Welcome to the West Sussex Caravan Club centre website and thank you for taking the time to come and visit. We hope to keep this site updated on a regular basis and would encourage you to visit it often to keep up to date with centre news and current events. We also have a page where you can advertise any items you have for sale or that you want. For items less than £50.00, we ask that you make a small contribution to the Chairmans Charity and for items over £50.00 we ask for a minimum donation of £5.00. Contact Carol Wightman to post an advert on the website.

Rally Reports
East Surrey New Year Bash
Mama Mia, we shook our pants with coats on!
We were kindly invited to attend the East Surrey Centre’s New  celebrations so quite a few of us took them up on the offer and I for one am glad I did.
We turned up on Wednesday and the West Sussex crew went out for a meal.  After that we joined our Surrey friends and had a pleasant evening.  Mark from East Surrey caught me out a treat!  He asked whether West Sussex were up for a laugh to which I obviously replied that we were.
We then ended up jumping through ever decreasing diameter hoops whilst holding hands with the person next to you!  What a laugh that was especially for some of our not so small or supple members!
New Years eve was spent in the main hall where we were provided with a lovely buffet and disco.  A lot of West Sussex hot air was used in blowing up dozens of balloons.  Earlier in the day the heating had packed up but thanks to Dave 'The Power' Wightman it got fixed. 
As soon as the disco started the West Sussex ladies were up and at it one of whom (Sandy) was wearing a very nice lilac duffel coat.  I think the 'Duffel Coat' dance could catch on!
New Years Day evening saw us watching the film Mama Mia.  We were given pop corn on arrival.  Once the projectionist got the film rolling it was apparent that more ladies than men were willing to sing along to the music of ABBA.  At a half time break we were given hot dogs.  What a lovely treat that was.
All in all a great weekend. Thank you East Surrey
Nick Harris

West Surrey's Christmas Rally
We turned up on Friday at dark o'clock.  By spooky coincidence I found that I pulled into the school behind Keith Trantum who was behind Dave Wightman. 
We set up, had a quick meal then went to the hall where we spent a thoroughly good evening putting the world to rights with our friends from both West Sussex and West Surrey.
Saturday morning I ended up helping 'doing the sprouts' ready for the evening meal.  Dave Wightman turned up constantly moaning about the useless peeling tool he was using and asking why would anyone buy one.  It was very funny when after a few minutes of listening to Dave moan Carol announced that it was the one from their home!  We know who peels the spuds there then!
Saturday lunchtime found a load of West Sussex in a not so near by hostelry.  Dave remembered that this pub was a short walk away.  The subsequent trek nearly put Keith Trantum and Dave Rayner in an ambulance!
On our return to the school, Sandy and Carol thinking they were doing a fast walking marathon, got ahead of us to find that Fred from West Surrey had gone out but his van was on fire!  This was soon put out and Fred smelled very nice of Eau de Smoke for the rest of the weekend!
Saturday we dined on a fantastic three course meal and then danced to the band 'Catch 22', well, most of the West Sussex girls did anyway.
We all had a great time and would recommend the West Surrey Christmas bash to all our readers.
Happy Christmas
Nick Harris

Midhurst Rother College 20th - 22nd November
Wet, Wet, Wet. No I am not talking about  the group, I am describing the weather at the final rally of the year at Midhurst grammar school!
On Friday night which was remarkable in that it was dry, most of us attended a nearby hostelry where one or two pints of low calorie ale were consumed until Tony Clark decided to buy several people a drink of indeterminate origin but boy did it burn!
On the way back we were tempted by the smell and ended up finishing the evening with kebabs and chips.
Saturday morning was pleasant and many ralliers strolled round Midhurst which is far bigger than I thought.  Lunchtime saw 10 of us attending yet another hostelry but the main purpose was to partake of the fantastic Thai food served there as opposed to the equally pleasant ales on offer, honest!
Saturday evening we danced the night away to the sounds provided by Les the Music Man from Loxwood.  His selection of music was really good and none complained it was too loud.  Leastways if they did no one heard them!
Everyone took a selection of food and in true West Sussex style there was plenty of varied food stuffs for all.
Sunday started wet but at 1100 when we were standing outside waiting for the stragglers, the heavens opened.  I have no idea what people thought on seeing a group of adults standing in the pouring rain with mugs of drinks laughing out loud but laugh we did.
What a brilliant end to our season and those of you who were unable to attend missed a good un.
Our thanks to Bob West for running the rally assisted by Dave and Sue Nicholls.
Merry Christmas!
Nick Harris
 
Malham Farm/Laughing Fish  6th – 8th Nov.
The rally had to be moved to the Laughing Fish with less than a week’s notice, due to the field at Malham being water logged. Chris and I thank all of you who came to the Laughing Fish at such short notice, it meant that 21 vans arrived on what turned out to be a very wet Friday night. A few brave people did get to together for a noggin and a natter, but the more sensible stayed in their vans.
During the day on Saturday people did their own thing, some in a moment of madness went out to buy a paper and came back having bought a new van. For Saturday night Chris and I had planned to have a Bacon pudding meal and to this end a lot of  potato peeling and  pudding baking had to be done. This was only achieved with a great deal of help from all on the field. Everybody turned up in the club house at the appointed time, and for this we are grateful as once again the heavens opened. We all enjoyed a great night and there are a few photo’s to prove it, I’m pleased to report that due to your generosity £40 was raised for Nick’s charity.
For Sunday read the same again, it rained through flag and for the rest of the day which still did not break the spirit on the field, I believe we all had a great time and for this we thank you. Watch this web site to see what we come up with next time, once again thanks for the help given by all through the weekend. 
Many people that attended asked for the recipe and you can find it here. Bacon Pudding
Terry & Chris Jackman

Michelham Priory 4th - 6th September. This was a new venue for our centre and what a lovely venue it was. Unfortunately the rally had to be restricted to 20 vans and in the end, 19 vans were in attendance. We had one new couple and 2 visitors. The cost of the rally included entrance to the priory for the whole weekend, usually £6.50 per person so the rally was extremely good value. The gardens surrounding the priory were a true delight and extremely well kept and the priory itself was a journey through history with lots of exhibits and interesting facts to read. Dave was impressed by the spit in the kitchem which was controlled by a heavy stone which was wound up on a long piece of rope attached to a governor. It's given him some new ideas for future hog roasts!! We were blessed with glorious weather and although the ground was very uneven (which made the siting of vans a little difficult), the general concensus was that it was a lovely venue which our centre members would like to return to.

Loxwood 19th - 21st June.This weekend saw the annual hog roast and what a weekend it was. Although bookings were slow coming in, we eventually ended up with 43 vans and almost 100 people for the evening meal. We were delighted with the turnout and would like to say special thanks to everybody that participated, either by assisting with food preparation, shopping, carving the meat, cleaning up afterwards or just by coming along and joining in. It would not have been the success it was without you so big thanks to you all.
Carol & Dave

The reports above are a snapshot of some of our 2009 rallies but you really need to be there to get a real feel for how much we enjoy ourselves. We pride ourselves on being a friendly centre and enjoy seeing so many friends on the rally field. If you have not been to a West Sussex rally recently, why not come and join us and see for yourselves.

2010 program is now available and you should have received your rally books by now. A big thankyou to all those members that have volunteered to run rallies in 2010. Without you, there would be no rallies. If you have not run a rally before but would like to do so in the future, why not team up with somebody this year to see what is involved or speak to a committee member who will be able to advise you.

We are always looking for new venues so if you know of a place that we might be able to visit, please inform a member of the committee and they will follow it up.

Finally, please support your rally officers who put a lot of effort into organising events for your enjoyment. Rally weekends are a great way of getting to know people, making long lasting friendships and also offer terrific value for money entertainment.

Hope to meet up with you all soon.

Best wishes

Carol Wightman