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The Oyster

North Essex Centre January 2013 www.northessexcaravanclub.org.uk

Inside This Issue

Carp & Catherine Wheels Rally 2

Witches & Warlocks Rally 3

End of Season Rally 4

The Anglia Region AGM Rally 6

New Year Rally 7

Simon’s Top Tips 9

Colchester Bowl Competition 8

NECC Homebrewers 9

National Rally 9

The Tellwright Cup 10

North Essex Centre Shop For all your club merchandise

Polo Shirts ~ Caps ~ Hoodies ~ Fleeces ~ Soft Shell Jackets ~ Ladies/Gents/Childrens Wear

Umbrellas ~ NECC Birthday Coasters ~ Keyrings ~ Year Plaques

Please see Deryn & Mike Went Ph. 07956 329284 NECC Merchandise Shop

JUNIOR RALLY

JUNE 21st-23rd

Toy Stall

Raffle

Kids Tattoos

SCIENCE

and

GADGETS

Wii XBox

Tuck Shop

Science Show Play Gadgets

Look out for more information on the rally

boards

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This Year’s Rally Programme

The rally programme for 2013 has just been published and I am

sure you are all busily thumbing through your rally book or

scrolling through an electronic copy via email or the website to

start to plan your weekend rallies for the coming season!

Our sincere thanks go to our outgoing Rally secretary Richard

Young who has pulled together a great programme of venues

to enable us to pursue our hobby during the coming year.

There are 65 rallies in the new programme at some fantastic

venues - some old favourites, some new and a good helping of

holiday rallies including a rally in St Emilion in France.

Hopefully there will be something for everyone!

It is worth pointing out that there are a few weekends where

there is only 1 North Essex rally in the programme. In many

cases venues were scheduled but unfortunately at the time

that the rally programme went to print we had no rally mar-

shals to run them and thus reluctantly these rallies have been

removed from this year’s programme. The Centre relies on the

good will of its Members to volunteer for marshalling duties

and although many already do this or have given plenty of

their time in the past, we are always looking for new marshalls.

Why not give it a go. You can start as Assistant Marshalls

where you will be shown the ropes by more experienced indi-

viduals.

We trust that the loss of these rallies does not detract too

much from your planning for the year.

Barry Bridges

Carp & Catherine Wheels

Rally No. 5

Marshalls Dave & Marion Kemp & John & Kath Murton

Friday met up with friends for a natter and a glass or two. The draw for the fishing took place.

Saturday the adults braved the frost and set up their fishing gear. All dressed with loads of layers on to keep out the cold

and wind, most had trouble walking through so many layers, two children braved the wind and cold while fishing. A few

people went to watch the fire works on the common in Saffron Walden. We all enjoyed a mug of soup and a hot dog on

our return. Thanks go to Marion for making the soup. Flag was moved to the evening as the forecast was for very heavy

rain during the night and Sunday morning, this way we could all stay dry, sure enough the rain came and it was heavy.

Adult fishing - John Murton

Children’s fishing - Beth Wootton

From the Editor……...

Welcome to this edition of the Oyster newsletter. I

would like to thank Rob Rice for the work he has put into

this publication over the last few years and I hope I can

continue to keep you as informed and entertained as

you have previously been used to.

The newsletter relies to a large extent on content sub-

mitted by Centre members so please keep sending me

your rally reports and pictures. If there is something you

would like included then I will be happy to consider new

content.

I did promise Kevin, our previous Chairman, that I would

write an article for the Oyster about why we started ral-

lying two years ago. Little did I think then I would be

chasing myself for this two years later!

The intention is to publish the Newsletter on the Centre

website first and make it available as a paper copy for

sale at subsequent rallies. This is to encourage people to

look at the online copy and choose to print it themselves

if they wish.

If you do have something you want including in the next

issue, you can submit it directly to me or to any of the

Committee Members.

Let’s start praying it stops raining soon.

Simon Baker , Oyster Editor

spbaker44@gmail.com

Name that Fish……..

a. b. d. c. e. f. g.

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Witches and Warlocks Rally No.3

Marshalls Bill & Lynne Arthy and Brian & Kerry Skeet

Friday we arrived and set up, during the evening the

hall was opened for a chat and a few bevies. During

the night I was woken up by a strange sound (not

Andy’s snoring for a change) only what I could de-

scribe as something icy and hard hitting the legs. I

had know idea what it was, couldn’t see anything as it

was still dark. In the morning when I ventured out-

side I could see something white laying in a piece of

brown grass I had a look and it was the left overs of

SNOW, then I was told that there had been about

an inch of snow during the night. Sean said look I

turned and saw a herd of deer running across the

rally field, they jumped the fence and ran off, fol-

lowed by the stag with his wonderful set of antlers

what a fabulous place our English countryside can be.

The hall opened for a sale of ladies boots, shoes and

bags. Our marshals and helpers were very busy deco-

rating the hall. Lynne had the men hard at work cut-

ting and chopping vegetable ready to make pumpkin

soup. As the day wore on the caravans were having

ghostly decorations added ready for judging. As we

arrived for our evenings entertainment the corridor

was decked out with cobwebs and spooky music. Af-

ter flag we all enjoyed a bowl or two of soup and

bread, followed by an evening of dancing to Dave Por-

ter’s disco.

Our best decorated van was won by Colin & Chris

Styant

Best dressed witch - Deryn Went

Best dressed warlock – Rob Rice

Sunday saw the cobwebs lights and pumpkins put

away for another year.

And some more from Deryn & Mike………..

Myself (the Witch) & Rob (the Mummy) won first prize for

the fancy dress best witch and warlock, and Mike looked

very handsome in his mask.

During the day there was a mobile shop selling shoes, boots

& handbags which went down very well with the ladies

(funny thing is all the men seemed to disappear at this point

can't imagine why.... a bit of sorcery & magic going on

there!!!! )

Everyone worked very hard decorating their caravans with

lots of scarey stuff!! making the rally field look real

CREEPY......

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End of season Rally, East Bergholt

High School

30th November—2nd December 2012

This year saw a return to a Christmas theme being the first

weekend of December. The committee and more importantly

their partners had organised a marvellous feast for everyone.

The cold weather joined us for the first time this winter on

Friday of the rally and the nights were certainly very chilly but

the odd towel wrapped around water pumps saved the day

for some. For the rest of us calor Gas made a good deal of

money!!

39 vans came to join the festivities including a first rallier Di-

ane and Ron Digby who thoroughly enjoyed their weekend

and as usual the caretaker of the site Mark did us proud and

looked after us. He opened up the youth club so we could all

go and have a chatter if we wanted to. Although most decid-

ed to stay in their vans so their teeth didn’t chatter walking

across the playground to the hall. There was also a quiz night

being run by the PTA and a Christmas Fayre that we could

also attend and buy some of their wares.

Saturday morning saw an early start for the food preparation

team and all hands to the pump made light work of preparing

all the vegetables to cater for 105 covers that night. The Tur-

key was in the oven and being basted regularly to ensure that

everything was perfect for the meal. Meanwhile the hall team

were busy turning the school hall into something that looked

amazing and had all the Christmas spirit.

The children all gathered in the hall early afternoon to make

some paper chains to help decorate the hall but half way

through they were very rudely interrupted by someone in a

very bright red coat ringing a bell and shouting “Ho Ho Ho”.

Their faces were amazing as Santa Claus dropped by and

found time to talk to all the children and give them all a little

gift. He couldn’t stay long though because he had to get back

to make sure the elves weren’t slacking and were getting eve-

rything ready for three weeks time.

Witches and Warlocks continued………..

The evening was really good as the hall was very well decorated with some excellent art

work from John Thompson and lots of spooky decorations put up by the marshals Bill ,

Lynn, Brian and Kerry with the welcome help of Sean, Kath & Cloe & Les & Jackie and

other helpers all through the day. The disco was excellent, provided by Dave, Sharon &

Blake Porter who played a good selection of music including some old spooky hits, the

dance floor was full all evening with strange looking creatures & monsters dancing the

night away, we also had home made pumpkin soup & fresh bread which was very

tasty & enjoyed by all. The evening was also helped along by some of the Homebrew-

ers supplying alcholic shots for us all to taste, very nice too.....Hic!!

Maz Rice & Blake Porter also celebrated their birthdays. The weekend was very enjoya-

ble. Deryn & Mike.

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End of Season Rally continued………..

Sam Ford may well have been a little disappointed as he went back to his mum and dad and held his present still wrapped

up to them and said “iPad”.

So a big well done to the Junior committee for organising that one!!

So right on cue at 6.15 the catering team had everything ready and the meal was served and at every course there was still

enough for some to return for seconds, of course that reduced the number on the dance floor during the early part of the

evening whilst their dinner subsided.

Before we were wonderfully entertained by Veronica Ealy a young solo singer who managed to get us all up on our feet

and dancing during her three sets, Kev and Sue Flexman were presented with their Past Chairman’s plaque and a small gift

from the centre of engraved glasses.

The raffle was a huge success and raised £140. A huge thank you to everyone who donated prizes and then bought all the

tickets.

Yet again it never ceases to amaze me what a group of people can achieve when we all work together as a team sup-

porting each other and usually within a few hours nobody would know that we had been there and had such a marvellous

time.

Well done Tina and the team:- Rob and Maz Rice, Deryn and Mike Went, Barry and Debbie Bridges, Marion and Dave

Kemp, Joy and Mick Threadgold, Brian and Tracy Howard, Andy and Sally Wade, Simon and Lorraine Baker, Jackie and Les

Youngs and John and Julia Dare and the Junior Committee.

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The Anglia Region AGM Rally

16th-18th November 2012.

The Crows Nest at Saffron Walden was the place for this years Anglia Region AGM . It was very well supported with 38 vans

attending. Peter & Jenny Crowther and Les & Jackie Young's kindly marshalled the weekend for North Essex and won many

peoples admiration for standing out in a damp and foggy evening parking caravans. It was one of the worst conditions I had

towed in.

This weekend was a bit of a who’s who of the region with all previous Chairman in attendance. Current & Past Centre Chairs

& representatives from all the five Centres were also present along with Grenville Chamberlin and John Page from East Grin-

stead.

The weekend started well on the Friday night with a raffle in aid of the Help for Hero’s charity and was well supported.

A pre AGM region meeting was held on Saturday morning with Derek Stammers tiding up the loose ends before stepping

down from his position.

The new village hall at Seward's End is a modern facility with a fitted kitchen and bar area. The hall will seat 100 people

comfortably with new tables & chairs available. A very pleasant facility that I am sure will be well used by us over the coming

years. Dennis the Land owner is very accommodating and is a pleasure to deal with.

Saturday evening saw a Beatle drive start the proceedings, it was very entertaining and I enjoyed watching senior members of

our club throwing dice and drawing bad pictures of bugs on pieces of paper then like a naughty school child moving tables if

they lost the round. I am not sure what a fly on the wall would have made of it all but it is what we do, and it is fun, what ever

your age. The evening continued with the duo ‘Kate Stupid’ who performed a series of well known songs with some original

compositions and were well received.

The AGM on Sunday morning was well attended with hardly a spare seat to be found. Grenville Chamberlin and John Page

paid tribute to the out going Chairman, Derek Stammers for the hard work he had put in over the past three years and com-

mended his efforts in moving the region forward.

While AGM’s are a serious business it was nice to see that this one had a thread of humour running through it keeping it inline

with our leisure heritage.

The new committee was voted in with only one new member added the group.

Chairman Mark Frusher (middle right) Vice Chairman Kevin Flexman (far left) Hon Secretary Linda Beales (far right)

Hon Treasurer Les Young’s (middle left)

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New year Rally 2012/13

Langham Village Hall

Marshal’s: Kev & Sue Flexman, Bill & Lynn

Arthy and Sean, Kathrine and Cloe Osborne.

The rally opened on Saturday after Christ-

mas and as we all know we had a particu-

larly unusually wet December and Christ-

mas period. So even though Langham vil-

lage Hall had come to our rescue in October

by allowing us to use the venue at New

Year, the weather looked as though it may

thwart all of our efforts. The area of the field that had been earmarked for us to use which had very

good drainage was actually completely sodden and not much good other than for the ducks to swim

on. In fact one area of the field did actually have a little pond on it. Still the marshals had done us

proud and managed to squeeze 21 vans onto the car park and still save half of it for the local commu-

nity to use when they came to buy their wares from the local shop that was open every day whilst we

were there to buy those essentials that we had either forgotten or needed to top up on!!

On the Saturday evening we went into the very splendid hall which actually has a meeting type room

at the front before you enter the main hall with it’s very own stage as well as kitchen, toilet and even

shower facilities this weekend. This pleased some of the ladies on New Years Eve as they could get a

comfortable shower and then dry their hair or use straighteners or whatever it is they have to do.

Can’t understand it all myself!!

John Dare had very kindly brought his Scalectrix and Xbox together with the 32” TV and set this up in

the meeting room for the Juniors to enjoy themselves whilst the adults were in the main hall playing

on the Wii console, giant Connect 4, Jenga and the stacking cup game amongst other things. Of

course there was also plenty of opportunity for a natter and catch up with all of our friends we had-

n’t seen for a while. The Wii was a real hit and watching all of those people trying to replicate Eddie

the Eagle’s spectacular ski jumps was

very amusing.

The juniors then embarked upon cre-

ating the largest stacking cup pyramid

I have ever seen and if we could keep

Mick Brown and Alan Stewart away

from it long enough so the kids could

actually build it without them knock-

ing it over I’m sure they would have

finished it much sooner, boys will be

boys of course!!

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Sunday evening was billed as Wild West Night and

everyone was asked to come in their cowboy attire or

at least a hat and there were many fine outfits on dis-

play. Kevin’s hat had obviously been caught out in

some storm somewhere and had shrunk or was it in

fact the one he wore when he dressed as Pinnochi at

an earlier fancy dress rally? Firstly we were treated to

a steak and jacket potato meal which had all been

freshly prepared in the kitchens and on the BBQ out-

side in the rain yet again unfortunately. But after the

statutory three beers the men cooked the steaks to

perfection. In fact even John Dare had to compliment them on the high standards and we know how fussy

he can be over his steak so a real achievement. We thought we had finished the food when some lovely

puddings materialised from the kitchen. It never ceases to amaze me how much people can ram into a

few caravans and use to entertain us all weekend. Whilst we were eating, our own resident DJ Dave Por-

ter played a Clint Eastwood film on the back wall and there were lots of guesses as to which one it was.

Kevin then started us off on a John Wayne quiz and there were some real fans amongst us who scored

very well. Personally I think I knew about one of them but my team mates Ruth and Tony Benjamin had

been busy researching during the afternoon, well that’s what they told us, and knew some of the answers

to give us a respectable score. There then followed a few name the faces quizzes whilst the casino

opened and we were able to play Black Jack, Texas Hold‘em Poker and Roulette. Marion Brown soon

showed us how to play poker, toyed with us for a little while and then wiped the floor taking all of the

chips.

New Years Eve arrived along with the wind and Andy Wade took a group on one his infamous rambles

and not surprisingly after a couple of hours the group found themselves in the local Shepherd and Dog

Public House where they were forced to shelter from the rain for a couple of hours before braving the

conditions and staggering back to the site.

The New Years Eve celebrations started at 6pm where we were all greeted by the Marshalls in their full

regalia and had a small aperitif before being served a delicious three course Chinese meal.

Dave , Sharon and Blake Porter then entertained us all night and we saw the New Year in in style with two

Chinese Lions making a wonderful appearance and performing a dance for us just before Big Ben took

over!! It is always that attention to detail that just finishes off a very special

weekend. Of course you may be wondering why we had a Ninja imposter at

a Chinese New year rally but he certainly kept us and his wife entertained

especially when he needed to go to the toilet and all we could hear was

“darling can you come and unzip me”.

He certainly entertained on the dance floor though!! Answers on a post card

to northessexchairman@gmail.com if you can recognise who the ninja was.

Happy New year to you all. Greg.

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Simon’s Top Tips—Battery Maintenance

I reckon Batteries are like your other half. Treat ‘em right and

they will give you years of pleasure. Treat ‘em bad and you

will be looking for a new one sooner than you think. Batteries

are happiest when they are fully charged. In Winter time we

may not use our vans quite so often and with lower light con-

ditions, our solar panels are unable to maintain a full charge. We may also return

our vans to storage with a less than fully charged battery. I have been guilty of all of

these. This is a battery killer due to Sulfation. Next time you check your battery, feel

the outside walls. Do they bulge out? If they do, it’s highly likely your battery is

suffering from a build up of Sulfate and will have a lower charging capacity than

when it was new.

There are lots of sites on the Internet that offer advice on battery maintenance.

Here’s one I found useful—http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles/battery-

articles/battery-basics.html. It’s a US site but the information is still relevant.

You could just make the choice of just leaving things to chance and being prepared

to replace your battery more often but with a few simple precautions you can ex-

tend battery life and save yourself some cash.

NECC Homebrewers

Does anyone fancy a tour of a local brewery sometime in the next few months?

There are a few small breweries around the Essex area that offer organised tours

which include the consumption of their products

and possibly some food. Minimum numbers apply so it may be a challenge to get enough

people together but I am happy to coordinate this is there is enough interest.

Brian and Simon got together in November to attempt a Maldon

Gold clone using the All Grain brewing method. 100% Maris Otter

Grain, Mount Hood and First Gold Hops and treated tap water.

The process requires several hours of on/off activity on brew day

followed by the usual fermentation schedule you would expect

from kit brewing. The end result was sampled at the End of Sea-

son Rally and although it needs a bit more work on the recipe, it

was certainly very drinkable and not a million miles away from

the real thing. Sorry Tracy but I think Brian wants to put his own

All Grain setup together!

As some of you may know, I have been dabbling with the All

Grain Brewing setup for most of 2012—Lorraine would say “dabbling” is an understatement

though. If anyone is interested in finding out more about this, please feel free to ask me how I built my setup. I’m no expert

but I think I know enough now to provide some good advice.

National Rally 2013

The committee have been contacted by The Caravan Club and asked to promote

the 2013 National Rally to be held at Belvoir Castle, Grantham, Leicestershire over

the late Spring Bank Holiday. This is an event that North Essex Cente have actively

participated in over previous years. More information can be found in this year’s

Rally Book including how to book.

Colchester Bowl

Competition

This year the Colchester Bowl competi-

tion is to design the Rally book cover

for the 2013/14 rally book. The design

can be as innovative as you wish and

can be a painting, drawing, digital pic-

ture, collage or perhaps a needlework

piece.

All entries need to be with Simon

Baker by 21st September 2013. Any

committee member will pass them on

for you. The judging will take place

during the morning of the AGM and

the winner will be announced at the

AGM.

Good luck and please support the

competition.

Please note there is an error in this

year’s rally book. The closing date

should read 21st September 2013

10

The Tellwright Cup

The Award for Good Caravanning

In 1962, Mr Tellwright, a member living at Jaywick, informed the Centre Committee that he would like to give a trophy to the

North Essex Centre for a competition amongst Centre Members—but not a photographic competition. In September of that

year the Committee agreed that the cup should be awarded for all round good caravanning and would be inclusive of as many

aspects as possible including wives’ interests.

In July 1963 the Cup was received and the purpose and inscription agreed with the donor. In December, Bob Brook and Wally

Fisher were asked to arrange the competition at three rallies in 1964.

In November 1964 a Sub-Committee of three was formed to act as judges with the whole arrangement left to them.

In November 1965 it was agreed that the competition was to be arranged by the first three winners. It was not until 1970 that

one of the Sub-Committee Members asked for a “yardstick” to work from. Records do not show the actual form of the compe-

tition nor the standards applied.

In 1973 it was agreed that the Officers and Committee Members should be excluded from consideration for the award, and in

1975 the whole Committee became involved by submitting three names each in order of merit at the end of the season. In

1986 it was further agreed that past winners should not be nominated again.

In September 1994. the Committee agreed that in future only one Member nomination per family be submitted for considera-

tion.

The intention of the founder Members was to encourage people to be good Caravanners and good Members of the Centre.

There are now guidelines used by the committee to help identify who should be

nominated. At the committee meeting before the Centre AGM, each Committee

Member submits their three nominations in sealed envelopes and the nominat-

ed teller then calculates the winner who will then be presented with the trophy

at the forthcoming AGM.

Past Winners

1963 A J Archer 1990 K Yearley

1964 A K Hadfield 1991 J Curtis

1965 J A Eason 1992 J Skippen

1966 A S Murkowski 1993 W White

1967 F K Elkington 1994 D Newbury

1968 E W Harris 1995 A Gray

1969 P Pike 1996 R McClelland

1970 J P Bohannan 1997 B Ward

1971 R Irvine 1998 A Yeldham

1972 D Earthy 1999 D Raith

1973 R Bloomfield 2000 P G Crowther

1974 B Walshey 2001 J Simpson

1975 H Woolfe 2002 J Wren

1976 J Potter 2003 P Coyne

1977 R Taylor 2004 M Threadgold

1978 P Lester 2005 J Lamb

1979 W Jepp 2006 J Thompson

1980 R W Barker 2007 D Winger

1981 L C Barnes 2008 B Arthy

1982 B Harrington 2009 R Whatling

1983 B W Briggs 2010 M Potter

1984 D Turner 2011 D Ford

1985 R Tilley 2012 C Styant

1986 R Morrall 2013 ????????????

1987 G Chilvers

1988 J O’Brien

1989 E Bone

2012 Winners Colin & Chris Styant

I did try to find a picture of the cup so if someone has one, can they

send a copy to me. I am guessing it is not like these…...