Chairman’s Report
- January 2022 by David Tomlinson
I start by recording the passing away of John Kirkland in January. John had been our Club Captain only 5 years or so ago. I wish to pass on the condolences of all branch members to John’s family and friends. The last few months have been troubling times with the government rules on gatherings, which has had a major impact on our activities, not just at branch level, but nation-wide. When they brought in the new “Protection Framework” we had to postpone our Lakefront Car Show on its 10th Anniversary, as even at the green setting you cannot have more than 100 people present at an event without using vaccine passes. As a result, most uncontrolled car events have been postponed or cancelled since, including the huge Brit-Euro show in Auckland, Brits At The Beach, and now that we are all at the red level the Ellerslie Concours is cancelled for 2022. In some cases this is the first time these events have ever been cancelled. At branch level, when the new rules were introduced, because our area was deemed poorly vaccinated and we started in the red level, we had to introduce mandatory use of vaccine passes at club night and other branch activities. Under the red settings, the maximum number of people allowed at a gathering is 25. When we were put at the orange level in late December the committee chose to remove all restrictions on branch events, including club nights, but unfortunately we were plunged back to the red level before any activities took place. So unfortunately we are back to requiring vaccine passes at all branch activities until further notice (with the exception of the February midweek run, which will have an attendance limit in place). Mask wearing is your own personal choice at our activities, but we must wear them if directed to at any places we visit. As we have asked since the beginning of this tiresome pandemic, please do not attend any branch activity if you are feeling unwell, even if you are fully vaccinated. On a brighter note, the Vero Festival managed to proceed in the Taranaki in January, they had around 550 vehicles involved. The only branch car I spotted in the regular photo updates was the Philps’ Falcon. I do know at least a couple of small groups of branch members did visit various parts of the event. It looks like the event enjoyed good weather. 2
Side Curtains February 2022
