Farmer wants a Rally

[mark@3counties]

I had a meeting with one of my farmers today, he has told me that he wants me to hold Weekend Rallies in the Spring next year and each year after, possibly even two each spring He has around 10,000 acres of land in total but he has told me he will hold 500 acre plots for the rallies, to date we as a club have only been on one of the sites and that was 4 years back, it's only because he is a nightmare to get hold of and because of that we haven't been back. I have discussed with him what is needed i.e. ploughed rolled land, campsite etc and he is well up for it. He has land in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex and personally I'm quite looking forward to it.. So..anyone up for a weekend rally in the springtime (March/April)

[seanmagee1]

bring it on!!

[Steve_T]

Sounds good to me .

[Nuke em]

You kidding Mark ? , if i ain't working that is.
Wont make it this sunday because i finish late tomorrow.

[Iron Mask]

What sounds good to those first two posters sounds good to me.
How many people would be at such a rally?
Very decent of you Mark.
Cheers

[Steve Bowles]

Oh hell yes!

[Captainpugwash]

That sounds promising, im up for that.

[joanmar]

Yes please Mark,put me down,at lest we all know it wont be seeded,Best club in the country.

[stewart73]

Wow, sounds like some awesome potential there!

[mark@3counties]

I will be speaking to the farmer again in the next couple of weeks to arrange a firm date..

[Rob]

Sounds good to me, a good part of the world to detect in so I know you are on a winner, hope it all goes ahead, count me in.

[Tony Hunt]

Think you will be unindated Mark. Will you be capping the numbers at a sensible level instead of letting it get like wanderers.

[jay69hay]

i`ll be up for that +1

[mark@3counties]

Yes Tony, it will be capped

[broadsmaster]

I for one would also be interested

[marcinch1979]

What sounds good to those first two posters sounds good to me.
How many people would be at such a rally?
Very decent of you Mark.
Cheers

Don't get too excited Scott. You and Aivar should remember 3C's last rally

[Iron Mask]

Don't get too excited Scott. You and Aivar should remember 3C's last rally

How could I forget?? That is when I met you.
I still enjoyed it and never complained as it was a last minute thing and I was also just in my first year of detecting. If I could be back on that same field on the same day knowing what I know now I would winkle out the goodies.
Where have you been? Working hard or hardly working?
I am off to bed now.
papa

[Kyle]

sound amazing - why are people talking of capping before anything is fixed as yet. 500 acres is a huge amount of ground ......i get the feeling some folk here would like to control everthing that is nothing to do with them.
hope you can arrange something Mark and help the farmer achieve what he requires with his land.

is it just me or do you get the feeling some would like it as private affair for just close friends only - Mark ...i would like to come if you arrange one .....i can wear my cap and a minelab pouch.

its good of you to do - hope it comes off and goodluck

[cwilko]

Yes please! put my name down
Thank you.
Chris

[Iron Mask]

sound amazing - why are people talking of capping before anything is fixed as yet. 500 acres is a huge amount of ground ......i get the feeling some folk here would like to control everthing that is nothing to do with them.
hope you can arrange something Mark and help the farmer achieve what he requires with his land.

is it just me or do you get the feeling some would like it as private affair for just close friends only - Mark ...i would like to come if you arrange one .....i can wear my cap and a minelab pouch.

its good of you to do - hope it comes off and goodluck

Hi Kyle
It is just that many of us don't want anything like a WW type event. Capped does not have to be 50 or 100 heads. It could be 500 heads for example but if it is not capped you get 1500 showing up. I personally think 100 people is fine and easy to manage. But then if all went well it could my more often with small groups than just a one off with a huge group. Could even be a few weekends in a row to give others a chance with regards to plans or work.
There is only a small chance that I could make it but I still would like it to be a success for those that can make it and for Mark whom does all the work.

[Tony Hunt]

Exactly scotty. Kyle mentions 500 acres being a huge amount of land, it is until you have 2-300 people on it then quickly discover after an hour or two those 2-300 arent finding anything and theyre shouting for more to be opened up. Although mark talks of 10,000 acres being available if he's not sensible that would be quickly eaten up. If we hadn't capped Corfe over the years we could have had silly numbers turning up just because of where it was. We managed to make that few hundred acres last that long without any hassles but then we werent out to earn any money out of it for ourselves that was the big difference.

[mark@3counties]

Exactly scotty. Kyle mentions 500 acres being a huge amount of land, it is until you have 2-300 people on it then quickly discover after an hour or two those 2-300 arent finding anything and theyre shouting for more to be opened up. Although mark talks of 10,000 acres being available if he's not sensible that would be quickly eaten up. If we hadn't capped Corfe over the years we could have had silly numbers turning up just because of where it was. We managed to make that few hundred acres last that long without any hassles but then we werent out to earn any money out of it for ourselves that was the big difference.

The one and only reason this farmer wants me to run open weekend rally events on his land is to make him money, the 10,000 acres is not in one plot, so to just open an extra field if one or two people start moaning wouldn't be possible.
Kyle, The farmer would love it if I could get 1,000 people paying to detect on 500 acres but I can assure you that will NOT happen.
The first Rally will be on the site that our club did visit some years ago and with the finds that came out there shouldn't be too many complaints.
Mind you with some of the people I have met of late, nothing is worth having unless it's gold... It is a shame.

[Tony Hunt]

People weren't happy on Dave Ps Bedford rally after a couple of hours on an amazing amount of land he had allowed on an undetected farm. Even before lunch he had to open more up because the finds weren't coming in quick enough for the moaners. After the first day people were starting to re search the original fields but at a slower pace and were making some good finds, always happens.
You and the farmer deserve to make some money mark, its a thankless task. Running the Corfe rally for twelve years as a non profit making event purely for club funds as I did I didn't have to put up with people moaning and groaning about lack of finds etc. Everybody knew the score before they came, I didn't even have to have any rules other than hole filling and every year it all went like clockwork and every year people wanted to come back onto the same few hundred acres, amazing thing is every year there were some fantastic finds made. We must have got rid of the moaners over the first few years, .

[Boozer]

Me and the Hog will be there to support your farmer Mark!

[winklepicker]

I'm up for it Mark and will support you no matter what you decide in terms of numbers etc. As l imagine, it's not an easy task running a rally but all you need are decent detectorists who appreciate history, the hobby and what they find (or have chance to find)....for me it's about meeting and greeting as well as the detecting so count me in!!