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WCC Newstead Abbey August
Our first and only rally with the club in 2019, not a proud boast by any means but one brought about through the pair of us undergoing surgery and the process of recovery that followed.
As stewards we arrived early on site which, thanks to the directions given us by the man on the gate we found reasonably easy. That is after walking the route off the main road just to be sure. I wasn't keen on the thought of having to reverse the car and van should I have chosen the wrong turning. Our Marshalls had said that they would come out the day before and mark out the route but, sadly, that had not happened.
We parked up on entering the rally field, a large reasonably flat area to await the arrival of the Marshalls, Darryl & Diane, not being sure where they had planned to pitch the 5 vans attending the rally. We thankfully wouldn't have to wait too long. Fortunately, we decided not to pitch as they moved further on in to the field and parked adjacent to the wall that backed on to the Abbey. This worked out to be the ideal location as at the end of the wall, a short distance from where we were parked, was a gate which led conveniently into one of the side gardens of the Abbey grounds.
The Rally or nearly all. I just could'nt get Anne & Mervyns van into the picture otherwise all 5 attending would be in view. Then a picture of our van taken from the otherside of the wall. Pam popping her head out of the door.
Views of the rear of the Abbey and the gardens. The plant was taken whilst walking around the Japanese gardens. Having been to Newstead on a number of occasions; this used to be the meeting base for Mapperley Rotary Club for a number of years, I have only actually visited once prior. The weekend was an eye opener to other large parts of the grounds.
Nice weather meant that the people on the rally were able to explore the grounds of the Abbey for free, well free excluding what we had paid in the way of site fee. A number even ventured into the Abbey itself. Pat, David and I just wandered the grounds exploring areas that I had never seen before. A pleasant weekend with fellow Waggoners and in perfect summer weather, what a change.