If ever proof of the camaraderie of the Dandy Owners Club was needed the Holland rally provided it. From meeting up at Colchester to saying our farewells on the ferry back at Harwich all 33 people who took part got on so well. I was certainly grateful for the friendship and co-operation shown as not everything went smoothly but everybody mucked in and ensured that nothing was spoiled.

The North Sea was kind to us being as flat as Holland, the site was excellent and the people in reception were brilliant (and good looking!). The weather was cloudless and hot all week, the Dutch people were very friendly and Delft is a lovely town. All in all nothing could go wrong.....could it!

Well, I was the one that happened to be stuck behind a car that wouldn’t start when the boat docked. One owner, who shall not be named, followed the lorries off the boat and ended up parked in the lorry park whilst the rest of us drove by. Some people’s map skills gave cause for concern and some just got lost anyway. Due to no fault of my own!! some of the organised tours were on then off, then on again and finally off. Even on the one tour we did do the Dutch coach driver got lost.

Apart from the one organised tour people did what they pleased and visited various places as it suited them. Passing on tales and information was one of the evening past-times as was line and sequence dancing with Gail Sutton and playing Jimmy Wilson’s games which caused much merriment and the odd heart attack!

By bike, foot, train, tram, car or bus we visited all sorts of lovely places and had much to tell. Once one of us had found the red light district in Amsterdam Pete Derry had us pouring over maps to make sure he didn’t miss it on his trip. And he didn’t, even bringing a card back from one of the girls. He explained it was for the treasure hunt which I had organised. Of course we believed him!! Like we believed the couple who said they just happened to come across the nudist beach on the lake behind the campsite.

A Dutch couple with a Dandy had seen on the internet that we were nearby and joined us for the end of the week. Henri and Anne-Marie soon got into the spirit of things and made themselves very popular (they are now members of the club). Alan and Sue Smith were grateful as they were missing their dog, Jessie and Henri had brought along the most lovable beagle, Toby, who even had his own tent. Toby was fascinated with the campsite rabbits that wandered about at will amongst the Dandys.

On the final evening we all shared a lovely Dutch supper under bunting, balloons and flags. Pete and Chris Derry received the prize for the Treasure Hunt and everybody won a raffle prize. To give you some idea of the raffle prizes I won a pen and a set of newspaper crosswords that Anne Wilson hadn’t finished!

Check it out man!"

Of course this is only a story in a nutshell as I could take up many pages of the magazine to give the fuller picture but I will leave some space for others to tell their versions. I’ll finish as I started in saying that we had a wonderful time amongst a lovely group of people with whom it was a pleasure to be associated.

Dave Jones