Although travelling to the Ruby Rally on a Saturday gave some members a few traffic problems, the welcome we received on arrival at the Race Course at Stratford-upon-Avon was, as usual, very warm and friendly.

The whole of the rally was planned and organised by the Council of Management and the ever hard working Hosting Committee.  While Committee members and co-opted partners spent the afternoon helping members site their vans, once settled, most members took advantage of the sunshine to sit outside drinking tea (or something a little stronger) and catching up with old friends.  Those without an awning to erect settled down to socialising even quicker!

By 8.00 pm the Paddock Suite was a cacophony of voices.  Members greeted old friends and were eager to hear which rallies they had enjoyed since they last met. Many had been fortune enough to have participated in the overseas rallies, recounting tells of happy and interesting times spent in Australia, Canada, Morocco and South Africa, as well as mainland Europe.  Others anticipated the pleasure of forthcoming rallies.  The members who had not ventured overseas recently still had happy times to relate having attended rallies closer to home.

To make sure our throats did not get too dry with all the talking, the bar was manned (sorry ‘womanned’) by four of the hard working rally team dispensing glasses of wine or soft drinks.  The wine glasses were engraved with the date of the rally and were ours to keep as a memento.

As is usual on ICA main rallies, an Ecumenical Church service was held on the Sunday morning.  The service was conducted by two members of the local Salvation Army Corp.  As it was the height of the holiday season, the Citadel band was not available to lead the worship, as is the norm on these occasions. The collection of nearly £200 will be used for the Salvation Army’s charitable works.  During the Service, our Chairman asked us to remember past members who could not be with us, some through ill health and others who had passed away.   A recent bereavement being that of George Ilsley, who until very recently, together with his wife Marion, had been a very active and popular member of ICA.

The Sunday sunshine continued, and by 5.00 pm the assembled company were queuing for their ‘alfresco’ dinner.  This comprised a hog roast and a variety of salad items prepared and served by the rally team. The meat was succulent and all the helpings very generous.  The ‘lady bartenders’, assisted by David Hirst, as ‘Chief Cork Popper’ were on duty again making sure we had wine or soft drinks to compliment our food. To complete the meal, a celebration cake was cut by Sue Smith and one of our founder members Jean Goodman.  The cake made by Sue was the perfect end, accompanied by champagne, to a very memorable meal.

A car boot sale was held on Monday morning, a good way to recycle unwanted items.  The town of Stratford-up-on-Avon was easily accessible from the campsite by foot. Some members had booked to go on a trip in the afternoon on the river Avon, while others just enjoyed visiting the town. The weather was less kind during the afternoon, but the ‘cream tea’ enjoyed on the boat more than made up for the inclement weather.  Monday evening in the Paddock Suite was again the scene of general socialising. 

Many of our members were enthralled by the archived material that Margaret Cundy had compiled in the last few years.  This was displayed and added to by UK and overseas members.  Also close to the display of archived material John Gidley had set up his computer to show DVD’s of past rallies.  These again rekindled happy memories for many members.

For most members Tuesday was a free day to either relax on site or explore the surrounding area.  The rally team however were working hard decorating the Paddock Suite for our evening Celebration Meal. Each table having a centre decoration of cascading Ruby ‘40’s’.   The meal its self was beautifully prepared, cooked and presented by a very cheerful team of serving staff.  Between each course David Hirst conducted a raffle, the tickets having been issued to us on arrival at table.  This was very entertaining, as were some of the prizes.  David and Pauline had worked hard to collect a wide variety of prizes, then sit and fold up all the tickets.  As 137 attended the rally, and we all had 5 tickets each, there was a lot of folding to do!  At the end of the meal, which was accompanied by wine, we drank our coffee and listened to Doris recalling episodes, some funny, some more serious of the last forty years of ICA.

Decals ranging from10 to 35 years were presented to various members during the rally.

It was a truly International Ruby Rally and we were honoured to have the company of Jean Goodman a founder member of ICA, and current overseas members from Germany, Finland and the Netherlands.   However long members have been in ICA, I think all will agree, it is a very special Association and one we are all proud to belong to.