AGM Weekend 2021

The Club’s 75th AGM, organised by Canterbury Branch, was a great success.

The weekend kicked off with about 50 cars enjoying a Special Anniversary Run and Shed Raid on friday afternoon. The route showcased some of our city’s earthquake recovery and history before heading through the tunnel to Lyttelton, where a collection of well-presented cars and motorcycles was admired.

The productive Executive Meeting commenced on friday night and concluded on Saturday afternoon. The Annual General Meeting on Saturday morning went well with lots of discussion. The AGM was opened by Life Member Norm Dewhurst who stepped in at the last minute when our original speaker came down with laryngitis. National President Diane Quarrie presented the John L Goddard Award to Kevin Casey and a Presidential Award to Ron Hasell. Diane also made a special presentation of a one-off 75 year badge to Life and Founding Member Andy Anderson to recognise his 75 years of involvement in the Club. Andy’s address to members was thought provoking and is reproduced in full on page 32.

Members not on the Executive enjoyed a bus tour on Saturday afternoon. The enjoyable Saturday evening function had a black and white theme and was supported by many Canterbury and Banks Peninsula members. MC for the evening was Royce Baker who kept things moving along. On Sunday there was a chance to show off the Canterbury Branch clubrooms with Old Bikes, Cars and Coffee followed by a barbecue. Teams on the barbecue and in the kitchen whipped up a feed for about 125 hungry mouths. However, the real event was the kitchen clean up… a water pipe burst on the dishwasher and spurted water over the whole kitchen! Not funny, but hilarious.

s Canterbury Branch members Marilyn McKinlay (left) and Katryna Shaw (right) were the organisers of this year’s national AGM. They received a certificate of thanks for Canterbury

Branch from National President Diane Quarrie.

Management Comittee 2021. Rear L-R: Kevin Clarkson, Beaded Wheels Chairman; Murray Trounson; George Kear; Tony Bartlett; Tony

Haycock, Speed Steward. Front L-R: Christopher Leith, Secretary/Treasurer; Kaaren Smylie, Club Captain Northern Region; Diane

Quarrie, President; Alon Mayhew, Club Captain Southern Region; Rod Brayshaw, Registrar.

Kevin Casey

JOHN L GODDARD TROPHY

Since 2008 Kevin Casey has written 29 articles for Beaded Wheels.

The articles have been various in nature and on matters of interest to our readers. They are well written, comprehensively researched and substantial. In all of the articles Kevin has delved into the subject matter to a great depth to the extent that the articles can be regarded as the definitive accurate facts on the subject.

Following the publication of Kevin’s articles members frequently tell me of the enjoyment they get from reading his works.

As evidence of the quality of his work we occasionally get requests from car clubs throughout the world for permission to reprint articles in their newsletters/ magazines.

THE ARTICLES ARE Issue 294 Oct 2008 Reminiscing with Jack Kane Part 1 Issue 295 Dec 2008 Reminiscing with Jack Kane Part 2 Issue 310 Jun 2011 The most expensive sparkplug ever made Issue 317 Aug 2012 1920s American Companion Cars Issue 319 Dec 2013 All That Glitters Issue 320 Feb 2013 On Carriages and Cars Issue 323 Aug 2013 V8s Before Henry Issue 324 Oct 2013 V8s Before Henry part 2 Issue 325 Dec 2013 A Claytons Restoration Issue 326 Feb 2014 The Mascot Story Issue 327 Apr 2014 The Mascot Story part 2 Issue 328 Jun 2014 The Mascot Story part 3 Issue 329 Aug 2014 The Mascot Story part 4 Issue 330 Oct 2014 The Mascot Story part 5 Issue 331 Dec 2014 The Mascot Story part 6 Issue 332 Feb 2015 Spinning To Oblivion Issue 333 Apr 2015 Shake Rattle and Roll Issue 334 Jun 2015 Behind The Badge Issue 335 Aug 2015 The King Of Fuel Gauges Issue 337 Dec 2015 She’s a Honey Issue 338 Feb 2016 Harry’s Story Part 1 Issue 339 Mar 2016 Harry’s Story Part 2 Issue 340 Jun 2016 The Asking Garage Issue 342 Oct 2016 Behind The Badge part 2 Issue 343 Dec 2016 A Dodge Phoenix Issue 354 Oct 2018 Light My Fire – Spark Plugs Issue 355 Dec 2018 Light My Fire – Spark Plugs part 2 Issue 356 Feb 2019 Light My Fire – Spark Plugs part 3 Issue 357 Apr 2019 Light My Fire – Spark Plugs part 4

Ron Hasell

PRESIDENTIAL AWARD

At the AGM Ron Hasell was presented with a Presidential Award for his almost continuous and still ongoing service to the Club and both the Canterbury and Banks Peninsula Branches since 1962.

Listed below are the many positions in which he has served over the years. One outstanding contribution to the Club was the setting up of the insurance scheme for club vehicles which has been of a significant benefit to our members and club since its inception.

The scheme was originally set up when it was difficult to obtain insurance on old vehicles where the major insurers of the time would not give cover. At the 1965 AGM, as a Management Committee member at that time, Ron was appointed to investigate insurance possibilities for club vehicles, and subsequently managed to set up a scheme with his then employers, Phoenix Insurance. Since then the scheme has been of huge success for our Club, giving the following benefits: low cost vehicle insurance and discounts on other policies, commission payments to branches, annual profit share payment to the national body and sponsorship of major events. (Phoenix Insurance became Sun Alliance and then Vero Insurance.) Credit should be given to Ron for his foresight in setting up the scheme in a way that has contributed large amounts of funding to our Club over so many years.

The following is a list of Ron’s history of service:

30 Oct 1958 Joined VCC 1962– 1964 Elected member of a Canterbury Branch subcommittee 1966 – 1974 Management Committee member 1974 – 1978 National Speed Steward 1970 – 1974 Canterbury Branch Treasurer 1975 – 1976 Canterbury Branch Chairman 1978 Foundation member Banks Peninsula Branch 1981 – 1984, 1999 – 2002 Banks Peninsula Branch Chairman 2003 – 2009 Banks Peninsula Branch Committee member 2009 to date Banks Peninsula Branch Secretary

Ron has also acted as organiser and secretary for every speed event which has been run by the Banks Peninsula Branch since 2009.

He received his 60-year membership award in 2019.

Founder and life member of the club Andrew Anderson delivered a thought provoking address at this year’s National AGM

Three quarters of a century! You can take it as gospel, a bloody long time. Full to overflowing with yarns, stories, fables, legends and memories both dim and clear and thus requires a caveat with acknowledgement to the late Lewis Carroll.

The time has come the walrus said, to talk of many things. Of stories false and truth forgot, which egoism brings. That some recorded facts are naught but flying pigs with wings!

With that firmly in mind we have to address ourselves to the task of ensuring that our Club and its real purpose, our lovely machinery, are all still on the road for the next 25 years to our century. Years that history tells us we’ll see the destruction of many of our national institutions and characteristics.

Covid’s great predecessor was no clever virus but kept striking for a full further 300 years after its first catastrophic arrival from China in the 14th century. It destroyed the economic basis of the age, serfdom and replaced the securities of faith and tradition with all kinds of nameless fears and insecurities. Just like it, Covid will certainly live on as palpable fear for a very long time and added to this is the rising of overwhelming fear and insecurity of climate change. To overcome all this and build ourselves to a secure century, the challenge is in the environment of a still at least nominally western nation.

Most of the obstacles of achieving this are right here in this very room. Selfsatisfaction to the point of smugness. A great club? Greatness is always a work in progress. As soon as you view it as a fait accompli it’s gone and mediocrity, authority, rules and regos and that fatal word impossible raises its ugly head.

True greatness lies in the steady and continuous setting of impossible goals and achieving them. Then just set the next one!

Going back to the very first time your long-suffering executive invited me to address an AGM back in 2013, I have been stressing the vital need for challenge, usually from the aspect of the club as a whole - which of course was silly of me for it must begin with each of us as individuals. The ‘impossibles’ of today, while very different from those of our distant past, are still 90% a matter of personal misgiving

32 Beaded Wheels

A BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL?

self-doubt at best and sheer apathy at worst! For each and every member there can be very few impossibles, to simply fully participate in and enjoy the events and services of the Club and your branch and work to change those if you feel them to be insufficient or inadequate

All clubs are two-way streets and they come to meet you and you must actively go to meet them, simple as that.

Our Club is a national one and you’re all direct members of a great team of 9000 primarily. Indirectly, depending on where you live, you also belong to a branch of that Club that is dedicated to look after and foster the full range of the Club’s goals and aspirations and conduct its local activities. With memberships from 1200 down to just two digits these 36 units do just that. If you live in Auckland or Christchurch, you have some choice as between sportier or more sedate branches, but all provide all aspects. Do they? Our current position as the authority goes way back to when, at Rob Shand’s inspiration, we became the first truly national organisation. We were unique. The trade union movement, the automobile association, the stock exchanges, you name it were all a series of separate parochial units. It is the New Zealand way.

Constitutionally we set the impossible goal of beating the New Zealand way and we achieved it all those 70 years ago. But the word impossible raises its head again rather often in recent years. It is essential that we convert it into one of those pigs with wings. I recall it being said often and vigorously of Kaaren’s original proposal for the Highland Fling. Let her huge success with Alistair’s vigorous assistance be our guiding star.

For all clubs must necessarily do things.

What do we do? We toddle. Branch runs, annual rallies, even our Festival of Historic Motoring is a toddle. Which brings us back to that vital concept of Greatness. How great are we? Our Presidential report clearly states that our membership quote “has continued to hold steadily at 8,452 in August”. The three branches whose newsletters I receive regularly, note quite a number of new members every month.

At a rough guess about 30 new members for each year for three branches equates to at least 90 over 36 of them. So that is what we lose annually too.

At least two branch captains have recently noted to me the fact that with the 30-year rule they can’t get these members and cars out to their events. The cause is so obvious. The 30-year cars are virtually moderns to drive with which the toddle is boring. You offer them a competitive Targa and you will have them in droves, and you’ll be really doing something.

That’s what those wings of our logo are all about really driving our machinery! Probably at least 80% of our members don’t deserve the wings!

The new suggested tagline “Driving our History” is a key to get allies in what will be a vicious battle for survival, and we will need every ally we can get! Ask me about them.

Forget all that silly argument about names; classic, historic etc. Everything from 19th century one lungers to 1991 Toyotas are simply “our lovely machinery” and to keep it all on the road, it will take all the clout of that Authority designation! The New Zealand way being what it is here, I suspect our climate attackers will be local and attack us branch by branch and by acting as part of a great national of New Zealand Authority, you will keep them at bay.

If you start even thinking as a parochial unit, they will win. Ranged against our machinery, is fear of the unknowable consequences of climate change with the background fear of our clever Covid lurking. You can’t be too strong a national authority to cover all that.

I have no desire to make my century, but I sincerely hope you all make this Club’s one!

▼ Andrew enjoying the club atmosphere at Cutler

Park during Canterbury Branch Old Cars, Bikes and Coffee on the Sunday following the AGM.