Far North Focus
June 2018
Were you there?
The line-up at the start of the Molloy Rally in 2010
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The Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
Far North Focus Who’s Who for 2018/19 Chairman
Murray Cormack
m.g.cormack@xtra.co.nz
09 409 3823
Vice Chairman
Winston Matthews
win@matthewsvintage.com
09 406 0203
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, 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.
June
Vince and Naomi Mason
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 24th June
Molloy Trophy Rally
21st July
Annual Luncheon & Prizegiving
Warwick
Club meetings are on the second Tuesday of each month, at 7.30pm, at the Aurere Clubrooms, unless otherwise advised.
Join us for the
MOLLOY TROPHY RALLY SUNDAY 24TH JUNE Starting 1.00pm from Kaeo Primary School grounds (just south of the town) The rally will be approximately 2½hours on sealed and gravel roads There will be afternoon tea at the finish-
please email numbers for this to w.woollams@gmail.com
Next month:
The Annual Luncheon and Prize Giving Saturday 21st July At the Mangonui Cruising Club Rooms, Mill Bay, Mangonui Full details next Focus
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The Vintage Car Club of New Zealand From the Chair……. Greetings, The good news for you is the club AGM is over for another year. The bad news is you now have me as Chairman and my wife Gloria as Secretary. We will do our best. Firstly a big thankyou to Warwick and Peter from all branch members for their terms as Chairman and Secretary. A tremendous effort. Big changes for major club events: As you have seen from the minutes of the club meeting we are to discontinue the annual Autospectacular held in January each year. We have run this event for 16 years, but now the need for fundraising, and more importantly, the organisational enthusiasm has changed. It had become a major community event, however we must face facts on our current and future position. We have catered for the Far North Tour as organised by Northland Branch for over 40 years, but there have been murmurings in recent years that it would be great to participate in this rally rather than cater for it. It was agreed at the club meeting that the Chairman should talk to Northland Branch and advise we wish to discontinue catering for their dinner. Both these decisions seem to reflect a desire by members to use their time in club activities, to rally more, with less fundraising and
catering. With these changes in mind I have called a budget meeting with our Treasurer, Auditor, Vice Chairman and myself, to plan our finances for the coming year. This will be fully discussed at our next club meeting. The Mother’s Day run was an absolute cracker. Winston, Don and Christine organised a wonderful day. We had about 40 for lunch including 6 guests of members - it was great to meet these people. The Molloy Trophy run is on Sunday 24th June, organised by the Woollams. Please support this rally if possible and feel free to bring friends. We will have to prepare a program of events for the year through our Club Captain in the immediate future. I would love to hear of any current restorations of vehicles by members to report in ‘Focus’, as this is also an important part of our club activities. Next month I will hit you with numbers…our membership…national membership and recorded vehicles. Also a little about Club membership benefits. Thanks, Murray
Chairman’s Annual Report 2017/18
officers and committee who have made a great contribution to the running of the Club. Secretary, Peter Slawson, took up his position 2 years ago and is retiring as of this meeting. He has worked his way through the demands of this position very well and been a great support to me. Robyn Mackay, I have to say, as a Treasurer just “does it” - totally competent. Club Captain, Naomi Mason, has come in last year and is fitting into the job keeping events and activities going. Vice Chairman, Murray Cormack, has filled in for me when I've been unable to attend the Branch meeting. He has taken up the lead with Health and Safety Requirements and continued to assist new members. He is always the source of wise council. Peg Hills has kept communications going with her excellent production of the Focus. It is not possible to mention everyone who are committee or otherwise and support the smooth running of the club in so many ways. To all of you please know that your efforts are truly appreciated. Looking over the last couple of years some of the events/activities that come to mind include Autospectaculars, Weekend to Dargaville, Marae Visit, Harbour Cruise, visits from other touring clubs, Brunch at Horeke, Mothers Day rallies, awarding Winston Matthews Life Membership, my 50 Years award, Rally rules books, New membership kits, ventures to the Hokianga, Brian Parker and Molloy trophy rallies, new VCC National Day and Daffodil rally, Health and Safety implementation, attending VCC executive meetings and AGM's, out of town rallies and meeting members from other branches. I feel this reflects the fabric of our hobby and membership of the NZVCC This just leaves me to warmly welcome those who are stepping up, along with existing committee members to lead our Club for the year ahead. I am sure the Club will prosper under your guidance. I move adoption of my report. Warwick
This is my final Chairman's report for my term as Chairman of the Far North Branch of the VCC. - something I am not unhappy about as writing such reports is not one of my favourite occupations. Firstly I would like to recall the loss of members of our club – John Osborne, and Keith Webster, who have passed away during the last 12 months. It is a sad reality nationally of our ageing membership. Also we acknowledge those who are currently not in the best of health and hope that the coming months are better for you. However this is a reminder for us all to get out there, join in the activities and fellowship that our Club provides. Currently the club is in good shape with a steady membership, although down a little in participation, our Club Rooms provide all the necessities and home comforts for Club Activities, we manage to put on a regular variety of events/activities each month and our financial situation is very strong. In regard to lower participation in events the situation is not ours alone. It seems our trophy rallies which should bring out a major portion of our Club are the ones suffering most. Maybe a survey of members could give some insight into this. The strength of the Club's finances has brought comments from a number of members as to the need to continue with fundraising activities Our hospitality endeavours over the years have provided a steady income and the advent of the very successful Autospectacular has provided a considerable boost to the Club's coffers. All of this has kept our Branch levies at a low level over the years and allowed subsidies to many events and activities. The question now is to cut back on fundraising activities or perhaps make more funds available to support our events. These are just a couple of blunt alternatives but we do require a financial survey looking into the future before making any decisions. As advised elsewhere there is to be a discussion as to the future running of the Auto spec after this AGM. At this point I would like to acknowledge the role and support of the
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Club Captain Reporting….. Annual Report I would like to thank everyone for their support over this last year, and how fast it has gone. It has been a busy time with family as well as with our Club events. Thank you to all our members who have organised rallies and look-ins each month. It is a lot of work setting them, checking them over and over, so time as well. But it is so satisfying when the day comes and you see members supporting you in the rally and enjoying the day. What a relief when it’s over and things have gone well. July 2017 was a very special day being our Annual Dinner and a very special 50 Year badge presented to Warwick Woollams by our National Club President Dianne Quarrie. Well done Warwick! It seems like you should be a whole lot older than what you are though! Another special award was given that day to Winston Matthews. This was a Life Membership for everything Winston has done for our Club for years. Very well deserved. Congratulations to you both. In fact Winston received many of the trophies that day. November was the Dunny Run, which Vince and I started out to attend in our Overland. We got over the Mangamuka Gorge really well and through the town but sadly she died on us and we had to tow her all the way back to Kaitaia. Unfortunately we didn’t get to the rally but heard it was a great day, going over back roads of Kaikohe and ending in Kaikohe. Roads that we hadn’t travelled for a long time.
February was a great event with a boat trip around Whangaroa harbour being organised by Murray and Gloria Cormack with help from John and Lorraine. There was much thought and time put into this event with a wonderful informative history sheet about the areas and places we could visit while waiting for our turn on the boat. Zena Mason and Cecelia O’Dell were enlisted to write very interesting historical information of all the area around. Many thanks to you all. It was a fantastic day out. Our Brian parker Rally, organised by Peter and Cecelia O’Dell, was a wonderful day out too with friends and what a wonderful sunny day we had in spite of the forecast of terrible weather. We travelled through lovely bush, on narrow windy back roads, visiting Rod and Marguerite with their lovely peaceful paradise where they are able to do pottery for sale to the public. It was great. Then we headed back to Taupo Bay for afternoon tea and were greeted with a big pot of hot vegetable soup, supplied by Peter. Wow! Very welcome too as the weather had turned a bit cold. From here we went back to the clubrooms for our dinner which Robyn and Winston had organised. Very nice too. Thanks.. Mothers Day is next up and sounds as though it is going to be a very interesting and yummy event. Happy Mothers Day to all the Mums.
We now look forward to many more events that are organised for the rest of this year and I would like to encourage all members to come along and support the The Autospec was another success with lovely weather people setting these events. A great time to bring out and a good turnout of members despite many being your cars and have fun with other members. away on other events. There is discussion about having the Autospec every other year, and sharing with a differ- I would like again to say many thanks to all our rally organisers. You are very much appreciated. ent club. We will see what happens. Our summer picnic organised by Claude and Margaret Please feel free to volunteer to set some events in the Ilton was a good day out for those who attended. The future and we will be happy to help in any way we can. weather wasn’t the best but a good walk around the lake and a picnic lunch were enjoyed before the rain set in Wishing everyone a great year, too hard. Many thanks for organising this, even having entertainment for the kids. Sorry we couldn’t be there as Naomi we were down with family.
CLUB SHIRTS AVAILABLE: THE CATERING COMMITTEE Mike & Lynn Pooley
Winston Matthews
Dorothy & Dave Duirs
Colleen Brownlie
Margaret Cornwall
Raewyn Pennell
Dave & Peg Hills
Margaret Ilton
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. Cost is $30-$35 dollars, depending on size.
The Far North Branch of the VCC does have a policy that pets are not brought to any Club events. We do ask that this policy is respected.
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MOTHERS DAY RALLY SUNDAY MAY13TH The weather forecast for Mother’s Day did not boat, had been given a new paint job and look good but on the day, although it was over- turned from pink to orange. Tricky for the rally cast we only got a few showers. organisers. Then it was time for some straight line navigation through the subdivisions which Our day started with a short drive to the farm to got a bit confusing for some. Not something I pick up the A90 which I had been assured am confident with but our navigator and driver would start and it did. So we were off!!! Down breezed through it and we soon found ourthe drive, on to State Highway 10 heading to selves at our destination, Carringtons. the Clubrooms. Sadly we only got about 100 metres and the engine stopped. There was no To finish, the ladies got to practice their putting. shortage of willing helpers, who stopped to of- Aim past the hole my caddie said, so I did but fer advice and assistance but we had no luck apparently the ball was not supposed to go getting the engine going again. Bob and Deb past the hole???? Never mind, I fluked the next Francis towed us home and our neighbours shot so it was in the hole for two. Paul and Erica, who we had invited to join the rally, offered to take us in their Jaguar. What a Time for a well earned drink while we waited good idea. So once again we headed for the for the few who had taken the longer route clubrooms and a late morning tea where there through Kaitaia and then lunch. was a good crowd of members and visitors en- I have to say we were surprised to discover joying a catch up. that our team had won but as we were in a After morning tea we set off with our instruc- modern car first place for the Club went to tions. Although we were given the option of Dave and Peg Hills. avoiding the gravel roads and heading straight to our destination all participants chose to take part in the rally. We headed out past the museum and down Parapara Road, on to Taumata road for a scenic drive looking for clues and silent checks. The roads were a bit muddy and slippery in places but our pretend 4 wheel drive handled it well. Those of us who were paying attention turned into Pekerau Road back to State Highway 10, down the flood bypass and on to Inland Road. We turned in to Simon Urlich Road where apparently one of our clues, a
The turkey award went to Dave and Dorothy for taking a wrong turn and ending up in Kaitaia soon get through a bag of spuds. however,Many theyhands were not the only ones. The tail end Charlie award went to one of the organisers, Winston for running out of petrol!! All in all a very social and enjoyable day. Thank you to Winston, Don and Christine for their efforts. Robyn
Welfare Report, from Margaret Wallace It was great to see Murray Baird out and about for the Mothers’ Day Run. It is a while since we have seen him and June at one of our events, and I know everyone was pleased to catch up with them. Well done, Murray! I know it is an effort for you, but certainly worthwhile. I was sorry to learn that Rolf Kung was recovering from major heart surgery. I had a chat to him on the phone, and it is a slow process, but his new medication is helping with the pain, and he is feeling better than he was. A get well card has been sent on behalf of the Club. It was also a shock to hear that John Crisp has been hospitalised with a stroke. He has not been too good, but is now doing better than the doctors had anticipated, so we are all keeping our fingers crossed for a worthwhile recovery. John will be in Whangarei Hospital for a while yet, but I have sent a card on behalf of the Club to his home. Some flowers have been sent to the hospital. Please all stay well through the winter months – make sure you have had your flu shots! If you need to get hold of me to let me know of any welfare issues, please call me on 09 407 8251 or 027 298 7322, or email johnandmarga@actrix.gen.nz
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1974 CHEV MONTE CARLO LEFT HAND DRIVE, V8, 2 DOOR 16,500 MILES, LOVELY VEHICLE $16,000 O.N.O. Phone 022 326 9074
26th National Motorcycle Rally Blenheim 15th-17th February 2019 Contacts: Postal– P O Box 422, Blenheim Email– vccrally2019@gmail.com
NELSON BRANCH VCCNZ
Seeking any keen Power Cyclists
NATIONAL VETERAN RALLY Nov.2018 100YEARS OF VETERANS 1918 Armistice Day Centenary Let’s make this the grandest Veteran turnout ever, there’s plenty to celebrate over the last 100 years. Veteran owners; Have you received email newsletter No 1? It has the preliminary details for the pre & post rally tours and rally weekend. If not, send your email address and VCC Branch to: jimnkyra@xtra.co.nz We want you on our list!
RALLY WEEKEND 16TH-18TH November The “Prince Henry Tour” will precede the rally, assembling in Ashburton 12th, arriving Nelson 15th. A Get-to-know –you dinner at Nelson VCC on 16th. “Rally Weekend” with rallies on both days 17th-18th. A lay-day with local sightseeing suggestions on 19th. A “Post Rally Tour” (20th-22nd) to Golden Bay will be arranged if there is interest. Contacts: Rally & Post Tour: Jim & Kyra Wareing jimnkyra@xtra.co.nz
Phone 03 544 9998
Paul Furkert, a Wairarapa VCC member, has recently recommissioned a power cycle (Paul’s is a 1936 BSA bicycle driven by a 1951 Trojan Mini Motor (via a friction drive onto the rear wheel)). This machine has a top speed of around 20mph, so isn’t really suitable for going on standard VCC rallies. Paul is looking to get in touch with other owners of power cycles who might be interested in a Power Cycle rally. The idea is to all meet up at a county pub / campground somewhere in the North Island one weekend next summer, and do some short (and slow) explorations of the local area on our machines. Owners of other slow bikes (e.g. mopeds or veteran/vintage motorbikes with top speeds of less than 30mph) would also be most welcome. If you have a suitable machine, and would be interested in such a weekend away, please get in touch with Paul (email paul.furkert@xtra.co.nz or phone (06) 3795355 or text 02040273746). If there is sufficient interest from cycle / bike owners, the finer details of the rally will be worked out in consultation with all potential participants.
Prince Henry Tour: Ray & Glenys Miller glenray @xtra.co.nz Phone 03 314 4322
G T MULLER State Highway 10, Coopers Beach
WOF CENTRE
VEHICLE IMPORTS
PHONE 09 406 0406
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