VCC FAR NORTH FOCUS JUNE 2023

Far

Claude & Margaret Ilton’s 1953 Humber 10

Who’s Who for 2023/2024

Committee: Winston Matthews, Murray Cormack, Robyn Mackay, Mike Pooley, Naomi Mason, Keith Lyndsell, Tom Deverall, Steve Edwards, Margaret Deverall, Margaret Ilton.

The full list of the elected officers is circulated with the minutes of the 2023 Annual General Meeting.

Club Cleaning Roster

June R & W Mackay

July C & M Ilton

August D & B Francis

September N & V Mason

October Everyone

November M & T Deverall

December Winston & Glenis

January C & M Ilton

February R & W Mackay

March P O Dell

April M & T Deverall

May M Pooley

Caffeine & Classics

3rd Sunday every month 9.30 to 12

Next date: Sunday 18th June

Taipa Beach Resort

During the month and preferably before the main calendar event, please give the clubrooms a thorough check over. This includes cleaning the toilets, hand basins, checking kitchen, table tops, window ledges, sweeping the floors etc.

If your cleaning date does not suit you, please swop with someone else.

Thanks for supporting the running of the Club.

Window cleaning, washing walls etc. will be done at working bees.

Take note of any required maintenance and pass on to:

Building Officer - Warren Mackay 09 4061955

For any further enquires please contact our Club Captain.

The Far North Branch of the VCC has a policy that pets are not brought to any Club events. We do ask that this policy is respected please.

Saturday 10th June

Monthly Meeting at Clubrooms

Starting at 1.30 pm.

Saturday 17th June

Molloy Trophy Rally

Organised by Ron & Beryl Shugg

Sunday 18th June

Taipa Caffeine & Classics

9.30 -12.30 Ramada Resort Taipa

Monthly-2nd Saturday

Club Meeting @ Aurere Clubrooms

Monthly-3rd Sunday

Caffeine & Classics

Club Notices

Molloy Trophy Run

Saturday June 17

Please gather at Beryl & Ron Shugg’s home at 10 am.

1895 SHW 10 Waipapa

Club flag will be at their entrance.

Driving south, go to southern end of Waipapa, their drive is next to Twin Coast Marine, on your right.

Driving north, 1st drive on your left after you cross the bridge just as you are entering Waipapa Industrial area. Twin Coast Marine, on your left is beside them.]

Bring your morning tea. We have been invited to take a wander to check out their patch of paradise.

Run starts at 10.30.

Buy your own lunch at our destination with meal prices beginning at approx. $20 pp.

Vintage Car Club of New Zealand

Annual Report for Far North VCC Branch

I look back on the last 50 years of my involvement with the Club and our Branch, with a lot of happy memories.

It has been great to have been able to take part in the Vero National rallies throughout NZ over the past 40 odd years and going over so many roads in NZ you would never normally travel and likewise within the Branch. With events being organised by various members we have travelled roads and seen places we have not seen before.

So many thanks to all those who have organised events throughout the year. It is always good to have fresh ideas in this regard.

I think having our meetings on Saturday afternoons during the winter months worked well with a good attendance and is well worth re looking at again.

It was good to re host the Far North Tour again for the 50th anniversary. Many thanks to all those who contributed to it, to make it a success and to help celebrate the occasion.

Our open day in October went well.

With all the fresh parts we have received from Empire Street Garage, it means a lot more parts are available to continue this event, if members wish.

Many thanks to all those who accepted positions of responsibility at the last AGM. Without your dedication we would not have such a successful club.

It is good to see Northern & Southern Club Captains working together to keep the flow of events going well.

Thanks to Keith Lyndsell for attending the National Executive meeting during March, in Christchurch.

On our behalf, a special thanks to Margaret Ilton who has gone beyond the call of duty to keep us informed of all events, newsletters etc while on holiday in the South Island and we would be lost without the reliability of Naomi, our Secretary and Robyn, our treasurer and the continued support of our members.

Thank you, to you all.

Let’s continue our vintage motoring. Win

From the Chair…

I would like to thank the AGM for electing me as your chairman for the coming year.

I hope that with our new Vice C Chairman, Tom Deverall, we can can keep the branch operating standard at the high standard b maintained by Winston and

the past committee. Luckily many of the new committee have passed experience.

The AGM decided that we would repeat the change to Saturday afternoon meetings through the winter months, starting with the June meeting on 10th. These meetings will start at 1.30.

The June meeting will be preceded by a committee meeting to decide the years calendar.

It was also decided that in future the change from Tuesday evening to Saturday afternoon meetings and viceversa for summer meetings would take place at the change of clocks between summer and winter time.

The June run will be the Molloy Trophy, details of this are in the Club Notices, in this newsletter.

Thanks.

Keith

Please Members…

If you have photos of your car/cars which I could use to feature on the front page of our Focus please send them to me with a brief outline of your vehicle and any special features you would like mentioned. Thanks in advance. Margaret

4ed.focus@gmail.com or text them to 0221008119.

Thanks for totally everything, Win.

Northern Club Captain’s Report

First of all, an introduction to your new Northern Club Captain, myself, Margaret Deverall.

I have been elected to take over from husband Tom, as he moves on to Vice Chairman, so I know I can rely on him to help me, along with my buddy, Southern Club Captain Steve!

July brings about the Prize Giving dinner. That, along with the forthcoming events calendar for the year will be organised at our meeting for the committee on Saturday 10th June, 12 noon.

It was decided at our AGM, that our monthly meetings during winter, will be held on the 2nd Saturday of each month, starting at 1.30pm. The first one being on the 10th June at 1.30.

We look forward to seeing new faces at our meetings to enjoy the socialising along with a cuppa and cake.

Tom and I have been in the Far North VCC for almost 4 years and love playing/working alongside awesome club members and we have loved all the rallies we’ve attended and fun times we’ve had.

Margaret.

Also, the challenge of setting up and organising rallies.

Ahead of us for June is the Molloy Trophy rally on Saturday 17th, being organised by Ron & Beryl Shugg, which I assure, is one that shouldn’t be missed.

FAR NORTH VCC MOTHER’S DAY OUTING 2023

Dave DUIRS

Having been away in Spain and Western Australia for two months and then just returned from two months campervanning in the South Island, we reckoned we needed to catch up with local folks by participating in the Mother’s Day run. WELL, we could have missed it, as did somebody else I believe, as my navigator was adamant it would be on the Sunday, the official day.

But Saturday it was, as we gathered at the Awanui car park which has been transformed big time with extra parking, new playground equipment and a coat of bright paint for the loos.

which has had hard times since being quite a busy hub way back.

The pub has had a major tidy up and along both sides of the street large permanent, laminated photo boards have been attached to the windows and walls with appropriate information attached. These go back to the 1940s showing the main street as dirt and very clear pictures of old garages and activities such as fishing and toheroa harvesting. Winston and Vince, being old time locals were able to add more memories from their younger days. It’s well worth just stopping and checking out these displays to remind ourselves of some of our interesting past which we should not forget.

And the photo says…

With notes left at home… Marg reckons it’s DOWN there, Tom reckons it’s over THERE & Win & George don’t know where they are going!

It drizzled a bit as we had a village walk around Awanui which was most interesting as the locals have gone to a lot of trouble to enhance the appearance of a small town

We then headed down to the Switzer home to display our vehicles to rekindle memories for residents. I was surprised by hearing “Vive La France, vive La Peugeot”.

It was one of the new nurses who has been there only one month from France. She was quite excited at seeing our Peugeot 504 Pick Up and recognised it without any prompting as her father has old cars and a collection of WW2 military vehicles back in France. So, it wasn’t just the oldies who enjoyed our visit.

Three little maids are we!

Back up the very busy Kaitaia market day main street, we headed West into muddy Gills Road through large dairy farms, a market garden trying to dig kumaras in sodden ground and past the beginnings of a big new solar farm, one of three being built in the north.

Our lunch menu had a good choice, the food was excellent with generous portions and a ten percent discount for Gold Card.

A touch of old class

Our lunch destination was KA URI just north of Awanui in the old Kauri Kingdom building. Ngati Kuri have completely refurbished the building in and out and laid down a very smart parking area. Inside they still have the woodwork shop where a large Hec Busby waka was being repaired, the massive hollow kauri tree with steps to the next level and a large display of locally made articles for sale. The kitchen, dining and toilet areas have all been totally redone to a very high standard.

Regrettably, the very friendly service was somewhat compromised by meals taking a long time to be plated with some folks finishing before others were served. HOWEVER, the place has only just reopened so we wish them well and trust that returning tourists will boost their efforts.

As seems to be the trend for runs now, we did not have a competitive challenge on the road and somehow the Duirs were presented with the Brad and Nancy Topp Mother’s Day trophy after evidently parking on a mystery ten dollar note!

The evidence of that note is still a mystery, but Tom did seem to be hanging around and commenting favourably on our ute which hasn’t been seen by many over the years as we usually use the 203. Sadly our 403 has gone to Wellington and the very low mileage, very original 404 to Whangarei.

Marg and Claude planned the day but as they were swanning around the South Island, Marg and Tom kindly took charge with the starting confession that they had left the “paperwork” at home, so we had to listen well and follow the crew in front. I reckon they should have taken the brassware or at least been made to sing for their lunch.

Many thanks Deveralls for a fun day out with plenty of smiles all round.

Remember when….

Omnium gatherum…

Wishing all members who are currently being challenged with health or family circumstances, special thoughts, good wishes and our support. Please remember we are a Club and we are here to support each other. Don’t hesitate to contact us if we can help.

In the Focus this month we have photos contributed by Marg D, Dave DUIRS & Naomi.

Reports & contributions from Marg D, Keith, Win, Dave & Ron

Thanks for taking the time to add to the interest of our Focus.

Special thoughts and best wishes are with George Vuletich and his family. George is currently in Whangarei Hospital.

Caffeine&Classics

Set aside… Sunday June 18, 9.30 am onwards, Taipa Beach Resort to enjoy a relaxed catchup with enthusiasts of 2,3,4 [or more] wheeled vehicles.

Get photos if there is a visitor arriving on 1 wheel, please. Hoping for a day like the one below.

As it was…

As we enter our 51stth year for the Club, a look back on club history for many of us who are ‘relative newcomers,’ will help us appreciate the history of the club. For the next few months, there will be some of the material which has sat quietly in folders, which many members may not have read.

[The following will be put into the Focus in a series.]

The Northern Branch of the Vintage Car Club of New Zealand

[This is not an official history of our club, but one person’s findings put on paper.]

Northland Vintage Car Club Birthday Rally 1992

A short history of our Club

“ or how it began”.

It all began in 1946 when a group of students from Canterbury University got together and under the leadership of

Andy Anderson (still a member of the Canterbury Club) formed the Vintage Car Association.

From this small beginning the Veteran & Vintage Car Club was formed in 1948.

The first club to be formed outside the University was the Canterbury Branch in 1951.

The feature film ‘Genevieve’ did more for the Vintage Car movement than any of the most expensive advertising that could be devised, and in rapid succession, Invercargill, Otago, Wanganui, Auckland and Waikato joined the Movement.

By 1960 there were 11 clubs throughout NZ.

The Northland Branch was the 15th to swell the movement. Today there are 33 Branch Clubs making NZ one of the largest Clubs in the world.

The history of our own Club began in 1962 when a small group of people got together and approached several people in Northland who owned old cars, to see if they would be interested enough to attend an ‘interest meeting’ to discuss the possibility of forming a Vintage Car Club in Northland.

On the 22nd of August, 1962 a meeting was held in the Ambulance Hall, Alexander St, Whangarei, when Gary Wright from the Auckland Branch gave outlines of what to form a branch. Then on the 28th October 1962 another meeting was held at Kaikohe where the Northland Branch of the Vintage Car Club of NZ was born. Vic McCready took the chair to become the first Chairman and Bill Voyce occupied the position of Secretary.

A welcome to the newly formed Northland Branch appeared in the Beaded Wheels, Vol. 9, No 33 March 1963.

To be continued

As mentioned in earlier Minutes, we recently received mechanical parts and written material from the Empire Street Garage which was very much part of the Kaitaia town for many, many years.

The following is a walk down memory lane from a Road Code published in March 1957.

Pantry Perks… one for the tamarillo fans only!

Spiced Tamarillo Jelly

3 tsp gelatine

1 cup cold water

¼ tsp cinnamon

3 slices of lemon

4 tbs sugar

½ cup hot water

6-8 tamarillos

2 cloves

1 tbs lemon juice

Into the cold water, place washed tamarillos, cloves, cinnamon, & lemon slices. Gently cook till the fruit is cooked.

Strain the syrup off and keep.

Skin the fruit, cut into small pieces & add to the strained syrup.

Dissolve sugar and gelatine in hot water, add lemon juice and mix into the syrup.

Allow to chill & set.

Serve with cream or ice cream.