Presidents Report 2020 AGM

HELLO FOLKS, HOPE YOU ARE ALL WELL AND SAFE ACROSS THE COUNTRY. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT ONE YEAR AGO THAT WE WOULD BE IN THE SITUATION THAT WE ARE NOW IN, WHERE WE CAN’T EVEN RIDE OUR BIKES. HOWEVER THIS IS THE SITUATION WE HAVE AND UNFORTUNATELY WE CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. NO DOUBT IN A FEW MONTHS THERE SHOULD BE A WHOLE LOT OF VERY CLEAN AND SHINY BIKES COMING OUT OF THEIR GARAGES.

It was great to see such a great roll up at the AGM for the 2019 Rally on the Gold Coast and hopefully we can see that enthusiasm repeated in the years to come. The 2019 Rally was a very enjoyable event with great rides and location. Unfortunately anything to do with the Gold Coast is expensive and busy although the rides were held on roads away from major traffic areas. Our National Rallies remain a great opportunity for our members to come together in one place each year and meet up with their fellow members from other parts of Australia. People you read about through the year in our club magazine, Facebook pages and on our website news you are now able to talk to and see. I just love the social atmosphere of the rallies. It was very sad for the Queensland members to have to cancel the 2020 National Rally in Toowoomba and judging by the numbers of entries that had been coming in I am sure that applies to many others too. Entry numbers had surpassed the 2019 Rally with several weeks to go for entries to close. Everything was in place with great rides, rally central location and the Show and Shine location was awesome. Thank you to those on the 2020 Rally committee for their efforts with a lot of time spent in the organisation of this event. Jeff Eales has been a long time committed club member having held several Natcom positions including President and of course organising his VJMC tours of Japan in past years. Those of us who have been on these tours have had a brilliant time with just about everything taken care of. It is great news that Jeff and Jane have decided to run this tour again in late 2021. The tour will take in some great museums and sights throughout this amazing country along with the 2021 MotoGP. Meanwhile it is very pleasing to see the club growing steadily every year. The Western Australian area have seen tremendous success with new members joining all the time and lots of good events happening. Well done Dave. This also applies to the Mackay QLD area with a strong representation of members at each of their events. Peter doing a great job up there. Many other more established areas have been seeing great support from there members too. This is very encouraging. The continuing success of this club could not happen without the dedication of the National Committee (Natcom) and all the Area Reps throughout the country and I would like to say a huge thank you to all those involved for your efforts towards this fantastic club we call The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club of Australia. We really do need someone to fill the Secretary position though urgently. Best wishes to all our members. Stay safe and healthy.

John McNair President.