TOWBALL

The Gloucestershire Centre Newsletter

June/July 2010

Crealy Adventure Park, ExeterMay 28th - 31st Friday until Monday

Rally Officers: Phil & Ann Trotman, Mike & Debbie Fishwick

Weather: mostly dry - some rain on Saturday

Arrived on Friday evening to a warm welcome from the rally

officers. Superb location for a family rally. Unexpected facilities of

basic toilets laid on by Crealy. Field ideal - plenty of room for

children to play (kick about, fly kites, play Cricket etc.) without being

too close to the vans. Also plenty of space to exercise dogs away

from the vans. Must compliment all parents and dog owners who

attended the rally on how well their charges behaved, a credit to the

club.

Plenty for everyone to do all weekend, quiet, no noise from the

adventure park, left to our own devices, not hassled by Crealy staff.

Really good weekend, will definitely attend next time

A big thank you to the rally officers for organising a fantastic rally.

The Dickinson family (Somerset)

National Rally,

Weston Park, Shropshire.May 28th - 1 June

The National Rally was held in the magnificent grounds of Weston

Park, Shropshire over May Bank Holiday. It was our first attenda-

nce at a National Rally and we were surprised by the busy and

varied programme of events for all ages throughout the day and

evening. Our children loved the free MayDay Club where they took

part in arts & crafts, face painting, circus workshops, Velcro play

area and the climbing wall as well as meeting and holding over 20

animals. To appeal to all age groups there was a sports area where

you could watch or take part in activities. In the main arena was the

band of the Brigade of Gurkhas, Welsh Horse Yeomanry’s musical

ride, Adams Axemen and the Cheshire Dog Display Team. There

was also a community area with shops, food hall and numerous

retailers.

Weston Park is a 17th century stately home. We enjoyed spending

time at the Woodland Adventure Playground, riding on the

miniature railway and riding our bikes through the woodland. On

the Sunday evening we met up with fellow Gloucestershire

members at the cheese and wine social. The next National Rally

will take place at Sledmere House, East Yorkshire on 27th - 31st May

2011. If you have not attended a National Rally before, keep a look

out in the CC magazine for details of next year’s event. We’ll be

there!

Emma, Richard, Abigail and James Bennett

Cattle Drive at Ebdon BowMay 27th - June 1st

Rally Officers:- Paul & Stephanie King

Malcolm & Brenda Pellatt

After a slow trip down the M5 we arrived at the site at

Ebdon Bow to be greeted by our friendly rally officers

and sited. After a relaxing set up we all met at the

officers van for tea, coffee and biscuits followed by Mr

Eric Clapton on his Stratocaster singing some old

favourites (voluptuous dancers and all) then it was

back to the vans for more refreshment.

Saturday morning saw the start of the bank holiday

monsoon but as usual this was shrugged off and

everyone did their own thing laughing in the face of

adversity, the evening brought on the social. We all

made our way to the saloon for a Country and Western

night, at the door we were met by Sheriff King and his

deputies,

we all

chose our

tables got

into teams

and started

the

hoedown

with a quiz.

This was followed by bangers, beans and mash and

mash and mash served by wishbone Pellatt (infact if

you contact Wishbone Pellatt he has some mash left)

fantastic food, everyone had their fill. Killer skittles

was next and after the final shootout this was won by

Jan, Rian and Becky, the evening ended with Dolly

Pardon and her friends blasting out a few songs from

the whirlitzer as the

posse made its way

back to the camp fires.

Sunday morning saw

the wagon train getting

slowly up to dust

themselves down and

relax throughout the

day and chatter about how many pounds of spuds we all ate the night before,

the weather was dry but windy and some camp fires could still be seen

smoldering in the morning breeze.

Monday saw the wagon train begin to take its own path but not before flag

had been taken by Mr Ian (fingers) Willoughby who thanked the site owners

and the rally officers for a super rally on a wonderful site.

It was nice to see a new family rallying for the first time and we all hope to see

them again very soon

This tow ball report was written by one of the members of Billy Smarts corner,

we all had a great time. Our thanks to sheriff King, Wishbone Pellatt, pistol packin Steph and Brenda ( calamity Jane )

Pellatt but not forgetting rin tin tin the dog.

Ian Wherrett

ELTON FARM CENTRE FISHING RALLY

17 to 20 JUNE 2010

Rally Officers: John Harris & Judy Sims

Mike & Anne Davis

Weather: Mostly extremely Very Sunny and a little rain on Friday

Pat and myself arrived in brilliant sunshine to a field bare of ralliers onlythe rally officers were present. It was not long before the fishingstalwarts the MacCormicks (Jade and Ian) arrived and that was all untilthe main body arrived on Friday. So it was a case of going out for theday on Friday and a return to a nearly full field.

Saturday morning brought the early risers to be ready for the 8 am start.There was a bit of a breeze that kept the temperature down so thefishing did not live up to expectations no 100 lb nets for us IanMacCormicks managed 6 lb 15 ozs .

In the afternoon it was down to our only two juniors to do battle withJade MacCormicks putting the seniors to shame once again with 13 lb14 ozs.

There was a communal BBQ in the evening but the temperaturedropped and we retired to our awnings etc.

Sunday was the pairs contest with expectations of large catches but noit was the same old firm, I was able to watch my partner win the pairsfor us with 35 lb 1 oz and I sat 15 feet away fishing the same line andsame bait and kept my net dry.

At Flag we were able to congratulate Ted and Eileen Clack on theirDiamond Wedding (60 years) they also received congratulations fromthe Queen.

Once again we had a very enjoyable rally and thanks to those whoattended and the Rally Officers for there time and organisation.

Report by John Robertson

To the right are some photograph's also sent in by John Robertson

Following the demise of the Junior Link Up through a lack of teenagers within the participating Centres of Avon,Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Upper Thames, the very first “Family” Link-Up was hosted by Somersetlast year at Frome. Although attracting only a small number of vans at this venue, everyone enjoyed the newformat of the rally, and it was agreed to continue with the event, and so under beautiful blue skies we arrived atClifton RFC for the second “Family Link-Up”, hosted by the Avon Centre.

Friday evening was a get together for Sports Officers and Centre Officers to discuss the format and timings of thegames on Saturday, so we went along with Michelle. Our thanks to Avon for providing a nice selection of nibblesand drinks whilst we were doing so!

For the other ralliers, it was a chance to socialise with friends old and new.

Saturday morning – another beautiful hot sunny day, and the Family Games got under way.

The games were open to anyone of any age to participate in, and were well supported.

Boules and Quoits were played in pairs on a knockout basis, whilst the other games of “Inflatable Connect 4”,Skittles, Croquet, Horseshoes, Lawn Darts and Hoop-La were judged on a highest score basis.

With lots of entries, the Fun Games continued into the afternoon (after a decent break for lunch), and then it wastime for Volleyball. Mixed teams from the competing Centres took part, and teams of younger members werealso allowed to play against each other, and these games were enjoyed by all.

With the excellent weather, out came the barbecues for an evening meal, and we were treated to an enjoyableside-show of younger (and not so young) ralliers sliding down a prepared run of lightweight plastic sheeting,coated with water and bubble bath. It was really good to see so many kids getting together and having fun.

We concluded our evening by socialising with Phil Sambrook (a former young Gloucestershire Centre member)and his wife Angie, and Glyn & Jenny Ball and Geoff and Jan Randall, also of the Wiltshire Centre.

We woke up on Sunday to another glorious day, with Flag taking place at 11.00 a.m. (very convenient for gettinghome in time for the England - Germany match, but we will say no more about that!). Gloucestershire were wellrepresented when “Winners” plaques were handed out, with Ian Wherrett, Dayna Willoughby and MichelleBassett winners of three of the fun games.

A wonderful weekend, enjoyed I’m sure by all 26 vans in attendance. Although the numbers were again quitelow, the format itself has proved a great success, and we can only hope that the word gets around how enjoyablethis rally is for members of ALL ages.

In 2011, it is the turn of Gloucestershire to host this event, and whilst we have not yet decided on a venue, wehave learned a lot from the past two Link-Up’s and look forward to producing an event next year which will beonce again an enjoyable, friendly rallying experience.

To our members – please support us next year as we are sure that the other Centres will be hoping to increasetheir numbers and it really is a weekend to look forward to.

Graham & Ann Bevan

FAMILY LINK-UPat Clifton Rugby Club, Bristol

June 25th – 27th 2010

THE DOWNS SCHOOL WRAXALL

15th - 19th July

Rally Officers: Dave & Julie Allen, Graham & Molly Freeman

Weather:- Gale force winds, very heavy thunder showers at night with some daytime sun.

WE arrived on Thursday in strong wins to be greeted by Dave

who before showing us to our pitch asked, if we were going

shopping could we get him some toilet roll as he had forgotten

to pack any spare ,once sited we found him a spare that we

had brought back from Germany, this being narrower than our

English ones. Little did we know at this point that one of the

competitions was to translate motor parts from German into

English, We might add we did go on to win this competition

although some of the answers were not suitable to read out at

Flag.

There was lots to see and do in the area including Oakham

Treasures, which brought back many memories to those

who paid a visit, also Tyntesfield Mansion and Gardens

was well worth a visit, Noah's Ark Zoo Farm was just

along the road with Bristol, Portishead, Clevedon and

Weston Super Mare but a short drive away.

Friday night was a Garden Party with various games with

Kieth having the highest score for the man and Mrs Jewel

from Cumbria the highest lady. Saturday was an

American and Sunday Card Bingo. Molly supplying tea

and coffee at each event.

Thank you to julie and Dave, Molly and Graham for

organising this very enjoyable rally at a new venue, we

certainly enjoyed it and would come againand I am sure

others enjoyed it as well

Jeanette & Kieth Seabright

Things were going swimmingly

at Midsummer Fairford. All the

vans had been seen safely to

their pitches, the Chinese meal

had been ordered from the

local take away, time to sit

back and relax? not on your

Nelly - A piercing cry rings out, for a moment I thought someone

was running a generator or some equally heinous crime but no,

"someones taken my fluorescent jacket cries the baron (Paul

King) my Fleece has gone also shouts his faithful butler Jeaves

(Tom Lockyer). A puzzled look streaks across Rowland Woodward's

face, " I'm sure they were here earlier" he chimes. Everyone has a

search around but can't come up with any reasonable explanation

and so it is decided to go to bed and sleep on it, but, I think I

detected a strange glint in miss Marples ( Brenda Pellatt ) eye,

could it be my lucky night? no, earlier she had been browsing

around Auntie Wainwright's (Ann Bevan) Emporium searching for

some reading material when

she spied said sales lady trying

to offload a similar fluorescent

jacket on to some unsuspect-

ing passer by. (see picture

left).

When confronted with the evid-

ence Auntie Wainwright said "

i'ts a fair cop guv " she also

pleaded guilty to disposing of

the missing fleece belonging to

Jeaves, Feeling it to be unsaleable she had, under the cover of

darkness, thrown it in a nearby skip.

THE THE THE THE CASE CASE CASE CASE OFOFOFOFTHE THE THE THE MISSINGMISSINGMISSINGMISSINGJACKETS..........JACKETS..........JACKETS..........JACKETS..........Mysterious Happeningsat Fairford R.I.A.T Rally

Auntie Wainwright peddles her wares prior

to the incident

The Guilt is plain to see?

Disclaimer: The above account of events are probably the result of my warped imagination and isin no way intended to insult or offend any of the characters, for a bit of fun only.

Picture above shows our intrepid

heroes recovering the missing fleece

Left: In search

of the not so

golden fleece

Right: Near

miss? the

jacket nearly

sold for a

song

Weather: Very good

This rally commenced on Wednesdaywith one arrival, Thursday three morearrived, the others on Friday - making atotal of 14 vans on site.

The plannedSkittles Even-ing was cancel-leddue to thelow numbers,but as the weat-her was fantas-tic there was noneed to go indoors.

The Sun shone almost continually throu-ghout the rally with deck chairs verymuch in use. A lot of the time was spentwatching the magic of the Severn tides

and the hustle & bustle of the traffic onthe other side of the water whilst we "chi-lled out".

Saturday the "TEAM" organised a communalBBQ for a get together which was very enjoy-able.

Sunday morning Flag was held with theusual snippets of news - competition win-ners and raffle announcements. All toosoon it was time to leave.

Many thank to the "TEAM" Barrie andSue, Dave & Sue for all their hard work &for giving up their time to run this rally

Molly & Graham Freeman

ArlinghamJuly 7th - 11th

Rally Officers: Barrie & June Blackmore

David & Sue Finch

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