Just back from the rally at Fordingbridge, having been there from Thursday evening through to Monday morning. What can I say? The weather gods had clearly been bribed enough, as we had four days of solid sunshine with enough breeze to take the edge off the direct heat. I got a sunburned nose – need I say more?

As it was billed as an inexpensive Easter holiday, the Club deliberately kept events and formal entertainment to a minimum. We had only three scheduled events – the Retrolympics, a communal Pizza night and the ubiquitous Sunday Coffee Morning. For the rest of the rally, we were encouraged to discover the local area and to take advantage of the fact that we were situated in one of England’s favourite holiday destinations. Some people headed to the coast for the beaches, some into the New Forest for dog walking and the scenery, and some went to discover the numerous watering holes within walking distance of the site.

Regarding the planned events, the Retrolympics got the expected level of engagement and more than the expected level of laughter. 

Cheating was rife and the fact that the organiser managed to come first in two of the events surprised only those who expected him to win all three. We understand that the format will be retried at the Weybridge rally, so be warned 😊.

We had booked pizzas from the local Italian restaurant and collected them at 6 pm on Saturday. Delicious pizzas, which were mostly still warm by the time we returned and dispensed from the rear of the Chair’s Morris 1000 Traveller. Apart from being invisible to a reversing Nissan in town (stopped and shouted at before making contact, thankfully), this proved a most effective delivery vehicle.

As a transparent ploy to make sure that we had some cakes for the coffee morning, we organised a cake competition. This was hard-fought, with Mr Kipling trading blows with Tunnock’s and Bonne Maman. However, as we disqualified shop-bought cakes, it came down to three bakers. The popular vote went to Alasdair Robson’s cheese scones, with demands for a Stewards’ Enquiry being denied, even though cheese scones are savoury. There may be the makings of a long term grudge match here… all the better for the rest of us who get to enjoy the cakes. 😊

Each evening saw us sitting out round a raging fire-pit, setting the world to rights, arguing over what music should be played and generally enjoying the chat and the excellent company. Much debate was sparked by the suggestion to play songs with a girl’s name in the title in alphabetical order. While some obvious classics like Valerie and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds made the cut, we struggled a bit with “U” (a song by The Queers about Ursula and her development – look it up), “Z” (Beautiful Zelda by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band) and “X” (to our eternal shame, we ended up with the theme from Xena – Warrior Princess).

All told the rally was an excellent event with good company, lovely caravans and motorhomes and perfect weather. One to do again next year.

Attendees

Name

Unit

Mike and Sheena Tucker

Digue Armorette

Gavin Bowen and Alethea Stewart

Bedford CF2

Arthur and Marian Goodland

Elddis Voyager

Matthew, Hayley and Sam Bakewell

Sprite Major RL

Heather and John Downard

Constructum Condor

Jayne Scott

Ace Airstream

Dan Cook and Hazel Davies

Sprite Musketeer

Richard Robson and Maria Parisi

Volkswagen T25 Holdsworth Camper

Julie Strong and Mike Roland

Fairholm Bambino

Alasdair Robson, Rob Davison and Bunny Robson

Hymer B564

Jamie and Lucy Robson

Hymer B534

James Mclean and Rachel Sharp

Sprite 400

 

Thanks to the attendees of the rally for the great photos. 

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