Elddis of the Year 2005 Winners Annouced!
The names of the latest winners of a competition to find the nation's greatest caravan and motor home enthusiasts have been announced.
Now in it's forth year, The Caravan Club Elddis of the Year, hosted by the Caravan Club and sponsored by Elddis, is the only touring caravan and motorhome industry award that recognises the special achievements of touring trailblazers.
The 2005 competition saw a rise in entries for the awards from last year and over 100 guests along with the award winners attended a gala event at Birmingham's Hilton Metropole Hotel..
Entries received were both heart-warming and inspirational and as a result, the organisers decided to extend the awards to include four categories covering the plethora of entries received. 
Proud winners of the prestigious Caravan Club Elddis of the Year Award for 2005, as well as the World-Wide category winners, were the husband and wife team Kenneth and Paula Kidd.
After a series of ill health, Kenneth, then 54, decided to give up his career and live out his dream. "I took early retirement, which enabled my wife and I to spend some time together thinking about what we wanted to do.
It was not long until the great outdoors beckoned for Kenneth and Paula. As he recalls: "We got itchy feet and realised our ultimate dream was to explore further a field and not be restricted as to where and when we could go.”
Kenneth, now 66, and his wife decided to tour North America and sold their home in order to fund the project. Following 18 months of research into the best way to travel, they opted to buy a US built Coachman motorhome, which was ideal to live in and tour America and Britain with.
Their 30,000mile adventure took them to places including Alaska, California, the Panama Canal, Colorado and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. They even towed a Jeep with their motor home and covered a further 11,500 miles off-road and were determined to try their hand at anything, including white water rafting.
Kenneth recalls the greatest of all their adventures: "Alaska was one of the most amazing places I have ever been to. It is so vast, wild and unbelievably beautiful.”
On winning the award he said: "This is very exciting and I thank Elddis for choosing us. It is apt seeing as it was an Elddis Mistral tourer that restarted our love affair with caravanning and we even started off for our trip from my son's Elddis Crusader!
"It has been a lifelong dream of ours to go on this big adventure and we wish we had done it much sooner as we have had the time of our lives.”
In addition to this, the esteemed 'Special Achievement' award was presented to Mrs Constance Hall, from East Oakley, Hampshire
At the grand age of 82, Constance still enjoys adventures in her caravan. In fact ever since she purchased her first over 40 years ago, following a trip to a caravan exhibition, she fell in love with the pastime.
On winning the award Mrs Hall said: "My husband and I travelled extensively in Europe including the Mediterranean, Montpellier and the Dordogne. Throughout our travels we encountered every description of weather, but still enjoyed the adventures.
"Following his death early last year, I continued to travel, even if it is sometimes alone as I love it so much. Winning this award came as a complete shock to me, albeit a lovely one. Thanks must go to Elddis and The Caravan Club for rewarding me for what I believe is a wonderful hobby.”
Jack and Anne Hartley from Lancashire, are the winners of the 'European Elddis of the Year Award' category. As keen travellers, Jack and Anne decided to embark on an epic adventure to Norway with their caravan. After sailing from Newcastle to Bergen in Norway on the Fjord Line on route to the Arctic Circle and eventually onto the Nordkapp. 
Along the journey, spanning 5,386miles, they used 21 ferries, crossed hundreds of bridges, causeways, mountain passes and tunnels. They observed reindeer, arctic foxes and eagles, among other animals. Both Jack and Anne have fond memories of their Nordic adventure and said winning the award was a wonderful surprise. 
This journey is all the more astounding as Jack, now 67 has had heart bypass surgery and Anne, 64 had a heart attack in 2003 when the trip was previously planned and postponed. They have been members of The Caravan Club for 39 years. In 2005 they spent 127 nights on caravan sites.
Brian Leahy, 69, from Abingdon in Oxfordshire, fulfilled a long held ambition last year to drive around Britain's mainland coast for the 2nd time in order to research and complete his book 'Sea View, Camping and Caravan Sites in Britain' of which they found close to 400. 
Travelling approximately 5,000miles (over 12,000 including the first trip), with his wife Joan, or as Brian describes her, "His companion, navigator, scribe and cook etc, in their 1995 Hymer 544 m
Published: 22/03/2006
