Far North Focus
August 2025
Dereck & Adrianne Mackay with their beautiful 1923 Dodge Tourer
Chairman Tom Deverall tadmadinparadise@gmail.com
Vice
Secretary Naomi Mason farnorth@vcc.org.nz
Treasurer Christine Squire treasurerfnvccc@gmail.com
Club Captain Nth Margaret Deverall tadmadinparadise@gmail.com
Club Captain Sth Murray Squire mandcsquire@xtra.co.nz
Beaded Wheels Writer Photographs Murray Cormack Paddy Kelly
Communications Margaret Ilton 4ed.focus@gmail.com
Editor Margaret Ilton 4ed.focus@gmail.com
Committee: Tom Deverall, Keith Lyndsell, Naomi Mason, Christine Squire, Margaret Deverall, Murray Squire, Winston Matthews, Steve Edwards, Claude Ilton
The full list of the elected officers is circulated with the minutes of the 2025 Annual General Meeting
If at any time you see things at the Clubrooms requiring maintenance, please let Steve know. Ph 09 401 6239
Calendar of Club Events 2025/26
August 2025
9th Monthly Meeting at 10.30 am followed with Mid-Winter Potluck Xmas Lunch at 12.00 Parts Shed will be open
17th Caffeine & Classics
30th Daffodil Run/Fundraiser Marg x2
September 2025
6th Father’s Day Run …Joss & Kelly
13th Monthly Meeting 1.00pm with Parts Shed open 2pm.
21st Caffeine & Classics
October 2025
11th Monthly Meeting 1.00pm with Parts Shed open at 2pm. 18th Dunny Run…Northland Club
November 2025
1-2 Far North Tour 8th Monthly Meeting 1.00pm with Parts Shed open at 2pm. 22nd Working Bee
December 2025
13th Monthly Meeting 10.00 am with Parts Shed open followed with Christmas Potluck lunch at 12.00
January 2026 17th Annual Picnic
February 2026
14th Monthly Meeting 1.00pm with Parts Shed open at 2pm.
21st Southern Captain’s Run
March 2026
14th Monthly Meeting 1.00pm with Parts Shed open at 2pm.
21st Northern Captain’s Run
April 2026
11th Monthly Meeting 1.00pm with Parts Shed open at 2pm.
18th Brian Parker Rally- Chris & Murray Squire
May 2026
9th Monthly Meeting 1.00pm with Parts Shed open at 2pm
10th Mother’s Day Rally
June 2026
13th Monthly Meeting 1.00pm with Parts Shed open at 2pm.
27th Molloy Trophy
Next Club Meeting
Saturday 9th
August 10.30 am
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Club Notices
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On a sad note, we have recently lost Adrian Garrett.
Our sincere condolences are extended to Adrian’s family. A private service for Adrian has been held.
There will be a memorial service for him and when we have details, an email will be sent to Members.
His cars and horses have been much appreciated by many members and he leaves us with many great memories.
Our next meeting has a 10.30 am start.
It is also our Mid-Winter Potluck Christmas lunch. If last year’s was anything to go on, don’t miss it.
It is a potluck lunch, so let your enthusiasm run wild. Please bring 1 dish per person. If there are 2 Members from the same home, a dish each please- 1 main & 1 dessert
BYO if you wish.
Any queries to Margaret Ilton.
Father’s Day Run
Please note there has been a change of date for this run.
It is now being held on Saturday 6th September and NOT Sunday 7th September.
The run will leave from the Mitre 10 carpark, Waipapa.
More details in next month’s notices.
50th PowerPoint
Anyone wanting a copy of the 50th Photo Roll
My laptop will be at the next meeting. Bring a USB and you are more than welcome to copy the PowerPoint presentation… this isn’t a trick to just get you to the meeting!
If you want a copy, aren’t at the meeting, let me know and something can be arranged to have it done… hmmm maybe the following meeting!!
The earlier photos in the presentation are digitalised copies of photos in club albums and the ‘many’ loose photos stashed obscurely away in the depths of the cupboards at the clubrooms,
specially ‘saved’ by earlier members so we have a record of events. I am extremely grateful to the Members long before now, who got the photos printed and into the clubrooms.
As digital recording phased in, there are photos from members sent in for the Focus and a fine collection from Dave Duirs, Win Matthews and Rosco Pennell who spent much time sifting through their collections to share some lovely shots with us. There are time gaps in this presentation and if you have photos which you would like included, please contact me… Marg I 4ed.focus@gmail.com or 0221008119
I am happy to build on what we have to make the presentation a really good record of and for the Club. We can then keep adding to it, to have it current, so at the next celebration retrieval is easy.
Daffodil Run 30th August
Please be at the Kaikohe Pioneer Village Museum at 10 am. 1A Recreation Rd, Kaikohe.
There will be a $10 entry donation per vehicle.
We will be running a BBQ with sausages, onion & bread which have been donated and a baking sales table. We thought loaves, biscuits and uniced baking would be easiest for the baking table, however, it is your choice. We hope you can contribute to the sales table. If you aren’t at the event, send your donation along with a member who is.
We are also looking for another really good turnout of vehicles. Let’s see if we
can notch another 20 for the show. It’s a great way to lift our public profile.
We will take turns with the jobs- 2 people at the gate taking donations, 2 or 3 people at the BBQ, 2 at the sales table and 1 or 2 wandering with money buckets accepting donations within the grounds.
The Museum café will be open.
All money raised by our Club will be donated.
Caffeine & Classics
Sunday 17th August 9.30 am
Ka Uri Awanui
3rd Sunday every month
The Far North Branch of the VVC does have a policy that pets are not brought to any Club events. We do ask that this policy is respected please.
Benefits of Good Vocabulary.
My husband recently called an old engineering buddy of his and asked what he was working on these days.
He replied he was working on “aquathermal treatment of ceramics, aluminium and steel under a constrained environment.”
Hubby was impressed… until he learned that his buddy was actually washing dishes with hot water under his wife’s supervision!
Anxiety is
like a rocking chair.
It gives you something to do but doesn’t get you very far.
-Jodi Picoul
From the Chair…
It’s been a very busy month with a lot of work done by club members and rewarded with some very social events.
June ended with the Molloy Trophy Rally organised by Terry and Sue Rogers - through the back roads of Kerikeri with a lunch by the Stone Store. We had a good number of members turn out to enjoy the event, sunshine and the meal.
Our 50th anniversary was a great success.
The line-up of 20 cars from 1920 to the 1980’s was very impressive and thank you all for making such a huge effort on the day.
It was an honour to have with us, ex Members who were key people in the Clubs formative years.
Thank you everyone for all of your help leading to and on the day and thanks, Richard, for your wine donation.
This month we have the Daffodil Day event.
We are working with the Pioneer Museum in Kaikohe which will be open with some working attractions, along with their usual displays. We will meet there, present our vehicles, help with gathering donations, run a BBQ and a ‘loaf’ sales table. All money raised is donated to Daffodil Day. We are again looking for lots of support with as many vintage vehicles as possible on the day to make an impressive lineup of cars for the public to enjoy.
Steve and I will be away for the next monthly meeting and Murray Squire will stand in for me as Chairman.
Thank you, Murray.
Tom
2025
FNVCCC Prize Giving
Kelly & Joss Archer- Winners of the Father’s Day Trophy
Murray & Chris Squire- Winners of the Brian Parker Memorial Trophy
Dave & Dorothy Duirs- Winners of the Mother’s Day Trophy
Murray & Chris SquireWinners of the Molloy Trophy
Bob Francis-Winner of the Matthew Bros Trophy
Bob has been a member of the Club for nearly 50 years and for many of those initial years, he was our Treasurer.
For 40 years he has audited our Financial Statements. His support given to members of the club who have taken on the Treasurer’s position during this time, has been hugely appreciated. Thank you, Bob.
Terry & Sue Rogers- Winners of the Hard Luck Trophy
Margaret Ilton- Clubman of the Year Trophy
Winston Matthews- Winner of the Points Trophy
50 th ANNIVERSARY
FIFTY YEARS OF REFLECTION, THE DAY’S BUSY ACTIVITIES AND A POSITIVE FUTURE certainly created a buzz at the Far North Vintage and Classic Car Club on the nineteenth July 2025.
Current members and invited guests, who were previously connected to the Branch, gathered at the Clubrooms with a great display of old vehicles, under a clear sky for a social time followed by a catered luncheon and reminiscing speeches.
FIFTY years is a while and things do change and evolve as have members and the type of vehicles they drive.
It all started earlier in 1962 when Vic McCready and his mates formed the 15 th Branch of the New Zealand Vintage Car Club based in Kaikohe and covering Whangarei. In 1964 Whangarei membership had grown enough to justify forming their own Branch followed in 1967 by the closure of the Kaikohe Branch.
1972 saw Far Northerners Gordon, Winston and Peter Matthews join the Whangarei Branch. They regularly met in their homes supported by their women folk and the numbers grew until in November 1975 this little band from Kawakawa north became a Sub Branch of Whangarei, continuing to meet in each others homes until a shed on a California Hill property became the “base”, followed by purchasing a shed from Kaitaia Tractors in 1981 which was located on Gordon Matthews’ farm at Aurere.
An old classroom was offered in 1984 with the proviso that it had to be taken smartly, so it was dismantled, transported and reassembled at the current site as the club “shed”.
By 1987 after many working bees, it became the Clubrooms with power and basic cooking facilities. Over the years the kitchen was upgraded, ablutions added and a well stocked parts shed and library established, making a substantial base from which many activities were organised…….monthly meetings, road rallies, restoration sessions, social functions and a home for vintage enthusiasts which grew to around one hundred members.
Then in 1991 we really grew up! Members from Kawakawa north became the 38 th Branch of the NZVCC.
SO, from small beginnings the Branch grew as did our activities with monthly rallies exploring the region by means of navigating from rally sheets of basic instructions to more ambitious straight line or tulip instructions. This tested the vehicles and the crews with many a tale to be shared, often at a pot luck meal at the clubrooms.
We have four trophy runs which are a bit more formal and competitive but always very social. One of our bigger events was the annual Far North Tour by the Northland Branch and we hosted
them for the weekend feeding 200 plus folk with spit roasted sheep and pork which became legendary across the land as we prided ourselves in always having plenty of tucker.
The Branch was involved with the 1977 reenactment of 1917 Parliamentary tour and in more recent times we ran a very successful car show, the Autospectacular for fourteen years and this was a major fund raiser for us from which we still benefit today.
Over the years we had several long distance, stay away runs and with the Dargaville group we used to have an annual camp out, alternating the hosting.
The FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY has been a hit. A small group did the planning with huge energy and enthusiasm and a larger group joined the working bees to prepare the clubrooms. Windows were cleaned, the deck restained, the parts shed tidied up, old pictures coordinated for a continuous slide show, the flag pole restored and given a 50 th flag.
The tables were set with white linen freshly ironed at the club and a gold runner with real flowers, added a professional touch.
Balloons were blown up by three old fellows with some difficulty (yes we had a pump) and a display of old newsletters showed how production technology has advanced from photocopying to digital.
To top it off, a beautiful 50th cake which looked too good to eat.
Early on the day, there was a hive of activity checking the details….no the mice didn’t find the cake overnight and the flowers didn’t wilt in their wine glasses!
The punch was made, gazebos were erected and twenty old cars, carefully parked.
The team was ready and the sun was shining. After a calming cuppa the Annual Prize giving happened with perhaps the highlight being the presentation of the Clubman of the Year to Margaret Ilton for her outstanding energy and sense of duty in doing so much, particularly for the celebration.
Our guests arrived, from all over the land and as far south as Rangiora and we had some quality time over a punch and drinks while many memories were shared and old friends caught up with one another.
Our very substantial catered dinner of beef cheeks, ham and all the trimmings was enjoyed, followed by Winston Matthews, a founding member and one
of the few oldies with us, giving a very comprehensive account of the early days of the Branch.
Debbie Kitchen, daughter of founder member, Gordon Matthews, spoke next and she gave us an amusing address about her memories as a youngster in the earlier years.
Janet Pates, a guest from South, drew on early club memories and at 90, claimed some life firsts.
In her determination to be with us, she had her first ride in a break down truck and her first speeding ticket!
The cake was cut by founding members Winston Matthews and Peter Matthews and very much enjoyed, as we continued to socialise.
So ended a great day which concluded with the inevitable dishes, clean up, dismantling of gazebos and further recollections of times past. Like many clubs we are in the situation where participating membership is an issue, BUT in the last few years we have been fortunate to gain a good number of, dare I say younger, but very positive and active folk who contributed hugely to our celebration but also participate with the general running of the club and its activities. Hopefully we have many more years of historic motoring and camaraderie.
Safe motoring.
Dave DUIRS
Hmm, who’s idea were these balloons?
Debbie Kitchen’s memories of her life as a “FNVCC Kid” which she shared at the 50th .
Good afternoon, everyone. Looking around I see a lot of familiar, faces, but for those who don’t know me, I am a daughter of founder members Gordon and Norah Matthews and was just entering my teenage years as the Far North Club was established. When asked to share a few words from a ‘young’ perspective, many lasting memories came to mind. In short, car run days and silent checks we loved them!
Not so fondly, was the sandpaper and a rusty part to prepare for painting!
As my siblings and I grew up, Mum and Dad were busy restoring cars and we experienced the entire journey. From pulling that old relic out of the shed to hearing it fire into life for the first time. Our eagerness to see a finished car on the road matched that of our parents and we helped where and when we could in the many hours of stripping, rebuilding, sanding and painting.
Run/rally days were the best. It was game on as us five kids set ourselves with eyes peeled in every direction, searching for car names on
pale blue silent checks, and clues along the way. There were also those collectables to find – a feather being the most elusive I recall! We only ever had one chance to spot something, as Dad was never interested in turning around for a second look, much to our dismay!
The Far North Tours were a special highlight of childhood. I vividly remember the excitement of seeing all the cars arrive at Taipa School for the Saturday night function each vehicle seemed unique to us, from tiny coupes to a hearse and even a bus.
The sheep roasting on a spit for the masses and the huge fireworks display at the beach was grand!
On Sunday we’d join the tour as it made its way south, and one year, riding in a dicky seat was the optimal adventure.
Other great recollections to share included:
Being front seat passenger in Win’s 1927 Chev Tourer with the roof up, having to wear a raincoat. Those split windshields are not fit for purpose in heavy rain – it just splashed in through the join!
On one run day we were searching for water sources to top up a leaking car radiator every few miles, a higher
priority than finding silent checks and clues.
Enjoying every bounce in the road from the back seat of the Buick. It’s extra-springy springs made the ride feel like sitting on a trampoline – though perhaps not so great for the driver!
A few years after getting my driver’s license, I became the proud owner of one of the family’s vintage cars. Every outing in that car became more memorable than any journey in a modern vehicle, though there were practical challenges. I quickly learned that parking on a slope allowed for a rolling start if needed!
Realising my car was sitting idle and not practical with child restraints etc with my own young family, reluctantly it was sold, and went out of the area. I share this with purpose, as there is a happy ending: Last year, I was tracked down by a Lynnette who has owned my 1936 Standard for 18 years now. It is still very much alive and cherished, driven twice weekly and still attracting a lot of waves and attention in the Stratford area.
Dad had purchased this car in 1973 so although not local, it motors on 50+ years later!
Lynnette has invited me to visit, view, and even drive the car whenever I’m passing through. This sort of thing only happens in this kind of organization!
In summary, my experience and involvement with the Far North Vintage Car Club has been highly rewarding.
Opportunities to travel on every ‘off the beat’ road in the north and visit many places that Joe-average couldn’t or didn’t even know about.
I went to two amazing rallies, the 21st International in Rotorua and the 1st Pan Pacific in Christchurch.
The sense of community within the Club and its wider network is enduring, and I am grateful to have been part of it!
Congratulations on reaching the 50year milestone and keep those wheels turning!
Debbie Kitchen [Matthews]
Omnium gatherum
Kind thoughts and good wishes to all who are challenged with winter health issues at present. You are allowed ‘time out’ to look after yourself.
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”
