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Quote: Originally posted by LegsDownKettleOn on 04/10/2009

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It is understandable that the old hands are going to be old friends but in my experience it is unfair to say that they would exclude new members and some people I know would even be insulted at that insinuation.
Sadly the caravan club has a reputation for being unfriendly. This is largely unfair in my experience. They may well have been unfriendly in the past but there are a lot of members who are very conscious of this situation and go out of our way to befriend any new faces and make them feel welcome.

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Fair enough old hands are friends but I still think it is wronmg for them to reserve pitches for friends that may only be arriving the next day.  I also think it is wrong for newbies to be lumped together and told to get on with it instead of asking newbies to join "hardened" ralliers for a few beers etc.  We ended up walking down to a local opub where the attmosphere was far friendlier.  this happened both with CC & CC & C rallies.

It is not that they are unfriendly it just that you get pushed to one side and sort of ignored until they want you to dip in your pocket for money for some raffle or other.  I don't mind dipping in my pocket for a charity etc but there are some organisations like Oxfam that I will nevr ever give money to but thast is just us.

However by the same token, the rally in your area may be totally different to what we experienced and you may have a fantastic time so I would recommend giving it a go and then make up your mind.

We belong to a C.C. rally centre and love going out regularly with them.

 I think that there is a lot of difference between the various centres, some are mainly older folk with very few children on the rally. Other centres have more families with children of all ages. Another difference is the availability of rally places, we have to book in advance in January for the most popular rallies as spaces are rapidly taken if there is a numbers limit of 30 vans or so. This is usually because it is by a village hall or similar where there would be a safety limit to the number attending the socials in the evening.

On other rallies on big grassy fields there is no limit, so we often have as many as 150 vans attending a big 'Do' such as May Day, Bonfire or Halloween.

As to activities, again there is a wide variation between centres, some just chat and do bingo, whereas others like ours do dancing- sequence, line and disco to suit all ages, as well as other themed events requiring dressing up in outfits, and as you say sometimes silly games like a version of the Highland Games.

It's best to try a couple of your local centres to see which suits you best, and then stick with that one. It will take a while to get to know everyone especially if it is a big centre, but if you are prepared to join in and not sit shyly in your van you will soon get to know folk.

Hope you have a good time, and become a happy rallier.

Quote: Originally posted by I Love Holidays on 04/10/2009

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We like UKCS meets, & would definately recommend going on one. See the Meeting Up & Getting Together section. 

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We started CC club rallying this year, so far we have only managed two rallies both with different centres in different parts of the country. On both we found the all rally marshals very welcoming and friendly.

It suited us we could join with what we choose to. Both rallies we went to were very different one very large bank holiday weekend and the other relatively small holiday rally with manly older people. Both were in fields with just a water tap and what could only be described as very basic elsan facilities!! And on the first it was take your rubbish home with you.

On the second occasion we had a fantastic view and couldn’t believe it as we were the last van to arrive. On both we happily used all our caravan facilities – shower, toilet etc. On the longer one we took our solar pannel to keep the battery topped up – though we are going to change the halogen light bulbs ASAP as they used a lot of power!…. We ran the fridge on gas and cooked all the time on gas ( not BBQ weather) and managed with just one cylinder though had a back up small one just in case.

Having had the gas regulator fail we also carry an alternative form of cooking with us usually a Tranga stove and BBQ, and having had a tap go and not been able to use the water supply we have a fold up water carrier that can be sat on the side of basin vanity unit and used for hand washing ( it has a tap on it). The one thing I had forgotten was the wind up lantern which would have been useful for the night when the lights (halogen) caused the battery warning light to start flashing red but we managed with a  torch.

We hope to try more rallies and would like to try our local centre if we can, but having just tried two rallies we already appreciate how different they can be, we understand from others that rally even with one centre each rally can be different depending on who the Rally Marshals are.

Our plans to try a C and CC holiday rally this summer were stopped short by us finding out from friends already in the area that they had turned up to the rally to be told it was full, on that basis we cancelled our C  and CC membership which we had just taken out! we think the CC were you book a head is better for us as you know there will be a place for you when you get there.

Rallying, whether it be with a camping unit, an old car, a yacht or with anything else, is really all about socialising.

All hobbies that have a following will have a club and through that club there will be rallies.

Naturally there are cliquey groups, more open groups and all sorts in between and only by trying a rally for the hobby you are into, will you find out if it is for you or not.

You specify the Pennine and so you have a choice of a number of different rallies that you could attend from rallies specific to that make, to CC and C&CC Rallies and UKCS Rallies. A wide choice and somewhere in there you will find the type of rally that suits you best.

However, the vast majority of campers, whether they have tried rallying or not, do not tend to use rallying as their major camping experiences although a minority do.

Up until a few years ago, 90% of our rallying was with our Classic Vehicles with only a tiny fraction being with the C&CC and UKCS. Now that has changed and we do more UKCS rallying than with the vehicles.

never been on a rally, either CC or UKCS....recently applied to join east Yorks centre when we renewed our subs to the CC but as yet heard nothing....maybe we been rejected ???

one day we will do a UKCS rally...promise !!