus disk, for the 2004 accounts have been sent to the Auditors. The accounts show a small profit for the end of the year, and a copy of the accounts will be sent to each member of the committee before the next meeting in April.

This year will be the last year that I deal with the accounts, as Roger and I now have our visas for Australia, and our house will shortly go on the market. It has been a short but happy association with the Elddis Owners Group and I would like to thank you all for your kindness and help over the past years, a particular thank you must go to Arthur Roberts who has been an absolute ‘Treasure’, he has made my time as Treasurer a lot easier than I envisaged, Thank you Arthur.

With kind regards.

Angela Palmer.

We hope you will be pleased with our new logo and style of the plaques which were launched at the NEC. The new Logo takes four colours to create which makes a cost of 88p plus p&p for each plaque, if Rally Marshals could take note when sending in your Rally Returns.

The committee will always, I hope, carry our standard equipment of Pegs, Blue Loo, Pink Flush, Filters and Recharge Filter Packs. We shall be having new items but only in small quantities, first are the new logo enamel badges, mugs, ties, Car stickers and White T-Shirts. At the AGM we will be having Diaries again this year.

Please get in touch with me if there is any equipment that you feel would be appropriate for our members and at a reasonable price as it is your club and you should have a choice. Also available are full zip Fleece Jackets, Sweatshirts and Polo Shirts in our club colours of navy or grey with embroidered Club Logo on. Please order direct from: MARK PARR PROMOTIONS 01772 601245 stating Elddis owners club. Jackets £17.95, Sweatshirts £9.99, Polo Shirts £8.99. Please add postage, package and VAT to these items.

Merille Fountain.

Hello everyone

I just wanted to thank everyone for their continued support to the Jessie May Trust. We have now raised £416, which would not be possible without your donations and raffle ticket buying. I look forward
to seeing everyone out and about soon.

Thanks again,

Sam Kent.

FROM NORTH OF THE BORDER.

After having made the mistake of making my first visit to the Factory Rally last year, I was set upon by the Chairman and his henchman, (Check Chairman’s Chat) and subsequently co-opted at the next Committee meeting into taking on the Scottish Secretaries job (this seems familiar).

Unfortunately the Scottish element of the club seems to have lost its way in the past couple of years and apart from the valiant efforts of one or two people from south of the border, would have disappeared completely from the Rally book. Obviously miracles do not happen overnight but we will give it our best shot to improve the situation over the next couple of years.

One aim is to bring back a Scottish holiday Rally run from a series of sites throughout the land to give members the chance to explore this beautiful country to its full extent. However, to achieve this, firstly we need to swell the membership. With this aim in mind and working at very short notice Explorer Group were coerced into giving us a bit of room on their stand at the “Scottish Caravan & Outdoor Leisure Show” at the SECC in Glasgow. This was agreed and Martin Hill and Janet Jones pulled out all the stops to ensure that I received appropriate literature and photographs to try and put a stand together. I attended the show over the four days and although maybe the outcome was not totally comparable to other shows attended by members, I feel that it was successful. We actually managed to sign up one new member and handed out forms to numerous others who were interested enough to enquire about the club. Here’s hoping they eventually reply.

I have also decided to run a follow on rally from Jedburgh at Roslin from 10th May to 17th May (see additional Rally details in Rally Information section) where we hope not only to see some old friends but also some new ones as well.

See you soon.

Trevor Hamson.

Another caravanning year is underway; Chris and I have already been out in the van a few times and look forward to the coming season with eager anticipation.

In future the deadline dates for the submission of articles into the Newsletter will be printed in this column. Please note that the deadline for articles in the Summer Newsletter is Friday 30th June 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.

Happy Easter – Pasg Hapus.

Janet.