Time for an Irish meet?

[brens-s80]

hi,

Having been one of the initial driving forces behind trying to establish an Irish Volvo Owners group I would like to echo some of Darrens points and to add my own as well.

. we lost quiet a few drivers due to them selling their Volvo's and changing to different makes

. Lost a key driving force when Darren up'd and left for Canada ( all seems to be going well with you )

. Maybe the cost of fuel/distance had a bearing on attendances at some of the meets North /South but it never bothered me personally.

. despite emailing/pm'ng widely the take up locally in the South was very poor.

It's for the above reasons and other personal reasons that I have left things be and also to see if anyone else was genuinely interested enough to put the time and effort into arranging a meet for the whole of Ireland.

I have noticed that NI_volvo_nut has done some arranging but sadly i was unable to make the meets.

Where we go from here I'am not sure but if anyone would like to contact me regarding arranging a meet I would be more than happy to help in anyway i can.

regards


brendan

[ahal]

Originally Posted by brens-s80

hi,



. despite emailing/pm'ng widely the take up locally in the South was very poor.




brendan

Indeed. Nice to hear from you after all this time, Brendan.

[Baffler]

Hi folks,

I'd just like to add that it can be difficult to attend some of these mettings, especially when there's a five hour drive ahead of you before you even get there. Some of us have family, work or study to juggle so, eventhough one may agree to attend, it may pan out differently. I'm guilty on all counts

I'd love to meet up for a cuppa, a natter, admire some and help out with issues and pass on/receive any knowledgeble information to and from others.

One day hopefully I'll get to meet you all. (I had the pleasure of meeting Tony down a dark alley one night )

Liam...


Oh...I forgot to mention the beautiful Irish climate

[ahal]

Originally Posted by Baffler

Hi folks,

(I had the pleasure of meeting Tony down a dark alley one night )

Damn! You promised we'd keep this secret ROTFL!

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

Agreed Brendon, its hard to please everyone with a location, my 740 is 20 years old this year and I fancy doing the show scene for a while, would love a meet n drive, but my knowledge of the south is poor, so as Brendon says, anyone with an idea wants to pm / email me, I'll be happy to make some arrangements, I had a good turn out for the Ballymena Carfest, but the meet before that was very poor, only myself and Darren, and before that, was Mark, Craig, myself and Darren, kinda disheartens anybody from arranging the meets at the same time.

[ahal]

Re: the south, suits me fine to say Dublin, but tbh that's going to be a hell of a long way for anyone from Cork / Midlands. I've often thought a midlands meet would be the way to go now and then. This does, however, mean quite a journey for anyone from the North as well. Rotation? How about 3 official meets per year, one North, South and Midlands, or is that a bit unbalanced?

I don't see any reason why a few of us meeting on the outskirts of Dublin for anyone without huge familiarity with the routes should be any difficulty.

Cheers,

Tony.

[mickaleen59]

Originally Posted by ahal

Re: the south, suits me fine to say Dublin, but tbh that's going to be a hell of a long way for anyone from Cork / Midlands. I've often thought a midlands meet would be the way to go now and then. This does, however, mean quite a journey for anyone from the North as well. Rotation? How about 3 official meets per year, one North, South and Midlands, or is that a bit unbalanced?

I don't see any reason why a few of us meeting on the outskirts of Dublin for anyone without huge familiarity with the routes should be any difficulty.

Cheers,

Tony.

Here, here!, good idea Tony.

I will second the idea of not being able to travel too far, I know because due to having medical difficulties i.e. diabetes and coeliac which entails regular eating / dietary requirements etc., driving too far on my own is dodgy!

Just finding a suitable venue for eveyone is the thing I guess.

Does anyone know of anywhere around midlands or so. Would need a lot of members to go to somewhere like Mondello Park I guess and what cost!!!???

Michael

[mountain]

hi all,

im living in west cork, so am a good distance from most places,
however rather than a volvo dealers, i read recently of volvo classic owners in america, meeting at an IKEA store....

is this a possibility?

[ahal]

Hi Michael,

I have to say I'm not hugely familiar with Mondello, but having had a peep at their site it looks like actual events, other than 'JapFest' are over for this year ( unless I'm missing something ) : http://www.mondello.ie/news/?year=2009&month=8

Outside of that, I think mountain man's IKEA suggestion is a pretty good 'un. I've noticed another club ( which will remain nameless - well, okay bloody saabs ) descended on PCWorld's carpark. Come to think of it, there are many abandoned large retail units these days lol and they all have great car parks, and are usually quite central, which is great too.

Just looking at my map here. Half way down the Republic leaves one in and around Tullamore in Co. Offaly, not too far from Kildare town. Unfortunately for anyone 'deep south' that's still the same trek as Dublin, except more inland.

I have to say, further south, Cashel in Co. Tipperary would ( imho anyway ) make a great meeting point. Huge carpark, great setting, couple of very nice eateries nearby. Roads in and out are pretty good too.

I haven't 'got the goods' as them Americans say (!) on the whole thing, just thought I'd stick my oar in really with the initial post. It's not important to me whether I organize meets or not, just wanted to get a debate going. Fwiw, these would be my sentiments, feel free to agree / disagree:

3 meetings per year ( every 4 months ). One far south ( as above ), one local to Dublin, and one in the North ( from a southern perspective - none of my business what's arranged up there, just saying that we have one in particular on the calendar! )

Imho one person should be in charge of meets. Movies with two directors don't work.

Some good work has been done by Brendan to formalize the structure. I'd suggest going the whole hog and electing a board.

Cheers,

Tony.

[ahal]

Actually just to add, how about actually having a meet to discuss things, making same a meet in the erm, meet sense as well?