National Rally - Kelmarsh Hall - Q&As

[pgc520]

MMOC National Rally at Kelmarsh Hall 6 & 7th July 2007

Comments and views

A number of comments about this years Rally have been posted on the MMOC web site, which I hope the information below will clarify .

Before responding to any questions raised, I would like to thank the National rally team who work so hard and have ensured that all the events over the last five years have been enjoyable and successful.

Since its creation the National Rally Team has held events around the UK:
Harewood, Knebworth, Donnington, Breamore House, and this year Kelmarsh Hall. We have tried out many different formats to encourage members to attend and enjoy the host locations facilities. One year we hired part of the Racing circuit allowing members and their cars to try something a bit different. What is clear from the feedback is that the majority of people enjoy the event and its format, with the number of entries being constantly above 500 cars.

On to specifics regarding Kelmarsh Hall !

Site Conditions - The weather for the preceding weeks had not allowed Kelmarsh to cut the grass which was about 2" to 3" on the central part of the field. However some people choose to camp in an area where the grass was considerably longer. The Rally layout had to be redesigned as the available space had been reduced from 52 to 20 acres. This meant that areas like Branch Avenue became hidden from view. Those who arrived on Friday will have seen that a temporary road was installed to allow access to the site.
This and many other things took up a considerable amount of the organising team's time.

Showers - We had planned to try out some electric showers and these had been booked. About 3 weeks before the event discussions with Kelmarsh ruled out use of the drainage system that we had planned to use as it was flooded. I therefore took the decision to cancel the showers as we had no way to dispose of the waste, other than by installing a tank which would have proved very costly.

Toilets - When the toilets are booked I spend a considerable amount of time discussing our needs with the company who supply them. They assured me that with the facilities of the hall and the number of members who have their own toilet camping facilities 18 units would be sufficient. Following these discussions I booked 18 units and a service visit for Sunday Morning.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing we should have had two service visits, but even then but getting the timing right is the critical process.

Disabled facilities were provided at the Hall, but we should have had our own unit on the grounds. This item will not be over looked next year as Stanford has a purpose built unit.

"Why were the toilets all in one place"? Simple, the truck got stuck on its way in! It was decided that it would be sensible for the service visit, if we had to tow the cleaning unit in, we would do it once and to one location.

Food - Kelmarsh Hall tea rooms were providing a larger range of meals than the catering bar on the rally field. Again this is a difficult area as at many events Harewood, Knebworth the caterers only just broke even. I would like to have more food wagons, but based on our previous events I cannot give traders false expectations of the weekend trade.

Potbelly Pig Brewery - The ale on offer was first class, well priced and served in a friendly manner, they have been invited back next year.

Plaques and Rally Guides - These have historically been handed out as people arrive; the vast majority of people received them. However those arriving on Friday to camp were not given a plaque or guide. We will try to ensure that in future members understand where to collect these items. Guides and Plaques can be obtained from the MMOC office at Derby.

Entertainment - The event tries to have something for everyone. The Rapide Brothers provide a fantastic show which is appreciated by children and adults. The Morris Dancers provided alternative entertainment and were willing to help with the inter branch challenge.

Branch Avenue - With the radical changes that were made to the site layout, Branch Avenue was not particularly easy to find. The Branches who participated put on a good display in difficult circumstances.

Numbers - When planning a Rally like the National we look at the number of registered people about 4 weeks before the event. Based on this we predicted that about 650 cars over the two days would attend. We had approx. 600 cars attend, which considering the weather was excellent.

Road Events - I would love to have a road run at the National, but it needs people to run it, which currently we simply don't have. If you want to volunteer for 2009 let me know.

Event Sharing - The MMOC has shared events in the past and may well do so in the future; the key is to find an event that has sufficient space and doesn't want to charge a fortune.

In summary - The team and I try very hard to make sure that we all have a good weekend, which on the whole I think we do. We do get things wrong from time to time, but we always try and learn from our mistakes. If you need any further information please ask at the AGM.

Regards
Andrew

[jonathon]

Andrew, are there many questions/concerns being raised over the last National, to warrant a debate at the AGM. Will the 2008 Rally be discussed, or ideas sought for potential events.
Thanks for the explanations above

[pgc520]

Jonathan,

An outline of the 2008 event will be provided at the AGM, which will set out all of the different things that are planned.

Andrew

[aupickup]

hello andrew, have read your response and points taken on board however i think that just because the hall has its own food facilities, u should not assume that campers will eat there, so agian i would say food on the camp site was poor with only one vendor

toilets issue taken into account of weather and showers i guess, but still poor

entertainment well we see these clowns every year it sems so how about some new turns on the entertainment side

venues have all ready ben aired on here

[RussLCV]

Deleted

[Kevin]

Thanks for the response Andrew, I think Russ has a very valid point that some form of announcement about the problems would have certainly helped especially the toilet and showers issues and the lack of info forthcoming is what got most peoples back up, which rather overshadowed all the hard work done by the National Rally Team.