National Rally2019

Back from the National, this afternoon. Our first C&MC event.

Wow, how well organised? A lot of vans.... vast majority arriving and leaving within a small time window....no queuing on either way in or out and I suspect we were at peak times. Late morning Sat and Tues.  Get those organisers on Brexit! 

So much to do and see, we never got to have a look around Ragley Hall. 

Why, oh why do so many people drive around during the event? Fully understand blue badge holders and some organiser vehicles but some seemed to routinely drive up to the village area. Made it far less pleasant walking around and put our children off cycling on their own, as a result. 

Also surprised by the number of inconsiderate campers we encountered. Saturday night was particularly bad.... families allowing their children run around noisely, whilst they played loud music until 1030, despite there being a number of other families nearby trying to get their younger children to bed. Worst behaviour I've seen where camping anywhere. We'd never let ours behave like that...

EHU... seemingly the hot topic of this thread... it worked well, couldn't hear generators from our pitch, ran our fridge, charged our phones, even coped with the hoover and our kettle. Could we have coped with out it? Absolutely.

Will we go back, or try another club event? Probably. The National 2020 venue is too far for us, for just a long weekend, so we'll skip a year unless we both have the week off in which case we could make a longer trip out of it. 

I see the next one is Belvoir Castle in Leics, another good venue. Thanks for reporting back 7ncj, what a pity there was a lot of vehicle movement. When we went previously the children around us had a great time getting together and could play safely. But it sounds like you enjoyed all the things on offer and you were well away from the dreaded generators! Good to hear an honest report. 

There was indeed a lot of traffic this year, unfortunately a lot of it was down to the motor show which was routed through the exits we were using and sadly quite a few drivers were totally oblivious to our 5mph rules and indeed many of us on the gates felt we were taking our lives into our own hands trying to separate car show from day visitors and general C&MC traffic. The decision to send the cars our way was sadly out of our hands but this is a problem when a venue has other events on over the same weekend. It is not easy to find venues whether they be stately homes or showgrounds that will give exclusivity for a bank holiday, showgrounds are even less likely to give us access for the time we need to set up and dismantle afterwards. 

Roll on Belvoir Castle 2020 

Alison

See you there Alison

Many years ago Centres used to avoid having rallies over the period of the National as so many members attended.  As the popularity of the National dwindled many Centres, including the one I am in, organised rallies over the National weekend and these rallies have been very popular.  Shame that the CAMC hadn't done more research into why the National isn't as popular as it used to be and addressed the issues.

I was not aware of excessive motor vehicle traffic considering the metal temporary roadway was the only link between the two parts of the site, with the road to the outside world in between. Expensive to hire, no doubt, but a very wise move. What could encourage more use of bicycles would be having bike parks closer to the activities.

Non-EHU pitches were available (without any discount) if one was pitched on the end of a row and further from the electrical outlet box than the length of a standard cable. This was mentioned in the Information Pack suggesting we each brought two leads. Strange how joining leads is encouraged at the National Rally, yet banned on sites! Maybe the connection lying in long wet grass makes it safer . . . ? No sound from generators where I was pitched as they were well away from "lines" and sort of over the crest of a hill.

There seemed to be less outfits attending than anticipated as there were large areas marked out as pitches (and cabled up) lying unused. The quality of food was good, as were the traders, but there seemd to be very few of either. Perhaps the dropping of the word "rally" from the official title a couple of years ago is significant as it seemes to be moving towards being a show. Perhaps before long non-members will be able to attend.

Well that was our 3rd National & on each of them we've been sited pretty close to the blooming generators which were rattling away 24 hours a day. Makes a mockery of their "Green" aspirations in the rally book, all those lovely exhaust fumes being pumped out!

Also really amazing considering the club state that generators shouldn't be used on site between 6PM & 9AM! Unless it suits the club of course.

A case of double standards or what!

Ragley hall was my first rally
I liked the evening entertainment, particularly the' ELO Experience' and 'Brass Lyrical'.

The number of traders and food outlets I thought was a good mix and plenty of.

I was surprised to hear that the 'Volunteers' had to pay the same entrance fee as the rest of us. Come on organisers, you couldn't hold a rally without the volunteers. let them in for free next time.

The other entertainment put on in the side tents seemed to be well attended.

I thought the 'Opening Ceremony' was rather poor in terms of the time it took, lots of waffle, poor sound system, brass band placed too far to one side of the arena. This needs rehearsing for future events.

The electric hook up, waste water disposal and fresh water collection were good. More toilets around the main arena were needed.

The price of  beer and drinks in general was excellent. Well done to the bar staff. Why do people take bags full of wine and spirits in to a venue rather than purchase over the bar.

My only gripe about the weekend was the number of pets and the noise they produced in the bar area. I did ask a member of the bar staff if they could have a word with one pet owner whose pet was constantly howling during one of the music performances. I was told that there was nothing the staff could do and I should write to head office.

Overall, not a bad week-end but this will be my last visit to a 'National Rally'.

We thought exactly the same about the volunteers paying....and couldn’t believe it when it was announced some had been on site for 3 weeks beforehand! I’d happily pay another £10 to cover their entrance fees. 

Perhaps getting a hi-viz and an earpiece is another reward?! I jest, all the volunteers I met were super helpful and friendly, non fitting the stereotype officious volunteer control freak. 

We attended the Charlbury National, being my 4th National and my wife's first. Remember the nationals as a teenager back in the '70's when an excess of 3000 units booked in - and if you hadn't booked by end of January you had no chance.

That was our last, my wife was not impressed and for me reflecting on what happened in the past can understand why these rallies are smaller now.

Just returned from Stoneleigh, Warner Leisure Motorhome show, there was an excess of 2000 units there for a normal weekend. Perhaps CMC should look at what others are doing that's attracting people.