The future

Can’t you get some caravans (and motorhomes) with similar built in water features🤣

"Recent years"? I think you must have slipped back in time, JV.😆

I'm in my 48th year of membership with C&CC and I can assure you they accepted caravans well before I joined.

While the base membership, as you call it, was originally tenters, these days tents are far outnumbered by caravans and MHs.

Going back to the original post re attracting other groups in particular families, I have written on here and to the club re the increase in prices during the now elongated school holidays not being in the ethics of a club. I am in my 70s now and first joined the club when my now 45 year old children were babies, in those days there were rallies, have they disappeared, I can remember as a family some great week ends on rallies which were not only cheap but great fun for all the family.

I do believe we have left the original club ethics in search of financial gain and lost sight of the needs of the membership as a whole.

This is an historic thing. When our children were young we moved from tent camping to caravanning. The club, has always been like described in my opinion. However, it was never really the sites or club I questioned, standards and expectations were and still are excellent I believe. For us the attractions was where the sites were located and the other products membership allowed us access to. We only ever used the site as a safe, secure place to return too having enjoyed the localities attractions.

The issue for me is cultural and the club merely mirrors this. I do believe 'things' ought to change mind but that's about our collective attitude to diversity as a nation and our individual willingness to embrace such change. Whether those who currently don't see themselves as caravaners can embrace this wonderful hobby of ours is then up to them. 

I think in terms of a family holiday, it simply depends on what the family is interested in. Club Sites in the main are simply somewhere to pitch up and sleep, although most have lots of off site attractions close by, if family wants to take part. If it’s somewhere more Centre Parc’s that is required, lots of things to do on the site itself, then other providers possibly do this better.

Maybe the OP is talking more about families not feeling welcome, Sites not being places children can run free without supervision, climb trees, ride bikes, scooters, roller skates, kick a ball about, we just don’t know. There are Club Sites with the space to allow this, away from vans, but you have to look for them. 

We don’t use Club Sites during school holidays, I will be honest and say that being around noisy family groups isn’t our thing, but mainly because my working life was around children’s sports and activities, so I needed the break. Older now, but still enjoy peace and quiet more. That said, it was fun watching what youngsters got up to at Hexham last month, they were no bother at all.

If back in the late 70's you told me radio 2 would play The Clash, Buzcocks and the Sex Pistols I would have laughed but they do. The club will have to change to suit the bulk of it's demographic.

Club centres still have weekend rallies ,or did before covid has got in the way of some

We too have been a member for 3>4 years and I don’t use the sites very often, until the virus came we spent the winter 6 months in Spain and Portugal. we mainly use the club for friends and family visits when local parking is not available.  But we are thinking of dropping out.

When we were stuck in Portugal because the Spanish had closed the boarders I tried to use the club to get info and help but I got nothing!

I don't know if you have read this Story which was poster recently of someone seemingly in a similar situation? The poster said this :-

"In every crisis the first casualty is always communications. Information is hard to come by and what information you do get is often wrong. The staff at CAMC were wonderful they did everything they could to help us get home and I can’t emphasise enough how very important that was to us."

I obviously don't know the real details of either but it does seem strange there is such a gap between the two?

David

This rubbish about the club not providing for ethnic groups is just that - rubbish. There is provision on site for all groups. It is simply the case that on any UK site you choose it is rare to find such people. It is not down to the club that most campers are white. I encounter young families but less so at the times I choose to tour except for weekenders where sites are closer to areas of high levels of population. 

Some want more facilities on a campsite such as pool, bar, restaurant etc. etc.

When I had a family we spent little time on site. We spent time as a family. We occasionally used sites with bells and whistles but most of what we wanted to enjoy was offsite.