National 2016
This was the first CCN that we have attended, we took our two grandchildren aged six and eleven. We did not know what to expect. The weather over the five days stayed dry, the majority of the time enjoying the sun. The organised activities kept the kids
on the go and we're well managed. The arena shows were great for all ages with a good mixture of events. We must congratulate the Marshals on their enthusiasm and friendliness and committing the time to make the rally such a success.
Comments
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It is difficult to think what it could be called if not a rally. Perhaps there is a fear that openly calling it that will show up other events as inferior.
And as "National" is an adjective, if it isn't a "national rally", what then is it a "national " of?
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There was a lot of discussion prior to the word 'Rally' being dropped, with suggestions solicited for an alternative term for these get togethers. It was agreed then that so many members had no idea what a 'rally' really was and another percentage were averse
to the very idea (many simply because they did not know or had a totally false impression of rallying). With no better choice forthcoming the word was simply dropped from the title of this event.Alison
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Its the National Rally. They have the Scottish National rally. The Welsh National rally . the one you are talking about is the English.National rally but to some people England means the UK so they just call it the National rally. Some have even dropped the name rally erroneously
I dont know why they are ashamed to call it a rally any more ---Rallies can be good fun. Ive enjoyed many over the years and I'm not ashamed to say--- I am a rallier. Time for ralliers to come out of hiding -- there is nothing to be ashamed of.
K
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This was the first CCN that we have attended, we took our two grandchildren aged six and eleven. We did not know what to expect. The weather over the five days stayed dry, the majority of the time enjoying the sun. The organised activities
kept the kids on the go and we're well managed. The arena shows were great for all ages with a good mixture of events. We must congratulate the Marshals on their enthusiasm and friendliness and committing the time to make the rally such a success.I hear this time and time again from first timers, no matter how much advertising is done - there really is no way to explain just what a National is like. Whether those first-timers have ever done a rally or not, it is NOT like any ordinary rally in any
way, shape or form. It is a once a year event, meticulously planned by a team of experts and they don't throw money at it, it is run mostly by volunteers, who pay the same fees to attend as everyone else and work their bu**s off to make it run as smoothly
as possible. We are not talking hundreds of outfits here we are talking THOUSANDS and most people really cannot envisage an event on that scale unless they have actually attended. So, if anyone has the slightest curiosity about a National, don't listen to
others, no-one can give an informed opinion unless they have actually attended one, you will either love it or hate it, it is only one week a year...Live it
Alison
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There was a lot of discussion prior to the word 'Rally' being dropped, with suggestions solicited for an alternative term for these get togethers. It was agreed then that so many members had no idea what a 'rally' really was and another percentage were averse
to the very idea (many simply because they did not know or had a totally false impression of rallying). With no better choice forthcoming the word was simply dropped from the title of this event.Alison
So there was a lot of disscussions as to what replace the R word with. But obviously the decision had already been made. Consultation and decision making Caravan Club style.
Since the dropping of the word Rally what direction have the numbers attending gone?
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The thing I always wonder about is the effect of so many caravans departing within a relatively short time frame from a single point on traffic in the surrounding area. Such congestion must do little to endear caravanners to local motorists.
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The thing I always wonder about is the effect of so many caravans departing within a relatively short time frame from a single point on traffic in the surrounding area. Such congestion must do little to endear caravanners to local motorists.
Write your comments here...Particularly if the Rally site was a muddy quagmire and vans were contaminating the exit roads with mud and earth.
K
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The thing I always wonder about is the effect of so many caravans departing within a relatively short time frame from a single point on traffic in the surrounding area. Such congestion must do little to endear caravanners to local motorists.
You should go and see for yourself CY, routing to and from the National is very planned with more than one entry and exit point.
peedee
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You would think so CY but now with the National lasting to the Wednesday people starting leaving from the Bank Holiday Monday with us leaving on the Tuesday hence a gradual departure rather than en masse Wednesday.This venue Kennine was a perfect venue with
tarmacam roads around Weston Park.What did surprise me was the amount of vans and motorhome there on the Friday and we got there 10'clock ish.0 -
Even allowing for an element of staggered departure times and several exits, I would imagine there would still be major congestion for a ten mile radius or so.
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I've never encountered any CY but I am not one of these that has to be there at opening time. I would imagine that is when there might be. Any queues that form are usually at the entrances and they move pretty rapidly. The Club organise and marshall the
traffic flows pretty well in my view.peedee
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When I arrived there was a regular stream of arrivals but nevertheless, there were no traffic hold-ups; the traffic seemed to flow quite smoothly as far as I could see.
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It was more the exodus that I had in mind that might be problematic.
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It was more the exodus that I had in mind that might be problematic.
It could be a problem if we were all leaving at the same time and all going in the same direction, but in many years of attending Nationals we have never had any problems (or hold-ups) leaving, as said before there are often multiple exit routes if it is deemed there might be a problem. Of course it does depend on where it is, each site is considered carefully for its access, possibly some of the hardest sites are those in Norfolk simply because of a lack of motorways in that area and the further we have to go to get to those the more likely there are to be congestion difficulties, but then that is when more routes are added for access.
As for the fact that there were a lot of vans already on site when the rally officially opens on friday, that is the team that go in, some (like the electrics team) weeks in advance to set everything up. Just as many cannot envisage what a National is like in terms of size, it is also hard to imagine the size of team needed to make this event run smoothly whatever is thrown at it
Alison
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The exodus didn't happen all at the same time. I think about half left on Tuesday and the remainder on Wednesday. There were no traffic hold-ups when I left on Wednesday morning. It was a smooth run along the M54. There was some congestion on the M6 but
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Hello all you regular contributors.This is my first post but I think it is interesting that at the National there was a get together scheduled with coffee and biscuits for the Club Together community.The only attendees were club staff and the winners of
the Caravanner of the Year contest,who were dissapointed not to be able to meet some of the posters who were so critical.Where was everyone? Does anyone who posts on Club Together actually caravan at all? Just a thought.0 -
Hello all you regular contributors.This is my first post but I think it is interesting that at the National there was a get together scheduled with coffee and biscuits for the Club Together community.The only attendees were club staff and the winners of
the Caravanner of the Year contest,who were dissapointed not to be able to meet some of the posters who were so critical.Where was everyone? Does anyone who posts on Club Together actually caravan at all? Just a thought.Write your comments here...I was at the National and would have liked to have attended it except that I had no information on when and where to go for it.
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Hello all you regular contributors.This is my first post but I think it is interesting that at the National there was a get together scheduled with coffee and biscuits for the Club Together community.The only attendees were club staff and the winners of
the Caravanner of the Year contest,who were dissapointed not to be able to meet some of the posters who were so critical.Where was everyone? Does anyone who posts on Club Together actually caravan at all? Just a thought.Write your comments here...I was at the National and would have liked to have attended it except that I had no information on when and where to go for it.
Seek and ye shall find -
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We were all given details at the National of all the events happening each day. The CT meet happened at the same time as the ramble organised by the scottish regions and also the bike ride (if I recall correctly.) Our SW regional get together also happened just as the CT meet was ending. We had a CT invite on here which received several responses, some unfortunately in the negative. I decided not to go for various reasons and I'm sorry to hear no-one else attended. I saw two of the couples who participated in COTY which was nice as they are obviously friendly people who entertained the nation in a gentle humourous way. I even saw MM's outfit when I was walking through the park but he was off site! Many, familiar to me, participants on CT have now stopped posting and I no longer support it in it's present form, particularly certain posts that add liitle but are posted to gain pointless points!! I had a lovely social time at the National and enjoyed meeting some of the people I'd met on previous rallies, that was enough for me.
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Hello all you regular contributors.This is my first post but I think it is interesting that at the National there was a get together scheduled with coffee and biscuits for the Club Together community.The only attendees were club staff and the winners of the Caravanner of the Year contest,who were dissapointed not to be able to meet some of the posters who were so critical.Where was everyone? Does anyone who posts on Club Together actually caravan at all? Just a thought.
I would also like to reply to this with it's veiled criticism, not all of us spend time on here wasting valuable air time although healthy crticism is valuable, this is one of the things that has put me off posting on here.
Now back to my hols in Cumbria on a nice CC site!
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Hello all you regular contributors.This is my first post but I think it is interesting that at the National there was a get together scheduled with coffee and biscuits for the Club Together community.The only attendees were club staff and the winners of
the Caravanner of the Year contest,who were dissapointed not to be able to meet some of the posters who were so critical.Where was everyone? Does anyone who posts on Club Together actually caravan at all? Just a thought.I would also like to reply to this with it's veiled criticism, not all of us spend time on here wasting valuable air time although healthy crticism is valuable, this is one of the things that has put me off posting on here.
Now back to my hols in Cumbria on a nice CC site!
Which site? There's a vague possibility that we may be visiting a Cumbrian site in the next few days. If farm life doesn't get in the way.
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Hello all you regular contributors.This is my first post but I think it is interesting that at the National there was a get together scheduled with coffee and biscuits for the Club Together community.The only attendees were club staff and the winners of
the Caravanner of the Year contest,who were dissapointed not to be able to meet some of the posters who were so critical.Where was everyone? Does anyone who posts on Club Together actually caravan at all? Just a thought.I would also like to reply to this with it's veiled criticism, not all of us spend time on here wasting valuable air time although healthy crticism is valuable, this is one of the things that has put me off posting on here.
Now back to my hols in Cumbria on a nice CC site!
Have a great time Brue, glad you enjoyed the national too.
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Oh dear, this was the first attempt at an 'official' CT get together, sad that it wasn't successful. I did run around sticking up notices, getting announcements on the radio last year and only managed to get a handful of people together, unfortunately there
is always something going on at the National so no one time will ever suit everyone. I think the most successful get together was the first year of CT when we just had a presence in the Information tent that we could all just roll up to and say hello. Sadly
I wasn't able to be there that year either !! Oh well, perhaps we'll have better luck next year ???Alison
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It's a National Rally.------ People can take part in rally activities or not whichever they choose. Do we really want to hound people into a room or a tent just because they happen to post on this forum.
The National Rally is much bigger than that---, there are lots going on. If it were not in the south of England, but somewhere more central in the UK I would probably have considered attending. But I would have no interest in attending Scheduled Meetings.
I would be out there enjoying myself.
That's my opinion, others may disagree which is their right.
K
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Wouldn't have thought you could get more central England than Weston Park. I wasn't there either.
peedee
Write your comments here...Really depends if it's an English national rally-- OR --a CC UK National rally. If it is simply the English National rally - You are perfectly correct Peedee
K
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If you want to centralize it in relation to the land mass of the UK then you are probably looking at Keilder water.
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