Some top weekends in that list Russ. Wal's recovery at Pete's 60th is a thing of legend!

Spa's gonna be wicked.... but I still need a co-pilot or I'll be very broken!

Having been part of the organising team for the past two years' (Inter)Nationals, I'd like to make a few points in response to some of the general feelings aired here. In no particular order:

1. Beer tent vs. Building:
I have to agree, looking back, that the most fun I have had at these meetings has been in a Beet Tent. However, I also seem to recall some *bloody miserable* ones when the weather has been horizontal rain all weekend, with only a flappy, cold, muddy marquee for shelter. There was no Beer Tent last year (we had a Beer Barn), so maybe it's not a bricks/canvas issue, more that we are happiest with somewhere on the field we can bring our own drinks - as well as having a bar serving real ale at decent prices - and have a good dance session to some bangin' choons we all recognise? Beer Tents were more fun before Health & Safety descended on us - happy memories of pole climbing/roof running etc. See also bonfires - the making of the after-hours partying, but alas, now next to impossible (or prohibitively expensive) to get insurance for.

2. Site and Facilities:
I showered every day, and never had to queue or had a cold one. Sorry to those who weren't so lucky, but actually *having* showers is a luxury - in the Good Ol' Days, we never had showers. We were lucky to have ChemiKhazis that weren't mud-caked and overflowing. The downside of a stately-home-gardens-type venue is that it is just a field. You have to pay handsomely for the field (~£3-5K), and handsomely for a marquee (~£5K), then hire in all the loos (~£3K) (and maybe showers, which require additional services for the drainage and cost of heating the water) and then magic-up some water points (remember this year's French National?!). Using a venue that has most of these in place, and doesn't charge you through the nose because it's a tourist attraction on a Bank Holiday Weekend, benefits the membership by keeping costs down - cos we all like a whinge at how much it costs to get in - and reduces the amount of effort required to organise .

3. Volunteering:
Last year we had 20 or so very heavily involved *local* volunteers in the entire year leading up to the event - our monthly club nights became planning/progress meetings; this year there were 3 - yes, ONLY 3 CORE PEOPLE - with a handful of outlying helpers from around the country involved to a greater or lesser degree. Last year, we had 18 months to plan it and had the luxury of time to investigate different sites and do all the sums; this year they took up the baton with only a year to go. Sparsholt was always a compromise, but I trust that anyone who had heard the 'bad press' being peddled by disgruntled and/or ill-informed commentators beforehand, found it better than they expected? You owe these people a HUGE amount of thanks - they have individually given up literally weeks of their 'spare' time (probably using up their annual leave to be on site for set-up/take-down); they have had to put up with constant gripes about the site, being personally called 'tossers' on a public forum because the landowners prohibited dogs, taken abuse from people turning up before the opening time and expecting us all to stop work to let them in early, had to sort out disputes between those that want to party hard and those who choose to camp on the border of the 'noisy' field with their children and expect to get to a full nights' sleep (and just to reiterate, NO! there never has been a bedtime curfew - and I hope there never is), and to deal with Day Visitors moaning that the cars weren't all lined up by model... (ever heard of Registers' Day?). Volunteering also means you get bugger all sleep, and miss most of the event itself - "the only Nationals you weren't at were the ones you helped organise", as someone perceptively summed it up.

4. Atmosphere:
As stated above, this is the bit where YOU come in, guys! You're 2CVers, FFS! You're supposed to have a 'can do'/'make the most of it' approach to fun. Seemed to me that there was lots of stuff to do (I loved the Tappet Case Racing and am gutted I missed the Quechua Wrangling and Table Wrestling). I, too, felt a bit of a lack, but for me it was because an awful lot of my favourite *people* - the real 2CVGB characters/hellraisers - weren't there. It had now't to do with a tepid shower or a 3 minute walk to the bar...

I have rambled too long, I know, so just let me finish by saying a massive personal THANK YOU, in particular, to Carol Cooper Chapman (an unsung heroine if ever there was one), Richard 'Coops' Cooper, and Nikki Wright, without whom, we'd all have been stuck at home - like we may be next year - and finally, to Mark Dunmore, who does far too much driving about to collect/deliver/load/unload Club property from Ruskington (and, indeed, Kent).

I really hope some brave souls volunteer to take it on next year - PLEASE, let's make them believe we'll all be grateful if they do. Keeping the wide variety of people that is the 2CVGB Mambership happy is a bloody hard task, not to mention a logisitical challenge, so let's not be too quick to criticise... unless, of course, it is accompanied by a firm commitment to volunteer.

*Thinks: this should probably have been on the 2CVGB Forum, but there seems to be more life here...*

Well said Mrs.

Seconded in spades...

Sorry, was busy elsewhere

Same here. ^^

ken

Loui was talked in to the table wrestle (ok shamed) after his little girl asked if we thought she would make it and we siad she should try but her arms might be too short... bot were we wrong.. straight round and back up.. I honestly though Loui was gonna burst with shock and pride..

I had quite a lot of atmosphere, then Amber had me go for a shower.. apparently atmosphere should not smell ..opps..

I have no photos of me lion outfit so if some poor devil managed to get me in shot please can they let me see/copy them.. ta

^ What Anna Said. Every single word.

But especially this bit...



These people need to be bought lots of drinks.



Rick Pembro volunteered in the bar on Sunday night, and when I spoke to him last night - he did indeed remember doing so... He's already got some ideas on the theme, too.

So get your Zoider shoes on, grab the keys to your brand new Combine Harvester, because Zummerzet might be a go-er!

(Might be around November, though...)

OH!!!!!

Thanks violetlobster for giving us a balanced view.

John.