Annual Combined Gymkhana

Every year this is always a cracker day. Warm, sunny, and red Ant weather (thank goodness for my hat and 85+ sunscreen).

Due to several other events being held on the same day — the Cambridge swapmeet and car show, and the Auckland Santa Parade — the turnout of clubs was a little lower than in previous years, but that didn’t mean we didn’t have a good time.

Six events had all the participants driving in circles, or with a bucket on their head, or hooking and carrying bottles or crates. All this and more than enough time to sit in the shade (or sun) and munch on food and drink.

At the end of the day the Chev Club were declared winners, followed by the Morris Register and then us.

Attending today were Brian and Bev (Ford 7Y), Andrew and Pam (Ford Anglia) Neil and Sue (Ford Prefect), Ant and Karen (Ford Anglia) Stephen (Ford 8 Surf) and Martin (Ford 10 Commodore).

Thames Run

The 8am Saturday morning start was a bit too early for me, but Martin, John and the rest all departed close to the allotted time. Leaving the motorway at Bombay, they toured through the back roads towards Miranda, and then on to Thames itself.
First port of call was Seagulls, the 'recycling' store at the tip which recovers usable junk and on-sells it to customers. An interesting visit apparently.

Karen and I joined everyone around lunchtime at the next stop, the Museum of Technology based at the old pumphouse. This building used to pump a huge amount water from the various goldmines in the back hills out to sea. Most of the large machinery to do this is no longer onsite, but the original crankshaft, all 70 tons, was recently rediscovered and is still there. The custodians have also built and mounted in the original location replicas of the main flywheels.

We had a brief stop at the War Memorial Monument which overlooks Thames township, before travelling on up the coast to Terry and Joanne’s place. Here we were able to examine the treasures in Terry’s garage, while Joanne made tea & coffee, and provided some munchies for everyone.

Despite being a cool-ish day, we had a good turnout with John (Anglia Tourer), Martin (Y), Chris and Jo (Y), Harvey (Y), Bud & Thelma (Prefect) Paul & Delia (modern), Brian &  Bev (modern), Karen & Ant (modern). Andrew also travelled over from Morrinsville in his Prefect.

We then left in dribs and drabs from Terry and Joannes and made our way back to Auckland in the late afternoon.

Galaxy of Cars

Entry time to display at Galaxy of Cars is supposed to be well before 10am when the public descends, so we planned to arrive at around 9am. Driving along Great North Rd, through Pt Chev just before 9, we came upon the queue to enter the site. Yep, the queue was all the way along Motions Rd, past the Zoo, and around the corner into Great North Rd. Hmmm, that’s not good. Worse still for a car that needs to be started off a jump pack (I mistakenly left the dash light on from the last escapade—oh no !!).

Not fancying sitting in a long queue and letting the old girl heat up unnecessarily, and not yet having had the requisite morning coffee (or breakfast), we decided to head back to Pt Chev and grab some food and caffeine from a local café (The Corner Café, Pt Chev Road: reasonable coffee, good eggs, but the bacon and French toast could’ve been cooked to be a little more crispier).

About an hour later, having had our fill, we decided to try the MOTAT Meola Road entrance. It seemed that many others had also had the same idea, and I think the guy on the gate had pretty much had enough of people trying to get in that way. So it was back to Motions Rd, from which the queue had mercifully disappeared. Unfortunately, the messy organisation remained and we were initially refused entry until we fished out the parking card and whinged about not wanting to sit in a queue for goodness knows how long at 9am in the morning.

Anyway, we did manage to get past the militant gatekeepers and proceeded to our allotted space to find everyone else had set up and were having a natter. John and Jan had arrived around 7:30 am (crikey - that’s barely daybreak for me!!) to grab any bargains that may have been on offer at the associated swapmeet. From the sounds of it, they must have been just about the first people there.

Opposite us with a huge turnout was the Jowett / Bradford club who picked up 2nd prize for club display. One-time member Mike Brain was just down from us with his Bradford pick-up, complete with a running Bradford display motor on the back. This motor ticked over all day, and attracted plenty of attention from the crowd. Terry and Brenda were also attending in Terry’s Bradford, parked just across from us. We caught up with ex-members Gary and Raewyn Norton who had their usual spot with the Stationary Engine people.

It was quite a warm day, and around 3pm after the presentations, people began to drift off home.

30th Anniversary Dinner

The club recently celebrated it's 30th anniversary with a weekend of gatherings, and reuniting with past members. On Saturday night, approximately 50 past and present members enjoyed a dinner and the chance to reminisce about days gone by.

Founding members Murray Richards and Gary Kelly, with Life Member Estelle Sinclair.

Some of the past and current members at the anniversary dinner.

AGM Report

This was the first General Meeting to be held at the new clubrooms. What a difference to be able to make tea and coffee on demand, along with heating pre-frozen savouries.

Apologies were submitted, and the minutes from the previous meeting were accepted as read. Ant rambled on about the process involved acquiring the new building at Kellow Place and the hours that several members invested to ensure the move happened inside the short time required.

This year two trophies were presented. Bob Cleland was awarded the Road Runner Cup for the most enjoyable run; this was for the rally around the Pukekohe / Pokeno / Rangiriri area late last year. The Most Dedicated Member trophy was this year awarded to all those members who assisted with the shift from Pooks Rd to Kellow Pl. Every member involved contributed in their own way and this year the trophy recognises the efforts of all involved.

The sitting committee then retired; nominations were called for and in some cases voting took place to determine the new committee for the coming year. Details of the new committee can be viewed inside the front cover of this magazine.

The floor was opened for general business, and discussion took place around the need for the committee to structure itself slightly differently to spread the load a little. Those members present agreed to allow the committee to discuss and assign these new positions as it sees fit.

The meeting closed, members then had the opportunity to chat amongst themselves whilst munching on hot savouries and having the odd cup of tea or coffee.