ye even missed the birthday cake at the 1st birthday meet

We word of warning Park Authority are now checking and moving on what they call "large" groups and i really must quote "partying" you might want to keep that in mind apparently certain idiots are runing it for everyone here since the whole of the loch has become a national park they are getting far more fussy and prohibitive im afraid its a bummer but try living here you cant do nowt without them ok'ing it first its a shambles like all such plans another way to ruin a great resource and put people off coming which in turn destroys our villages economy but he ho such is life we apparently simply MUST OBEY or move thats the choices.....

tbh we had a dig last year from the parks boys and the forrestry boys, think after they spoke to us for a bit they realised how ******* we were with the louts at sallochy ive been in contact with the park authority in callender in the past and they have us down as "sensible campers" and above all else non destructive and with in our own group type,

i actualy think the parkys do a good job but very very lazy, they dont want to get out there vans for anybody, we fattened em up with some burgers so they were our pals after lol ,

think at this time of year and more so sallochy its dead and will still be pretty quiet in march, i feel sorry for the locals who have the best resource on there door step ruined by eejits from glasgow and other places wrecking such a cracking place, sv had a note put on us last year cos the parkys thought we were such a good crowd and how we ended up tidying the place when neds left a utter tip behind em and the parks guys just handed us black bags.

think sallochy and the loch are out for us soon, camped and had 3 meets there this is the fourth so i have spyed a new location well out of the way and should be a ideal for us in the summer months

How many on av do u have at a meet ??

But i will be there this time for sure ..... its only a few miles from my home so no real excuse .....

no a bad wee crowd i reckon for thsi one so far few new members signed up so should hopefully get the same amount, but with the opn invitations to other clubs i hope we will see more at the meet

be glad to finaly meet ya man, you joined sv near the start so your a long term member now

The reason i was asking about nos was there is a show field just as you take the right off the balloch road crossing the endrick river [it runs through said feild] that is used for several meets, our local shows and many bike, horse and other type shows] easy access of main road plubed water etc and well know locally sits right on a lovely river bank 2 mins out of my village so easy access to pubs etc dont know what it costs/or even if it costs but it belongs to Bisland Oils so a wee emial to them at their croftamie base might get you a favourable safe, secure no issues base ???? http://www.jamesdbilsland.com/contact.php

theres a sore lack of events up here for vans, its mostly a set up and make do at truck and car events all bar the borders vw show, but yet again more for cars.

but this meet at sallochy and duck bay will probably be our last there due to teh tightening of the noose so to speak, so im thinking about a new place at bridge of orchy for our birthday meet in 5 month

cheers for bilslands contact, i know a sales guy in there from my days with wickes building supplies so ill be keeping that in mind

One day your right we might get a Scottish show even Vw wise there is really one Biggar and its not solely vans so i would be perfectly willing to do what i can to make this be a reality. We are curently working on VW camping Club so who knows ...

The headache of running shows however is what puts most off, our idea was a camping field or to meet with-in established meets/shows which is what we have done to get around all the rules expence and regs involved in running a show of any type which is what puts people off the public liability insurance policy allone let alone, let alone fire points, marshalls , first aid points the list is endless, you have to be very well organised and work to a plan know how many are coming have pre sold tickets etc....

However as the Scottish arm and founder here im happy and willing to do what i can to help make it happen for ALL vanners let alone Vw's

What about a joint VW - v - Scottish Vanners meet sometime ??? i know who would win that one hands down

insurances and stuff are another headache i touched on but damn it scared me lol,
scotland is in dire need of a van/commercial show, biggest problem i have encountered with in the vw scene is mis-trust towards new meets, but thats par for the course, i spent a long time in the hgv sector and i know alot of show truck owners and hauliers are getting peeved with truckfest but tbh thats by the by ,

im sure we can get a scottish van event together and keep it as a style like we have ours on sv for the moment

sure we can get a chance to have a blether at loch lomond

meant to say, have you got a google maps reference to the field i think i know it but im not a 100% sure its the same one

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=....iwloc=A

The big VW one at BVF we attended last season went well for us.....although nobody knows who i am except for a privelaged few as in what i look like, my reputation has preceded me through lies, inunedo, slander and all sorts so you do NOT need to tell me, [and i do all this for fun, sometimes i wonder ]

there is alot of backstabbing and stuff in the club scene and i aint just talking vw here im talking from the blue oval and griffin scene, people make there minds up before they even know you or have met you, unfortunatly thats the way us humans roll lol

but then again there exceptions like our clubs, no snappyness, or badge wars as i like to call it, everybody getting on for a greater good and a laugh with each other is ideal imo

Cheers, Chas.

i agree i have made some cracking friends, my best mate who is now like a brother, and even my mrs thru the van scene. as i like to say to people when it comes to scottish vanners, "its more than a club, were all family now" corny as you like, but 99% of us feel that way, and anybody who comes to a meet will be treated the same, hope your not shy cos we will soon have you out your shell

already had a few of the boys from the other T4 forum email me saying there comeing, so seems were breaking down some barriers. not that im a massive fan of sites that seem money oriantated, but seems the members wanna explore

But should be fun there is a LOT of good very knowledgeable owners on tuther forum shame its so singleminded in its approach we as a group have tried so so many times they just dont want to know so little else we can do, but it might be a good "mutual" ground to build bridges upon, who knows where that might end .....

Takes the Scots attitude in all that strangely Rob Roy and Willy Wallace were hated for no real reason .....

should be a good crack this meet, hopefull more of you guys come and in a way gives you a chance to get the numbers here from "pay" sites.

i aint just having a dig at the T4club im having a dig at them all that see fit to charge, worst offenders are the camping clubs and the self build motorhome club, who sees the dough out of them, oh and plus relly cant stand teh guy who owns SBMCC, threatened my mate with legal action over a copy and paste incident

But the best laugh though is look at the figures on such sites they have in the case of the one im talking about 2oo+k members of which untill very recently they had max 200 online and max 150 at any one meet not very good odds now off that 20k about 1/2 are paid members thats a lot of money to run a forum both you and i do FREE i work day and night as im sure you do on the upkeep, running and promotion of this group all for nothing i dont run fancy motorhomes like some do, nor do i slate others for trying?? there are sadly to many throughout the car/van/truck world who are so far up ther own ...... they would need surgery to get em out now...... the paid subs on said forum have been dropped [they wont admit it] but after our group did serious damage by being totally FREE we are FREE for trade & private memberships and advertising they have yet to do that, and doubt they will which in mosts view give us an edge still [our shopping mall will finally put paid to that for them] in hard economic times they are going to kill themselves all over again....

Info distribution..
My thinking has always been the information we supply on the whole is either researched by me myself or from all over the place and often upplied directly from a member, so why should the next member have to PAY for or to read that or other information it cost the community nothing to supply, so why charge for it plus the advertising revenue being pulled in is beyond a joke, you see most people dont know a thing about running such communities and think it costs a fortune in truth ours excluding my time costs as ive said before 10 x domain names per yr and my time so about £40 which i am more than happy to pay, untill it does cost me serious money and if there is any way possible it will always be FREE

Running
These guys rant on about the time it takes to run a community like this ******** i can either spend 10 minutes or all day depends what i feel like or want to do that day i have myself and Rob my Sec and Chas my Social Conv who both from time to time do their bit, keep and eye and report/mod when they have to but these big groups are a joke 20+ mods all fighting to be the best, the most active and the best liked causing more wars by over moderation and bully boy tactics often with several usernames so they can stir it without being caught out let alone those who just stir constantly, keyboard warriors hate the lot of teh spineless no marks the simple truth is keep it a small team who know what their doing, where their going and it will work like a well oiled machine 2yrs almost and about 6 months with T4 Camper before this but i hey i know nothing ........

As for the ongoing costs to finance stuff like you we are dotttering about trying to get this and that donated or given to us from a-b -c, as i refuse to allow anyone member [we have had offers] to pay for anything so far we have done ok we to could do with a shelter, banners, flagpoles etc for shows and the likes but we are slowly and surely getting there just now trying to sort our a mechandising page with one of the all in one companies to sell t-shirts, stickers etc direct from our [shopping mall site] when we get this sorted i will rest as its been a major headache for a while now... [if you or any of your team can help with this we would be eternally grateful ]

Our brand new 2011 sposnors will undoubtedly push our coverage a bit thats two main sponsors in 3 yrs Danbury Motorhomes first [only the oldest most respected VW conversion company] and now Volkswagen Driver magazine another well known and respected publication.... who will im sure help us along the way as promised [where are these other sites being sponsored as i simply dont see it]

Mostly there only by vitue of the fact they were first to do it that doesnt make them no1 as they claim but hey we shall let them pretend and slowly take it one member at a time im in it for the longhaul and wont give in or up that easily threats, intimidation, lies etc are so old now nobody listens anymore anyway they are only making themselves look stupid, as for banning me and others repeatedly just coz you dont like us is **** good on you with banned members all over your forum making it look really welcoming, as does the constant bickering, and the constant agruements and recouring themed issues in all my time i have only had to ban 1 person and that was for constantly rilling me, and insulting everything i said [there will always be one sadly] i still beleive he was a plant from elsewhere sent to cause havoc here, anyway....

I only hope there are more like you and i who dont rise to their petty singleminded rubbish its only a matter of time till people get so fed up they will once again leave in droves their loss our gain again...

As for the camping type ones i found them ok to be honest SBMCC was cool with me but feel the limit on posts you can make unless you join can be a bit off putting other than that its cool so far this end with them, we have and they have links to and from us mostly as my only real involvment now, i know we have plants here as no doubt your group does to, i monitor all traffic on this site daily it worries me not a jot why? simple i am neither twofaced nor worried about anything i say or do as i know when it matters its 100% the truth so they can spy, report back and paln, scheme and whatever else makes them happy, twofaced is not thw ord, its is amazing just how many are personal friends on both T4 -T5 Club UK's facebook or Twitter pages and my own personal Facebook page as well, we are lucky we only have one marque to worry about you have everyone which at times can surely only mulitply your issues with others if i can give you one tip, that would be do as we bnow do DONT RISE TO IT let them say whatever they want, it simply is not worth it ......

Rant over makes me sick the entire ignorance by many of just how they are being shafted enjoy ......

seriously though i do agree with alot of what your saying,
TBH i dont really have a enemy in the van sites stuff, i dont really want to either, but i have a bone of contention with alot of sites, i do know that some big sites cost big money to run, the transit forum is one, and i know luke has to pay out the money from the sponsors, and it goes back into the forum for transitmania and gaydon every year,
the VW scene has opened my eyes, i like the brick yard think its a fantastic site, they keep it friendly and they have a laugh with out over moderation so you find in that enviroment the mods position is pretty redunadant apart from keeping the house clean with moving posts and stuff,

the vw scene really does interest me cos on the whole every bus from a split to a t5 has somthing interesting for me, the scene tax doesnt though lol

i think alot of sites should think about the minority members who cant afford to pay subs and stuff, spread the word by being free let people see what you have to offer and your site will become better, let them donate not take,

i think this causes problems in alot of sites, look at VZI massive site plenty info with out having to get paypal out,
it also IMO causes a rift, and one make clubs shouldnt be at odds, they should be helping each other, brick yard had a wee bit of fun with teh transit boys a couple of month back but it was taken as a laugh, i wonder how many other clubs would have turned it into a flame war !!
charge to be in a club i agree with when theres things like stickers, merchandise that members get for there money, but not for forums.

BTW you checked out the firm that does our clothing lassie rachel at yourclubclothing.com , good stuff if your on the hop.

anyhow my ramblings go round in circles maybe one day there wont be any crappy feelings between clubs and everybody gets on to a degree