March 2023
Around the bend – the ravings of your President.
Sorry I missed last month’s magazine. An editorial deadline waits for no one.
A big welcome to a new committee member. Andrew Gowans has finally move all the way into the Hunter and decided he has now got time to help us out in an official capacity. He is tireless with his updating and running of out electronic communications and social media. Now he has a seat at the committee table as your Public Relations Officer.
I’ve asked over a number of month about who might be attending the 2023 MG National Meeting in Adelaide over the Easter weekend. It looks like there will be 3 MGs and their families going from the MGCC Hunter.
The work two doors up from me has hit fever pitch with the gearbox coming out of the Y so it can have a visit to the dentist. The first gear cluster had a missing tooth, making the sound effects coming from the transmission when taking off, head turning. I did get asked if I was any good at getting indent balls back in. I suggested cable ties. They worked a treat.
Talking of two doors up, I got a sneak peak of the P type’s progress. It is looking like a car (a very small one) again and it won’t be long until it is stripped down again and some paint applied. It’s an exciting time.
Andrew Gowans is also venturing south west is his beautiful MGA. Very little preparation is required other than general maintenance for the 1500km drive (each way). Elliot and Andrew with be driving in convoy.
Bev’s Midget is as good as she will get. After many years of looking at the tappet cover thinking it needs a repaint, I finally did it. A reupholster of the door capping on the driver’s door, and some studious cleaning in a few hard to get at places sees everything on the list almost done. A wheel alignment is the last thing to do.
We are starting a new year with the weather all over the place. If you need to do flood preparation at your house, be warned, the car club has set the dates for the 2023 Concours. It, and its accompanying east coast low, will be scheduled again for October.
Euroday is set down for June.
I heard a comment made by a club member, ‘what do we get for our membership?’ I found this very disappointing. Just to give you all an insight, your membership goes to pay rent on the club rooms, water, electricity, insurance, accounting, affiliations, subscriptions, magazine (yes it still costs to produce an electronic magazine), J van etc. This comes to just under $12,000 per year. Income from membership fees totals just under $10,000. We are behind the eight ball to the tune of $2,000 a year.
The club depends on fund raisers like our Euroday and our Concours (and you know how many of those we’ve managed over the last few years) to keep our heads above water. The biggest cost is rent on the Mechanics Institute so without moving out and finding somewhere else we have to keep paying. Now that we have had a closer look at our financial situation the committee may be forced to consider increasing our membership fees. It has been quite a few years since we’ve had an increase. Most of these costs are outside our control and unfortunately are always increasing.
It is nice that we have a few members that look for what they can do and help the club every year. It is a real shame that we can’t get enough members to fill all the positions on the committee. It has been many years since we’ve had a full committee and a number have been working for quite a few years and would like a break. They don’t want to leave the club ‘wanting’ so keep plodding along.
Ask not what the club can do for you, but what you can do for your club. I will be working at the Supercars in Newcastle again. I’ve been to every one so far. I don’t know of any other club member donating their time on the big stage but it wouldn’t be many. Yes, I would much rather the council and government put their funds into building a permanent track so all motorsport participant could compete all year round and the general public could learn lifesaving driving skills in a controlled environment. There is nothing within hours of Newcastle. I can’t see that happening anytime soon with the current thinking.
Steve
