How many UKCS members rally with the Caravan Club ? See plenty posts moaning about campsite prices, so was wondering how many of you are part of a caravan club centre ? We have been going on rallies for 4 years find them great fun and the price is usually under £10 per unit not per person per night, at that price you would think they would be mobbed but we are finding numbers are dropping, whats going on, any opinions on CC rallies.
We do a mixture of sites and rallies throughout the year including temporary holiday sites with CCC. I agree it is an excellent way to keep caravanning costs down and a good way to meet new friends.
If numbers are dropping then the reason is that less people are finding these rallies attractive.
We live close to a large caravan park and over the years its numbers have grown. Probably because it has changed with the times and those that caravanned there 20 years ago would not recognise the place these days. Entertainment for kids and adults and facilities to cater for all are far more important than they once were and ofcourse prices to match.
Club rallies have changed very little over the years. The days of cheap & cheerful have less appeal than it once did and folks are using camping as a means to pursue other activities rather than camping for camping's sake.
Also those of us who once graced rallies when we were younger and still go camping today, do so for a different reason. Where once we were looking for the camaraderie of like minded souls, we now go because it is the type of holiday where we and take our home comforts with us. However these "home comforts" demand certain luxuries that are rarely found on Rally Fields, like EHU.
Club rallies could change and become more attractive to their members. But would you want that? I think not. Perhaps, if you enjoy your rallying as it is at present, then just enjoy them as they are, dwindling numbers and all.
We used to rally with S.Lancs and for a time we found it very enjoyable and good value. However as time went on and the more we got to know about the center the less we enjoyed it. We found there was too much politics and back stabbing going on.
We were rallying with our young daughter and we found the amount of alcohol being consumed and the behaviour of some of the members to be less than ideal in an environment where there were a large number of young children. Don't get me wrong my wife and I both like to have a drink and let our hair down but some other members were excessive.
Each to their own I suppose but after 2 years of rallying we decided to give it a miss. We also found the nightly costs were higher than our local cl's with electric and some also with toilets and showers so a win win situation.
We rally with C&CC but have found also that numbers are dwindling. Its important to us that there is something for our daughter to do. When we first started (only 3 years ago) the DA's used to bring along play equipment eg rounders and someone would get the kids together. Once the ice was broken the children would organise themselves and have fun all day long. Nowadays this seems to only happen at the dedicated annual children meets. Our daughter has been the only child on site at times. We made friends in the first year who we catch up with once or twice a year.
PS Having just read Andys post - we have joined one DA a few times and they are very like you described. On our last camp with them we met a couple from out of our area who described the group as "raucous".
Also, I think work gets in the way. My husband works shifts and although we plan to get away on his weekend off he's quite often too tired.
Having looked at our local CC rally photos I see they seem to have activities planned for most gatherings so we will look at their rally list for next year and probably join. Although my OH and I don't like dressing up and playing games, our daughter does, and we do like to watch everyone else having fun.
I caravan alone and love to attend CC rallies (Durham and North Yorkshire Centres) and I am attending a C&CC meet this weekend with Teesside DA.
I have always been made to feel very welcome and love getting away with like minded people.
Most of our caravanning is done on cc rallies and the bookings are down this year.
But I think that the CC site booking are also down and we store our van at top class and price site and their bookings are down as well. So I think it is general not just restricted to Rallies.
Having said all that Rallies are a great and cheap way of getting away the rally we ran last weekend was £16.50 per van per weekend not bad value and we got 37 vans btw
Well its a Holiday weekend here so it of on a rally for us this afternoon yippee, this one is in with a vintage car show http://www.selkirkvintagecarrally.org/ so plenty to see and do.
Karen there is two clubs,the caravan club and the caravaning and camping club, both have regional sections within them that organize all sorts of events.
We used to rally a lot, but found after a few years of the same sites, it got a bit dull. We also found that while you make friends that you enjoy seeing, you also find people on site you would rather never see again so it is a double edged sword.
We have found CLs to be very friendly, very cheap and you can generally go where you want when you want rather than going to the site in the rally book on this date.
We found the CC's rallying system did not work for us but the C&CC's did and continues to do so and provides the bulk of our UK caravanning activities.
It was the strict,unyielding pitching formality that did it for the CC, the more so as we back then were an anomaly with a Continental unit. The formal parking to a peg to preserve uniformity despite the stupidity of doing so on certain pitches, ruled sacrosanct. Hopefully with time things have improved.
We find rallying good but ask nothing more than good convivial company and location. We make our own entertainment so require no "games" or "acctivites" to be provided by others.
Re electrically power; other than the winter season our 85Watt solar panel suffices even for a daily couple of hours of TV when needed.
It's a facet of caravanning that is probably best "tasted" to gauge ones own opinion on how it suits you and yours.
Across both the CC and C&CC we see a general decline in its participation and sense it is a "generation" thing,and that generation is literally dying. But why it does not appeal to following generations we can only guess at. Our daugther in-laws both would not dream at using a plastic pot toilet so this may hint at the problem?
As Tartan-tearaway has pointed out, Rallying and Camping is not confined to Camping Clubs and many more specialized clubs are now incorporating a Campsite within the Rallies that they are running.
For a time we did more camping with the Morris Minor Owners Club than we did with either CC or C&CC. But times and interests change and although still Morris Minor owners, we no longer rally with them.
It must be remembered that Rallies are run by unpaid volunteers on a part time basis and different centres (in the case of the cc) and different DA's (C&CC) will do things slightly differently. So sometimes you need to make allowances.
There are 2 recurrent criticisms of Rallies.
The first one is that no one talked to us. The other one is we were pestered all weekend to join in. Sometimes you can't win.
If I go to a Site or a CL nobody talks to me what's the difference? If anyone is thinking about trying a rally. Just see it as a weekend away so go to one that is in an area or linked to an event that you want to go to. That way it doesn't matter if nobody talks to you. However don't pull your blinds down at 6:00pm and put the TV on and then complain, that nobody has talked to you all weekend it is about give and take
Also: Remember there are a lot of people who are experts in Rallies and know all about them but have never been on one. Try a couple for yourself before you decide.
We run Rallies and 2 things are certain we are not perfect and we don't set out to deliberately run a rally that people don't enjoy.
As a PS to JTQU we used to have a van with a continental door we had it for 7 years and over 100 rallies and only had a problem on a rally once and that was at the CC National Rally at Weston park. Apparently it was an elf and safety risk. but no one could tell me what the risk was.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: CC Rallies
