Firstly The GPO Rally this year was on a new site due to the old one supposedly being dug up for gravel. The new site was a lot smaller than the ones we have used for the ages, as a result we decided we would have to keep to a strict 300 limit to see how crowded it got. This would never have been a problem in the past, but this year we sold out of tickets over a week before the rally, sorry if you were disappointed this year, please book earlier next year so you can come and party. Secondly an old friend of the Club died during the year, Kippa had always been at the GPO, helping with the bands and the PA, until last year, when she was too ill to attend. It was going to be strange without her around. Thirdly we had decided to try changing the Catering tent arrangements to make things a bit easier for our gallant club members who keep all the punters fed. Finally we had got the site organised before we realised the loo emptying truck, from the company we usually used for the bogs, couldn't get under the bridge at the entrance to the site. Zena, our Rally Sec, found a different Loo company with a smaller truck, worked out the logistics, solved all the predictable problems, and hassled the suppliers to get the right equipment on site at the right price at the right time. XS Martin, our Entertainments Sec, did an amazing job organising the bands, PA etc and managed the stage for Zena all weekend. Tim and the rest of the catering crew did an excellent job sorting out the catering, with Phillippe our trained Chef creating another masterpiece of a chilli. Yogi (who got us the use of the field) helped sort out loads of stuff for the site and patched up the wounded. Peanut sorted out the electrics and kept an eye on the generators. The whole Club worked hard all weekend whenever they could to keep things going as smoothly as possible. Oh, yes, some Asshole called Mole did the games, and did his best, with loads of help from Biggles and others, to keep generators, tea urns, etc running all weekend. Our new members showed us what they could do, and on Saturday Night Stan from the Isle of Wight showed us what he'd got. Only one punter had to be taken home on the Sunday morning, and nobody needed to be taken to hospital. Most importantly of all every punter I spoke to had had a very good time and many rated it the best GPO ever. On behalf of the Club I'd like to thank Zena for all her work over the last 6 months getting the whole thing organised. Also of course I'd like to thank all the punters for turning up and for hardly causing the marshals any hassle at all.
The closer camping seemed to lead to a much better atmosphere this year
Gavin, one of our newer members, worked his socks off most of the weekend
The stage had the red carpet treatment
Tim did his usual excellent job with the Bar
The new club tent made a great eating shelter
While Tim and crew sorted the food
Some Chopper Club members turned up for a while
While GPO regular Chloe once more bought her mum and dad along.
She's done every GPO raly since she was conceived, (we thought she was going to be born on site).