50th Anniversary for the Caravan Club

There was a big weekend planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary celebrations of our Heretaunga Caravan Club.  Goodness me, that's a long time.  We met at the Manawatu Caravan Club campgrounds on Thursday, an early start for the weekend as Friday was a public holiday celebrating Matariki, the start of the Maori New Year.

The notice board is out, telling the members what is on

We were all presented with a new coffee mug, showing photos of the caravans in the club, together with our club logo.

New club coffee mugs

There was a new campervan in the club, and proud owners Sandra and Don welcomed members to have a look inside.  

A new camper van for Sandra and Don

Friday evening saw us all meet at the Manawatu Boat Club restaurant for a meal.  It was a lovely meal indeed, I enjoyed my Fisherman's Basket and Robin had a tasty lamb shank.  Two couples who were former members joined us for the meal too.

His and her menu choices

We arranged ourselves at the small round tables, although there was plenty of table hopping going on after our meals, to catch up with all the others.  When it was time to go back to the camp grounds we noticed that very thick sea mist had rolled in, making visibilty a challenge.  So it was lucky we did not have too far to drive back.

Sandra, Dot, Jenny and Robin

Morning Tea was held in the club hall on Saturday morning, with the cutting of the cake.  This was performed by Maureen and Eileen, our newest and longest serving lady members.  The banana cake was beautifully decorated with chocolate icing and decorations.

Maureen and Eileen cutting the cake

It was dinner with a difference on Saturday evening when everyone consumed their individual fish and chip parcels together in the hall, with slices of buttered bread and plenty of tomato sauce.  Then we shared our memories of our very first caravan rally, and how we came to join the club.  That was very interesting, and drew a few laughs at the memories, luckily we had a print out of the date and place of the first rallies, in case people had trouble remembering back in the mists of time.  With the foundation club members sadly no longer with us, the joining dates for current members range from 1980 to 2022, and we joined in 1987.  

Heretaunga Caravan Club members