PRESIDENT’S REPORT – FEBRUARY 2021

This will be a relatively short report as I am still in Melbourne with my family.  Now that SA is opening the border to Greater Melbourne, we will be returning home on 7 or 8 March, hopefully, after 2 more family gatherings.

Well, apart from what we must do to remain Covid Safe, it feels like we are close to being back to normal activities.  Monthly meetings are occurring, supper and cars on stage have resumed, our social calendar is well in hand and a healthy racing program is in evidence.  The National Meeting Committee has also been busy and has a fully subscribed list of delegates who can’t wait to get to the Barossa Valley in late October 2021.  Details should be reported elsewhere in this edition of FastTRak.

My thanks to Vice President Ian Rigby for running the February meeting in my absence.  In addition to supper, members were treated to a

• a quiz by Kaye Placing (thanks a million!) and
• a presentation of Matthew Taylor’s TR7 with Sprint Engine.

An upcoming and exciting innovation is the transfer of our Day of Triumph (Concours and Show and Shine) to Sunday, 21 March 2021 from its normally later date in the year.  As Council approvals have only just come through, we have been unable to give club members greater notice.  Further details are provided in this FastTRak and members will be reminded again before the event.  So start polishing and let’s see if we can significantly boost the numbers the Club has had on display in recent years.  This is a great opportunity to compare your car with others and get some pointers as to what improvements you might make to your beloved Triumph.  Summer is rapidly running out (if we ever had one this year!), so use it as an excuse to get another day out with your Triumph.

And don’t forget the Observation Run and of course our traditional Weekender which are not far away. Details and dates are included in the Social Calendar.

In early January I sent an email, entitled “Your Club”, to a number of members seeking to personally encourage greater involvement in club activities, rather than just enjoying the benefits of historic registration.  In addition to the initial responses received, a further response elicited a rather nice TR8 that I thought was worthy of including here.

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I look forward to seeing you again in March.

Kind regards,

Peter Davidge (President)

Socially Speaking for March 2021

Eleven people attended the Breakfast Run, to Bethany.  It was a lovely day despite the low numbers, and Alex and Sue won the best breakfast, as they had their grandchildren with them, and had extra breakfasts to cook! Congratulations.  It was great to see Tony Rutter join us at Bethany, following his many months of lockdown in Western Australia.  Dean and Lisa joined us at Bethany with their Caravan, after staying at Tanunda.

Thanks to Dean and Lisa who assisted with the Super at the meeting after our  late apologies for the meeting.

We hope to have details of the weekender soon to publish.

The day of Triumph is next month, so I hope we have a great turn out for that.

Bill and Margie

Hot off the Presentation earlier today at the MSCA “Picnic and 2020 Trophy Presentation Day” held at the Virgara Wines lovely shaded grounds at Angle Vale, is the fantastic news that our intrepid Super Sprint drivers Neil Martin and Duane Kaak both WON their respective Competition Class awards for the 2020 year!

Congratulations you two – you do our TSOA SA Club and the Triumphs we love proud!

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – JANUARY 2021

Julie and I will be away for February visiting our daughters’ families in Melbourne and celebrating 3 birthdays, 1 birth and Chinese New Year.  We are driving over and hope that at the end of February we can get back into SA without having to quarantine.   The Committee will keep the Club running smoothly and Vice President Ian Rigby has kindly consented to chairing the February meeting.

Since November we have had 4 official Club functions, the Christmas Social, the after-Christmas Run, the informal January Club meeting and our traditional Ice-cream Run.   These have all been well attended with no forced cancellations, so things are looking up!!

During the Christmas/New Year break the Committee started planning for a return to more normal activities.   Supper (Covid-Safe) is on again and Bill and Margie have prepared the Club’s event Calendar for 2021 out to the end of May (see this FasTRak).  Several cancelled events from 2020 feature in the program.  So some exciting stuff is coming up including Valentine’s Day, the Breakfast Run, the long-awaited Observation Run and our May Weekender.

And mentioning Club Runs, are the photos below of early 1950’s Club Runs in the UK?  No! – too many people?  – too much sunshine?  Yes, you are right!  They were taken at Le Mans where the Standard Triumph Team was well represented.  A member with Coventry connections supplied the photos.

Condolences were sent to Mike Temby and his family following the passing of his wife Trina, just before Christmas.  Mike and his family were great supporters of the Club, Mike is a past President (2015/16) and was largely responsible for initiating and successfully managing the most recent review of our Constitution.  The family moved to Queensland 3 to 4 years ago

In early January I sent an email, entitled “Your Club”, to a number of members seeking to personally encourage greater involvement in club activities, rather than just enjoying the benefits of historic registration.  This was done with conviction, but some trepidation and I have been encouraged by the responses I have received so far.

It does seem clear that

• members could benefit by greater communication between each other (this needs to be self-driven) and
• some members are reluctant to get more involved because they don’t have a driveable Triumph. This is no barrier to attending meetings or coming on Club runs!  Whilst we encourage driving your Triumph, you can come to events in your family car.

And the following comments received are worth repeating:

• “When I feel confident the car will handle a 1,000 km round trip (from Mt Gambier) with touring in between and not leave me red faced at the side of the road, half-way there, I’ll certainly be coming to some events.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
• “Unfortunately, our Stag is stuck in a container in Singapore (on its way from Yorkshire). We will join you on an event as soon as we are able.”

• Thanks for the email…and yes, we should all try a bit harder to get more involved…that said, I am sure the efforts of those who do the heavy lifting are appreciated by all!

These are just a fraction of the views that members have but they certainly consolidate my confidence in the continuing value of the Club.

I wish all members a happy New Year.  Enjoy your February and see you again in March.

Kind regards,

Peter Davidge (President)

June

Sunday June 27th MSCA Super Sprint, Mallala

July

Sunday 18^th         Mid-Year Christmas and Presentation of Trophies from All Triumph Day

Tuesday 20^th    General Meeting – Sporting Car Club, King William Road, Hyde Park 8.00pm

Socially Speaking for January/February 2021

Happy New Year everyone, and I hope 2021 is a better one for everyone.

Our condolences go to Mike Temby who advised that Trina had passed away late last year, from Cancer. Our thoughts are with Mike, Megan, and Dale during this difficult time.

The end of year social dinner went well with 35 participants, and everyone enjoyed the evening.

Thirty-five people attended the after Christmas Run, which saw us have morning coffee at Uraidla and then onto Hahndorf for lunch – Hahndorf was so busy!! It was great to see some new faces, and a few spitfires on the run.

Congratulations to Roger and Cherri Lange on their 50^th Wedding Anniversary in late January.

The Ice Cream Run on the 23^rd January, although a hot day, it was pleasant driving along the waterfront with the sun setting.  Twelve cars braved the heat, and we meet 4 members at Noonies for Ice Creams.  It was lovely to see Lorna Ellery join us – she is working on Arrand’s car, and just needs to get the lights fixed, and she will  be on Club  runs in the TR6.

Bill and Margie

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – NOVEMBER 2020

Not a lot has happened this month in terms of Club activities.  I have overseen the cancellation of another Club meeting (bugger!) and sadly our annual Observation Run.  Despite all this I hope you have been able to jump in your Triumph and forget your Covid worries for a time.

We have had 2 zoom meetings.   One with the Club Committee to discuss next year’s program, the format of Club meetings and our Day of Triumph display and the other our regular Nationals Committee meeting.  Both meetings went well.  I am hoping that we can hold our Day of Triumph earlier next year, either in late March or early April.  Ian Rigby is working towards achieving that.

As I mentioned in my last report, All British Day (ABD), as we know it, has been cancelled.  Following a suggestion made at our last meeting I wrote to the Chair of the Committee expressing TSOA’s appreciation of the effort they had gone to prior to deciding to cancel.  I have heard that there are further developments to be announced soon concerning the 2021 ABD.  This is unconfirmed at this stage but.  keep your ears close to the ground.  Maybe we should have a Club Run, “In place of the ABD”, on the proposed day, 14 February 2021 (Valentine’s Day).

On 9 November Duane Kaak, Roger Lange and I attended MSCA SA’s AGM at the MG Car Club Clubrooms.  Despite Covid they have been able to successfully run their 5/6 scheduled race days for the year and achieve a small surplus.  I was impressed by their strong volunteering spirit.  Roger Lange, who was re-elected Treasurer for the 19th year in a row, exemplifies this.  Well done Roger!

On a sad note Graham Jones, husband of Gwyn and proud owner of a magnificent yellow GT6, passed away recently.  Our thoughts go out to Gwyn and her family.  Graham joined the Club in 1970, never lost his love of Wales, was truly knowledgeable about Triumphs and had a quietly engaging personality.  He will be sorely missed.  I remember how meticulously he always presented his car and the photos below, taken at Milang in 2013, clearly show this.

And well done to Neil Martin, Duane Kaak and Bryan Young, the Legends of the Lake.  All did PB’s and sounds like they had a ball!!

Details of the remaining social calendar for the year are included elsewhere in FastTRak.  Let’s hope we can do some extra catching up over Christmas and the New Year to make up for all the opportunities we missed in 2020.

In the meantime, I wish all members a safe and enjoyable Christmas and especially those who might be travelling interstate or being visited from interstate to see their families once again.

See you again soon.

Kind regards, Peter Davidge (President)

Socially Speaking for December

Due to the Covid restrictions, the Observation Run, was cancelled. This will be rescheduled for 2021.

But the end of year event (at this stage is still going ahead!) so bookings are required, no last-minute arrivals.

Sadly, this month we say goodbye to Graham Jones.  He was a fabulous person, so active, and loved his boating and his yellow GT6 Triumph.  We will miss his enthusiasm to attend the weekender, and his fabulous photos. We wish Gwen all our sympathies, and prayers at this incredibly difficult time.

Bill and I wish everyone a safe, and Happy Christmas, and keep well, and we hope to see you all at the after Christmas Run and Ice Cream run in January.

Upcoming Social Events:

Wed 30^th December –After Christmas run

Sat 23^rd January 2021 – Ice Cream Run

Stay safe and see you at upcoming events.

Bill and Margie.