Rallies - Good or Bad ??

[Ian341]

Hi All,

Out of interest the other day we looked at our nearest CC rally centre website and they have started to go to places more interesting now (instead of the rugby club down the road car park!).

We are now considering going on one of their rallies weekend after next but then I hear off some people that rallies are not friendly and the people are very clicky and competitive, someone recently told us that although a 2005 van isn't thought of as old to us, but to them unless we have an 08 Senator we are classed as owning an old van.

I really do like some places they are visiting now, so are the people really that bad, I thought rallies were meant to be sociable not snobbish ???

Many Thanks

 

[GrahamSouthBrum]

Hi Ian,

The CC are not the only people that rally.

I am a member of several clubs.

Burstner Owners

British Leyland (16 sections around the country)

CC (loads of centres around the country)

When we are able to get away for a week end (work permitting) we look see where the different club sections are going & then book with them.

Just because your local centre are snobish there are other local centres you can go with.

My local centre is the Midland (Brum), but we have been with East & West Warks, Worcs, Hereford, Salop & South Staffs.

Shop arround

 

[JeremyClarksson]

I have read this sort of criticism before, but have never come across the behaviour.

We are now in our fourth year of rallying and have done appx 50+ rallies mainly with our local centre which is very friendly but also with 5 other centres.

I think if you go looking for faults you may find them, but I am sure you like me could find fault with your closest friends if you really want to!

 

[colin(bridgend)]

I attended my first and last rally a few years ago at Margam Park. We arrived early, paid our rally fee and were told to park in a certain area. When the majority of people arrived it was evident that we were out of it as they all parked close to the steward of the event in the form of a "wagon train" circle. The only people who bothered with us and made us feel welcome were an English couple who were touring Wales and were using CLs and rallies as much as possible to keep the cost down. If it was not for this couple we might just as well have been out in the sticks on our own.

When we arrived it turned out that the event organiser was a former school friend of many years ago - he recognised me from Junior School days. It made no difference we were still ignored even though we tried on the Saturday to integrate with the others and told the grandchildren to take part in the games. We are still members of both clubs but for what use God only knows as we certainly wont give anyone the oppertunity in future to take our money and then ignore us in the ignorant manner they demonstrated.

 

[Guest]

I tend to agree with Colin. We did try it once through one of the main caravan Clubs. As he states we found that everybody knew each other alredy, and apart from a 'hello' we did not get the opportunity to be involved too much. They also seemed to want to spend all the time sitting in each other's vans 'gabbing' about God knows what.

Probably if you perservere, eventually you may get into the 'group'. There are those who are 'rally types' and those who are free spirits.

Not my scene I am afraid.

 

[Hazel_374324904]

Ian

Dont be put off by the negative comments of the others i have rallied for years and yes there are the clicky lot but also other people to meet it takes time to build up friendships but you have to start somewhere. I do not belong to any particular centre because i rally with which ever centre close to me has the most interesting locations. We take part in the quizzes and go to the socials. So give it ago you have nothing to loose.

 

[Happy-Lappy]

As Hazel says "Don't be put off by the negative comments"

We joined our local centre last year and sixteen rallies later, have looked back with enjoyment.

As for the 'clicky group' we thought our centre had one, but the more rallies we attended, we realsed that through work commitments they were not always en-masse and therefore it became easier for us to join in more (all the children mixed together straight away), we have now been made welcome in this so called 'clicky group' and the woman meet up off rally for lunch occassionally.

Try a few rallies before you make your choice,

best regards, Martin

 

[CameronBurns]

we are in the yorkshire dales centre and none of that critisism happens. people are welcome no matter how old their caravan (or, dare i say it!) motorhome is.

 

[Auvergne]

I'm afraid our experience of rallies is a negative too. Our first time we were camping with very few other vans given it was the beginning of the season. They proceeded to stab out their windbreakers to our total exclusion and held a bbq, having re-routed all traffic past our van so their environment remained pristine! As we were winding the legs up on the Sunday morning the "chairman" came and thrust a diary of future events into our hand.

Battered but unbowed we tried again. I'm afraid everbody in the click is reserved places in the "inner sanctum", the rest of us get wherever we can. If there is a rally with a number of EHUs these are always "dobbed" before anybody else gets a chance.

Rallies are just a microcosm of society, you have the givers, you have the takers, you have the rough, you have the smooth - usually its never the twain shall meet, unless of course you have friends in high places.

 

[Auvergne]

Oh, and I forgot to mention, our experience was with "the friendly club"!!

 

[cheryl.mark@yahoo.co.uk]

Hi

We have rallied with the CC and enjoyed every minute of it, I totally disagree with the negative comments made about clicks etc, what we have to remember is that some of these railliers have been doing it for 30yrs+ so they are bound to know eachother well? We have always been made to feel welcome in our club, even in winter with out 2 young children we have been on rallies with no children and the ralliers have made a fuss of them and us. We stupidly ran out of gas on a cold winters morning and one of the rally marshalls gave us a gas bottle to tide us over, they are friendly folk, and alot of hard work must go into organising these events for us the members. All you can do is try it, each rally is different so look at the events and see what you fancy, we have been on 6 in 2 yrs and enjoyed everyone of them. They are also a very affordable way of caravanning. I am also a member of the friendly club but have not yet attended one of their meets so cant comment on them. You can also go on any other centre rally within the club so its worth checking out other centres near your area. I am a member of the South Lancs centre and they are a lovely bunch of people who do their best to make new ralliers feel welcome.

 

[Auvergne]

People are friendlier up there Cheryl, good luck to you.

 

[woodsieboy]

Hi All

An alternative is to go on the reader rallies run by PC magazine, we have been on 3 in the UK and the one to Brittany just gone. Always well run and organised,nobody is forced to do anything, but if you want to join in they always seem friendly, we met people years ago on one rally who are still friends and just back from a weekend away with friends we made on the Brittany rally, which we thought was a particularly good trip.They are normally advertised well in advance in the magazine and on the homepage of the forum.

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

ive joined the local cc one and received my confirmation a few weeks ago with a voucher for a free weekend rally valid till may 09.

im still a bit undeceided yet.

my inlaws are in the jaguar rally one and they have a great time its not clicky either cos we popped in when they wasnt far away.

jo

 

[LEE_374393874]

ive joined the local cc one and received my confirmation a few weeks ago with a voucher for a free weekend rally valid till may 09.

im still a bit undeceided yet.

my inlaws are in the jaguar rally one and they have a great time its not clicky either cos we popped in when they wasnt far away.

jo

If you are in the Yorkshire area, give Yorkshire Friends Ralliers a go.

www.yorkshirefriendsralliers.piczo.com

They made us feel more than welcome from day one, and continue to.

We are also members of the East Yorkshire Centre CC, apart from only a one occasion.. They have also made us feel welcome.

"Shop around" until you find a club you warm to, we have been members of The Touring Caravan Club, Yorkshire Rose CCC and the Camping and Caravanning Club's Yorkshire DA. All OK but Yorkshire Friends has been the friendliest (continually).

 

[waffler]

We go with CC and CCC. Called different things but the same.

Give it a try but go a few times to get to know people. We moved centres because the women in the first one all smoked and we got back to the van like kippers. The centre we've been with for 3 years now is brilliant. kids welcome, dinner dance in posh suit for those who want and the best new year in many a year. (One of our members has a toilet tent their van is so old!)

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

Ian what area of the country do you live in?.

jo-anne

 

[Parksy]

We are thinking about giving rallies a try this year with our local C&CC district association but we need to find out whether dogs are allowed to roam loose at rallies or if they must be kept on leads.

I don't want to cause an argument on the forum but our situation is that I like dogs and have been brought up around them and kept 3 faithful dogs in succession during my adult life.

My partner on the other hand suffers from a phobia as a result of a childhood incident which left her permanently physically and mentally scarred.

She's fine with small dogs but anything much bigger than a Jack Russell will see her staying inside the caravan making excuses not to venture outdoors and finding it impossible to relax. It's not a dislike of dogs, she likes small dogs and on the majority of sites that we've stayed at dog owners have kept their animals on leads.

We stayed at one certified site last year where dogs were allowed to be loose and although I have spent a lot of time persuading Herself that not every dog in the world is considering attacking her the stay at the otherwise idyllic site was blighted and she didn't feel able to sit outside in the sunshine and couldn't walk to the shower or toilets without me.

At another site again last year we were invited to a barbeque and a guest arrived who lived locally.

When this guest learned of our problem she went to her home nearby and returned with her two German Shepherd dogs which were then allowed to wander loose prompting a hasty retreat back to our caravan for Herself.

The GSD owner imagined that by letting her dogs roam around she was 'curing' my o/h of her phobia which of course didn't happen.

We have no wish to spoil the enjoyment of others or change any long standing practice, we know that the majority of caravanners who own dogs are responsible owners but if there are loose dogs we'd rather not go and so avoid any problems.

Does anybody if dogs are kept on leads at rallies?

 

[LMH]

Hi Parksy

Sorry to hear about your partners situation.

I think it's wrong to allow dogs to roam free where there are people present (hunt meets etc excepted). I haven't been on a rally but if I was told dogs would be on the lose, then I would not go. It's not acceptable in my eyes for numerous reasons.

So sorry to hear about the silly woman with the GSD's stupid is an understatement. If I'd have been there, I'd have put those dogs on a lead myself and handed them back to her even if it meant upsetting people.

Lisa xxxx

 

[Happy-Lappy]

Parksy,

I rally with the Avon Centre of the CC and all dog owners on these rallies, obey with the club rules of always having the dog(s) on a leash whilst walking, or tethered when outside the van on their own.

When off the rally field (or in a designated dog run) they are no longer required to abide by the club rules, but they still keep their dogs under strict control.

I have never been on a C&CC rally so cannot pass comment on them,

best regards, Martin

 

[Gerald_374336620]

Why not join an owners club. We belong to the Compass Owners Club. Rallies are held all over the country. This years holiday rally is in France. If anyone is interested you can join on the website www.compass-owners-club.co.uk.

Cheers,

Gerald

 

[Parksy]

We thought about the owners club Gerald but the idea of rallying with our d.a. is so that we can enjoy using the caravan more often without travelling very far whilst enjoying the company of fellow club members.

If the normal club rules apply we should be ok, we were wondering if they were relaxed for dog owners on rallies.

We have no wish to alter any rules or stop dog owners from enjoying their pets and if it's normal practice for dogs to roam loose on rallies that's fine, who are we to complain? It's just that we'd like to know what to expect beforehand before deciding to go on rallies.

Lisa, the GSD owner told me that she kept six GSD's which she had 'rescued'. It seemed to me that she was risking the safety of all present by allowing her dogs to wander around, how could she know the full background of any dog in that situation? I thought that she was also being unfair to the dogs.

We didn't make any fuss or draw attention to the level of my o/h's phobia, we simply left quietly and let the silly woman have her five minutes worth of attention which was what she seemed to crave.

 

[LMH]

Hi Parksy

Dogs wandering around unsupervised can cause numerous problems, far too many for me to go into on here.

Not only that, more than one dog and you have a pack......... In some situations and circumstances even two fluffy little pocket dogs might shock you.

Sorry your evening was ruined.

Lisa xxx

 

[Parksy]

Hi Parksy

Dogs wandering around unsupervised can cause numerous problems, far too many for me to go into on here.

Not only that, more than one dog and you have a pack......... In some situations and circumstances even two fluffy little pocket dogs might shock you.

Sorry your evening was ruined.

Lisa xxx

Hi Lisa

It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good ....

As an alternative we found a nice riverside pub which served great food, good beer and we sat outside by the river Cam chatting to some friendly local people so we made the best of it and salvaged our evening anyway.

 

[LMH]

Hi Parksy

Dogs wandering around unsupervised can cause numerous problems, far too many for me to go into on here.

Not only that, more than one dog and you have a pack......... In some situations and circumstances even two fluffy little pocket dogs might shock you.

Sorry your evening was ruined.

Lisa xxx

Now that sounds more like it.

Lisa xx