Organise Your Own Rally (1 Viewer)

DBK

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Over the weekend the Murvi Owners' Club had a rally at Treloan Campsite near Portscatho on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall. I organised this last year and did so again this year.

Organising a rally isn't difficult, which is why I'm posting this here. However, I am unsure of the insurance aspects if you do it outside of a club or some other organisation which has insurance to cover someone falling over on an organised walk and I would be grateful for any input from those who know about these things.

We gathered on Thursday and by the weekend we had 36 'vans of all ages.

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It was interesting to see there is the same divergence of opinion as there is on this forum about the need for levelling ramps and silver screens!

On the Saturday I led a nine mile circular walk around St Anthony Head and found a quiet spot for lunch at the old church at Place - which is owned by the Church Conservation Trust and is worth a visit.

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On Saturday evening the Hidden Hut folk came to cook us a paella with a choice of seafood, chicken and chorizo and veggie.

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We sat patiently while it was prepared.

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And then we had a sing song afterwards - we were much better organised this year with song sheets!

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On the Sunday I led a few stalwarts on a pretty gruelling twelve mile walk to Nare Head where we saw three Choughs - an unusual but welcome sight which lifted spirits before the final long push to the headland.

Finally, we went for supper at the Plume of Feathers pub in Portscatho on Sunday evening where they catered brilliantly for 55 of us packing them out to the rafters.

Not everyone went on the walks of course but there were plenty of options for shorter wanders and others drove off to visit Truro etc.

If anyone wants to try organising their own rally here just let me know and I'll let them have the points of contact. We probably brought about £5k to the local community and more than one local thanked us for coming.

It was a good weekend and apart from a damp Friday the weather was brilliant.
 

Allan & Loren

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Looks like you had a great time and the paella looked very tasty!

I'd be interested in the answer to insurance as all the clubs have it and I have to have it as I'm a Nordic walk instructor and my insurance covers up to £5m liability
 
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Allan & Loren

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I thought we were covered organising something for FUN members as long as everybody is a member.

Martin

That would be good. Probably would need to be listed as an official fun rally? What about qualified first aid too? Can't be too careful in this world of compensation. Everyone is all so relaxed about insurance until something happens to them and they need it!

Our leader will hopefully come along soon and keep us on the right track
 
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andrewjw

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Looks like a great weekend!

We've stayed at the Treloan site several times and enjoyed the hospitality at the Plume of Feathers too...an excellent area for walking too as you say.

Maybe we should swap the van for a Murvi so we could join in!?

Just joking..the La Strada club do similar meet ups...maybe one of the advantages of having a more niche van like the Murvis and LS's.
 
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GJH

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In order to organise a rally legally an organisation must hold an exemption under para 4 and/or para 6 of Schedule 1 to the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960. The Murvi Club has a Para 6 exemption; Fun has both Para 4 and Para 6 exemptions (and also the Para 5 CL exemption). Eligibility rules are explained Here. Insurance isn't actually mentioned but many landowners require insurance cover to be in place before allowing their land to be used.

People who organise rallies without the necessary certificate (e.g. unofficial "club" Facebook groups) do so illegally.
 
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tonka

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This may help..

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/rallies-in-fields.29235/

" remember that we have an exemption that allows us to rally almost anywhere we wish. So if you know of a nice level field near you, or near an event, why not contact the landowner and see if we can rally there? As long as the rally is 5 days or less there will be no problems"
 

Jim

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Yes we are exempted to hold a rally most anywhere; as long as we have the landowners permission. We hold rally insurance for our "Rally Group" which are the subscribers here.

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dryad

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quite a few years now, and loving every minute..
Yes we are exempted to hold a rally most anywhere; as long as we have the landowners permission. We hold rally insurance for our "Rally Group" which are the subscribers here.

are we up to date with the exemption licence jim, as according to the govt website it was up until may 11th 2015?
bottom of page 4.. hopefully just an error or typo, or me looking at the wrong thing, but followed the link in @GJH's link..

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GJH

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are we up to date with the exemption licence jim, as according to the govt website it was up until may 11th 2015?
bottom of page 4.. hopefully just an error or typo, or me looking at the wrong thing, but followed the link in @GJH's link..

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That list hasn't been updated since November 2014. Natural England are very helpful (at least they have been when I've contacted them) but under resourced so less vital matters receive less attention :)

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MaidinDevon

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Thanks to DBK for a really good rally. My avatar shows Millie (my new to me Murvi) on site, with the sea behind. Treloan is a lovely campsite, and I had a great weekend, although I dodged the long walks!
 
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DBK

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A bit sad preparing for their next journey in life.:D

View attachment 103271
I think some of the hungrier were looking to see if there was anything fresh enough to be worth digging up and eating. This may explain why some insisted on the mirrors being removed from the loo block!

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Along the same lines about organising a rally how are costs and charges etc calculated, and are they audited in any way, and does any of the money go to charity? Only curious as we (Gerri19 and me) have thought about maybe trying to organise something in this area of England as many meets seem to be "up North" !!!!!:):)
 
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DBK

DBK

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Along the same lines about organising a rally how are costs and charges etc calculated, and are they audited in any way, and does any of the money go to charity? Only curious as we (Gerri19 and me) have thought about maybe trying to organise something in this area of England as many meets seem to be "up North" !!!!!:):)

@Ockerron. Jim has a good handbook in resources all about running a rally. Heres the link.

www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/resources/rally-marshals-handbook.84

I must have a look at Jim's handbook - I didn't know about it. However, I can describe how we did it. Being a club we have our own bank account which I think helps enormously otherwise someone is going to have to use their own account which I don't think is really on. Being a club account it is audited annually and payment received reconciled against receipts for expenditure.

Our club treasurer set up a spreadsheet on Google Docs which I had access to. I then sent out emails to everyone who was coming and got them to pay by bank transfer into the club account. As payment was received this was marked on the spreadsheet as paid. Then a few days before we arrived the treasurer paid the campsite and caterers.

Of course it wasn't quite as simple as that, there were a few without internet or online banking and several last minute changes in dates from people, which is always going to happen in the real world.

You can of course ask people to settle up directly, paying the campsite on arrival and this also works but if you are arranging a meal at a pub they are likely to want a deposit if the numbers involved are large so you will need people to pay up front.

If you don't have a club account you could look to set one up just for the event but opening accounts isn't as easy these days as it used to be. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get around this problem it would be helpful to hear what the options are. The auditing angle for a private event could be addressed by asking for a volunteer not involved in the organisation to check the accounts after the event.

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scotjimland

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Over the weekend the Murvi Owners' Club had a rally at Treloan Campsite

as I understand you don't need insurance if it is held on a commercial campsite, you will be covered by the site public liability insurance

nor require an exception certificate.. it's just a bunch of people meeting up at the same camp site..

of course, if it's a large group then you should ask the site owner if that's ok .. he may also offer a discount .

Why you would need insurance to go for a walk together .. ?
 
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funflair

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Along the same lines about organising a rally how are costs and charges etc calculated, and are they audited in any way, and does any of the money go to charity? Only curious as we (Gerri19 and me) have thought about maybe trying to organise something in this area of England as many meets seem to be "up North" !!!!!:):)
The easiest thing is to keep it simple, we organised New Year at Shrewsbury, eveybody booked direct with the site, we spent a little bit on party poppers and quiz prizes etc. We sold bacon butty's on New Years morning and made a small profit which we used to offset the costs incurred and stuck the balance into a charity.

NO you will not be audited but your dealings should be transparent for your own protection/reputation, keep a basic account of in and out costs and if you do make a profit give it to a good cause and put the receipt on the rally thread.

Martin

EDIT Just read Jim's handbook and what we organised was a Meet not a Rally.
 

GJH

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as I understand you don't need insurance if it is held on a commercial campsite, you will be covered by the site public liability insurance

nor require an exception certificate.. it's just a bunch of people meeting up at the same camp site..

of course, if it's a large group then you should ask the site owner if that's ok .. he may also offer a discount .

Why you would need insurance to go for a walk together .. ?
The requirement for exemption depends on how bookings are made. If it as as Martin mentioned:
eveybody booked direct with the site,
then it is like any other individual booking, just that people have arranged to socialise together whilst staying at the same site and using the licensed site pitches.

The difference comes when the group is using a rally field (even if it is part of a site which has licensed pitches and/or a CL). That is when an exemption certificate is required.

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