Friday afternoon saw the closing ceremony held in the showground pavilion. Kevin Phillips thanked everyone for their attendance, the fantastic time everyone had, the friendships formed or renewed & the positive feedback from members. He went on to also thank the Walcha community for the hospitality shown during the week.

Walcha Showground Trust Secretary Alan Green was on hand to receive the camping fees & thanked everyone for making Walcha the venue of the groups 16th national meet. Rob thanked Alan for the fast action in fixing a couple of problems that appeared over the week. Rob presented a certificate of appreciation to the showground trust along with a certificate to Brian Smith Timber Transport  for supplying two tonnes of firewood which Alan manages. 

Kevin presented $5,030 to Carolyn Salter from the Walcha Community Support Group which was the sum of the auction night, trivia night gold coin entry & donations from members. Carolyn was speechless at such generosity & thanked the group for the support. 

Walcha Central Public School principle Amanda Cooper was present to receive $611 the proceeds of the raffle plus personal donations from members. Sisters Phoebe & Lexie bought nail polish & set up a table at their camper trailer to paint ladies nails. Amanda drew the four winning tickets. First out was Sean McCombe, followed by Barry Cottrill, Kevin Beattie & Barry Pierce.  

Rob Sanderson then thanked those who had presented workshops or activities during the week & gave each a certificate of appreciation. 

Rob presented a certificate to appreciation to the Walcha Country Women's Association president Vicki McIvor for the support & the Walcha inside contact when putting the weeks itinerary together. She also accepted a certificate on behalf of the Walcha Lions Club who were busy hosting an event for kids. 

As an after note - from the 'Return and Earn' ten cent bottle, can & carton collection bins, Vicki tells us the Walcha CWA received $80 which will be put to good use within the community.

We had organised with Vicki if she could find someone in need that the remaining firewood could be donated. Unfortunately when she went to pick the wood up the next morning she found someone was more in need as it was already gone.  

Rob presented a certificate of appreciation to the Walcha Visitor Information Centre's Acting Tourism Manager Lisa Kurton for the help Susie Crawford & Lisa had given to the national meet planning & also for the tourist info packs each member received when arriving. 

Rob won the Walcha Wallys award. Rob was looking for his phone & had Carol ring it three times. Hearing it each time he looked high & low. It was not until he discovered a hole in his vest pocket, he found the phone had slipped through & was located in the lining at the rear of the vest.

Spirit of the Group Award is awarded to a person who is brought to the attention of the CamperTrailers Group co-owners for a good hearted deed or generosity helping others during the week long meet. This year the award was presented to Kathleen Beckwith who was always there to help others. Jason Cox presented her with the perpetual Spirit of the Group Award.

Rob told the story of how members Lindsay & Sandra had taken home a large firewood log from the 2012 Wellington national meet & then took it along to the members Flinders South Australian week long meet hosted by Mike Fretwell in May 2013.  After the log was burnt, affectionately known as 'Big Bertha', it was decided the ashes should be taken to the Batlow national meet where it would be presented to the Groups co-owners at the opening ceremony. In the meantime Phil Reid had turned an 'ashes' replica urn on his lathe to hold the remains. Since then ashes from all national meets have been added. Rob then added the ashes of the Walcha campfires to the urn.

Rob thanked those who helped to keep the four amenities clean during the week. Also in helping set up the showground on the Thursday in the rain ready for Fridays gates open.

Kevin then announced to those present that Eugowra in Central New South Wales would be the venue of the Australian CamperTrailers Group's 17th national meet from Monday 25th to Friday 29th September 2023.

Kevin explained that on this day twenty-one years ago the Australian CamperTrailers Yahoo Group was created.  A cake made & decorated was donated by member Karen Gilmore to celebrate the groups 21st birthday was then cut by  Rob, Kevin & Jason. Karen divided the cake into enough pieces for those attending the closing. 

With that Kevin declared the 16th national meet closed & hoped to see everyone again next year at Eugowra NSW.