Dear Members,

Firstly, I would like to thank all the members who attended the rally at Ripon for my birthday. Thank you for the lovely present of the crystal wine glasses, they will be used I assure you. Also I would like to thank David and Gwyneth for running the rally. Thank you to all the members who sent me birthday cards. It is what makes being a member of the club worthwhile.

Now, to club business, with this Newsletter will be Formal Notice of Motion forms and Nomination for Committee forms. The Formal Notices of Motion have to be in by Sunday 3rd July and Committee forms by Sunday 14th August 2006.

Thanks must also go to Janet Jones for the Newsletter and Arthur Roberts for doing the labels for the envelopes.

We still have some of Derek Jackson’s books left – if anyone requires a copy please contact me.

Regards,

John Harrison

Mid February, as I write this Joy and I are getting things together in readiness for our Club stand at the N.E.C. To make things easier whilst at the show, we stay at a licensed site close to the Exhibition Centre.

During the Friday afternoon / early evening we set up our part of the stand, this lets us be ready for the first customers on Saturday morning and hopefully a busy day on the stand signing up new members.

For the whole 9 days of the show our stand will be looked after by various members on a rota system, their efforts not only contribute to our membership numbers but project a smart and professional image to the Explorer Group and the other Clubs we come into contact with.

The entire organisation for our Club’s part in this show and an expanding number of other shows is looked after by our Publicity Officer Martin Hill and his wife Lesley. I would like to use this column to express my thanks to Martin, Lesley and all the members who work on the stand, your contribution is valued by the whole Club.

Our year will start properly with the Winter Walk led by Brian and Carole Foottit. This time around it is Grantham in Lincolnshire, a town we have only seen as part of a diversion off the A1 when it was closed due to an accident.

With friendly walking companions, followed by a tasty lunch I am sure it will make for a very enjoyable day.

One event I am looking forward to is the Isle of Wight rally being run by Brian and Jean Smith. This is one part of England I have never been to, although Joy went there when she was in her mid teens. Without a Club rally there I probably would never have gone to the Isle of Wight. Moral, make the most of our Club rallies; they reach places you may otherwise never see! Safe journeys and happy rallying.

Best wishes to you all.

Ken Wootton.

The bulbs are sprouting and spring is just around the corner and for some hardy souls the rally season has already begun, actually for some it never ended.

For the majority of members the arrival of the Rally Book is a time for looking through the rally programme and planning where to go this year, you will see that we have a super selection of events this season with many old favourites and lots of new venues and rally Marshals.

For those of you who have not sampled the pleasures of attending a rally I urge you to try it, you won’t regret it. You will see places you would not normally see and make new friends to share your love of caravanning (or motor homing). You will be sure of a warm welcome with no formality and no pressure to take part in anything you don’t want to. Go on, fill in a rally slip and give it a try.

Jan and I look forward to seeing you in some field somewhere.

Jim.

Hello to you all again, it seems only five minutes since my last report but it is nearly three months, and a very busy three months it has been. Apart from the usual hustle and bustle of Christmas and the New Year it is also the end of the financial year for the Elddis Owners Club so I have been extra busy chasing up those final rally returns, preparing and sending out invoices to the various advertisers in the rally book and last but not least finalising the accounts ready for the year end reports.

The accounts are all finalised now, parcelled up and sent off to the auditors to check them over and do the finalisation on them.

Below you will find copies of the AGM accounts which show a surplus of £57.32p at the end of the rally, so it was all worthwhile in the end, well done Steve Lickley!

Another year looms ahead of us and I hope we can keep the club going as well as we have in the past, remember, Rally Marshals, when you are working out your fee for the rally, that we need at least £1 per van to cover the admin charges, it’s not much and we do all have a great time at the rallies.

Finally let me just say to those of you who haven’t been to a rally, Summers coming and there are plenty of great rallies going on so try it, I’m sure you will like it, we did!

To finish, let me wish you all a great time this spring and summer, make the most of your caravan and see you on a rally field soon

Best wishes, Moss and Di.

Happy New Year!!

I had a great time at the New Year Rally in Sherwood Forest organised by Paul McArdle. We raised a fantastic sum of £125 for Childline. It was well worth the 9 hours travelling we had to do (Mum’s car broke down 90 minutes into the journey, so we had to go back to Felixstowe to collect Drew’s car!).

To date (30/01/06) we have raised over £650!! A Terrific amount!! A big THANK YOU to everyone who has donated prizes to my fund raising events: I am hoping that a representative from Childline will be able to visit the AGM to be presented with a cheque.

Nathaniel and I have collected a total of 10, yes 10! Smartie tubes full of 5 pence pieces: Mum and Drew have filled just 2. How many tubes have you filled?

I am organising some activities for children attending the AGM in August. These will run each afternoon from 2–4pm, so parents can do their chores without children yelling “I’m bored.” Mum is going to help me each afternoon, if you would like to come along I would love to see you.

Tiffany

Please note that the deadline for articles in the summer Newsletter is Sunday 21st May 2006. 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.

Don’t forget to send your AGM booking form in as soon as possible.

Pasg hapus – Happy Easter

Janet.