Motor Caravanners Club - The fun begins

Welcome to our record of travels with our motorhome.  We are just back from the Motor Caravanner's Club National rally at the Three Counties Showground, Malvern, England.  What a fantastic May bank holiday weekend we have had and we wanted to share our experiences with other Motorhome owners.

So what is the Motor Caravanner's Club?  I must admit, all the years we previously had a caravan and went camping, we only thought that there were two main clubs.  The Caravan Club and The Camping and Caravan Club. We were members of both when we had a Caravan. We pre-booked their sites (when spaces were available)  and turned up to the immaculately manicured pitches, their gleaming toilet blocks and the terror of the wardens, informing us of the rules about driving on grass and parking within their imposed boundaries.  After a day spent exploring local areas or enjoying the 'great outdoors' everyone seemed to retreat into their pristine caravans within the pitch, awnings and barricaded windbreak areas.  If a few daring couples sought out each other to sit outside and socialise, they would be 'tut tutted' about the outside conversational noise and made to feel unwelcome.  if those same people continued to have a conversation after 10pm, the warden would appear to suggest it was ended.  Most people retreated into their caravans to watch TV or read.  It was not what we wanted out of our travels.

After changing from a Caravan to our Motor Caravan or Motorhome, we tried to venture out into the sites of the Caravan club or Camping and Caravan Club.  Unfortunately nothing had changed and we still did not feel welcome. A work colleague heard we had just purchased a motorhome and suggested we join their club; The Motor Caravanner's Club. As we had never heard of these, we did a bit of web surfing about club and although the website www.motorcaravannersclub.eu a bit old fashioned, we thought we would join for a year and if we didn't like it we could drop the membership, as it was still cheaper then the other two clubs. Our membership fees were sent off and within a week an shiny new pack with a club handbook was delivered, shortly after a lovely letter and a local programme of events from the local group was also received.

Two weeks later, after reading though the details, we agreed to try a planned event.  The literature said you didn't have to book the sites and could just turn up.  Fantastic, we thought, as we usually didn't know when we could get away until a few days prior.  By then most other sites were fully booked up.  So we headed for our first MCC Rally.  Yes it was held in a field without a shower block or public toilet facilities, but we had a loo an shower. in our van and didn't need to use public facilities. There was facilities for fresh water.  There was a place to empty the  toilet cartridge from the van and there was a great friendly atmosphere.
We were invited to join others for evening socials and a quiz. We sat out with a bottle of wine and good conversations until nearly midnight and not a warden in sight to complain as most of the company were also joining in.

Over the next few weeks we joined in the weekend meets or rallies and made lots of new friends.  This is one of the reasons we bought a motorhome.  To travel, see new places and meet new people. We became active members of Northern Counties group of the Motor Caravanner's Club.

Within a year, we had made lots of new friends and because we wanted to support the group we decided to help out on the committee.  A year later, we were appointed to Te roles of Chairman and Secretary of the group.  This is the record of our rallies, travels and adventures as active members of our group.

Allan & Kim McKelvie