A brief history of CAMrPA

Gifts for all occasions at

  CAMrPA started sometime around 1979, beyond that it's anyone's guess. The first tour which actually happened was to Union Mills on the Isle of Man, just before Christmas 1979. 6 people attended from various places around England, having arranged to go about as far out of our way as it's possible to do for a quick weekend away. There was alot of beer drinking, some very bad cooking, a tent was nearly set on fire and we got very cold. Those last 3 items were not un-related to each other, and may have been influenced by the first item!

  I can still remember the look on the farmer's face when 6 people turned up at his campsite in December, he was amazed, although probably less so once he realised we were all together.

  If anyone wants to volunteer bits of history, please feel free to do so. I was drunk for most of it so it's a bit hazy really, and it would be nice to have the opinions of others ....

  Events which shaped the world of CAMrPA

  Graham thought this section would be a good idea, to help us remember some of those wierd and wonderful events which have happened over the years. I started with 1983 because that was the year / event which prompted the idea when we were discussing it at Cheyney Manor, fuelled by an alchoholic afternoon haze. If anyone has any more things they want adding then just send some details to Dave P.

July 1983

  July 24th was to be Dave P's birthday, the grand old age of 24 years. The plan was for Dave P, Karen and Graham to drive to Norfolk in Graham's Citroen and meet up with Andy Mac and Dave Wheeler for some sailing in Andy's Wayfarer, possibly with a bit of drinking thrown in for relaxation purposes... Unfortunately, a visit from Phil Dinsdale and a trip to the curry house on the way home resulted in Graham spending some hours in casualty with a broken collar bone and several weeks in the sunshine down in Worcester recuperating. That went down really well at work, especially when he changed his holidays to sick leave and promptly booked 2 weeks holiday when he was fit for work. Stunning, they still talk about it in the planning office... Dave and Karen dragged the Suzuki GS1000S out of the garage and headed for Norfolk with bits of camping gear strapped all over, and a carefully crafted birthday cake (Smarties and all) hacked to pieces and stuffed into a plastic box and held onto the bike with an elastic strap. It was CAMrPA Tour 15, the weather was quite good, the sailing was fun and we did too much drinking as usual, there may be some details on the tours page eventually.