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MOTORHOMENEWS

~ A personal take by Christopher Macgowan on tourism, travel and motorhomes.

MOTORHOMENEWS

Monthly Archives: April 2014

Save Baltic Wharf Campsite.

26 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by chrismacgowan in Politics, Sites

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Baltic Wharf, The Caravan Club

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An independent campaign has been launched, petitioning to save the Baltic Wharf Caravan Club Campsite, which faces serious threat of closure.

The Caravan Club issued a statement saying: “After lengthy negotiations with Bristol City Council regarding The Club’s leased site, Baltic Wharf, the Council has reluctantly given The Club forewarning the site will be needed for a school to serve the local community.”

The award-winning 55-pitch caravan site, situated on Cumberland Road in Bristol (BS1 6XG) is currently on land owned by city council, leased to the Caravan Club. Bristol City Council now want to end that lease and put a school on the land for 420 children, set to open in September 2015.

The petition is being led by campaign coodinators Matt Gibbs and Lou Phillipson, and received hundreds of responses within its first week. It reads:

“Please support us in our attempt to convince Bristol City Council to reconsider their decision to close the Baltic Wharf Campsite at the end of the year. The decision was taken without any public consultation and is likely to have a devastating effect on the local harbour community, tourism and businesses.

“The site, a waterside haven on Cumberland Rd and open since 1986, is a great Bristol success story; open all year with one of the highest occupancy rates in the country. People are drawn from across the UK right into heart of Bristol to explore and enjoy our wonderful city.

“Year after year campers liven up the area bringing summer trade and a vital winter lifeline to local businesses. Some local organisations and companies are very concerned for their own future should the site close. There simply is no alternative campsite in Bristol!

“Please sign our petition to convince our counsellors to reconsider and allow this vital facility to stay open!”

The petition is hosted at: http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/epetition_core/community/petition/2706#div_sigs

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Grove Lock Marina CL

24 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by chrismacgowan in Sites

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CL, Grand Union Canal, Grove Lock Marina, Leighton Buzzard

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Am spending a delightful couple of days at the Grove Lock Marina CL just outside Leighton Buzzard.

The standards of all the facilities are among the best I have seen ranging from WiFi, shower block, multiple TV channels, strong mobi signal, a first class pub and an excellent setting on the Grand Union Canal. And for me there is the joy of the main London train line nearby!

http://canalmarinas.com

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

The Caravan Club supports Royal tourism initiative.

20 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by chrismacgowan in General

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Christopher Macgowan, HRH Prince Charles, motorhomenews, The Caravan Club, tourism

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Prince Charles is asking tourists visiting the West Country to help those who live and work in rural areas by making a small donation when booking holidays or paying for a meal. He said the “powerful bond between tourism and our rural communities” could help sustain those making a living from the landscape.

The pilot scheme – backed by major tourism businesses across the UK – will encourage tourists across the country to contribute towards projects supported by the Prince’s Countryside Fund. Visitors who make a booking, or pay for a meal or purchase, will be asked if they would like to make a small donation at the point of sale.

Businesses already committed to the scheme include Cottages4you, the British Beer and Pub Association, individual breweries, The Caravan Club and Farm Stay UK.

“We cannot – we simply must not – turn our back on the ability of the uplands to produce food,” the Prince Charles said at the official launch this week.

“But as everyone gathered here understands, this landscape has another vital role, because tourists love it too.

“There is a powerful bond between tourism and our role with communities and that’s one reason I started The Countryside Fund in 2010.

“For me, it matters as much that those who live in urban areas have a countryside to visit and to cherish as it does that farmers can continue to live and work on their land producing food for the nation.

“But the delicately woven tapestry that is our countryside is facing unprecedented challenges. Start pulling out the threads and the rest unravels very rapidly indeed, and is very difficult to put back again. No farmers, no beautiful landscapes with stone walls, no thriving rural communities, no villages – or village pubs, no sustainable agriculture, no distinctive local foods.

“And this is what my Countryside Fund is addressing by giving grants to a range of organisations and initiatives across the country to help create and sustain a thriving rural community.”

Donations will be used to support projects ranging from apprenticeships for budding hill farmers to community transport schemes in isolated rural areas. It will also support training for young people to gain employment in the rural economy and projects supporting community assets such as pubs, post offices and village shops.

Prince Charles, speaking at a reception held at the George Hotel in Penrith, Cumbria, confirmed the pilot will begin over this year’s main summer season.

In under four years, the fund has handed out £3.8 million to more than 90 rural projects touching the lives of 64,000 people. Its emergency fund helped people in Somerset hit by flooding this winter.

The pilot scheme has been warmly welcomed by both the farming and tourism sectors in the West Country.

Ian Johnson, spokesman for the National Farmer’s Union in the South West, said: “Farming is the vital backbone of the wider rural community, with 13,000 commercial farm holdings in Devon and Somerset.

“Farmers care for the countryside and the livestock they keep help shape and maintain the beautiful landscape which attracts so many tourists. Many farmers are also directly involved with tourism diversifications. Farming and tourism are inextricably linked and are jointly crucial to the wider rural economy and the jobs of thousands of people, so what he is suggesting makes a great deal of sense.”

Malcolm Bell, head of Visit Cornwall, added: “It’s a good idea. I think it is right that when people come down to enjoy an area they are given the opportunity to give something back. We welcome it alongside other gifting schemes.”

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Prince-Charles-asks-tourists-donate-save/story-20983981-detail/story.html#ixzz2zPaNOlUc

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Caravan Club to install Wi-Fi on 66 sites by August

18 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by chrismacgowan in Technical

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Caravan Times, Christopher Macgowan, motorhome, motorhomenews, The Caravan Club, Wi-Fi

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Tablets, laptops, WiFi enabled smartphones and caravan holidays go hand in hand these days

Tom Walsh http://www.caravantimes.co.uk

The Caravan Club is set to install Wi-Fi on 66 of its sites in the next four months. Officials announced that it recently received all completed site surveys which allowed work to commence during April.

Meathop Fell Caravan Club Site is the first to receive an upgrade but many more are planned for the coming months.

The Club expects the work to be finished by mid-August but has urged patience as working in an outdoor environment can be continually unpredictable and there could be setbacks along the way.

Visitors are being warned that the affected sites will experience some outages of the Wi-Fi service but the Club is aiming to keep these problems to a minimum.

Some sites are expected to take much longer than others, with Meathop Fell being the largest job of the entire project.

Members can access the full list of sites on the Caravan Club’s website where the scheduled dates are also ready to view.
http://www.caravanclub.co.uk

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Mosgiel Easter Rally.

16 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by chrismacgowan in Places

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Christopher Macgowan, Mosgiel, motorhomes, New Zealand, rally

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An invasion of motorhomes is set to descend on Mosgiel this week. The New Zealand Motor Caravan Association’s National Easter Rally is being held at the Mosgiel A&P Showgrounds from April 17 to 21.

Rally control team member Brian Wolff, of Sawyers Bay, said about 600 motorhomes/caravans and 1200 people were expected.

Some had already arrived in the area and it was expected many would stick around to explore afterwards, Mr Wolff said.

The influx of motorhomes would bring an injection of cash into the Mosgiel and Dunedin areas.

Mr Wolff projected an economic boost to the Taieri of about $750,000.

This was an update to a previous estimate of $500,000.

The event was the result of two years of organisation.

An 1800sqm marquee at the showgrounds will serve as the rally’s ”base”.

Workshops around motorhome ownership would be offered, and Mr Wolff was keen to point out association members were ”responsible”.

The rally came amid concern about the behaviour of ”freedom campers”, but by far most in the association were in ”self-contained” motorhomes, he said.

”Unfortunately, we all get lumped in the same pot.”

He hoped the rally would help give motorhome owners a better name.

Part of the rally’s organisation involved setting up a number of places in Dunedin and Mosgiel for members to park before and after the rally.

The organisers had also liaised closely with the Dunedin City Council.

”We have had regular meetings with the council and they have been very supportive of the whole thing,” Mr Wolff said.

One of the workshops at the event would be on how to be a responsible pet-owner while on the road and some 97 pets were expected at the rally.

Entertainment, including dancing, would also offered every evening and buses to Mosgiel and Dunedin would be provided.

Optional side trips being offered included Taieri Gorge railway excursions, a four-wheel-drive rally and a visit to Outram’s vintage machinery museum.

Most of the members were over the age of 50, due to the cost of buying a motorhome, but there were also some younger families.

The attraction of buying a motorhome was largely to do with the freedom that came with it.

”You can stop where you want to stop.”

vaughan.elder@odt.co.nz

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Jacobite Steam Railway.

13 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by chrismacgowan in Places

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campervan, chriatopher macgowan, Jacobite Steam Railway, motorhome, motorhomenews, outandaboutlive

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West Coast Railways is the UK’s leading special trains operator and The Jacobite will take you on what is regarded as one of the greatest railway journeys of the world. Starting near Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, it visits the country’s most westerly mainland railway station, Arisaig, and passes its deepest freshwater loch. It’s the route of Hogwart’s Express and you’ll enjoy views of the silvery beaches used in the films Local Hero and Highlander. Trips start in mid May.

Info: Cost for an adult return ticket £34, children £19.
T: 08448 504 685 http://www.westcoastrailways.co.uk

Source: http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

The Caravan Club moves to Cloud to support growth plan.

11 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by chrismacgowan in Technical

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Christopher Macgowan, IT, motorhomenews, Simon Hill, T-Systems, The Caravan Club

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The Caravan Club is in the process of moving to a private cloud after outsourcing parts of its IT to T-Systems to support ambitious plans to broaden its business into new areas of the travel and leisure industry.

The club, which has about one million members through 360,000 families, has leisure sites across the UK and offers insurance and other travel services.

The Caravan Club IT head Simon Hill says “The club has 39 permanent IT staff and uses about 20 contractors. It has 1,500 staff using IT in sites across the country. To support this we are moving to dedicated servers in T-Systems’ datacentres.”

The project started when a property lease on the server warehouse was due to expire and this gave Hill the opportunity to rethink the IT infrastructure. This challenge, coupled with The Caravan Club’s plan to expand into more areas of the travel and leisure sector, drove Hill to look at the outsourcing opportunities.

“The leadership wanted to become more agile and get into new markets. I needed to support this, but we did not have the resources to go to the next level,” he said.

Because of expected business expansion, Hill went to market to see what hosted services were available. “We looked at various hosting and as-a-service offerings,” said Hill.

During its 15-month search for a suitable supplier, The Caravan Club looked at large tier one suppliers as well as niche players. It narrowed a large field down to four, and then two, before choosing T-Systems.

Hill said the large enterprise class services combined with the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) focus of T-Systems was attractive. The Caravan Club is now migrating to a private cloud hosted by the supplier. It will begin moving in May, and expects to complete the process by September. Then nearly everything will be run in the T-Systems datacentre.

The benefits, according to Hill, include a level of disaster recovery provision that would normally be impossible for a company of its size. Hill, who has worked for Accenture and the Met Police, said: “We are getting a tier one service on an SME contract.”

Although reducing costs was not the aim of the project, The Caravan Club has made savings on hardware. In 2009, when the company moved to SAP it acquired lots of servers, which were coming up for refresh. The cost of the project to move to T-Systems was about 20% less than the cost of the IT refresh would have been.

Hill said there are no IT job cuts following the outsourcing, but staff who previously supported the IT at the back end can work on the customer-facing operation, such as ensuring “SAP and other applications are working for the customer”.

He said the company also plans to become “more digital”.

But perhaps the biggest advantage is the ability for The Caravan Club to deploy its IT resources to projects that will generate more business rather than just keeping IT running.

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Ypres site.

06 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by chrismacgowan in Sites

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Christopher Macgowan, motorhome, motorhomenews, Ypres

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I have had a number of questions about the site I stayed at in Ypres. It is open from March 1st and I found it ideal as it is only a ten to fifteen minute walk into Ypres. The web address is http://www.jeugdstadion.be

“Campsite ‘Jeugdstadion’ is a small and green campsite just a stone′s throw from the centre of Ypres. Since 1993 hikers from all around Europe have enjoyed our campsite as the perfect base from which to explore the Westhoek. If you would like to explore the region on a cycle we have cycles for rent.

The campsite has 22 touristic places where you can pitch your tent, and stand your caravan or camping car. There are 70 places for tents in the field and 3 hikers’ huts. You can also stand your camping car on the camping car site.

The campsite has two sanitary buildings with a total of 6 showers.
There is a chemical toilet and a waste water drain point for camping cars.

The camping is open from 1 March through 12 November. The camping car site is accessible throughout the year. Reception closed from 12 November to 1 March. For the camping car area you have to check in with the booking machine . During this period the toilet blocks are closed.”

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Ypres – well worth a visit.

05 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by chrismacgowan in Places

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Christopher Macgowan, Jeugdstadion, Menin Gate, motorhomenews, Ypres

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I am in Ypres for a few days primarily because of my interest in WW1 history. I am staying at the Jeugdstadion site which is next to the sports stadium and very well placed for walking into town. Its website can be found HERE

Ypres is also a very attractive town quite apart from the sombre history which will always be connected to its name. Almost entirely rebuilt since WW1 it has a really nice feel to it and rather less glitzy than nearby Bruges – which I also like but some days you can hardly move it is so packed out.

My photo is of the Menin Gate where the ceremony of the Last Post is respectfully carried out at 8pm every night without fail and has been performed since the 1920s – except for a gap during the Second World War.

It’s very easy to get to – barely an hour from Dunkirk and a smidge more from Calais.

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

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