Gwent Centre of The Caravan Club

Centre News

 

Rally Book Cover Competition

Once again we are inviting Members to submit design entries for our next year's Rally Book.

Entries must be submitted to the Secretary by 8th September in time for a Committee decision at our meeting on the 9th September.

The winning entry will then be shown at our AGM later that month

 

Notice to Rally Officers

re: Rally Plaques

The supplier of our Rally Plaques has now changed his minimum charge. We used to be charged a minimum of £7 plus postage on our orders.

A common practice of Rally Officers ordering small numbers of plaques (less than 13) was not to buy the standard triangle but go for a more expensive plaque thereby getting better value for the £7 minimum charge at no extra cost to the Centre.

Our supplier is now charging for a minimum of 10 plaques, plus postage, irrespective of the style or number of plaques ordered. This will make a big difference to our plaque costs if Rally Officers are not aware of this change and continue with the past practice.

It is not only the small rallies that will be affected as there has been a marked drop off in Members purchasing Rally Plaques (only about 60% now ask for plaques).

Do you enjoy Rallying?

If you are reading this you probably do . You can only enjoy your hobby if Rally Officers can be found to run them. If you feel you can help us to keep us from having to cancel rallies your help is really appreciated.

As you are probably aware the list of rallies planned for next year will be on display on our Charity Rally in June. Why not have a look at it and see if there is any Rally you are prepared to run. If someone has already put their name down to run one this does not stop you from adding your name as well.

Where there is more than one “volunteer” to run a Rally the “lucky” one will be drawn at our AGM in September

The Rally Secretary would like to thank all this year’s Rally Officers for Helping to make his hard work worth while - There is nothing worse than making all the arrangements on your behalf only to have to cancel the Rally because nobody volunteers to run it.

We hope to have a “full house” when we meet at the AGM and not have our Rally Book held up waiting to delete the “Rally Officer required” notice .

Dogs on the Rally Field

It would appear that the "Dog Rule" has become a little relaxed recently. You are reminded that Dogs must be on a lead at all times in the vacinity of the Rally Field.

The leash (including that used to tether the dog iutside your van) should not exceed 10 foot (3.048 metres before someone reminds me we no longer use Imperial measures)!! and at no time should animals be allowed to interfere with the passage of persons to the adjacent caravan or it's fittings (Centre Rule number 11).

Your co-operation would be appreciated by both the Committee and Rally Officer of the day.

Thank You

Notice for the Guidance of Rally Officers

It has recently become common to offer strips of lottery tickets at say £1 a strip or say 6 for £5 as an incentive to buy more tickets. There are quite strict rules for running unlicensed lotteries/raffles.

The LAW for running these are:-

The price of every ticket must be the same to give all contributors an even chance for an even stake

Sale of tickets must be confined to Members

The promoter must be a Member of the Society and is only permitted to make deductions from the takings to pay for printing and stationery

The money raised can be used totally for prizes or divided between prizes and the Society Funds.

No advertisement may be exhibited except on the societies premises or where the Members work or reside (this includes the Rally Field)

Rally Officers should comply with the above to avoid the possibility of the Centre being heavily fined and banned from carrying out this activity, which is an important part of the Centres income.

Chas. Kerwood

Hon. Treasurer

Important Message

At a Divisional Meeting held on 26th April, 2008 advice was sought on the current situation as to provision of Fire Extinguishers on Centre Rallies.

Advice from the Caravan Club Health and Safety Executive was as follows:-

As we are neither Employees of the Caravan Club or an Employer, the Health and Safety at Work Act does not apply to Rallies.

We are not required to supply Fire Extinguishers on Rallies and if we opt to do so we leave ourselves open to action for any accident or incident that may occur in their use or misuse. Every intended user should also be given full training on the correct use of the equipment.

We were strongly advised to encourage our members to look to their own Safety and supply their own fire precautions (i.e. Extinguishers or a Bucket to be filled with sand or water on Site) and not to continue with the system we have in place.

A Centre Committee meeting was held on the 31st April and this subject was discussed. Whilst it is realised that this has been a controversial problem for some years it was now felt that it would be unwise to ignore the Caravan Club's final and firm advice.

It was felt that Committee Members and Rally Officers should not be left liable in the event of an accident or incident causing injury or damage.

The Committee unanimously voted to stop making Fire Extinguishers available on Gwent Rallies.

 

Use of £2 Rally Book Vouchers

(i.e. Vouchers issued free with Rally Books)

To clear up any confusion about the use of these vouchers we would like to clarify the position.

Club members who register with our Centre for the first time will be sent a current Rally Book and a £2 voucher free of charge

Rally books are then issued to Gwent Members who pay £2 and order the New Rally Book from the Secretary. The Rally Book will be issued with a £2 voucher for use as a deposit for any Rally during that current year thereby ensuring that Members who Rally during the year will receive the Rally Book FREE. Members may buy a second book if required but a second voucher will not be issued.

These vouchers cannot be used for any other reason (including purchases of next years's Rally Book, Socials, purchasing equipment etc) as they are a concession to encourage and thank Members who Rally.

Non Gwent Members can of course purchase a book but a voucher will not be issued.

Centre Members who opt not to purchase a Rally Book will be sent a list of Rallies and notification of next years AGM by the Secretary.

Thank you for registering with our Centre!

We would like to remind you how important it is to re-register with the Centre when the time comes for you to renew your membership with the Caravan Club as the number of registered Centre Members controls the amount of our grant from the Caravan Club.

We would also like to thank all the Members who remembered to do so last year

Membership of the Centre is FREE to you but benefits all of us.

Thanks for your past co-operation

Hon. Treasurer on behalf of your Committee.