Shouting Chairman and Shutup Graham

It was nice crisp winter weather at Burrs Country Park Club Site, which is nicely laid out in an attractive combination of green countryside and tastefully recycled industrial landscape, all very pleasing to the eye, even before the steam trains of the East Lancashire Railway also came chuffing past over the weekend – and the staff had been very welcoming, so we were enjoying ourselves.  We used our motorhome to do some shopping (at Boundary Mill) and meet up with relatives in Lancashire whom we see only occasionally now that we’ve emigrated to East Anglia in our retirement.

On the Friday evening we were joined by a couple of friends who are caravanners.  It was dark by the time they could get to Burrs and they’d had a challenging transit through the centre of Bury.  They overshot the only pitch near us which was still vacant, so they were having to go round again and my friend was probably a bit fed up by then.  No excuse of course, there is a 5mph speed limit advertised by plenty of signs and there are sleeping policemen every 100 yards or so to remind you to keep your speed down, even if you are impatient because you’re having to drive right round the Site again.  He was probably doing closer to 10 mph than 5 when a caravanner who was pitching up shouted at him as he passed and told him in no uncertain terms to slow down.  Because of the sleeping policemen he couldn’t have been doing more than 10 mph without wrecking his suspension.  A few minutes later (much less than 5 minutes) when I was still helping him to pitch up the Warden turned up and told my friend there had been four complaints and would he please slow down a bit.  The Warden got his message across clearly but did so politely and there was no argy bargy; my friend acknowledged his mistake and took the hint.  The Warden handled the situation impeccably.

It was however remarkable, from my viewpoint, that there had apparently been four complaints which were delivered promptly enough to get the Warden coming round to us as quickly as he did.  The following day, as we drove past the spot where my friend had been shouted at, the caravan owned by the shouter was carrying badges advertising him to be the Chairman of the South Lancashire CC (or DA), which was holding a Rally at Burrs that weekend.  The Chairman had arrived late, as had my friend on the Friday night, and he had been pitching up in what we could now see was a plum spot, presumably reserved for him, next to the caravan labelled as the “Rally Office”.  It was pretty unlikely that there had been four completely separate complaints directly to the Warden about my friend speeding, there just hadn’t been the time.  It was much more likely that the Chairman or Rally Officer had been gathering support and chucking some weight about.   Hey ho, at least the Warden had handled it well, without shouting at all.

My own unhappy encounter with a complainer from the South Lancs DA happened early on Saturday evening, when I took our two Dalmatians to the Dog Area.  It was dark and they were on their leads but once inside the Dog Area I let them off to do their thing.  For those who don’t know the difference (which I didn’t until I’d read a notice that morning in the Toilet Block) a Dog Area is somewhere you are supposed to be able to let your dog off the lead, whereas in a Dog Walk you are merely allowed to extend the lead beyond the 2 metres limit for the Site in general.  (Rules in the Caravan and Motorhome Club are nothing if not specific.)

The Dog Area was not illuminated so it took me a while to check with my torch that the dogs hadn’t deposited any solids but as I turned to get them back on the leads it was clear that one of them was missing.  I expected the Dog Area to be completely enclosed and as you entered it certainly looked to be secure.  It turned out however there was a small gap around the back of the hedge at one end of the Area and our younger dog had found it.  I secured the remaining dog, the sensible nine year old, and set off in search of the more adventurous and inquisitive one year old.  No sign of her in the near vicinity but then I heard barking and saw the beam of one of these mega-million candle power lamps shining around.  I strode off in pursuit and got glimpses of my younger dog, barking and dodging around, puzzled and perhaps alarmed by this enormous floodlight beam.  A voice came from behind the beam pointing out that dogs were supposed to be on leads, that was the Rule and this was a Club Site.  I explained straight away that the dog had escaped from the Dog Area and I was trying to get her back on the lead but this had no impact at all; the voice just kept repeating that dogs should be on leads and that he would be complaining about me for allowing this to happen.  Rules, in his eyes, were clearly rules and no excuses were allowable; he certainly wasn’t willing to be in any way helpful and just kept shining his blooming great searchlight.  The loose dog kept dashing around in confusion and alarm, ignoring my call to Come and disturbing the Site with her barking.

Fortunately a lady suddenly appeared and was immediately very helpful, trying, as I was, to calm the dog and get her back under control.  This still took us a couple of minutes, during which the man, whom she referred to a couple of times as “Shutup Graham” continued repeating his view about the Rules.  Eventually he got the message, switched his searchlight off and, after a final declaration of his intent to complain, disappeared.  The lady and I then got the panicky dog back on the lead without too much difficulty.  Shutup Graham’s behaviour and attitude had be so officious and unhelpful that I was more than a little irritated by this time and it had occurred to me, because we were close to the Shouting Chairman’s Caravan, that this was another example South Lancs DA in action.  I explained again to the lady about the escape from what should presumably have been a secure Dog Area and asked if they were part of the Rally group.  Yes, she said, and I commented that sharing the Site with them wasn’t much fun and they seemed to think they owned the place.

The lady then explained she had a role as a volunteer helper of some sort with CAMC; she had clearly got my message and we parted friends.  I live in hope that the lady was going to mention in the right quarters that the DA was creating a poor impression and furthermore that Shutup Graham was likely to get his horoscope read when she went back in.  She had mentioned they were dog owners too, so there can really be no excuse for the man’s officious and unhelpful behaviour with that great big searchlight.  Fortunately we were pitched on the other side of the Site and that was as far as our contact with South Lancs DA was concerned for the weekend.  My friend and I were careful to drive at 5mph around the Site, even though we had someone on our tail who raced around a loop to get past us.

My friend had of course been speeding and the Chairman was perfectly entitled to complain to the Warden, even if he was himself in the process of breaking the Club Rule about reserving pitches as he was doing so.  Whether he, or anyone else on a Club Site, is entitled to shout at people to express disapproval or to remind them of the rules is perhaps another matter.  Likewise Shutup Graham is perfectly entitled to complain to the Warden as he threatened if he wants to but I suggest he should think again about his behaviour towards another camper who was in difficulties at the time, especially as a fellow dog owner.  Why couldn’t he listen to what was being said and then try to be helpful rather than persist in delivering his lecture about the Rules, threatening to complain and shining his great big searchlight at the loose dog.  Couldn’t he see that the big searchlight was aggravating the situation?

My impression of South Lancs DA last weekend was not very good.  I’m sure that there are plenty of friendly and helpful people in that DA but the impression which the Shouting Chairman and Shutup Graham projected was that the DA are a bunch of self-important, self-righteous traffic wardens.  Is that the impression which the DA wants to leave among other users of a Club Site when they share one for a DA Rally?  Their conduct was hardly likely to encourage anyone to join their DA, or to encourage non-Members using the Site to join the Club. 

CAMC may be trying to move on from the days of the stereotypical Caravan Club Member who likes nothing better than quoting the Club Rules at other people but the traffic warden spirit still seems to live on in South Lancashire DA.  On a campsite in France a couple of years ago we discovered after pitching up that there were a large group of Travellers on the site who has established their territory in a big way; it was quite alarming.  But they left us alone and vice versa and I can honestly say that I felt better about them as people to share a campsite with when we left than I felt about South Lancs DA as we left Burrs.

When a camper occupies a pitch on a CAMC Club Site, whether doing so as a Member or otherwise,  whether as part of a rally group or as an individual, he or she is subject to the Site Rules the same as everyone else – and no one, be he Rally Officer or Chairman of a DA or even Chairman of CAMC itself, has any authority to police the campsite.  The only person with any authority of any kind on a Club Site is the Warden and the only proper avenue of intervention available to any camper is to approach the Warden about any problems they encounter.   Camping is supposed to be a friendly activity and shouting at other people on Site or telling other people off in any way is discourteous and plain wrong.   If any group of people wanting to hold a rally on a Club Site can’t accept that, they don’t deserve to be allowed to hold their rallies on Club Sites.  If the Chairman of a Club District Association cannot see that shouting at other campers to express his opinion about their behaviour damages his DA’s reputation as well as his own, he really isn't suited to lead the DA.