‘Grate’ Billing!
 By Carlo



As if to cock-a-snook at months of winter gloom and ‘credit crunching’ doom the members of ALRFC revved it up to Billing in numbers to enjoy what was promised to be a fine weekend in the spring sunshine.

Bob and Carole Lowery were first to arrive having taken the shorter route via canal! It appears they were conveniently camped for previous two days further down the system. Amazing that 110 eh?

By 7pm on Friday we must have had some 20 units pitched up with more arriving on Saturday.

The Grate & The Wood
The evening tribal gathering around log-fire more than living up to it’s usual ad-hoc mix of spirit, grape and hop propelled humour. The drop in temperature as darkness fell each night got us all bagging spots as close to the fire as possible. However, unlike holidaying abroad with the towel-tossing Tutonics, we never shut out others who arrive later (no poolside mentality here!). At one point over the weekend we must have had about 50 forming a circle as large as that around the centre spot of a football pitch.

The Jeremy designed & built galvanised grate with Club diamond shape vents, was kept well fed by the brave ‘tree-felling-hunter-gathers’ who ventured out into the dark night returning cold, battered, bruised and in need of ‘refreshment’.
The jovial camp-fire discourse and Tim Price's off the cuff-link humor only temporarily interrupted by the occasional ‘arrival’ of a tree being heaved onto the flames.
The excellent Moscrop’s South African curry adding a touch of central heating too. Although the roaring fire did a fine job of keeping us warm, it has to be said, heavy coats over hoodies were essential kit! On Saturday night I wore my hoodie in bed... it was that cold!
On the same night were all given a fascinating (disturbing) lecture by Prof Li (Liam). The crowd were enthralled by the story of his recent anthropological discovery of... the "Ear-Brow tribe"! "The men have two and women only one ear-brow"...he claimed.
His Strongbow induced lecture kept us enthralled and on the edge of our seats...Paula several times almost falling off hers with laughter!

All three fireside nights were excellent with young and not so young braving the cold and enjoying the family atmosphere and for those who could not stay for Sunday evening, you missed some wicked 12 bar blues by Steve (guitar) Hughes! You also missed gorging on dozens of Mars chocky bars from Not so Nasty Dave too.

Kids Dogs n the gee-gees
This weekend had a large number of children present and with football, a dog show
(Bonny the springer won with handler, Lauren) and the special Easter Egg hunt (courtesy of Neil & Maura) were kept happy and busy.
Rachael's Grand National sweepstake and Richard Price's inventive 'ball-tossing-into-bucket' raised nearly £30.

Offroading
Many of us know the variety Billing offers everyone.
The 'new and recently joined' got their first taste of the woodland-lake mix that makes this place so special.
It was good to see some teenagers driving around under instruction too (Danae, Liam, James etc..) all completing the courses without any problem. It won’t be long before the younger ones are being instructed by them.

First-time grown ups were also relishing the experience of off-road driving with the usual end-of-weekend resolve to get their own vehicle. Most noteable were newly joined Rob C (Dave Loser’s mate) who exclaimed that he was going to ‘trade in his
Company freelander’ and, Ali Misseldine (Dave Nasty’s wife) who said..”That’s it I’m getting a 90! But.. do they come in PINK?”…Yes, she is a hairdresser
So watch out for the off-road salon at the next event!

Billing rarely fails to please and for one person called ‘Grandad’ the glory of going through the Mud-Run was a high point.
He drove round reveling in delight shouting out the window, punching the air to everyone he passed..”I did it!I did it!..I did the mud-run!”

For me, this Billing was one of the best ever. Not just for the weather but more for the excellent mix of people who shared the experience.

We had the full spectrum here this weekend. From the Nasty Rich "I've got a gleaming new caravan with central heating and en-suite sauna" to the meek les miserables.. "Can you put me up for the night...I brort up mi pillow n I've got a half a loaf of white sliced to donate to the full breakfast yer gonna cook me in the morning" type!

I’m sure you'll all agree we owe substantial thanks to Gary, Neil, Maura, Jeremy, Rachael who worked so hard to make this weekend such a success.
Well done guys..it was indeed GREAT!

Billing Event stats:
No. of vehicles: 33
No. Camp Units: 29
New Memberships: 4
Balance (est) all income after exp: +£300

Carlo

Comment below..
Link for Rob C's photos of Billing...
http://www.4shared.com/dir/14352389/efad8dbc/Billing_2009.html

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