Ball games taking over on club sites
Comments
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The best fun my boys had on a campsite was a 23 a side international football match - England against the rest of the world - with the age range of the players 8 to 44. The game went on every evening of the week, and when the Scots guy who owned the ball went home he bequeathed it to the rest of us. The match went on.
That was a site with proper facilities for families, and if the Club sites had some space for real games, plus a volleyball court, a badminton net, table tennis tables and so on, then the old people would have less to grumble about - though I suspect they would quickly find something else to trouble them.
But Club sites are what they are these days, and Club members too. Times have changed.
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i pointed out the appropriate post from the OP clarifying the situation (parents and children).....
if you'd like to correct Banff, please go ahead
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So what outdoor games would be allowed? when away abroad we often play badminton on a spare bit of ground/road, sometimes soft ball tennis or bowls. Would members complain about these types of activities, we have a good time and others sometimes join in, it can get a little noisy but it not late in the evening.
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Don't take David's comments literally, Kevin. You'll find he's not a fan of club sites.
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Even French site I ever stayed on resounded to the chink of boules.
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....volleyball/basketball/football/tennis courts....are typical.
the Haliiotis site at Pontorson even has an outdoor golf practice area, archery and a wildlife area (petting zoo)....
(....and 2 MHSP that can be used by visitors.....
, but thats another thread....)i realise we are 'teasing' with 'over there stuff' but its about priorities.
CC priority is bums on seats.....selling pitches....and wont reduce the number to create something to attract the new customers it purports to seek...
the current 'no outdoor facilities' template suits the current club demographic.
if the club wants to change, it wont do that by staying the same
people tut and pooh the Haven model, but at least the kids there dont play football amongst the touring vans, they do it on one of the purpose built pitches in the 'sports' area....
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CC priority is bums on seats.....selling pitches....and wont reduce the number to create something to attract the new customers it purports to seek...
Of course some CC sites do have areas for football etc but many don't.
Many of the CC sites that we use have around 100 pitches (more or less). How many pitches would need to go to accommodate a decent sized area for cricket/football games? Maybe 20?
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The voice of Saga is loud and clear. Families with children are not catered for and not wanted. Not even a bouncy castle or a trampoline.
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Also its amazing how many posters mention that they cannot understand why some people spend so much time sitting outside their outfits, as the whole concept of a touring vehicle is to see the area they are visiting not spend time on sites "observing" others misdemeanours
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the current 'no outdoor facilities' template
BB, with respect as someone who has stated that they do not visit club site often I really do wonder how you can write such statements?
I think writing a a parent who has visited a lot of sites, as opposed to those with less club site experience, the club does quite a good job for accommodating children. All the sites I've been to, perhaps biased as we mainly had a small family, had fair sized play areas and playgrounds with play equipment. That's not all the sites on the network but quite a lot. Off the top of my head, Troutbeck head, (games room as well) Burford, Norfolk Broads, Bridlington, White House Beach, Teedale, Culloden, Meathrop Fell, Kendall, Coniston, Scarbrough (largest I've seen and games rooms as well). Melrose has a huge playground and play field adjacent to the site, New England Bay (games room as well) Bunree (games room as well). I'm sure there are more but that's just the one I can remember sitting here. I think any site that has the ideal for families button will have a play area. Also I would point out the games room, again on the one I've visited have table tennis, pool, actual games and children activities.
And who mentioned people/children playing football between van?
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Modern "families" these days seem to want all the facilities of a Butlins/Haven type site(without the peak costs) as long as the parents or more so these days grandparents , do not have to do any supervision that involves interupting their holiday
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Well look at the late availability on every single Club site in Devon and Cornwall next weekend - peak school holiday season, and yet every one of the Club sites has space. The families are going to other sites instead of Club sites.
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Well if CC was run purely for the young families it would struggle. They are generally available weekends and during summer hols - annual leave permitting. (I was once one of these).
If it were run as adults only it might also struggle but I suspect less so.
So to the CC the over fifties are important. The CC has sites with games rooms but, at the times I tour (outside school hols), these are not greatly used.
I have used the sites for over 35 years. 15 of those years were with children. If the site suit then use them. I did.
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just been thinking of a few more sites we've been to on our travels with play areas while I was having my Sunday ablutions (TMI I know), there's White water Park (games room as well), Edinburgh, Sutton on Sea, Chatsworth, Durham. There are also those which have good play areas and play grounds but they have fallen off the main club network and have become AS, notably Breamar and Stirling.
Of course even though I've never been are the two club sites with swimming pools.
Also I should mention the Kids for a pound (used to be kids for a penny) on many family sites, a big, very big help to those with a number of children.
Further thinking: Club sites aren't meant to be the' stay on site' sites are they? They don't cater for this do they? Again from purely personal experience I've noticed that families on club site tend to be 'well heeled' as BB would put it, have a look next time you're on a site and calculate the 'average' cost of the outfits including cars if a caravan. However you calculate it, the most common price (mode), the prices band in the middle (median), or take a clip board and calculator and add up the price of outfits in your area and divide by how many there are (mean). It is certainly hundreds, thousands, if not tens of thousands of pounds.
These families (and couples) could have spent all that on some other type of holiday if they wished but many (and it is many as people complain about not getting pitches) come to clubs sites. Some of course do other types of holiday as well. They (families that come to club sites) don't usually spend every day on site (maybe wash days?) but like us used to go off site for 'adventures' and use the play areas in the evenings.
Once again club sites are full of families in the school holidays, I don't buy this idea stated a few times that children are forced to come along as their parents like caravan holidays. As parents know you might get away with that a once or twice but it makes for very unhappy holidays if you do that more than that. Si, in my view, families come to club sites and like what they are getting at present. What is there to change?
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"people tut and pooh the Haven model, but at least the kids there dont play football amongst the touring vans"
Based solely on my own appalling experience, I'd say that's because there isn't enough space and the kids don't want to be knee deep in mud.
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how do you know how much space? All the booking tells you is that there are spaces, it could be 90% full. Are you saying that other sites are full everywhere? How do you know what other sites are doing?
It's all about occupancy rates, if the club are pulling more people in than their competitors then the club is happy.
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Accepted ET, it ain't all of things to all of people. It attracts the intolerant more than any other unfortunately
the core supporters find it difficult to share with any other group unless those other groups stick to the rigid rules the intolerant demand.0
