Holiday dinner

Holiday cheer was toasted in by over 80 of our members at Uplands Golf Club on December 4. Ron Dempsey hosted with the goal to bring members together with other European Car enthusiasts around the South Island, and also to benefit CFAX Santa’s Anonymous, a charity helping needy families around Victoria over the Christmas holidays.

This year’s agenda included a panel discussion about the current and future state of the sports car, hosted by local radio personality Tony Joe. Panel members included Henry Reisner, recently retired owner and President of Intermeccanica, Jason Stoch, owner of Jetstream Auto and Custom, as well as Dave Hord, founder of Classic Car Adventures, rally master of the California Mille Miglia and event manager for Hagerty Canada. Discussion centered around the definition and evolution of the sports car, electrification of classic sports cars and the future as Porsche (as well as other manufacturers) expand their product lines to include electrified versions of current models such as the Boxster.

We should be proud that $10,000 was raised between the dinner, a donation page and a prize raffle to benefit Santas Anonymous, including one members generous donation of $3,000 in matching funds to help get the ball rolling early on. This surpassed last year’s total by 30%, so a job very well done.

Thanks to Steve Fairbrother, Stuart Macleod, Garth Webber Atkins and Rowland Atkins for their valuable assistance on the night of the event, and to Wyman Lee and Eric Maitland for providing a fabulous screen show that night of their photography over the past 12 months.

Ron Dempsey