AGM Report

The committee and a number of members turned up on a sunny day to discuss the past year and consider actions for the future.

After the passing of the previous meetings minutes, John thanked those members attending and spoke about the good runs we'd had this year, the donations we've gratefully received from past members and that overall it had been a good year for the club.

Karen summarised the financial position of the club, and led the meeting through the report prepared by the club's auditor.

The current executive and committee then retired and elections were held. The executive were re-elected unchanged with John as President, Martin as Vice President, Thelma as Secretary and Karen as Treasurer.

There was some discussion concerning the non-appointment of positions (ie. Editor, Building Manager, Spares) at the meeting, this was explained to now be in line with the constitution (updated at the previous AGM) which allows the committee as a whole to allocate these positions as it sees fit. This allows members of the committee to 'play to their strengths' and allows a degree of flexibility that was in the past not available.

Bob then spoke on the remits presented in the agenda regarding fostering closer relations with the South Island club, expanding club membership and participation, and the upcoming Warrant of Fitness changes. These remits were all agreed with, and the incoming committee was charged with progressing these further.

In general business, a remit was tabled that the newsletter needs more articles and information, but that it was not necessarily the job of the Editor to generate every piece of information. All members present agreed. There was then some discussion around newsletter creation (email vs. paper), with Ant briefly detailing the benefits and shortcomings of each. The committee was generally tasked with actioning this in the future.

The meeting was then closed, and the members present took the opportunity to chat with each other whilst enjoying the coffee, tea, and food provided.

During the first committee meeting held on Sunday 2 September, the positions of Building Manager, Editor and Parts Manager were assigned to Bob, Ant, and Stephen respectively.

John & Jan's Rally

Despite being an overcast and dreary looking day, we had quite a turnout at the Papakura RSA for the start of John & Jan's Rally with eight club cars, two  moderns, and a ring-in.

After a quick "Hi, how's it going", Jan began handing out our instructions and with it starting to rain we headed off. We quickly navigated south out of Papakura, through Ararimu and Paparata into Mangatawhiri on old State Highway 2. It's so quiet along there now that the highway has bypassed this section.

We navigated out toward the Miranda coast, then back inland to cross State Highways 25 and 2 in a roundabout route to our destination: Woodlands Cafe, where we met Andrew who had travelled in from Morrinsville.

Woodlands Cafe sits on State Highway 2 just after the turn towards Ngatea and is one of Karen's favourites, with quite a range of tasty food and good coffee. We all ordered our food and coffee (Martin ordering his standard breakfast of fare of bacon, eggs, hash and a beer - or so he tells me) and proceeded to eat, drink and wonder where Harvey had got to. Although cool outside, we were well cosy sitting in the room with the heat pump blasting out warm air.

Being well-fed and watered we all headed off (some to Pokeno for ice-cream, some to mother-in-law duty).

A fantastic outing, organised by John & Jan (Prefect Ute), Bob & Scott(?) (Prefect / modern), Brian & Bev (7Y), Steve (Prefect), Martin (Y), Chris & Jo (Prefect), Andrew (Anglia), Roy (Lanchester), Harvey & Irene, and Ant & Karen.

Ardmore Run

It was a fine but cool day as we all gathered at the clubrooms prior to heading off to Ardmore. John had asked one of his friends to bring his Buckler out for a bit of a run, and we all gathered around and examined and chatted about it (no photos, sorry).

After a little while, we all set off to follow John on a roundabout journey through some of the countryside of South Auckland to the cafe at Ardmore Aerodrome. We had a drink and bite to eat whilst watching the planes and listening to Paul's latest Trade Me exploits.

Later, we proceeded down to the Warbirds hangar and were able to wander amongst and examine the planes on display.

 

ScooterBoy

March Photo Rally

Rather than following a list of instructions in order, this rally presented us with a list of photographs required. It was up to the driver and navigator to determine their own route from the starting point at Western Springs, around the city collecting the necessary shots, and finishing at the Chelsea Sugar works on the North Shore by a specified time. The area covered ranged from Onehunga through to Takapuna, but the allocated time was tight and made you choose whether or not it was worth spending 45 minutes in a cemetery looking for that elusive headstone. Additional points were on offer for various inclusions in your photos, eg. an asian female, a police officer in uniform, etc.

Karen and I went to Onehunga first (a shot of the navigator in front of the Historic Places Trust plaque at the Blockhouse) and worked our way back through the city via Cornwall Park (shots of the car being driven), Mt Eden (the kiosk), the Domain (both driver and navigator outside the Auckland Museum) and Parnell (more historic houses). Whilst at the Museum we came across a couple having their wedding photos taken, and asked if we could have our photos taken with the bride, who was of asian extraction. No problem, said the photographer; although it was hard to tell whether or not the happy couple were all that happy about it.

We then drove into the central city and parked close to the cemetery under Grafton Bridge where we needed shots of the headstones or plaques marking the each of the graves of Governor Hobson, the first lawman, and the first headmaster. This task was far harder than it at first seemed. The cemetery is very old, quite large and parts are exceptionally run down. I think most people managed to get 2 of the 3 required here - the headmaster seemed to be the most difficult to find, yet oddly it was the first I came across.

After this, it was across the Harbour Bridge with two sites left to visit but not a lot time in which to do it. We visited the small cliff-side area directly under the northern end of the Bridge and grabbed the shot of the plaque commemorating those who lost their lives during it's construction. With only 15 minutes left, we decided Lake Pupuke and the last shot outside the Pumphouse was unobtainable so proceeded to the Chelsea Sugar factory.

It seems that despite being directionally-challenged (yes, we led everyone on a scenic route to the post-event cafe), with our photo taking skills - or perhaps that should be our photo "non-deletion" skills - we managed to capture first place by a very close 1 point ahead of Paul and Delia. Others attending were Gavin, Bud, Brian and Bev, Bob and Gwen, and Ngaire.

Many thanks to Chris and Jo who organised an excellent run.