The AG 2015 Improvement Thread

Points taken about the stop off venue, it took 5 months of emailing and visiting sites to find somewhere to accept 100+ cars on a Saturday summer afternoon. We are not in shortage of great places round here, but due to the time of year, most places have events on of there own and I'm also mindful of if we have bad weather, we don't all get stuck in a field and can't get off.  We were spoilt a bit last year with the venue, it was great!
 Any help with this in finding a stopover place is always welcome  

  great shout Anna think last year we were a bit spoilt and judging by the increase on the driveout year on year we will need space for 150 cars+ next year, eeek  

My first event and what I thought was pretty perfect very little to improve I think, but some thoughts-
~ Wet sand on entrance as many have mentioned already -could we invest in some if the plastic stuff they put down on grass to stop damage?
~ thought the entrance price for day trippers on the Saturday was a bit pricy compared to the amount that there was to do compared to Sunday.

Venue I do like,got to know what is around over the last few years,Tesco,Pub,Argos for pool etc etc..

It was defo the best one yet great turn out on the drive out and the saturday night fancy dress was well funny and good to see loads of effort being put in.

As for the mud I was shocked to see somany cars with the mud spayed up the side of the cars, I drive a Black Gti and we all know how hard it is to keep a black car clean but there was no mud up the side of my car as I drove through the we bit like i was carrying a bomb I think if you creep through it you wouldnt get the daffodil up the sides, common sense driving is all that was needed..

I tried the slow and careful approach and thought I had got away with it, untill i got out never mind still had a great day

richyhill said

What about the Staffordshire show ground or something like that not too far down the road? we drive past it on route and on the way home each year, looks like a big place … Might have the room required for show and shine, could do evening entertainment in marque … ? if they have no club house

You can't go Staffordshire show ground as they have Soul Survivor there on the same weekend and every inch of the show ground is rammed with campers 
In the past we didn't have any budget for the drive out, so finding a free midway stopover point was difficult as not many places want to reserve parking space for 100 cars all afternoon waiting for the group to arrive for 1 hour stop with probably max of 50 per cent giving them any custom. Anna managed to get reserved parking for probably 200 plus cars if needed for £100 which was a cracking cheap price and distance stayed within the limits ( I seemed to stretch the limits to endurance apparently    )

As this thread says, improvements for consideration, just ideas, expense will be a problem for some of these,  in no order
1, beer tent,
2, cafe where you can seat down and eat, instead of just a bap
3, one of them moble tuneup vans or rolling road to see who's car kicks out the most power
4, prize for the person who drove the longest to get to AGM
5, wooden spoon for the worst car with a mot not trailered
6, showers that work and not a hike from the tents
7, venues Staffordshire show ground/ Malvern show ground/ stoneleigh/ Warwickshire exhibition centre, all of these have a barns if it rains
8, if there's a big enough Tarmac area, how about driving around a course of cones the quickest time
9, live band playing on Saturday night in beer tent
10, get a expert to show how too demo
 I had a great weekend,meet some very helpful People,( I had a few problems with the car)
 

We've had a bar before but it put a lot of people off coming to the disco as most have there own cans from tesco

These was a thread running for a rolling road as we needed to confirm numbers but we didn't get the numbers so couldn't afford the risk of having it

The showers boilers needed to be rest but we need to be told they arnt working in order to do it. They also have to be over there for power and the drain 

It was a great weekend and there wasnt anything that let the weekend down.
A few things that may help next year;

-Bigger direction signs on the drive out, the A4 ones were easy to miss.

-Second catering van on the Sunday, queuing 20 mins for a coffee was frustrating.

-Not something I would do, but maybe Karaoke on Saturday night, could be a laugh?

-Showers a bit closer to camping area.

All in another fantastic weekend. Thanks to all involved and looking forward to '15 already!!

Scott

 

What a fantastic show, my third year, but first time I have shown my car. Perfect weather, very well organised.

Improvements…I agree with the awards part mentioned by some others. We really need to know what cars are the winners. The persons name may mean something to some people, but let us see the metal. There must be an easy way to work this out, rather than people collect there trophy and then everyone drive off home.

Would be great to have an awards thread maybe on here?

Ohhh, and yeah, that sandy muddy entrance, did pee me off as well.

See you next year!!

I don't see how a five minute walk to the showers is an issue!! They are well worth the walk after a day in the sun.

We did Karaoke in 2011 and it was quite good i thought. Not sure why it hasn't been done since other than it breaks the disco vibe. Also this year the disco was inside but everyone was outside because of the heat so not sure Karaoke would have easily got going.

I think another venue could be a nice change but also a risky venture as we know Uttoxeter very well now and do have the advantages of knowing its issues.

I did think it a bit rough by the course for us to have to fight with water jets and wet sand to get where we needed to be.

Regards the drive out last years halfway point has been the best venue to date.

Regards the show and shine, once the cars are in then they shouldn't be able to leave until the end.
Shughy and I spent a lot of time judging each car by following the judging sheet to be as fair and impartial as possible. To turn round and see a car we had just judged driving off while we were still going along the line meant it was a complete waste of time it entering and for us, grovelling about judging it.

 

The Raffle is a tricky one and Can't be ordered any other way.
What if a tin top owner won a roof, top pad kit, windblokker for instance, no good for a tinny. Like wise the other way round.
I sold lots of tickets to people who knew they were not likely to be here by the time the raffle was called out.
They said it didn't matter as they wanted to support the Club, that's  the generous nature of some folks.
Plus it gives you a bigger chance of winning.
We have struggled in the Past to get prizes, I contacted a few hood companies and only one donated, Plus I got delivery on the AGM morning of the top pads, so was late getting there so I could sort out a prize. Ask Ginner how hard it is to get donations. We wanted lots of stuff as it looks poor if all you have is a knitted loo roll cover and some old books to give out as prizes lols..Sorry the old sense of humour coming out there.
I think Dano was more than fair in the time he dispensed with non collecting winner. I know it takes time, but it's great fun and I always want to win something. There is so much going on. However I'm grateful to those who bought Raffle tickets to support the Club and for having the patience when drawing out.
Some good points and ideas coming out, keep them flowing…

Cheers

Chortlex

Regarding the sand/ sprinklers, showers and bins…
I've been in touch with the course Events Manager and he is going to try and
Make some alternative arrangementsin the future - assuming we go back there, and why not??? 

Well done  

Some constructive comments - in response to one above it was done a couple of years back where the winners were brought into an enclosure and all onlookers/audience were sitting down and not standing which would save the legs after walking around looking at the motors. Think it had a nice ceremony feel to it. Plus you would get to see what car won what category etc

How about a 1st 2nd and 3rd in each category.

Personally I love the trip to Uttoxeter - its central location and it has a nice small town feel to it. A great Tesco and options of restaurants pubs and there I say it the odd B&B lol  

It Was my first AGM this year, and was by far my favourite show of the year! Was very relaxed, not rushed and everyone was willing to speak to you.

The only criticism was the same as most, the bloody sprinklers. It's understandable that they had a horse race this week, however they had planned to also have a car show, so some consideration could have been taken to us (not a criticism to the organisers)

Apart from that it was a thoroughly enjoyable event, and hopefully next year the golf can come as well as the Jetta!  

Once again an excellent well run show but always room for improvement.
More direction signs especially in Uttoxeter.
Extra food and drink outlets
Add a mobile Urinal gents only toilet block to free up the portaloos.
Think about inviting the Mk1 Polo, Scirocco and Passat owners more MK1 the merrier they are a rare breed afterall.
Each car in the show and shine have name of owner forum name displayed.
lastly i can see this event out growing the race course how about Stoneleigh after all its where the major VW festival began VWACTION back in the day

Once again only minor points guys fantastic job plus if you require any help with next years show i will only be too happy to help out

Still cleaning the sprinkler water marks off last night!
My only comment would be to have more than one person able to deal with Membership; I tried to join at least 4 times over the weekend (was given a £5off card at the gate) but the person to deal with it was always away doing other things. 

jellybelly - this was my 1st AGM (only made it on Sunday) but it was excellent and surpassed many other shows that I have attended.

Only a couple of very minor things things (many of which have been previously mentioned)

1. as much as I loved looking at the cars, the wife needed a break at times, thus additional catering stand/cafe with some possibility of grabbing a seat over a coffee could work well.   

2. winning cars… being new to Mk1OC unfortunately I don't know everyone yet, thus it was difficult to know which cars won as only names were given out - could cars reg and/or a brief description be also shouted out.

As I said, only minor suggestions - it was a FAB  event… well done and thanks.

Cheers, Jonathan