Rally Report at The High School, Ballynahinch, 21st to 23rd April 2023.
Our hosts for the weekend were Enda & Flo Carolan and David and Bridget Gilmore. Thankfully Friday was a good evening which helped get everyone booked in and parked up quickly.
Friday night saw everyone gather in the hall for a meet and greet with a bingo session thrown in. Robbie Hewitt was one of the lucky winners, he won £10 during one of the games and followed this up by scooping the £21 jackpot in the last game, hope he had the lottery done as well.
Saturday morning the skies opened and the rain continued for most of the day. Thankfully it was dry in the hall for the line dancing lesson provided by Bridget Gilmore, a good turnout saw all enjoy the morning despite what the weather was doing outside. Properly attired for the weather some decided to venture into Ballynahinch for a bit of retail therapy, though some only made the 5 minute walk to the nearby shopping complex which had a supermarket, off licence and fish & chip shop.
On Saturday night the hall was filled and music was provided by Nathan Graham.
Sunday coffee morning saw another packed hall. Our Chairman spoke briefly and welcomed first time rally attenders Joe and Kim Gault and Robert and Cynthia Ewart. He also congratulated Pamela and Jim Douglas on their upcoming birthdays and 60th wedding anniversary.
He asked for those present to consider hosting as there were a number of rallies coming up that currently had no hosts and he didn’t want to get to the point of having to cancel rallies. He announced that 2 members present, Jean and Wesley Mackey, had recently set up a campsite between Kesh and Pettigo. He stated that details of an event they were holding from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th May were printed on pages available at the front of the hall. He then handed the mike over to David who announced that a total of 36 vans had made it over the weekend. As a result there was one number plate draw which was won by Alan Fluke. The quiz saw 17 entries with 13 being correct and the winner drawn from these was Anne Grant. Congratulations were given to Harry and Arlene Campbell on their new Motorhome. David wished us all safe home.
The next outing for the club is the meet at Shanes Castle for the May Day Steam Rally.
Martin and Winnie Murphy