22 February 2010
Hello campers!
Has anyone warmed up yet? I’ve never known a “cold snap” to last as long as this!! I’m beginning to feel like the michelin man with all the extra layers - if the temperature reaches above ten degrees we’ll all be complaining it’s too hot,we won’t be used to it! Mind you, it hasn’t stopped us eagerly awaiting the start of the new season - we just make sure there’s enough gas in the bottles! And why does it always have to run out in the middle of the night? Someone up there has a wicked sense of humour!
Our first meet was well attended at Whittingham and Goosenargh even though the weather was pretty dismal, and everyone enjoyed celebrating Allan’s 60th birthday with a jacob’s join and attempting to get back into the swing of things with the dancing.The weekend following was sunny but cold, just right for a bracing walk along the prom at St. Anne’s, of course you’d need a little something to warm you up afterwards!! I actually missed Friday night’s get together in the club because I broke down on the way to pick Kevin up from work ( I’m just glad I wasn’t towing!) I’d like to thank people for their concern and offers to drive out and wait with me for the breakdown truck; luckily it was already on its way and I didn’t have to wait long. We reached the site about midnight so there wasn’t much partying going on! On Saturday we got all romantic at the valentine’s social, I think the lads behind the bar were a bit shy though! Sunday saw most of us heading home but it was a five day meet so some lucky ones stayed on; people seem to like these slightly longer meets so hopefully we’ll manage to get a few more if we can get anyone to
steward of course.
We have just come back from our AGM at Langho where it was slightly different in the meeting took place at 4pm; it was straight from the kitchen preparing the buffet into the hall, I had just enough time to take my apron off. The meeting began with the presentation of a cheque for £3,177.71 to Julie Hesketh from the Alzheimer’s Society whch was the magnificent sum all you members raised over the past year – it’s a small world because Julie turned out to be the niece of our own Geoff Hunt!!
Phil reported that Ribblesdale have 117 cards in ( it’s a good job they don’t all camp at once!) the highest meet was 192 units at Lytham and the lowest was 7 at Clapham ( no, not the holiday meet, a weekend rally!!). We have been averaging 30 units per meet and 55 ten meet vouchers were distributed, which is the most ever given out, so someone must like us!! A notice of motion was put forward regarding the club not being able to round up the amount raised for the charity – it turned out we could take a vote on this issue and it was duly passed, so now we can again make the total up to a sensible figure – well, it takes less room up on the cheque!!
Of course no AGM is complete without a committee, and this year there were a few members standing down most notably the chairman who has been doing an admirable job for the last five years, along with the treasurer and regalia officers, Karen and Roy. A list of candidates was read out and voted on. As I was on the way to the kitchen to fire up the urn we were told that the outgoing chairman had presents for everyone who had served on the committee during his time as “the boss” which was a lovely surprise and we were presented with wine and whisky glasses engraved with the Ribblesdale logo – mind you, I broke a cup and a plate in the kitchen so I think I better put mine somewhere safe out of my reach! I’m sure that all my fellow members past and present would join me in thanking Phil and Carol for their thoughtful gifts ( I’m sure Carol had a hand in it somewhere!!)
Of course I’m certain you’re all agog to learn the new committee so here it is:
Chairman Patrick Walsh
Vice Chairman Alison Jepson
Treasurer Silvana Gibson
Secretary Carol Stell
Sites Officer Kevin Barwick
Regalia Officer Jimmy Sutcliffe
Equipment Officer George Smith
Catering Officer Janet Reape
Music Presenters Julie Brierley and Karen Lawson
Social Secretary Lillian Lloyd
I’m sure you wish them all the best for the coming year.
The new chairman’s first job was to present Phil and Carol with flowers, whisky and a painting as a thank you for the good work that they have done for the club – the painting was a landscape entitled Ribblesdale which was very appropriate and hopefully they will get hours of pleasure from it. Paddy also stated that the club is going to get tough with people who arrive early without the permission of the stewards. Some campers have constantly done this and it is not fair on the people who have given up their time to have to start sorting campers out before they have had time to sort themselves out! If you would like to arrive early you must ask the stewards of that particular meet, not the ones who are stewarding the one you are at, or your next door neighbour!! We ask you to respect the stewards decision, and if anyone is found to be breaching this they will forfeit their right to have that meet counted towards their ten meet vouchers. There are plenty of ways to find contact numbers for the stewards; the website, club magazine, meet cards, and if you have no joy then contact a committee member,please don’t just turn up.
Another issue addressed was the use of generators for personal use at weekend meets. Because of some complaints about this it has been decided to try an experiment of allowing generators between the hours of 10am to 12pm and 3pm to 5pm. It would also be polite to let your neighbours know as well. Longer meets and THSs will be at the stewards’ discretion.
The only thing left to do was to choose a charity for the coming year. After a show of hands it was declared that our charity for2010 will be Help for Heroes which I’m sure you agree is a very worthy cause. Don’t forget; if you have any unwanted gifts we will gladly take them off your hands for raffle prizes – let’s see if we can match or better this year’s total! Back to the van for an hour’s snooze (not – why is it that when you fancy a bit of a kip you can’t get to sleep?!!) and then ready for the social which was once again very enjoyable with an excellent buffet. Thanks to all the team who slaved away in the kitchen during the afternoon – actually there’s not a lot of slaving going on it’s quite a sociable atmosphere, just need a glass of wine and we could make it into a party! (That’ll ensure we get volunteers for next year!!)
Our next meet is at Kirkland and Catterall 26 -28 Feb the meet starts at 11am ( surely nobody will want to arrive before then!!) and the following weekend we are at Rolls Royce social club in Barnoldswick, the meet starts at 1pm.
Some of our older members will remember Dorothy Lightfoot who sadly has passed away our condolences go to Percy and family.
And I’d just like to say all the best to Pauline and George who are going into hospital for operations we hope you’ll soon be back out with us.
Well, thats it for now so we'll hopefully see you on the field,
Karen B.
