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Hearty Happenings
Issue 6
A Message from the Editor
Welcome to the sixth Hearty Happenings. If you have anything you would like included please get in touch by e-mail at maggieeathofe@waitrose.com, by telephone or to my home address, both of which are in your rally folder.
The next publication will be April, so items to me by the end of March please. Margaret
Chairman’s Note
With only the Christmas Dinner weekend in Bournemouth left this year, it is difficult to remember where the year has gone. It is now two years since we launched Heart of England and we will have completed 21 rallies. These have including holiday rallies and a good number of long Bank Holiday weekends. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the members that have run rallies for us, as well as to those that have offered to do so next year.
A great deal has happened over the last two years and it is very pleasing to see The Club settle down into a small but reasonably well formed organisation. We regularly see between 10 and 15 units at most rallies with a core of regulars, who live within the Heart of England area. We are also very pleased to see some of our “out of area” members when they are able to join us.
We have enjoyed a number of excellent rallies since the last edition of Hearty Happenings and reports on these rallies follow. We found out quite a lot about our members at Burford, when all the closet cowboys and Indians (or is it Native Americans) came out for the evening, including our very own Marshal Barry. The guided walk around Lichfield was another highlight of one of the rallies, not to mention the Taste of Staffordshire evening.
Margaret and I are looking forward to our Christmas Dinner weekend in Bournemouth. If the South of England weather works its magic it will be a great opportunity to catch the sea air and visit the German Market, before celebrating our Christmas Dinner.
We are only 12 weeks away from the start of the 2009 rally programme and our Valentine Rally at Diamond Farm. With Valentines’ Day falling on the Saturday we have an appropriate theme for this weekend, not to mention the opportunity to experience The Hearty Helpings Does Puddings! More details on this rally below.
We have 12 rallies planned in a varied programme for 2009 including the Holiday Rally to Germany. Your rally packs will be sent out to you shortly and full details will start to appear on the club web site, which is at www.heartofenglandccclub.org.uk
Many existing members have already renewed for 2009 and we are pleased to welcome a number of new members. If you have not already done so and would like to continue to be members of The Club, please contact Sue as soon as possible.
We have received a tip off that more caravan rallies are going to be inspected next year to ensure that they are complying with the terms of the exemption certificate. Would you therefore please ensure that your membership disc is prominently displayed in your caravan front window as we must not put our exemption certificate at risk.
Margaret and I are looking forward to seeing you at a rally in 2009, in the meantime we would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.
Steve
Rally Happenings - Hoar Park by Sue Stephenson
We arrived on Friday morning in glorious sunshine which set the weather for the whole weekend. None stop sunshine from the minute we arrived to our departure Sunday teatime. It seems a long while since we have seen people sitting outside their units all day but that is what happened, and it was lovely to see.
10 units joined us and we extend a very warm welcome to Pete & Barbara Lovett & Mark & Anne Neale both on their first rally with us. We hope it wasn’t too much of an ordeal and hope to see you on future rallies.
Friday evening saw us sitting outside for refreshments and nibbles and to catch up with friends around the patio heater which kept the evenings chill off. We had an extra visitor this weekend. Skye had come camping with Paula & Rochelle for a birthday treat. On Saturday we heard most people mention ‘Jacksons’. What weekend in this part of the world would be complete without the visit to ‘Jackson’s’ At the park itself was an animal park, craft shops, garden centre and of course the tea-room and I think every member visited one or more of these establishments. Top of the list for the children was obviously the animal farm and park. Saturday evening saw 8 members going off to the restaurant for an evening al a carte candlelit dinner. When they came back they said the food was superb and well worth a visit, and the money, if ever you are in the area to go and treat yourselves. The rest of us had a BBQ together for Skye’s birthday and once again sat around the patio heater until quite late.
On Sunday morning it was lovely to see Judith & Ken visit for coffee, how well they both looked, Refreshments were served. Skye was presented with a birthday cake and card, signed by everyone, amid a chorus of happy birthday. I wonder if this will be a future member? We lingered as did most of the members to make the most of the sunshine well into the late afternoon. Wonderful.
Rally Happenings – Lichfield by Margaret Williams
With a warm welcome and a cup of tea from Graham and Sheila we were soon pitched up and joining our fellow ralliers in a pleasant corner of Cathedral Grange Touring Park.
Friday evening saw us gathered in the marshal’s awning sampling locally produced food and drink. I was unaware of how much there is produced in Staffordshire. We sampled black pudding, oat cakes, marmite plus wines and beers which were all very good. We did sample other foods but due to my advanced years I can’t remember what they were!
Saturday morning was free but the afternoon found us on a guided walk around Lichfield. This was fantastic and the weather was good. We saw the home of Dr Samuel Johnson (the dictionary) and walked the outside of the Cathedral where we learned some of its history. There is so many beautiful old buildings and history in Lichfield which was impossible to learn in one afternoon. We will definitely go back and explore more. We didn’t get time to go into the Cathedral but those that did said how fabulous it was.
After the walk we went to a pub where Graham and Sheila had organised afternoon tea. We had loads of sandwiches, scones, cakes and cheesecakes. It was delicious and enjoyed by all. The food was washed down with lots of tea (or in some cases beer!)
Saturday night saw us back in the marshal’s awning for a drink and lots of chat.
This was a lovely weekend and many thanks to Graham and Sheila for organising a rally in such an interesting place and after what had been such a difficult time for them.
It is good to know that Sheila’s eye continues to improve.
Rally Happenings - Burford by Margaret Williams
This was to be a Country & Western weekend so we were not surprised to be greeted by Buffalo Baz in his cowboy gear – great!
After a cup of coffee and dinner we congregated in the sixth form common room for drinks and nibbles and the obligatory gossip. It was good to see Liz and Steve there all the way from Somerset plus Tony and Trish who hadn’t been out for a while. Jane and John were also out for the first time since Jane’s cataract op. It was good to see her recovered.
On Saturday most people walked into Burford for a stroll around this beautiful Cotswold Town. Fortunately the weather was fine and dry and plenty of time for a chat for those we met en route.
In the evening we went into the hall for an evening of food and entertainment.
We had a supper (all homemade by Margaret and Joan) of soup, quiche, jacket spuds, sausages and beans, followed by apple pie or fresh fruit. There were also coffee and petit fours and mints. It was gorgeous.
The evening was very entertaining with most people having dressed up appropriately; Steve’s favourite was Liz “Minnie” Ha Ha complete with wig!
We tried to do line dancing under the instruction of Sue and Rochelle; horse raced and pinned the badge on the Sherriff. All great fun and everybody took part.
The caretaker of the school had previously been part of a shooting club so gave us a great display of sharp shooting western style. Very interesting.
Thanks must go to Barry and Margaret and Danny and Joan who had put in so much effort to ensure we had a good entertaining weekend. It was great!
Future Happenings - Valantine’s Rally - 13-15 February 2009
Our first rally of 2009 is to be at Diamond Farm, Bletchingdon over the Valentine’s weekend.
It is proposed that the Saturday evening’s entertainment will have a Valentine theme.
We also intend the catering to be Hearty Helpings Does Puddings. The idea will be to have a light main course then a range of British puddings available where you get to try all or some of them. Just to whet your appetite, spotted dick, bread and butter, Christmas and steamed treacle sponge are all on the menu up to now.
As we have only 15 pitches available at this very popular location (all hard standing, electric and with a room to use all weekend) this is a pre booked rally and places will be allocated on a first come basis.
If you would like to be included please send a £10 deposit to Steve at our home address. Please make cheques payable to Heart of England Caravan and Camping Club.
If you have contacted us as a result of the announcement on the web site then your name is on the list but we would be grateful if you would send your deposit.
Steve and Margaret Williams are the Marshals for this rally. If you want to speak to either of them about this rally please get in touch either by e-mail or telephone to the numbers in your rally folder.
Valentine Rally
If you are coming to this rally please let Margaret know the song that is special to you, be it a romantic one or “knees up Mother Brown” we don’t care. You needn’t own up either and we will not let the cat out of the bag!
Have you got a favourite pudding? Let me know and I’ll try to include it in the choices.
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