11 minute read
Secretary’s Scribblings
Well, what a month it has been. Weather wise we have had one of the worst storms in living memory. Where I live near Linkwater we had over 360mm of rain in 30 hours. I was away and a neighbour told me these figures but wasn’t totally sure as their rain gauge was overflowing at one stage. A huge amount of damage was done to roads, houses, and other infrastructure. I am sure you have all seen on TV and in the papers of the damage done to Queen Charlotte Drive and Kenepuru Roads. Some of these roads will not be open for months. Along with these roads, the Waihoapi, Awatere Valley and Northbank roads have had washouts and a bridge washed away. These are many of the roads we as Vintage Car Club members motor on in our Heritage vehicles, so our motoring options may be restricted for a while. From our Committee Meeting on Wednesday. Our Club Captain, Cath has some great events organised over the next while. The last one was a visit to JEM Aviation at Omaka which was well supported with 36 members there. Cath would like to thank Past CC, Jim for organising this event. See Cath’s report and look at the Events page in the Vintage Viewpoint to see what is on the horizon. One of the main events for the year, the Vintage Car Club of New Zealand’s National Day, Daffodil Day is on again on the 22nd of August. Last year this was cancelled because of the covid situation, but even so our Branch managed to give a sizeable donation to the local Cancer Society. Let’s make the event this year the best we have had, so it is up to you all as members to support this by bringing your cars, bikes, trucks, tractors or anything with wheels and a motor along to display on the day, all for the small fee of $5. Get your families and friends to come along and for a gold coin donation they will be able to see a great display of not only our vehicles, but other like-minded clubs’ vehicles as well. Our Chairman, Kelly has already put in a huge effort in approaching businesses around the province for donations, and many of the new car dealers will be displaying their range of vehicles. Dale and her helpers in the kitchen are once again putting on morning teas and lunches for the public, so would like donations of food for this event. She would like more helpers in the kitchen as well as her numbers are dwindling with the illness of a number of helpers. We have been donated a Cape Cod Chair by the Wood Workers Guild to raffle on the day. Tickets will be $2, so make sure you bring along your loose change on the day. There will also be the need of helpers on the day with gate duties, parking and other things happening, so please volunteer. There will be a list in the Redman room for you to put your name down, and if you cannot make the Wednesday morning Smoko, please let me know by email or phone call. 11
Our Grounds Committee have been looking at replacement trees around Patchetts Green and they are in the process of selecting the plants for this. Don and John have become drivers of the Red Cross Community bus. This service will be available for members who can no longer drive to come to a Wednesday Smoko once a month starting in September. There are four members who have already indicated they will use this service, and if any others wish to be included, please call Don Laing. It has been decided to place a donation box in the Redman Room for members to make a small donation when you get your Cuppa on Wednesday mornings. At this stage, the proceeds will go to the Marlborough Hospice, as a number of our members have had help from this great service over the past while, and to keep this running they need all the donations they can get, so thanks in anticipation for donating to this very worthy cause. Two weeks ago, at Smoko, Neil Webb from the Blenheim Testing Station spoke to us about the requirements for WOF’s, as some of us are finding it difficult in getting these with our Heritage vehicles. Neil said they are governed by legislation and the book with it all in is huge, so they cannot cut corners, as they are inspected by independent people to make sure they are doing their job properly and they can be banned from doing their job in found to be in breach of the regulations. If you have a problem with this, let me know so I can take it to our National Committee, but please don’t take it out on the inspectors as they are only doing their job. Rob Galloway and I will be representing you at the VCC AGM in Christchurch on 13th and 14th August. One of the topics which we have discussed at Smokos is the proposed change of Logo. There is a lot of discussion from around the country about this, and the outcome will be interesting to say the least. I will give another briefing on this at the next Wednesdays Smoko before the AGM. I know some of you who are not on email will not get this until then, but the majority of members are on email, so if anyone who hasn’t already contacted me wants to let your views known, come along or let me know. I have written a letter to all the other Branches outlining our thoughts, and one of the National VCC Management Committee rang me, in support, and suggested I send this to the National Secretary for inclusion in the discussion at the AGM, which has been accepted. (This letter is on the next page) In finishing, I would like to pass on to all members who are going through a difficult patch at the moment, whether it be heath problems or bereavement, the best wishes of the Committee and Branch members.
Chris Bird
Hi All Branches, The Marlborough Branch has had some robust discussion about the proposed change of the Club Logo with two general meetings with over 70 members present , and at our last Committee meeting. The general consensus from within our Branch, is that the change in Logo will not do what we think the National Executive/ Management seem to think it will do and that is encourage younger people to become members. The problem with trying to encourage younger people to join in our view is the name of our Club. The name VINTAGE is for a specific age of vehicle, as you know, from 1919 to 1931. There are very few of the newer members joining with VINTAGE or VETERAN cars or bikes now days. Most have cars and bikes in the P60/P80 era. In our own case, of the 30 members joined in the last 2 years, 60% have cars and bikes in the P60 era. The rest are spread evenly between Vintage, PV, and PW. We are not in favour of change for changes sake, but feel if we vote against the proposal we need to come up with an alternative. What we propose is a name change to HERITAGE MOTORING NZ. Internationally our types of vehicles are known as Heritage Vehicles. This name encompasses all ages and types of vehicles we cater for within our organisation, from the earliest Veterans, to the latest eligible vehicles up to 1990, including Cars, Motorcycles, Trucks, Busses, and even tractors for those members with these, in fact any vehicle which can drive on our roads. We are after all, “The Historic Vehicle Authority of New Zealand”. We feel that Heritage is a better name than Historic, as Heritage means something handed down through the generations, which many of our cars and bikes are. We are also in the process of developing a different Logo. This will have the design of a wheel, which some of our members said we need, but we are not there yet. This is being done by one of our members at no cost to our branch. A few weeks ago there was discussion on the VCC Facebook page about the proposed logo, with over 200 comments until someone closed off comments. On the whole, I think the idea of change of the logo did not go down well, and when I put up the proposed name change, there was a lot of agreement with this proposal. As far as the vote on this proposal, if this is a change to the constitution, surely every member should have a vote.
Not a good time of the year to be working on the shelving inside the 40 foot container (aka icebox!), but despite the winter temperatures Lawrence is making a great job plus he has undertaken to manufacture the rack system for our gasket inventory——a legend!
Gary, Roger L and Dexter are making great progress in identifying gasket sets in readiness for insertion into the racks. Also we have a large selection of four and six cylinder head gaskets which are unidentified so if you have a requirement bring in your sample, you never know your luck !. Within our inventory our shelves are full of many carburettors and mechanical fuel pumps, most makes are represented and let’s not forget hundreds of hubcaps to suit many models. Earl has taken on the task of marketing our stocks of useable tyres, see elsewhere for available sizes. Great to see Arfa is recovering and we look forward to see him back on deck in the electrical shed soon.
Tris Winstanley.
Update from Your Kitchen Custodian
Another month has passed us by and it's not getting any warmer, making it a bit harder for us oldies to get started in the mornings. Not a lot happening in the kitchen last month, the Wednesday morning teas are as popular as ever with between 65 and 80 coming in for a weekly natter. Last Sunday (1st) we had a card making afternoon for us ladies. We got very creative and went home with a one of a kind card individually made. Thank you to Vickie and Sharon for their patience. Daffodil Day Sunday 22nd August is coming around fast and again we are asking for donations of baking, also help in the kitchen on the day would be very much appreciated. You can ring me on 021 026 57 507 if you are able to help. I will be at the park on Saturday (21st) from 1.30 to 3.30pm if anyone wants to drop off baking. Noggin and Natter is Friday the 27th and it's a Pot Luck meal and a Quiz night. All welcome come along for a night of fun. Could you please bring a pad & pen?
Dale and all the helpers in the kitchen
Motorc ycle Repor t
For the third month in a row, it rained and some of our members went home damp. Three sheds were visited on our annual shed raid with members given the option of showing they were real bikers by riding or being sensible and doubling up in cars. Eleven dedicated riders chose to ride on club eligible motorcycles, four almost as dedicated rode moderns, including Roger on a brand-new Triumph Speed Master (lucky Roger) and seven more travelled on four wheels. The first stop was in a rural area which caused some concern as half of Marlborough was underwater. Some early pre-departure reconnaissance was carried out which revealed one road we would be using had 6 inches of water flowing across it but was deemed safe enough to ride through. At the first stop in a very well set up man cave a Harley Servi Car (three wheeled motorcycle) was being restored and Ford V8 Coupe with a lot of others mouth-watering items on display. Back to town for lunch at Fairweather’s then to Graham’s where several machines were in the process of being refurbished. Most interesting was a much-modified vintage Norton racer capable of exceeding 100mph in its former glory days. A lot of elbowing was required to get a close look. Last stop was at Ben’s where his collection of Honda and Kawasaki machinery was on display in his new shed. Some were in excellent condition and some shoed what can happen when a motorcycle is stored for many years outside on the South Island Westcoast. We admire your courage, Ben. The numbers were down on what we normally have for our annual shed tour and obviously some of the usual attendees would have been isolated by the weather bomb and road closures, we hope you are all okay. There were some notable efforts amongst those who did attend, Paul rode his Ace, Ben rode a Honda nifty fifty, Mindy and Steve rode from Ward. Thanks to those who hosted us and to Tracey who spoilt us with an excellent afternoon tea and Paula for her contribution.
Trev
Motorcycle Calendar
Sunday 15th August Leave the park at 11am for ride to the Wairau Valley Tavern.
