Far North Focus
March 2019
Another glorious summer day in the Far North - Mary and Ian about to send us out for more adventure.
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The Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
Far North Focus Who’s Who for 2018/19 Chairman 3823
Murray Cormack
m.g.cormack@xtra.co.nz
09 409
Vice Chairman
Winston Matthews
win@matthewsvintage.com
Secretary
Gloria Cormack
m.g.cormack@xtra.co.nz
09 409 3823
Treasurer
Robyn Mackay
wmackay@vodafone.co.nz
09 406 1955
Club Captain
Naomi Mason
vinomi88@gmail.com
09 408 1376
Editor
Peg Hills
comstockdowns@gmail.com
09 406 1077
Communications Officer
Ruth Reid
r.t.reid@xtra.co.nz
09 4060 392
Welfare Officer
Margaret Wallace
johnandmarga@actrix.gen.nz
09 407 8251
New Member Liaison
Murray Cormack
m.g.cormack@xtra.co.nz
09 409 3823
Beaded Wheels Scribe
Dave Duirs
dave.duirs@xtra.co.nz
09 406 1288
Area Rep North
Ruth Reid
r.t.reid@xtra.co.nz
09 406 0392
Area Rep South
Warwick Woollams
w.woollams@gmail.com
09 407 7494
Committee
Murray Cormack, Robyn Mackay, Winston Matthews, Graeme Moore,
09 406 0203
Paul Sullivan, Vince Mason, Mike Pooley, Margaret Wallace, Gloria Cormack Building Officer
Peter Mason
09 406 1409
A full list of elected officers was circulated with the minutes of the 2018 Annual General Meeting
Club meetings on the second Tuesday of the month at the Aurere Clubrooms at 7.30pm.
CLUB CLEANING ROSTER 2018-2019 During the month, and preferably before the main calendar event, please give the clubrooms a thorough check over, as in: Clean the toilets and hand basins, check kitchen, window ledges etc, and sweep the floors. Window cleaning, washing walls etc will be done at working bees.
Note any required maintenance and pass on to the Building Officer- Peter Mason, ph 406 1409. If your date doesn’t suit you, please swap with someone else. For any other enquiries please contact the Club Captain.
March
C & M Ilton
July
C Brownlie
January
D & P Hills
August
D & D Duirs
February
G Coulson
September
P & Z Mason
March
C & M Ilton
October
Everyone– working bee
April
W & R Mackay
November
G & S Mc Mullen
May
G Moore & M Cornwall
December
P O’Dell
June
R & R Pennell
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Calendar of Events 2018 / 2019 March 9th
Historic Adventure
Terry Rogers
April 13th
Brian Parker Rally
Hills & Pooley
April
Whangarei Swapmeet
Anyone
May 12th
Mothers Day Rally
Dave & Dorothy
May 14th
AGM
Everyone
June
Molloy Trophy Rally
Terry’s Historic Adventure Saturday 9th March Meet at the Museum in Kaeo’s Main Street 10.00am for a 10.30 start Bring your lunch Bring your walking shoes Lots for everyone to see, and a short walk for those who wish. Discover a little more of Northland’s rich history
Cars from the Rover Club are visiting Matthews Museum on Thursday 7th March from 11.30am.
You are welcome to come and look.
Club meetings are on the second Tuesday of each month, at 7.30pm, at the Aurere Clubrooms, unless otherwise advised.
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The Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
From the Chair……. A big welcome to new members Taddy Johnson and Jim Crene. Tad has been a regular at our previous Autospectacular rallies, winning awards on several occasions with his 56 Chev. Jim shifted to Whangamata some years ago and resigned his membership. He is still in Whangamata but wants to reinstate his membership and interest in the club. Jim was a legend on running the hot food cookers at our Autospecs. Tremendous to have both of you as members.
difficulty should arise. Hopefully this will act as a deterrent. At our last monthly meeting we voted to support the remit at the next Executive Meeting in March. Secondly, the consideration of a draft template of a Common Constitution for all branches. The present situation is each of the 36 branches have prepared their own constitutions over the 70-odd years of the NZVCC movement. These at times could have conflicted with one another and Head Office overall. We have an opportunity to review this draft until 20 April. We will call a working group of our committee and other interested members to complete this task.
Ian and Mary’s gymkhana and visit to Quail Ridge was a great day. They ran a similar gymkhana for the club at their property approximately ten years ago, and this one maintained their high standard, with a good turn-out of cars and people. Thanks for a wonderful time.
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Matters Mechanical: Following two solid administration matters it is hard to refocus for this section. We have several members taking their vehicles to the Terry and Sue’s rally in March looks really interesting, South Island shortly for ‘one make’ rallies. We wish with yet more variety and discovery. I am sure it will you the best on mechanical and weather issues, and be very worthwhile and not to be missed. know you are going to have a great time. Lower fuel prices and generally settled weather are real positives Two significant administration matters for all VCC for vintage motoring. branches: Let’s get these cars out and enjoy our friendship. Let Firstly, an addition to Club Bylaws of a Code of Conus all believe our navigators! duct remit. Our club made submissions on this when it was first proposed, and reported in the September Murray Focus. Its intention is to cover a gap that existed if a
The Brian Parker Memorial Rally Saturday 13th April A day on the Road, a Challenge And a Trophy to be won Meet at Mangamuka Bridge at 11.30am Bring your lunch and afternoon tea Entries close Friday 5th April Entry form in this newsletter
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Club Captain’s ReportHi everyone,
need good walking shoes for those who would like to have a walk to the historic First of all, apologies for not attending the February site. Bring your lunch too and come and enjoy a Rally, organised by Ian and Mary Macgregor. I good day out with our Club members. heard it went well and was a lovely sunny day. I am so glad. I had to attend a hospital appointment in On 18th and19th March there are a few of us going Greenlane Hospital at 1pm, so there was no way I on the Kaipara Harbour cruise which I am looking could be at the rally. This made me very sad as I forward to, and I hope that all those who want to go was really looking forward to this event. The ap- have already booked their fare. Another good time pointment was sprung on me suddenly and I could to be had. not avoid it. Coming up in April is our Brian Parker Rally. This is The little rain we had last week was very welcome organised by Dave and Peg Hills along with Lynn and made things a little cooler too. More would be and Mike Pooley. Get your entry forms in as soon very nice but I guess we’ll have that soon enough. as you can and come along and have fun. Very thankful for what we got. Our year already is moving fast and we have a lot On the 7th March the Rover Club will be visiting of interesting fun events to join in with. Don’t forget Winston’s museum at 11.30am so anyone who the pot luck teas we have. First Friday of the month would like to see them would be very welcome. at the Clubrooms and the last Friday of the month, There are some of us members organised to do a members in Kerikeri get together. We always have lunch for the Rover Club but you are welcome to a lovely meal and good chat. Join in and enjoy. come and see the cars and meet the folk in the Looking forward to catching up with you all. Rover Club. Regards March 11th we have a rally organised by Terry Naomi Rogers. We meet at the museum in Kaeo at 10.00am, ready to go on our adventure. You will
This one is for all the people who sling off at our car:
A Blonde, a Car, and a Mattress True story! A blonde ran over an innerspring mattress on the highway, decided not to worry, and kept on driving. It caught on the undercarriage of her Ford. The ensuing jumble finally whipped around enough to tear a hole in her fuel tank. The subsequent lack of fuel was what finally brought her vehicle to its knees.
Stuart manned
She had managed to drive 30 miles, with a 60lb tangle of stuff wrapped around her drive shaft. She had it towed to her Ford dealership, and complained that it had ‘ sort of a noise’ when she was driving at high speeds. Alongside are photos of what they found at her Ford dealership…….. ‘Sort of a noise’- I’ll bet it did! They still can’t believe their eyes, and are still wondering how to remove it. What a car!
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Welfare Report, from Margaret Wallace Not a lot to report this month. I had a nice conversation with Desiree Kemp, who remains cheerful and upbeat during her treatment. She has good days and bad days, and things are going as well as can be expected. It was lovely to catch up with her, and to keep her in our thoughts.
lose a parent to whom you were close.
I am going away from the 7th to the 24th of March, so please contact Murray if there are any people needing the Club to be there for them. At the beginning or the end of the month, you can still reach me on 09 407 8251 or 027 298 7322, or I also caught up with Lorraine Goulton, who has just had email johnandmarga@actrix.gen.nz her first birthday without her Mum, which she found quite tough. It certainly leaves a big hole in your life when you Margaret
Grandma’s Laundry I remember Grandma’s laundry With a basket made of cane And lines that stretched from wall to wall
A saucer on the window sill With bags of Reckitts Blue To make the white clothes whiter still And good for bee stings too
To hang things when it rained Some sand soap and a scrub brush There used to be a copper Out where Grandma used to toil And a stick to lift the clothes out
For scrubbing all the floors And some firewood for the copper In a box behind the door.
When the water reached the boil. A tin roof and some guttering There were twin tubs made of concrete With a wringer in between A wringer in a laundry
With a funny sort of sag A heap of wooden dolly pegs In a hand made hessian bag.
Is hardly ever seen. And out the back the clothesline Upon a shelf a little box
Of starch called Silver Star Kero tins for buckets
Not the kind that spins around But a clothes prop held the clothes up high From dragging on the ground
Remember back that far? The dryer in the corner A dipper with a handle To help our Grandma cope And a little wire basket
The tubs of stainless steel Hot water pouring from the taps I wonder how she’d feel.
With a cake of Sunlight soap. I think that Grandma would approve She used to have a washboard For scrubbing out the clothes You must be getting on in years
The changes made, and yet There were things in Grandma’s laundry That I simply can’t forget.
If you remember those
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Ian and Mary’s Gymkhana A good number of people gathered at Bindon’s car park Waipapa, with 14 vehicles, 12 vintage, including a visiting Fargo utility truck. After the usual catch-up we were summoned by Mary’s whistle to be given our instructions, which led us to the rather impressive Quail Ridge Country Club retirement village. We, and hopefully the residents, enjoyed our drive through the beautifully landscaped grounds to the very nice morning tea provided by the owner, who gave us a brief run down of the future plans for the facility. It was interesting to have the additional presence of members of the Bay of Islands Classic Car Club, with their resplendent assortment of cars. After a leisurely natter, we proceeded to Ian and Mary’s home in Landing Road, where we established seats in the shade and prepared to eat lunch. Despite the dry hot weather, Mary’s garden looked lovely, and we were all very comfortable and relaxed when the call came (via that whistle again!) to stir ourselves to attempt to achieve some degree of success at six gymkhana stations set up on the large lawn. They were varied, a challenge, a lesson in humility, and lots of fun!
Work in progress and missions accomplished at Quail Ridge
Not only these, but two separate puzzles indoors for the ladies and gentlemen, the former being asked to identify spices, and the latter having to identify tools and parts hidden in cloth bags. The people with the job of marking these found some light relief in the sometimes hilarious guesses!
Congratulations to the overall winners Neville and Roy. They were followed by the Mackays (2nd) and the Cormacks (3rd) It was a most enjoyable day, and eventually everyone began to pack up, so that Ian and Mary could enjoy a well-earned rest. Thank you Macgregors, for a great effort.
The start,
Murray and Gloria
THE CATERING COMMITTEE
Mike & Lynn Pooley Dorothy & Dave Duirs
CLUB SHIRTS AVAILABLE:
Winston Matthews Colleen Brownlie
Margaret Cornwall
Raewyn Pennell
Dave & Peg Hills
Margaret Ilton
We’re not sure why these folk were heading for the bushes during the gymkhana. Did it all get too much?
Contact Ruth- see her at a meeting, call her on 09 406 0392, email her at r.t.reid@xtra.co.nz There will be samples at the Clubrooms to try on for size.
The finish,
And the winners. 7
FAR NORTH VINTAGE CAR CLUB
BRIAN PARKER MEMORIAL RALLY SATURDAY 13TH APRIL 2019 ENTRIES CLOSE FRIDAY 5TH APRIL 2019 Format: The rally will start at Mangamuka Bridge at 11.30am and finish at Oturu School, followed by a social get-together at the VCC Clubrooms before dinner at 6.00pm. Bring your picnic lunch and afternoon tea. There will be gravelled sections Conditions of entry: 1.
Vehicles must be entered by a financial member of the VCC Club of New Zealand.
2.
Traffic regulations must be strictly observed. Driving licences and membership cards must be carried.
3.
All vehicles must meet the required standards of the Club (clean, tidy and presentable).
4.
The use of computerised navigational equipment is not permitted in or on vehicles entered in VCC of NZ events. Mobile phones permitted in emergency only.
5.
Winner to be VCC eligible vehicle.
We look forward to Members from other branches participating in this rally. In the event of the rally winner being from another branch a miniature trophy will be presented so that the major trophy remains with the Far North branch. ENJOY YOUR DAY!
……………………………………………………………………………………………… ENTRY FORM Name of entrant………………………………………………………………………. Address………………………………………………………………………………….. Phone Numbers…………………………………………………………………………. Name of Driver…………………………………………………………………………. Name of Navigator…………………………………………………………………….. Passenger(s) names…………………………………………………………………… Make, model and year of car……………………………………………………….. VCC Membership Number…………………………………………………………… Entry form and payment to The Treasurer, Robyn Mackay, 108 Taipa View Rd, RD3 Kaitaia 0483. Cheques payable to Far North VCC or by online Kiwibank Account NO:38 9001 0577961 00 Ref:BPKR, your surname in ‘Particulars’. Organisers: Mike & Lynn Pooley, & Dave & Peg Hills. Ph 09 406 0170 , or 09 406 1077
Entry per vehicle: $10.00………………………………………….$
Plaque (optional) $5.00…………………………………………….$ Evening meal: Number of adults Number of children
@$17.50………………………………..$ @$8.00………………………………….$
Total……………………………………………………………………...$
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