Just wanted to register a big thank you to ALL those involved in organising todays Spring Rally.
A great day! lots of great cars and friendly people!. Thank You.
Seconded
I really enjoyed it
Another great Rally. Thanks to all who helped. Had a wonderful day!!!
Our first rally and we had a blast!! Met some really nice people and had a great day out!!
I thought it was a beautiful setting for the Rally - a natural amphitheatre in very attractive woodland . The trade, display, and refreshments area had the friendly atmosphere of a village fete. (And the weather helped enormously of course!)
So, many thanks to everyone who helped to organise and run what I think was a very successful rally.
Pleased people appeared to enjoy the day, got to say I had a blast.
Massive well done to Jeff Caswell, area cordinator for Great Western, I’m proud to have been one of his minions on the day. ???
I agree most whole-heartedly Parker.
My only real gripe, was that neither the event, nor for that matter, the venue, was signposted from the approaching main roads. Approaching from the south - the new South Bristol Link Road, we went round in circles for about 20 minutes before we came across an RF (which it turned out, was one of the demonstrators) - the driver, realising our problem, showed us how to find Ashton Court. It was only when we got to a junction about two hundred yards from the event, did we see any signs whatsoever.
This is Bristol all over though - the road system is awful, which makes driving round a lovely city an absolute nightmare !
All in all though, a lovely day - our first such rally, and hopefully not our last.
Chris Phillips.
PS:- It was a shame the balloon operators got so far behind. An apparently unscheduled hour-and-a-half close-down in the middle of the day really posed some problems for them, and we had to forgo our ride because we couldn’t wait any longer.
It was brill day and thanks to everyone involved who made it happen!
I was also one of those who missed out due to the down time. They stopped the rides just as I got to the front of the queue! I did at least give them a hand deflating the balloon which was fun in it’s own way. Slightly miffed that the marshal taking the tickets decided to let another couple through before me just because I was not in a pair. Also a shame the balloon only went up about 25 feet. I can understand they couldn’t go up very high because of time and safety but had I known ahead of time I might not have bothered getting a ticket and someone else could have had my slot.
However, in the grand scheme of things that was a minor issue and didn’t spoil an otherwise fun day out and well organised event. Weather was great, managed to spend money I didn’t intend to(!) and the run there and back to Surrey was most enjoyable. Thanks to all those involved.
Our first rally, a big thank you to all for a brill day.
Big thanks to Jeff Caswell, all the Great Westerners and MX5 OC committee/members for a fantastic day. Best part for me was talking to like-minded people passionate about their cars- learnt so much as well as a few more jobs to do!!!
Looking forward to the September rally already.
Enjoyed the rally, but sadly again the roads getting in and out of Bristol were just crazy. The Mazda signs were nowhere to be seen until I saw the main entrance, this was after I followed 2 cars who I thought new where they were going and ground the car 3 times on high speed bumps only to find that it was the wrong entrance, oh how we laughed!!!
Well organised event, THANK YOU.
On the roads comments
We published many times the postcode for Sat nav in the magazine and cover sheet, with links on the Rally dedicated website, using google maps and placed updates on this forum and social media as best we could.
Ashton Court is a landmark attraction and has brown tourist signage.
This was a council venue and we were only able to gain permission to sign on the main access road. From where, I am sure you had no problem finding the event through a tremendously restricted access way.
While it is easy to bemoan, getting permission to place signage on the highway is a difficult process, time consuming and ultimately expensive as to have compliant signage to the road authorities requirements an Highways agency compliance, feel free to browse the guidance http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/362/pdfs/uksi_20160362_en.pdf we need chapter 8 compliance for temporary signage.
During the process of selection of a venue, things like existing signage and landmark status are taking into account, and while Ashton Court was not the best we have had, it was reasonably well signposted in the locality to pass that assessment - and it was the hope that we had tried to provide members with sufficient information to get you to within the general area to pick up the venue signage, or at least close enough to be able to ask for directions should all other technological aspects fail.
However am glad you all were able to overcome this, and join us for a great day.
A great day made even better by the Weather. Loved the Band ect, I have missed just Two Rallies since I joined the OC in 2010 but enjoyed all those I did attend. The effort that must go into arranging these Events is for me Mind Blowing. Well Done You Guys (& Gals)
Brilliant Rally and well done to Jeff Casswell team and Iain Fleming for another well executed fun day and event for the weekend.
weather of course helped make it more enjoyable and it was lovely to catch up with friends
see you at the National
love
Sarah and Martyn xxx
Many thanks to all those involved in the organisation of the rally, we had a great day out and the setting was perfect. We found lots of great driving roads in the area we stayed in and managed to drive through Cheddar Gorge 3 times
Phil & Jen
Yes Iain, I can confirm that my old Tomtom took me right to the entrance road using the postcode, although I was feeling some wobble of faith when I kept seeing MX5’s going in all sorts of other directions!
As for the restricted access, well - it gave us a chance to admire the scenery on the approach