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The 2008 Tasmanian Combined Chapter
Rally was held in George Town Tasmania from 20th Feb 2008 to
26th Feb 2008. The sponsor Chapter for this year was Tasmania’s
youngest Chapter the Dalrymple Drifters (established in 2006)
who are predominately based
around the Tamar Valley, but of late have members joining from outside that immediate area. All other Tasmanian Chapters provided support by way of volunteer helpers. This was greatly appreciated and subsequently assisted in the success of the rally. It was a steep learning curve for the Drifters, but they met the challenge. We were blessed with magic weather a prime requirement for a good rally. Events Tasmania (Tasmanian State Government) also sponsored the event and we thank them for that support. The venue was George Town’s Regent Square with an immediate overflow area offered by local residentsfortunately this was not required, but the offer made by the residents would have certainly assisted us greatly had the need arose. Regent Square held the 265 motor homes that participated and we would have been able to accommodate another 30 should they have arrived. Of the 265 motor homes that attended there were some 41 were from mainland Australia (boat people) with a further 3 from overseas (2 NZ—1 UK).
Visitors from outside Tassie spent in excess of 200+ visitor days at the rally in George Town and many more visitor day in Tassie overall. George Town Council assisted us when ever requested. The new Memorial Hall Complex, whilst not totally finished provided members with new showers, toilets and the main auditorium seated our 500 participants with ease for our evening entertainment and opening. Our thanks goes out to all staff from the George Town Council who worked their butt off in an attempt to make the event successful -- this includes the Project Works Supervisor on the new Memorial Hall - who enjoyed attending the entertainment making sure the venue “was up to scratch” or was that making sure we didn't scratch it!! Having the shopping centre, restaurants , Clubs and hotels within walking distance from the rally site (closest only some 400 meters) was very beneficial and most, if not all persons attending frequented the shops and dined out at the venues available. It is estimated that from the collection of receipts the members attending contributed approx $26,750.00 to the local economy over the 5 day duration.
The rally program included the usual “disk bowls completion”. This year the Dalrymple Drifters provided a new trophy for the boat people’s teams. The annual competition is for Tassie Chapters and this year the new trophy provided an opportunity for a mainland team to be recognized. No the trophy did not go back to the mainland - it will be passed over to the 2009 Sponsor Chapter.
The annual disk bowls competition was eagerly contested by all Tassie Chapters with the Blue Gum Rovers coming out the final winners of the competition. They did not have it all their way and I’m sure they occasionally thought they were about to missout for the first time in a number of years. Thank you to all the volunteers who assisted our Bowls Co-ordinator (Veronica Lyons) to make it a memorable event. The winners of the new shield for mainland teams (boat people) was won by the Lake Macquarie Ramblers. The competition was played over two days on the Friday & Saturday of the rally. Immediately before the trophy presentations that were made by V/Pres Deb Smith, the winners of the Tassie Chapters and the mainland Chapter gave a demonstration of disc bowls or was it a grudge match – just joking – a good demo.
The Mayor of George Town (Councilor Doug Burt) officially opened the 2008 CCR in the main auditorium on the Thursday night. This was the first time the facility had been used and is a wonderful inclusion to the towns meeting and assemble areas. Whilst not finished (at that stage), it did not take much imagination to envisage the finished article. George Town received RV Friendly Town status just two weeks before the rally. The GT Council took the opportunity to survey members on “what else could be done in GT to make it more user friendly towards RV units”. Entertainment each night saw the members (and occasionally some guests) enjoy the skills of our talented members - the Chapter Skits night was a classic with 2 guest artists on separate nights. Hank Koopman as usual was great and we all applauded Donna wrapping the night up with her rendition of the “Working Man” -thank you Donna it was certainly appreciated.
The Dalrymple Drifters this year as have most other Tassie Combined Chapter Rallies , selected a worthy charity to donate to. This year we selected Appin Hall located on the North West Coast of Tasmania. They have been forwarded a cheque to assist them in the work they do. In addition to our major sponsor four other local community groups who assisted us during the rally also received a contribution. Tamar FM was exceptionally supportive in providing our members with an early morning list of daily events and in addition to that interviewing members of each Tassie Chapter providing them with the opportunity to speak about their Chapter, their location (rallies) and the generic lifestyle of motor homing. This we believe was received extremely well by the local residents and certainly assisted many to come along and “have a look” on the Sunday open day. Collectively the Chapter donated $3750.00 to organisations within the immediate area and to Appin Hall. We wish the Blue Gum Rovers and Van Demons Chapters all the best should they take on the 2009 & 2011 Tassie Combined Chapter Rallies and other Tassie Chapters into the future also. Our support is guaranteed should you require it. In conclusion I would like to thank all involved in making the rally a great success. Many thanks to: George Town Council, George Town Chamber of Commerce, (both of whom formed part of our local organising committee) Gideon Mitchell (port-a-loos) BOC Gases (donation of hiviz vests), Telstra Country Wide (presentation on Next G phones) Craft tutors - entertainers - Tamar FM– George Town & Bell Bay Fire Brigades - GT Combined Emergency Services (Police – Fire, Ambulance & SES re the provision of the Incident Action Plan in case of an emergency onsite) Company Protection Services-security - Hawk Signs- directional signage into the site - George Town Rotary for BBQ facilities on the wrap-up night and certainly last but not least the general public of George Town for the use of their Regent Square over the duration of the rally. We hope that the economic contributions the rally participants have made it all worth while. Please accept our apologies if we have missed any one or group that assisted us. Coupled with that factor, the mainland visitors will ,I believe take home a wonderful picture of the newest RV Friendly Town, George Town Tasmania and spread the word in their areas.
Don Mackrill Rally Co-ordinator Chapter President Dalrymple Drifters Chapter CMCA
A copy of this report in PDF format can be found here.
Chapter Contacts:
Chapter President: T16082
Don Mackrill 0418 362 232
Chapter Vice President: T16787 Deb Smith 0400 755 666
Chapter Secretary: T28675 Jacqueline Shearing
0363273972
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