The Annual Gathering Improvement Thread

Loved the show as always. I was a bit disappointed by the turnout of autojumblers, surprised vw heritage weren't there.
And the dog show was a bit of a suprise.

I didn't have a problem with the showers and the portaloos were adequate for me and my group.
The downside for me was the catering and we missed the usual lady, Jeanie I think she's called and was sorely missed especially on the Sunday morning for breakfast. Utoxeter racecourse closed the hatch at about 10.45 just as everyone was coming round after a heavy session. Show and shine was good I enjoyed the cars.

It would be nice to see a few more campers next year. I don't mind if we had a location change.

scottyr1  r as you know i went over several times to the noise makers and asked them to turn it off and down but as soon as i sat back down it started getting louder

we normally try to separate the noisy ones and the families not sure why we didn't this year this will be addressed next year fully and that is a promise

unfortunately not everyone is very considerate to others especially after being told the reasons why

i think from this thread it's evident we need more loos for next year so that will be sorted

project1 every year is a struggle with traders we had 2 of the biggest Mk1 part providers there, unfortunately VW heritage couldn't attend as Andy who normally comes was at a wedding which is a shame. as we are a single mark show companies just dont seem interested as it will have to be viable for them.

catering was a huge problem and will be fixed for next year, Janine our normal lady was not allowed to attend due to the rules the racecourse thrust upon us during planning this year. There catering was completely unacceptable on all accounts across all weekend but it will be sorted out

as above, the whole weekend was great, we enjoyed every bit (even though i was crippled on saturday with a glass back)
the dog show was a bit annoying but it was nobodies fault from the club.

Hats off to the committee for bringing us another great AGM, I cant wait till next year

thanks again, but can we please not have Ginner wearing high heels, no wonder it bloody rained  

aircooled1968 said

as above, the whole weekend was great, we enjoyed every bit (even though i was crippled on saturday with a glass back)
the dog show was a bit annoying but it was nobodies fault from the club.

Hats off to the committee for bringing us another great AGM, I cant wait till next year

thanks again, but can we please not have Ginner wearing high heels, no wonder it bloody rained  

Couldn't resist !!

Cheers ade,  I had nearly forgotten the whole affair 

As always a great weekend, thanks to all who invested their time and made it happen.

I think we've already covered the toilets and showers but that can be solved easily. We really didn't have any issues and appreciate the difficulties that you all have getting this to work every year.

The only things i can point to is that we had no idea of the site layout on arrival and spoke to quite a few people who got a little stressed on the drive out due to not being able to follow the car in front due to traffic or the other cars speeding off into the distance. We all know the logistical nightmares of convoys from the Germany trip. This year we were not in time for the drivers briefing/AGM meeting so did not get directions to the destination of the drive out. I was told that we would get a copy of the directions when waiting in the queue for the drive out but didn't ( i will not divulge who said that lol ). Maybe a blanket email to all members, whether they are going to the AGM or not could be sent with the route before the day along with site specific information.

If the racecourse imposes so many restrictions on us perhaps it's that time for a look elsewhere. As an old timer in the club now, i wouldn't really mind where the location was.

One thing i was a bit annoyed by were a few goons driving around when clearly having had a beer and some random small motor bike/scooter things wizzing around. Pedestrians/vehicles/alcohol don't mix. If people are going to need to get their cars out on a Saturday night then perhaps a dedicated zone for these vehicles and the camping zone a no drive area after a certain time.

The fancy dress went to a new level this year and was hilarious, well done to all. It's always a really great weekend, thanks to everyone who helped organise this and we'll be back next year.

Stu & Nik x

I'd like to see the venue change to a Motorsport circuit rather than a horse track.

if track time is allowed, it will give peeps entertainment as a driver or spectator. Will give peeps a chance to see what track inspired builds do too.
cabrioanna mentioned that donington would welcome us and malary park was also brought up. Both pretty central in the uk 

walt said

Another point I mentioned last year is that when prizes are given out, they are presented to the owner and unless everyone knows who that person is and which one is their car, nobody really knows which cars won.. Ok so last year there was a post on here showing the winning cars, but I always liked the idea of either a winners enclosure or winners driving up in their cars to collect their prize. Just so everyone can see what actually won on the day. Surely that couldn't be too difficult to arrange?

I like this idea

A few points from me, but they mustn't detract from another successful weekend. The only real gripe was the weather on the way down.

There was a real lack of traders this year, and that's pretty disappointing whether it was several of the larger specialist firms missing, or some of the independent second hand parts traders. Why was there such a downsized representation?

The catering offer during the day from the racecourse was appalling. I understand there's been some heated discussions around this, as I witnessed the rumblings first hand several times whilst I was there. What was the problem with organising our own catering vans?

The choice of background music was an improvement over the 7 hour Rihanna marathon we endured last year - haha!

The separate S&S area was better, but seemed slightly chaotic with 101 Dalmatians parading around it! Seriously though, it wasn't exactly clear what the classes were for onlookers. Last year we used the paper hooks on the rear view mirrors, which was a good idea. Basic information would be beneficial to onlookers as they know who's the car is, and what class they've entered etc.

Last year's S&S area seemed empty this year with only a few people making the effort to walk around it. I guess the lack of catering and extra traders didn't help this though. Plus, it wasn't clear what the area was designated for. I only learnt late in the day that it was for region's cars.

Anyway, here's to another great year, and I'm already looking forward to next.

Just to throw an idea into the mix...............live band for Saturday (as well as the disco)? or even the Friday night on the field.

Love the idea of a live band. A lot of shows seem to have live music and it seems to go down well. It might encourage more to come for the whole weekend

Great to see so many mk 1's at my first ever trip to an agm.   I came to see as many car as possible on the sunday and spent a fare amount of time in the car park area just checking out people's cars and chatting to owners ..

On that basis I think the Agm could make more of everyone's car being part of the show..   Maybe try to arrange the car park area into different sections cabs, tin tops and caddy. ..   etc…  and make it closer to the other sections like others have said..  There were some great cars just parked up that I was really pleased to see.

I'd welcome anything closer to MK.

Great show Cheers
Jez

Great weekend as usual,cheers jellybelly and the guys/girls involved…

All points above and replies I agree with.

Dazzle

With all what has been said above I agree that a change of venue is called for if Donington wants us maybe we could get a better deal then Uttoxetor.

traders has alway been a difficult one, we were let down by several companys who said they were coming, VW Hertiage couldnt attend due to a wedding. We dont charge to trade at the show to try to get them there but as we are only a single mark car it's always a slog to get people there out of the 100's we contacted

the regional area was ment to have all the mk1s in that didnt want to S&S this unfortunaltly didnt happend as people just came from the campsite and parked in the field

this comes down to lack of communication from us, regional hosts and also lack of people to park cars up on the day

but it's something we would like to try to keep and improve on next year

a live band could be possible i shall add it to the list

keep the suggestions coming

I wasn't there for the whole weekend, however, I am guessing that in the day on the Saturday there wouldn't be much to do except sit about?.. If I am right then I think we could have some fun things for people to have a go at, for example, maybe a slow bike ride on an 80's bmx, where the one who takes the longest to get from a to b is the winner (no bunny hopping any wheel or going backwards, we could even make it more difficult by removing the brakes. Or maybe a regional baseball competition with one of those foam bats and balls, just for a bit of fun. Or maybe an 80's stand where everyone brings an 80's toy to display and perhaps either a prize for best or a competition to name them all?.. Just some fun things to do.. Just a thought.. When the AGM was at Gaydon, I took a foam bat and ball and a few of us had a game of rounders with the kids. It would be good for them to have a few things to do.. Like I said, I wasn't there all weekend so forgive me if there are already things in place for entertainment..

You've just created your committee position walt Entertainment Co-ordinator.!!!

Thoroughly enjoyed the AGM with the whole family!!!

Agree with some most of the points already raised, would like to emphasise a few of these and possible solutions.


1. Music after 10.00pm - this was the biggest issue for us, as a family with a 1 year old and a few families nearby with newborns - we all made a concerted effort to camp as far out as possible so all the party goers could party and we could sleep.

It wasn't so much  the music that was the issue as it wasn't "TOO loud", it was the awful bass behind it which created a lot of anger and tired members next day - unfortunately without sounding like a bore and middle-aged, this issue does threaten to alienate families….

On Friday night it was the white van in the middle of the field who had no consideration for anyone else and Saturday it was the gazebo near the far end of the field - but to be fair the gazebo did turn the bass off at 1.30am when asked too…..

Perhaps a tougher stance on music after 10pm and idiots getting into their cars, revving their engines and driving around would have the desired affect - perhaps linking members with car regs on entry or perhaps a live forum throughout the event would be a good way to communicate these issues so these can be dealt with promptly?


2. Drive out - needs to be better communication of the route as we followed some that got lost and ended up going along a resurfaced road with plenty of stone chips!!!!


Apart from this main gripe everything was spot on for us!


Thank you to all those who made this such a memorable event (apart from the noisy neighbours)….

Both points noted down on the list

Everyone who entered the site should have gotten a site rules leaflet. This did have the rule for the music on but after myself and other committee members went to bed there was no one to in force it. We will sort this for next year

On the drive out everyone should have got a map at the meeting and also signs up around the drive, and also a phone app for the co pilot. Every year we have trouble and keeping 117 mk1 together is difficult. It only take 1 to get lost and the rest will follow. We will look at ways we can improve this for next year

Committee / Helpers to be in radio contact with each other?