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'Fest '14 - 'The Shakedown'

I don't own a cougar and I'm not a club member so please feel free to dismiss anything I say but we have a similar issue at UKPOC.

Back in 2009 we had approx 90 cars at Probefest. Over the years as the number of cars declines we have seen a drop in attendees. It's not drastic yet but enough to get us worried. We do have a hardcore who will turn up every year. This year we got a bit more savvy with social media and plugged our 'fest on facebook. It worked and we got four lads come over from Holland, they thoroughly enjoyed their weekend (better than the German meet where they were ignored for the weekend) and have said they will come back next year. In 2013 we got 55 cars, this year thankfully it was 69 although we sold nearly 80 tickets!

Our Fest is £10 per ticket for a full member and £12 for non members - this goes to the club to pay for trophies, saturday night karaoke etc. Camping is paid on top - we try and get a reduction on the daily pitch fee from the site.

I don't know if any of this helps at all but thought I'd give a different view on it.
 
Hello Andy
Many thanks for that.
There was quite a good line-up of Probes at Blackpool yesterday.
I would interested to know how much of a reduction you managed to get on the camping fees as, I believe the site you use, normally charge over £20/night.
 
Jeez, 69 cars at probefest 2014, that is absolutely amazing. I don't think we will ever see these kind of numbers at a Cougarfest. I used to be a member of UKPOC back in the nineties when I had my first Brand spanking new 24V Teal Mist and to be perfectly honest with you, I felt that the club was a bit of a waste of time. Obviously I was either wrong or things have changed drastically over the years. I had a series of 5 different 24V Probes over a period of about 12 to 14 years and really enjoyed every one of them, but, I let my membership lapse after a couple of years.
 
Quicksilver said:
Hello Andy
Many thanks for that.
There was quite a good line-up of Probes at Blackpool yesterday.
I would interested to know how much of a reduction you managed to get on the camping fees as, I believe the site you use, normally charge over £20/night.
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as another of the probefest organisers and the point of contact for our regular campsite i can tell you we get a very healthy reduction on camping fees and a caravan with hookup pays only £15 per night. we have been at trentfield for 6 fests now and have a good relationship with the owners(most of the time anyway)
 
D1CKL said:
Jeez, 69 cars at probefest 2014, that is absolutely amazing. I don't think we will ever see these kind of numbers at a Cougarfest. I used to be a member of UKPOC back in the nineties when I had my first Brand spanking new 24V Teal Mist and to be perfectly honest with you, I felt that the club was a bit of a waste of time. Obviously I was either wrong or things have changed drastically over the years. I had a series of 5 different 24V Probes over a period of about 12 to 14 years and really enjoyed every one of them, but, I let my membership lapse after a couple of years.
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It would have been FPOC back in the '90s/early 2000s - UKPOC didn't start until 2005 when most of us split for the original club.

FPOC is still going - it gets about 1 post per week!

Considering there are only approx 900 probes taxed and a further 800-900 on sorn I think we don't do too badly, we'd love every probe owner to join us but that will never happen. They are still being seen as cheap transport by many and not valued as future classics. Some of us are pushing for classic status, we have several members who have them insured on classic policies now.
 
numnuts said:
as another of the probefest organisers and the point of contact for our regular campsite i can tell you we get a very healthy reduction on camping fees and a caravan with hookup pays only £15 per night. we have been at trentfield for 6 fests now and have a good relationship with the owners(most of the time anyway)
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Thanks for that.
Do you/can you have an area reserved for your sole use?
 
Quicksilver said:
Thanks for that.
Do you/can you have an area reserved for your sole use?
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yes indeed. we have the entire rally field at our disposal. there are 12 (official) hookups and more than enough space for massive tent sentups a few marquees, all the campers and cars lined up.
 
Thanks for that.
I followed the link to the campsite from your forum page header; it looks to be a nice site with some river frontage if I recall correctly.
 
Quicksilver said:
Thanks for that.
I followed the link to the campsite from your forum page header; it looks to be a nice site with some river frontage if I recall correctly.
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and the best bit is, that even if it rains in huge quantities, the site drains very quickly once it stops. this year was a prime example of this on the monday after fest.
we have always been quite lucky with the weather at our fests and because some of us arrive as early as the tuesday before and then stay till the thursday after our event, we have always been in a position to hand over a large wedge of cash to the site owners, which keeps him happy most of the time lol. this large amount of cash early in his season is probably the main reason we are able to get such a good deal on our camping fees
 
At the moment our numbers are still fairly healthy and we had just enough room on the field as people a now bringing caravans and tow vehicles as well as their Probes. It is probably something to look at in the future as the numbers of both cars fall so I certainly wouldn't write that idea off and it is something to discus with my fellow Admin at UKPOC. It also depends on if Cougar members would travel to Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire for the event, most Cougarfests seem to have been a bit further south.
 
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