Sobery at it best

[Grandad Mick]

Hi all I am a relative new boy to caravaning. my wife and I are easy going friendly couple, but when my wife rang a campsite ( no names )to see about us going for a 5 day break they asked are you a member so the wife said a memmber of what when the plumb in the throat voice on the other end of the line said the caravan club of course. so the wife stated that we were in the camping and caravaning club is that the same ,surtainly not was the reply it will cost you an extra £7 a night. So the wife with tonge in cheack asked what's the difference. and the answer was it's like the motoring we are the AA and your in the RAC,so the wife said ok thanks a lot and put the phone down. I thought all us caravaners were of the same ideas and thinking but apparently not.

Regards

Mick

 

[Parksy]

Hi Micheal

It's not snobbery, there are two main clubs.

There is the Caravan Club and the Camping and Caravan Club and both organisations provide facilities for their own members.

The members pay a membership fee which enables them to use the clubs facilities which is why you were asked if you were a club member because although you might not have noticed the site that you rang was owned by or affiliated to the Caravan Club.

Non members have to pay more to use these sites hence the extra

 

[DavidKlyne]

Well said Parksy

Perhaps the person on the phone was slightly taken aback that you had no idea it was a Caravan Club that you had rang and what you have taken as 'plumb in the throat voice' was just an expression of surprie? Surely if you are already in the CC&C you must know of the existance of the CC? Are you sure you are not just having a dig at the Club you are not a member of!

David

 

[Steve L]

Now perhaps with my near 30 years experience of caravanning might bring a little perspective to this.

First of all, I'll start be declaring a total neutrality. By that I mean, I've belonged to both clubs in the past and for the last 20 years I've been an indipendant spirit, as I have no desire to belong to any "club".

In the world today it seems that "must have fashion" is being developed in every thing we do. Yesterday for instance I happened to watch an episode of caravan sites where the presenter was demonstrating the types of camping equipment available and the manner in which he spoke about the camping stoves typified the "accessorize" attitude. He spoke about displaying your high tech stove to impress the other campers.

So getting back to the situation here. has it become a pre-requisit that caravanner "must" belong to any club or is one club higher up the notoriety order than another.

The answer to all is "not realy".

Now to quantify that bold comment.

The first club I belonged to was the caravan club but I was put off by their elaborate rule book which even stated that you should put ypur electic cable out in line with the hook up post and any bends in the cable should be 90 degree's etc. Then they waffled on about washing being hung inside the awning and parking the car a particular way round. My immediate thoughts were "this applies to a field where 5 vans park!" Then the final straw came when I went to visit my brother-in-law at Trecastle. You see he worked for the National Trust as a ranger and at their base they had a CL patch for 5 caravan club members to pitch on. AS the base was close to us we had been down a few weeks earlier and spotted where we would pitch up etc. So when our weekend came up we were not expecting any problems. But whta we got on arrival was amusing to say the least. We parked where we had planned and set about siting the van. Then a chap came over and told us we couldn't park there. I enquired as to who had promoted him and he tried to tell me he was a warden for the caravan club and that we had to obey him. That was it! I promptly told him we had the permission of the national trust ranger to pitch here and pitch here we will. He retalliated with, he'd report us to the CC and we would be removed. As you can imagine I replied with "no need to bother, I quit".

Now with the other club , we joined the Caravan & camping club as they seemed to offer more advice and also an excellet big sites book. As a by product of being a member we also got discounted site fees, well as we thought. But every time we asked about any discount it seemed we'd unfortunately picked the wrong site, week or day to qualify. So having looked at the wow we got for the cash (membership fee) we decided to give them the elbow too.

All along I'd been subscribing to practical caravan and when they started the top 100 sites book I was very happy. Then with the advent of the dot com age we had it made. We can now search for sites, ask for first hand accounts of satisfied visitors and get great free advice.

So I supose I do belong to a club of sorts or is that a group of like minded people who enjoy their hobby without constraint.

I seem to think one of the clubs had that as their directive.

So let's leave the first & second classes behind and just go caravanning. After all we all eat from the same side of the plate.

Steve L.

 

[Parksy]

What Michael appears to be saying is that as a relative newcomer to caravanning he's already a member of the C&CC but it looks as though he and his wife didn't realise that there is a difference between the C&CC and the CC where he was trying to book.

Both clubs have similarities but of course they are completely separate organisations.I don't think that he was trying to infer that one club is of a higher class than another.

 

[Hamer_5041128]

Michael,

All cravanners are different in one way or another.

I have caravaned for 40 plus years and take a different view to steve in leo.

One of the reasons i am a member of the Caravan Club is because they have a rule book.As with any club if you do not agree with the rules then you do not have to join the club.

For the past 15 years or so i have only used one commercial site which i use every other year.All other sites have been Caravan Club sites.

Cravan Club wardens are human like the rest of us and do have off moments.I know a few wardens who are close friends and have seen how their patience can be streched to the limit by caravanners who seem intent on defying the rules.It is time Head Office gave the wardens more support.My own personal view.

CL's are managed by the owners of the CL, and have to abide by certain Caravan Club rules.CL.s are inspected by the Caravan Club, and if the owner breaks the rules can have the right to run the CL withdrawn as some have over the years.

Michael please do not let this one instance put you off.I hope you have many years of caravanning ahead of you and hopefully as members of the Caravan Club.

Hamer

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[Heethers]

Michael l have belonged to the Caravan Club for 3 years and back in the early eighties for 6 years, l have just joined the C&CC as well has the CC to give me more options on where to go, also if l can't get in with one l may get in with the other for

 

[JoannaLesley]

I am fascinated by the concept of a plumb in the throat, or mouth. Wouldn't all that lead weigh a person down? Or even be poisonous? Could it be that you mean a plum?