Dear Member

I am writing this letter as one of my duties as your elected Area Chairman .

 

As you will be aware our parent club, The Camping and Caravanning Club has over 100 years of Camping experience, and the Club exists to help its three hundred thousand members reap the maximum enjoyment and value-for-money from their camping.

 

Equally you will be well aware, the club is split into regional sections, and covers the length and breadth of the country, it’s also divided into specialist groups ranging from Motor Caravan sections to Canoe sections. It also caters for specialist sections from Folk Song and Dance groups, to mountaineering sections, however throughout this diversity, the club has one common direction; An emphasis on bringing together people from all backgrounds with a view to collective social enjoyment through the theme of camping.

 

Our area section “Tyne Tees BCC ” covers a geographical area ranging from the foot hills of the Cheviots in the Scottish Borders to the Cleveland hills and North Yorkshire moors in the south of the region, and across to the Cumbrian border in the west.

 

As such we are privileged to a have access to some of the most attractive landscapes in Great Britain, we have towns and villages of historic significance, as well as having a number of the countries most cultural and vibrant Cities located on our door step.

 

My role as Area Chairman, along with the help and support of the committee is to enable our membership to experience the areas natural resources, as well as grow our membership by ensuring we offer a range of camping meets which corresponded with the area's natural assets.

 

Now it is true to say that changes in society and culture, along with the recent recession, has hit organisations such as ours very hard in terms of membership turnout. It is with this in mind, that I see my role and the role of the committee to carry on the good work of previous Chairs and committee members and to build the section by ensuring we offer variety of venues, locations and activities, which can compliment such natural assets.

 

The committee are working to expand our current portfolio of camping venues, by working with local communities, private organisations, Government agencies, as well as private landowners in exploring the opportunity of using facilities to host weekend camping events in key areas of our region.

 

We are also looking to build on the themed weekends and gain active involvement of our membership. Walking, cycling, fishing, communal barbeques, and social evenings have all proven successful over recent years. We plan to build on this by looking at further activities which suit all ages, abilities with an emphasis on making your weekends both enjoyable and memorable.

 

We really want you to leave our weekend meets telling your friends and colleagues what a great weekend you have had, and how you are looking forward to the next weekend with Tyne Tees.

 

To help gauge the thoughts of our membership we have developed a questionnaire, which will allow us to understand where we as a committee need to concentrate, develop and improve how we operate, where we operate and what our members would like see from the section. Please take the time to complete this questionnaire. its just a click away and Its important that we understand your views and requirements.

 

The questionnaire is available as a hard copy, through the committee or can be accessed via the Tyne Tees web site. (All submission are anonymous). Tyne Tees BCC Members Survey.

Likewise if you feel you can make a difference and are interested in hosting such a weekend, but are unsure of how to do it, please don't hesitate to ask.

 

I believe we in the Tyne Tees area have one of the strongest sections and dedicated membership, I also firmly believe we have a lot of untapped potential both in terms of locations and venues within our region. Supplementing this, I know we have a membership full of the right skills and enthusiasm capable of driving the club to new levels.

 

With the continued help and support of the committee, my tenure is to bring that potential to fruition, we hope and plan to achieve this through the implementation of new venues offering a greater range of interests. Building on these venues, we look to offer balanced activities which appeal to the enthusiast as well the novice, the young as well as well as not so, those looking to be active as well as respecting those wanting to relax and take pleasure from spectating, chilling out and generally enjoying their surroundings.

 

For activities, we already include themed weekends of cycling and fly fishing, these being the more main stream, by the time these notes go to print we will have held one of our more bizzar activities, this being the 1st of the great sausage making competition, "yes" you heard right", this was held at Tilery Cottage, where eager competitors received their sausage making kits and were challenged to develop a culinary delight. Each entry was then judged by a renowned panel of local  sausage eating experts and a trophy was awarded to the deserved winner (winner announced in the next edition of caravanning).

 

To wet you appetites further (pardon the pun after the sausage competitions), we are also currently arranging a star gazing evening in one the regions last areas of low light pollution, the venue we are thinking about witnessed the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights to you and I, through the August months. Combine the same venue with a marathon mountain bike circular tour round the reservoir and forests and we believe we could have a very popular new venue to add to our portfolio. The venue in question if you have not already guessed is Kielder Forest, building on this we have planned to introduced a further 3 new venues, Great Busby in Teesside, Thorpe Farm in Co Durham, and Bents Park, South Shields, all adding to a very good 2012 programme, so watch for details and dates coming through your letter box.

 

Now at this point, these note may seem like a sales pitch and in some respects they are, but for me,   it is all about planting the seeds and ensuring we grow as a section.

 

Hopefully from my previous notes and postings, you will begin to get a feel of what we are looking to achieve and what we are focused on, why we need to emphasise active membership and why we want people involved.

 

The goal is simple "Regenerate a family club with a family feel" by linking the common themes of "Active involvement", "enthusiasm" and most of all memorable fun and enjoyment for all.

 

So.............Anyone reading this rallying cry and feels stimulated enough to want to become involved or feel they can make a difference, I would actively encourage you, be it an existing member or potential new area member to get in touch with me with any ideas for theme's, activities or venues. If you are not sure how to, just drop me an e-mail via the link on the Area contacts or give me a call on 07788430245.

 

Please note, there are no bad idea's, (although you might want to ask the committee about some of the ideas I have come up with), we can review the practicalities with the potential to make these a reality.

 

This year, we have seen the implementation of new venues, through the summer months, we had Parkside at Ripon, Matfen brewery in Northumberland and the Countryman near Darlington all had good attendance.

 

Particularly good feed back was received for Matfen, although I suspect why is contained within the venue title and I suspect the barrel of "Matfen Magic" which seemed to go down very smoothly, very well and alarming very rapidly had a lot to do with it. - We will go back!

 

On a closing  note, thanks to those who have supported me in my opening season, all help and advice has been greatly appreciated and noted. I have taken all your feed back into consideration and with the help of the committee built this into what looks to be a strong 2012 programme.

 

So over the forth coming months, I will be looking for stewards to support this programme. Anyone interested in being a steward and would like to make a difference or indeed have any questions or concerns about such a role  please feel free to contact me directly.

Regards,

Keith..