I was first introduced to caravanning in the late 1950s when my mother won a slogan competition with “Orange Quash” The prize was £100, a lot of money then.
My mother had a friend who had a caravan and they took it down to Uphill near Weymouth where we stayed for a month. We had to dig a pit, had a toilet tent, the water was on a foot pump in the caravan and the lighting was with gas mantels which were forever breaking. That was my first introduction to caravanning!
Once we had children we couldn't really afford holidays we either stayed in Cornwall with a friend, out of season, so there were no amusements to pay for. One year, through a friend of a friend of a relation, we were able to borrow their caravan at Brean, what luxury there was no pit but the toilet and showers in a concrete block, we still had gas mantels and a foot pump for the water and it poured for the whole two weeks.
Back in 1996, I finally retired, and out of nowhere, my wife suggested we get a caravan! We picked a Bailey 9000 Senator and found a perfect tow car. Our caravan adventure was just beginning! We didn’t join the Club until the next year, ’97, and our first rally was the Club’s big birthday bash at Pershore Horticultural College. It was quite the event! During Easter break, the first night we had visitors, the local “Travellers” decided to crash our party and break into cars and steal generators. Most of us were sound asleep through all the racket. One of the events was bingo (though we’re not really big fans), and to everyone’s surprise, we won the first full house and the final “snowball.”
Val Bennett was the chair back then, and guess what? We lived just 3 miles apart! It was like a dream come true, and we instantly became the best of friends.
We totally got hooked on rallying during most of the alternative weekends! By then, I was back at work, so sometimes we’d be arriving at the rally super late, around 10 PM, and leaving bright and early on Sunday morning. We made so many new friends and became glued to the Bailey brand. One little known fact, my wife a Bristolian used to play on the fields which is now the site of the Bailey factory.
We regularly ran rallies. I have a thing about limited attendance rallies so when we ran one abroad, in Holland, it was open ended and boy was it hard work although thoroughly enjoyable.
I joined the committee and I took on various roles including ACCEO rep, newsletter editor and later treasurer. As newsletter editor part of the role was organising stuffing rallies. By then the newsletter was commercially printed and arrived with each page separately sorted. On the Saturday morning we all got together with long tables sorted, punched, stuffed and finally licking stamps. Sue and I then went off around the country lanes filling up postboxes right to the brim.
We had the privilege of participating in a couple of charity rallies, but sadly, one had to be postponed because of Foot & Mouth.
The club has had two presidents before me: John Stayte, who kicked things off, and Ted Anderson, who was also a Chair. Sadly, Ted had to step down because of his eyesight. I was asked if I’d like to take over. It’s an honorary role, so I don’t get to vote on the committee, but I’m here to lend a hand, help the committee run smoothly, keep the club’s original spirit alive—promoting friendship and charity—offer advice when needed, and listen to any discipline appeals.
You will know in recent years I've had health issues and towards the end of 2019/20 was in a coma for nearly two months. Sadly, for us, caravanning has become harder and harder. Whilst in France this year (25) we made the difficult and distressing decision to sell the van on our return.
“….It is gone, departed the parrot is deceased!”
I’m planning to stick with my current role for the time being.
Simon (and Sue) Newton-Smith
President.