Mudgee Rally Report

Monday dawned fine and sunny, but very chilly. With motorhomes starting to arrive from 5.30am the decision was made to open the gates early and get people lined up in the top paddock, ready to be processed through Meet & Greet and then sited.

This was done cheerfully (as always) and with a minimum of fuss by our wonderful team of volunteers. By happy hour that evening we had more than 1,000 motorhomes on site. A job well done!

Monday evening we were entertained by The Home Rule Band, who got plenty of toes tapping along to their special style of Irish/Australian folk music. A lot of fun was had by those who danced the night away.

Tuesday was another fine and happy day with 82 traders opening their stalls to our Members to browse and perhaps purchase an item or two.

That evening we held our Banner Parade, then our Official Opening with the Mayor of Mudgee, Percy Thompson who, after doing the official bit, decided to entertain us with some of his very own poetry and song. This took us all by surprise. It only took a small amount of encouragement to get Percy to continue (we had about 20 mins to fill) and he finished up with a standing ovation from the capacity crowd. Indeed, Percy was so popular Anne invited him back to entertain at Poets’ Breakfast. Though the Mayor was a hard act to follow, Dancing Queen held the crowd right to the very end with their superb Abba Cabaret Show. In all it was a wonderful and very entertaining night.

Wednesday morning saw Poets’ Breakfast (sponsored by Poets Corner Wines) off to a great start and that evening there was standing room only at Bingo (sponsored by The Soldiers Club, Mudgee) and there was a lot of fun and frivolity at the Karaoke Party, DJ’d by our very own Ray Sutton.

Percy Thompson (the Mayor) found the time out of his busy schedule to come along to breakfast on Thursday morning to entertain our Members. The Trakka Restaurant was fairly bursting at the seams! The fun and frivolity continued Thursday evening when Jim Haynes had people rolling in the aisles with hysterical laughter. Jim came back next morning to host the breakfast, again to capacity crowds.

It was wonderful and very gratifying to see so many people having a fantastic time at our Magical Masquerade Ball on Friday night. The length that many people went to with their costumes was astonishing. We had vampires, witches and wizards, angels and demons (sounds like a good name for a book), grim reapers and fairies to name but a few. Prizes were awarded to Dracula & his Bride (Phillip & Helene Proctor) and The Grim Reaper & Partner (sorry I don’t know who you are – your disguise was so good!) while the kids prizes went to an Angel (very small & cute) and a beautifully costumed Vampire. We partied and danced the night away to beyond the bewitching hour and then reluctantly, called it a night. Thank you to all the people who went to so much trouble to dress up in theme and made the night such a success.

Saturday saw a very hot and windy Open Day. Numbers were down a bit on previous open days but all went well just the same.

What can you say about The Delltones? Wow! What a great way to spend a Saturday night. They certainly still have that magic touch. The guys from the band were blown away by the sheer number of people in the marquee. Very grateful thanks to Ken Newman and his Maintenance Team for sorting out the ‘glitches in the system’. Had it not been for them the show probably would not have happened. Thanks guys.

Sunday morning was, of course, our Club AGM which went very smoothly, ably chaired by Peter Anderson. In the afternoon we held the Chapter Skits and then, before you knew it, we were at the closing ceremony on Sunday evening. Our grand finale show was the irrepressible Jade Hurley (sponsored by Jayco Motorhomes). Jade certainly sent us out with a bang. Then it was Monday and the Rally was over. By midday all but about 50 volunteer motorhomes were left. I still, after many, many Rallies, find it quite astonishing how quickly the motorhomes just ‘disappear’.

The official number of motorhomes at this Rally was 1126. I would like to thank each and every Member who attended for coming along to experience The Magic of Mudgee, and I sincerely hope that you had a wonderful and memorable Rally.

I would also like to thank our Sponsors for their support, be it financial or otherwise. Without them, it would be difficult to make each Rally a special and unique event for you, the Members. Our Sponsors for the Mudgee Rally were as follows: Jayco, KEA Campers, Ken Tame & Associates, Mid Western Regional Council, Motorhome World, Mudgee Photos, Poets Corner, Ross Granata Motors, The Soldiers Club Mudgee, Trakka Motor Campers, Winnebago.

Last and by no means least, I would like to send special thanks to all those who came to the Rally to work. I am, of course, talking about that tireless group of people, the volunteers. You all did a brilliant job. Thank you so very, very much.

We came, we experienced The Magic!

See you all at Barcy.

Karen Griffin, V3960 Rally Co-ordinator