Wine Down Weekend, Uckfield, E Sussex
7 - 10th May 2009
Reports by Sian Plant and Danielle Mann
From the 7th to the 10th of May, my Nan and grandad went down to a rally being held in Uckfield by Mandy, Martin and Kristy; Pat and Pete. This was Mandy and Martin's first time running a rally. I have to say they made the rally fun and an enjoying long weekend.
I didn't join the rally till Friday. I and my friend Danielle decided to once again sleep in my pup tent and my friends Rachel and Abigail in another tent next to us. Later on Friday night everyone gathered in the marquee for tea, coffee and a good old catch up. It was a good night.
On Saturday, we woke up to a wet yet sunny morning, with the birds singing above in the tree tops. We went to the marque at 10.00 for bacon rolls and orange juice, which I must say was very nice. The rest of the morning was sunny, with the weather carrying on into the afternoon.
Later that night we had a BBQ and all ate together in the Marquee, then Pat and Pete played a game of 'Play your Cards Right'; it was a lot of fun. Sunday, we woke to another wet yet sunny day, with coffee at 10.30 and Flag at eleven which as always started of with one of Pete's jokes again. Then we had an announcement of two new members to the Swift Club; and a plaque given to the first time marshals, Mandy and Martin. After that was the announcement of the competitions, the adult competition was to guess the muddled up faces and Jim and Rebecca Howe won the prize.
For the kids competition we had an old fashioned dolly peg and a polystyrene ball which we had to make into something imaginative. Rachel won the prize in her age group and I won the prize in my age group, I made my peg a flower. Next, we had the raffle I won a notebook, but it was Danielle's ticket (she is a great friend ), and I also won a blow up neck cushion for long journeys.
Finally, we had pancakes with Paula and Greg, then we packed up ready for a short journey home, longing for a early night. I really enjoyed this rally I hope Pat, Pete, Mandy and Martin hold another one!
Sian 
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That weekend lived up to its name… Wine Down… I don’t know about everyone else but I was relaxed the whole weekend. The rally was marshalled by Mandy, Martin & Kirsty Phillips, assisted by Pat & Pete Vowles. Not forgetting it was Mandy and Martin's first ever rally marshalling. You would thing they had been doing it years because it was absolutely amazing and I had a great time.
Well… Where do I start? The rally started on Thursday but like most families with childre we arrived on Friday because we have school. Welcomed by the marshals, we parked our van and set up. We had tea and coffee in the big tent. Sian and I slept in a tent together and Abi and Rachel slept in their own tent. I think they were awake longer than I was… I got into my sleeping bag and I was out like a light ☺.
On Saturday my Nan and Grandad took Kirsty, Abi and Rachel out to Plumpton College open day. When they came back Alan Druce set up his Encaustic Art, and we all got a go. Might I say, his work is absolutely amazing! Later on that evening we had the BBQ together on their fancy Cadacs. We had got about half way through finishing our dinner when my family arrived. My cousins wanted me to introduce them to every body, when we got to Alan’s van and they looked at his artwork and ended up leaving with half the books ☺. That evening they played “Play Your Cards Right”. But I didn’t know who won because I was working on my competition. Also a big congratulations to Mike and Sue Fielding on their 250th rally and many thanks (on behalf of the grown ups) for providing beer and wine for the evening.
The next day was flag, prizes were announced. The competitions were fantastic, Kirsty, Rachel and Sian won each of their age group. Then it came to the adults competitions, four families got the same score so they each picked a card and who ever got the highest score won… Jim & Rebecca Howie won overall and it was only their second rally! Then followed by raffle, at the end of every rally, the kids get sweets. But this rally we weren’t GIVEN them, we had to chase after them and CATCH them!
That was an amazing rally… can’t wait till their next one. Thank you guys.
