Chairman’s Report

By Esther Smith

As a finale for the year, I have been thinking back on what the Club has been doing. We have had a wide variety of runs both our Club and Wednesday outings, we have been to all sorts of places and there is always something happening. Also Paul has organised some great speakers for our Club nights. The latest event was our annual Homestead Run, this time we returned to Whanawhana Station the home of Bill and Penny Beamish. We last visited that homestead about 19 years ago, how the years roll by. Starting our run from the Farmers Market works well, I know for us it is the only time we get around to visiting it, thank you to those who brought out their club eligible vehicles, Bill was fascinated by the variety of cars. With the way the weather has been lately rain was definitely our biggest concern, fortunately it held off until mid afternoon then we saw the black clouds coming everyone skedaddled to their cars, we were just putting the signs in the boot of the Renault as it started to absolutely hose down I understand some people had a spectacular journey home with lightening strikes on the road in front of them Cruise Ships- Are continuing well, thanks to all those who are taking their cars down to the port. Our Art Deco Committee is taking shape, with Kevin Cains, Larry Morgan and Colin Compton having volunteered to assist, they will be managing the Saturday morning tea.

The other rally events are:

• Thursday Night Dinner: At the clubrooms, the meal is been organised by

Lesley and Malcolm Blair with assistance from Taradale Primary School PTA, Ian

Elmsly is the MC with Steve D managing the background stuff. • Friday Rally: This is organised by

Graham and myself, Paul Anderson will be assisting with traffic management • Sunday Morning Breakfast: Organised by Kevin Marsh with Malcolm and Lesley

Blair plus their kitchen crew taking care of the food. Meanwhile in the background, Paul Eager is Rally Secretary managing the registrations and rally queries, while Steve Donovan wearing his Rally Director hat, is liaising with the Art Deco Trust, managing the special events for this year’s feature Marc the V8 Fords whilst maintaining an overview of the whole event. We will be asking for assistance on these days particularly with marshalling, if you are available can you please make it known to the person responsible for the day. Graham and I attended the Hawke’s Bay Heritage Awards prize giving at the revamped Hastings Municipal Building, the Branch was entered in the Heritage Heroes section under the banner of “Driving our History”. The Club won a Highly Commended Award which I was really pleased with. The aim in entering the awards was to raise the profile of the club, to increase awareness of what we do and publicise the fact that we represent vehicles up to 30 years old. Have an enjoyable break, I look forward to seeing you all next year. Cheers.