CHAIRMANS REPORT
I find myself as Chairman a lot sooner than I expected, I have been Chairman for just over 2 months, therefore I am still finding my feet. I am sure Barry will be of great help in supporting me to settle into my role.
This past year has been a successful one for Durham Centre, rally attendances have increased as well as welcoming some new ralliers joining us.
I would like to thank all of our officers and committee for all their commitment and hard work over the past year.
Finally I would like to thank Sharon my wife for stepping in as Secretary and being my wife and all the support she gives to me.
Unfortunately, we have had some rallies which have had to be cancelled due to the Great British weather which is out of our control. However, when we have rallied together we have had a lot of fun. Our invitation rally at Sedgefield Racecourse with North Yorkshire was a successful one being fully booked with 8 vans attending from our friends at North Yorkshire.
The holiday rally at Prestatyn was well supported with 26 vans attending, lots of visitors from other centres as well as Durham Centre members, They enjoyed Angies afternoon cream tea as well as nightly entertainment in the gazebos.
Patley Bridge holiday rally was enjoyed with a Pirate of the Caribbean Theme, a tea party to celebrate Pam's 80th birthday, BBQ and nightly entertainment in the gazebos.
Our Bedale holiday rally was visited by other centre members from the Highlands of Scotland down to Southampton where nightly entertainment was enjoyed in the gazebos, including Barry's bargain hunt, hot dogs and nibbles. We were entertained by Mr and Mrs Pringle to 2-nights of entertainment, one being beetle drive (which I won!) and another night of Karauki a sing along to Mr and Mrs Pringle playing Ukulele.
We have also held our Annual Horticultural rally at Crimdon which as well supported with a lot of entries into the various sections. These entries were then auctioned raising funds for our social fund.
Our invitation from North Yorkshire to their rally at Houghall College was enjoyed by Durham Centre members with fun games and laughter in their party tents.
The Chairman's rally held at Oakleaf wall well supported and a good time was had by all with live entertainment on the field, bottle draw as well as our annual golf tournament.
I would like to thank Butch for his hard work and commitment to the centre during his time as Vice Chairman and Chairman. I would also like to thank Diane for her hard work and commitment to the centre as Rally Secretary and then Secretary, she worked very hard finding new venues for us all to enjoy and put together a terrific Rally Program.
I would like to thank Barbara for her hard work and commitment as assistant sports officer, I'm sure Davey appreciated the help as I know from experience it is not easy.
My final thank you goes to all the Rally Marshalls, especially the new Marshals who have supported the Centre by running the rallies, as without you we couldn't have had the rallies we have had.
We still have a few rallies left this year which I am sure will be supported, so get booking.
The final thing I would like to mention is a gentle reminder that when you renew your CMHC membership please be aware that you are not automatically joined to Durham Centre, this has to be updated manually. I think this is the reason over the past year our centre membership has reduced from 2000+ to just over 1600 members.
Kevin Showler
Durham Centre Chairman
Kevin Showler
Chairman’s Report
