3 minute read
Chairman’s Report
Chairman’s Report - May 2021
by David Tomlinson
Our May club night was also our AGM, and ran smoothly and quickly. We also had John Newson’s wonderful 1951 Armstrong-Siddeley in the room. As a result of the AGM we had a small changing of the guard, with retirements from committee of Bob Mackay and Kevin Scott, while welcoming 3 new committee members. Jenny Cole, Dennis Brown and Geoff Nitz are the new committee members, with Jenny and Dennis also taking over the role of midweek co-ordinators from Bob. Our annual accounts showed a very creditable result after a very difficult year. I thank Bob and Kevin for their service but know they will both continue to be involved in helping keep our events happening. Our May run was put on by Nathalie, Marcus and Les, the first run they had organised. It was a great day in fantastic weather, with an excellent turnout of cars. The run meandered around south of Rotorua with break in the middle, and ended up with lunch at the Waiotapu Tavern. I think as we move forward, aligning our Sunday club runs to be more like our midweek runs could improve participation. Although our last three club runs have had very good turnouts, there does seem to be a greater appetite for a “fun day out” rather than a competitive style rally. It was also signalled at the AGM that the Night Run evening meal was popular, but less so the driving around in the dark in busy traffic. This has been taken on board and perhaps next year the run will be before the meal and better suit older cars.
May also saw the first midweek outing organised by Jenny and Dennis. I have yet to receive feedback on the day out, but I
am sure it was well received. For June’s club night we will have Michael Thorne’s recently acquired Alfa Romeo GTV6 as the car in the room, and our June club run will conclude with our annual prize giving and a complimentary afternoon tea at the club rooms. I believe our June run will be non-competitive and feature a couple of interesting stops. July’s Swap Meet is looming ever closer, and will be as important as ever to bring a financial boon to the club. This is the one event each year all branch members need to be a part of, it subsidises our annual operating costs substantially and keeping our membership levy low. Then in August we will host our Sulphur City Rally. It would be good to see a big turnout of both branch members and other VCC members from around the country. The Vero International Festival of Historic Motoring to be held by the VCC in January is now open to enter. This is a 5 day event based in New Plymouth with four “motoring days” travelling around the wider Taranaki area, and an optional competitive day in the program also. There is a late entry penalty so members keen to take part do need to enter promptly. You can enter online, but if you require a printed entry form contact Dennis Whimp. Please note that you cannot pay your entry fee by cheque, and indeed by the end of June, cheques will more or less cease to be an available method of payment in New Zealand. Our next club run after the June run will be in September, if you would like to organise a run, or have ideas for a good Sunday run, let our Club Captain Terry Wadsworth know. Also, if you would like to display your pride and joy on a Wednesday club night contact Neville Harper to make arrangements. Let’s try and keep up the momentum for good turnouts at our regular club events.
