On page 2 – a new caravan arrives and John dances on ice

Hello and goodbyeWe welcome these new owners: Jonathan Fineberg from Manchester atSt Michaels Jane Jiggens from Worcestershire atWigley Orchard

We say a sad goodbye to Jim and ValChance who retired from caravanning atWigley Orchard at the end of last season. Jim was evacuated to Stoke Bliss duringthe Boer War 2nd World War and went toschool here. He grew up and joined theMarines. By the 1960s he had left theMarines, married Val and bought a caravanat Wigley Orchard – he probably knowsmore about Stoke Bliss than most of the peo-ple who live here. He and Val are sorry to leave Wigleyafter so many years and plan to come to visitus and stay in one of our letting caravans. (We have sited a very nice 2018 WillerbyGranada on Jim’s old pitch 136.)

An aerial shot of Brian and Sandra’s new house at St Michaels, taken by builder Chris Steventon

The house that we built

New tractor atWigley

News from Wigley Orchard and St Michaels Caravan Parks • May 2018 • Issue 65

So Brian and Sandra moved into their newhouse as planned on 27th November andunbelievably have lived there for nearly sixmonths. Far from being distraught at leav-ing her home of 32 years, Sandra says shecan’t now imagine living anywhere else!Many thanks to builder Chris Steventon, hisdad Paul and assorted tradespeople fordoing such a fine job of building the house,and of course to architect Rob Perrin for de-signing it exactly as we wanted it. St Michaels is much closer to the shopsin Tenbury – handy if you run out of some-thing or just need one item for a special

recipe – but further from the doctor, dentistand our favourite fish and chip shop whichare all in Bromyard! And further too fromthe Baiting House where Brian has beencaptain of the crib team for more years thanhe cares to remember. Although the viewsare less spectacular, the surrounding coun-tryside is beautiful. John and Hannah are similarly well set-

tled in Bank House and are busy making ittheir own – there’s lots of space to fill afterliving in a mobile home for so long. AndBramble is delighted to have such a big gar-den to run around in.

This is the tool (according to John) to finallysubdue the briars and bushes at the top ofthe park and to open it out for access for vis-itors. It’s designed to have a low centre ofgravity and be stable and easy to manoeuvreon slopes – it was originally built for Italianvineyards which are often on steep hillsidesbut we doubt if grapes will thrive at Wigley.

Have your sayIf you have any stories or photographs forthe next issue of Hopbine, please send themto ronsmum@btconnect.com or telephoneSandra at St Michaels on 01568 750665. Welook forward to hearing from you!

Gas pricesGas prices are up 20% since 2017 and 36%since 2016 – so keep an eye on how muchyou are using!

BinsLast year we spent over £3,000 on having ourpark bins emptied. It would help us a great deal if you couldensure you follow the rules about recycling. • The bin with an orange lid is for recy-cleable materials which should be left in aclear bag.• The bin with a grey lid is for generalwaste which should be left in a black bag.• The small bins are for all glass. If you need more advice we have an ex-planatory paper at reception.

New legislation –GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) comes into effect on 25th May. Thisnew law is designed to allow you to havemore control over the data held about youand how it is used. All businesses within theEuropean Union are required to comply. We will send you a separate statement tolet you know how we deal with the data wehold about you and what responsibilities wehave relating to that data, and also whatrights you have concerning your personaldata which we hold.

Wigley Orchard Caravan ParkStoke Bliss Tenbury Wells Worcestershire WR15 8QH

Telephone 01885 410331enquiries@wigleyorchard.co.uk www.wigleyorchard.co.uk

St Michaels Caravan ParkSt Michaels Tenbury Wells Worcestershire WR15 8TW

Telephone 01568 750665stmichaelspark@btconnect.com www.stmichaelscaravans.co.uk

Member

At Wigley Orchard we have an ABI StDavid which is already on hire on pitch 146,and a Willerby Rio Gold on pitch 160 – upin the trees. Shown being craned into posi-tion in our photograph is:Willerby Granada 38 x 12, 2 bedroom £46,600

At St Michaels we have aWillerby Skye £39,995(including siting and connections)and a Swift Biarritz due for delivery in thenext couple of months

The Hopbine May 2018 Page 2

It’s not what youknow ...part 2

New caravans We have a good selection of used caravansavailable for sale at Wigley Orchard. All areready sited with central heating and doubleglazing and with two bedrooms fromaround £10,000. Come and ask at receptionif you are interested in any of these:

2015 ABI Oakley, pitch 113 £25,600

2014 Willerby New Hampton, pitch 121 £22,500

2003 BK Lulworth, pitch 116 £14,995

2004 Willerby Manor, pitch 149 £11,650

2002 Willerby Granada, pitch 13 £10,250

At St Michaels we offer a choice of modelsfrom 2016 and 2017 from around £26,000.

Used caravans

Details of caravans for sale are published on the website. Go to

www.wigleyorchard.co.uk orwww.stmichaelscaravans.co.uk

and follow the links to the For Sale page.

Following our twin granddaughters’ ap-pearance on the Nasdaq billboard in TimesSquare last June (see Hopbine No 64),Henry’s turn came when he went to workwith his mother on “take your son ordaughter to work” day in April. Our daughter-in-law works for Nasdaqand not only did Henry have his starringrole in Times Square, he also got to press thebutton to release the confetti at the closingbell on the stock exchange floor. It’s a Nas-daq tradition to shower confetti when anew company is listed.

“The mower is going to Finland in themorning” – a sentence I didn’t think I’dever hear, or type, but off to Finland themower did indeed go, on the back of a verybig truck. John and his team mates Paul(Blonty) Clarke and Toby Grace followed byair a few days later. They were taking part in the 12-hourLeikkuri Le Mans lawn mower Grand Prix.The race is held outside the rural town ofLavia in southern Finland on the frozenLake Karhijarvi, 124 miles north east ofHelsinki. Drivers have 12 hours to completeas many laps as they can around the 1900metre course – a test of endurance for mow-ers and drivers alike. February in Finland is mostly dark, with

daylight for only five hours a day, and tem-peratures can drop to as low as -13C. 42 teams started the race, including 18from the UK. John and his team completed129 laps – a total distance of 245km. Theirbest speed was 37.16 km/h. They finished29th but were dropped one place for inad-vertently using a non-sanctioned tyre withslightly long studs. John said, “We had some trouble withpunctures and lack of front end grip in lefthand corners. At the end of the race ourmower was mostly held together with cableties and duct tape. “But we all enjoyed it and we can’t waitto go back next year!”

The new Granada takes off ... ... and arrives on its new pitch

Dancing on ice?