Chairlady's Welcome
Chairlady's Comments 2008 ~ July Update
Welcome to the South Essex Centre Website. I hope that you enjoy looking through the site and find the items interesting. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all the membership for your continued support during the year by either attending rallies or Marshaling. Without you there would no Centre.
The National Rally this year was held at Holkham Hall, Norfolk . Our Sports Committee did extremely well with entering teams in all sporting activities. Our crowning glory was being the outright winner of the It's A Knockout Tournament. In football we reached the semi finals for the 9-14 yrs and the Over 35's. The 15-18 yrs reached the final only to be beaten by Cheshire , a Centre very strong at sports. We also reached the semi finals in Men's Volleyball our best ever. Next year's National is at a new venue in Leicester , and hopefully we will do just as good or even better. Even if you don't take part the teams are always encouraged by supporters cheering them on.
The Anglia Region Rally this year was hosted by Mid Anglia. Despite only having 26 units there we did well in all the competitions once again. We didn't win The Bell Trophy, which went to Mid Anglia, but we certainly didn't disgrace ourselves. Personally the highlight of the weekend for me was beating Mid Anglia 2 pulls to 1 in the Men's Tug of War. Our team was put together on the day with no training. We certainly should have been beaten hand down just on the weight ratio! The noise of the watching crowd certainly spurred our men on against all the odds.
Reading the above paragraphs may make you think that we are a sports orientated Centre. This is not the case. We believe that sport should be fun for all and although it's good to win in the competitions it's the taking part and enjoying it that matters. You only have to attend the Family Fun rally in July to see that really is true.
Over the August Bank Holiday weekend we will be celebrating our 4000 th Rally. This rally will be held at Bartlett 's Farm, Rettendon. Invitations have been sent out to 14 other local Centres so hopefully the rally will be well supported. So far we have 110 units booked in, but there is still time to send in your slip. The programme is ready to be sent out at the end of July. A new event for Sunday afternoon will be a Soap Box Derby, go-kart races, for the whole family. Either bring your soap box with you or make one on the rally. The whole Committee will be working from the Wednesday prior to the rally, over the weekend and also into the following week. Any offers of help over the weekend would be gratefully accepted.
This year it is our turn to host the Bonfire Rally. We will be returning to Barleylands Farm, Billericay. For those of you who have not attended a Bonfire Rally before the firework display is organized by a professional company. We stipulate that no other fireworks are bought onto the field for safety reasons. Please book onto this rally as soon as possible so that we know how much to spend on fireworks. The displays in the past have always been spectacular.
As we are fast approaching the holiday season I wish you all a safe time whether in this country or abroad. Terry and I look forward to seeing you all soon.
Regards
Linda Beal
South Essex Chairlady.