Well, what a great weekend this year's meet turned out to be. The two sets of Marshalls, Ray
& Bev Bayes and Ray & Judy Pym set off early on the Wednesday from the Malvern Hills
Campsite to set out the IHOC site at the showground. An impressive turnout of 29 vans
meant that we had been moved from our more normal site up behind the stable blocks to a
site next to the showground itself and adjacent to the Country & Western music venue. There
were mixed reviews about this change. Many preferred the convenient location and better
condition of the campground, whilst others disliked the extra noise and the number of people
walking around the area whilst the evening entertainment was taking place.
On Thursday most of the vans (25) arrived and were pitched. We had plenty of space. That
evening, everyone gathered to meet and chat with a little wine and a few nibbles.
Friday saw the show open and the arrival of the last 3 vans and Martin from IH in his
caravan. Unfortunately, the weather was a touch inclement and turned out to be the worst
day of the weekend. The planned get together after the show closed was immediately
curtailed, “rain stopped play”, although a hardy few were not deterred and continued,
squeezed under the gazebo.
Saturday saw a great improvement in the weather. The evening saw the now traditional
Paper Aeroplane competition and the quiz.
The Aeroplane competition was won this year by
Horace Pickering with his first throw. The quiz had most people scratching their heads. Ray
Bayes apologized for setting what turned out to be quite a difficult set of questions, but the
damage had already been done. However, Alan & Anne McGarty managed to rise heroically
above everyone else to win the quiz with notable 40%, which is a pass in anyone's language.
Sunday morning, we gathered for a coffee morning at which the answers to the Logos,
Products & Brands, window competition were announced. This was won by Pete & Pauline
Ford. A discussion was had about future Get Togethers, in the Autumn this year and also
next year. With the Peterborough Show now no longer and its replacement being Newark
in June, it was felt that the next Show Rally was likely to Malvern again next August. Keep
an eye on the IHOC Forum for details about that and a proposed Autumn meet later this year
at Devizes and/or Cirencester.
With the weekend more or less over, people started to say their farewells, some leaving on
the Sunday and the rest setting off on the Monday morning.
Overall, it was a great weekend.
Ray and Bev Bayes