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Old 29th August 2014, 05:22 PM
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1882 1882 is offline
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Full Name: C. J. Arrowsmith
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Leceistershire
Posts: 3,667
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ballastdriver View Post
Unfortunately over the years 'comittee' and a 'business culture' has taken over from local 'like minded' people and common sense! Once upon a time rallies were grateful to exhibitors for bringing their machines along and thereby supporting the show. However all too often nowadays us exhibitors are made to feel like the rally are doing us a favour by allowing us to exhibit! If this culture carries on it will be the death knell for rallies up and down the land as a lot of people like me will not bother as we can have just as much fun on a road run or a steam up in the yard / garden.

Cost is also ans issue I take my 6" engine along to a few rallies each year (and as a result of the above the numbers are dwindling year on year). each time i take my engine on a trailer and then make a return journey for the caravan etc I burn £50+ in fuel not to mention food and all the other essentials. All in all I probably do near on £100 and thats just to be there. No one normally (except full size engine owners ) get paid to attend so the cost is down to us and what with the recession and everyone having to tighten belts etc, spending that kind of money for a weekend being made to feel like we should be endebted to a comittee and priviledged to be so, just doesn't cut it!

Rules and regulations have also ruined the spirit of rallies for a lot of people. I for one have often said that if I want a weekend being bossed about by the hi-viz clad clowns and having to obey stringent rules all the time I might as well do a couple of weekend shifts at work (Train driver) and get paid for it rather than forking out for it.

All in all the world has changed ruinously from the way it was when rallies and steam preservation in particular first started and alas it is hard to imagine how the spirit of the rallies of old could ever be re-captured, but rally comittees up and down the country would do well to remember that the rally weekend is as much about the exhibitor as it is about the paying public, if not more so, as without us they would be charging the public to enter an empty field with just some trade stands, junk stalls and burger vans, the likes of which most people could find on any local piece of waste ground near them on a choice of sunday mornings with an entry fee that is considerably more affordable!
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