Welcome Messages
The President of the Camping and Caravanning Club Dr David Bellamy welcomes you to the 75th International Camping and Caravanning Rally to be held at Trinity Park, Ipswich, Suffolk , England.
You will be greeted by a fascinating coastline flanked by a delightful mix of rolling countryside, productive farms, well managed wetlands, ancient villages and market towns each with an enviable heritage both natural and people made.
Trinity Park, previously the Suffolk Showground, will accommodate your every need. Every year it is used to celebrate all the best of rural life, countryside management and agricultural endeavour in Suffolk, dating back to pre-Roman times.
2000 years on it now has the privilege of doing the same for the world of camping and caravanning. I look forward to meeting you there and sharing the delights and some of the secrets of Suffolk with you.
Good connections to the rest of the United Kingdom will allow you to gain a wider perspective of our beautiful country if you have the time to spare.
Rally Chairmans Welcome
Back in 1933 this great Club of ours welcomed campers from around the world to the very first FICC International Rally held at Hampton Court, England.
The site we have chosen for the 2009 FICC Rally is not just a place to camp but somewhere to enjoy a holiday.
Trinity Park, Ipswich is on the eastern part of the country.
The capital city, London, is only approximately 80 minutes from Ipswich by rail.
With a wide variety of places of interest to visit within the immediate area, and the excellent facilities on site, I can assure you of a very enjoyable time with us at Trinity Park, Ipswich. So the Organising Committee and I wish you a very warm welcome to the 75th FICC Rally.
Ray Canter
FICC President's Welcome
Welcome to the 75th International F.I.C.C. Rally in England. 2009 will be another great year for Campers, Caravanners and Motor Caravanners as the F.I.C.C. international rally will be back again in Europe and we will have the unique opportunity to visit Great Britain, and all this because The Camping and Caravanning Club is organizing the 75th F.I.C.C. Rally, at Trinity Park, Ipswich, England.
The F.I.C.C. was founded in 1933 at Hampton Court, England, and The Camping and Caravanning Club was one of the 7 founding organisations.
The town that welcomes us for the 75th F.I.C.C. Rally is Ipswich, one of England's oldest towns. In Anglo-Saxon times it was the main centre between York and London for North Sea trade to Scandinavia and the Rhine. It served the Kingdom of East Anglia, and began developing in the time of King Rędwald, supreme ruler of the English (616-624). Under the Roman empire, the area around Ipswich formed an important route inland to rural towns and settlements via the rivers Orwell and Gipping. A large Roman fort, part of the coast defences of Britain, stood at Felixstowe (13 miles, 21 km), and the largest villa in Suffolk stood at Castle Hill (north-west of Ipswich). King John granted the town its first charter in 1200, and in the next four centuries it made the most of its wealth, trading Suffolk cloth with the Continent. Nowadays Ipswich is a modern town with an historic and cultural heritage.
You might still have good memories from the last Rally in England, but every F.I.C.C. Rally is unique, and it is the participants who make this difference. The organisers have prepared a very rich programme with several activities for all campers of all ages that you will probably enjoy and remember for many years.
I would like to express our sincerest thanks to the sponsors who are supporting this F.I.C.C. Rally and to the organisers, The Camping and Caravanning Club, as well as to all those many volunteers who have organised for us (or who have helped in organising for us) this very enjoyable Rally.
On behalf of the F.I.C.C. I give you all a hearty welcome to this Rally and it is my personal belief that all camping, caravanning and motor-caravanning enthusiasts will go back home from this beautiful venue with great memories. I wish you all a friendly and safe stay in England!
Joćo Alves Pereira F.I.C.C. President
