I am very pleased to become TSOA (SA) President after serving my apprenticeship as Treasurer and then Vice
President and have some big shoes to fill from outgoing President, Peter Davidge.
Peter was Treasurer for our club for a decade or so and President for 3 years. He and wife Julie have also been key
members of several Nationals organisation committees, and they have been passionate advocates for our club. Julie
has been a great support to Peter and is almost always at club meetings and regularly organises supper. Thanks,
Peter and Julie, for everything you have done for our club, and we hope your move to Victoria goes well. Luckily,
Peter and Julie have a strong connection with several TSOA members in Victoria through attending many Nationals,
so they should soon feel right at home.
I joined TSOA when I purchased my TR6 in 2008 and kept that car for some 14 years before buying my current TR5.
It has been a great journey, and my wife Sue and I have loved every minute of being in the club. We have both been
on three Nationals committees (the last as conveners) and have, like Peter and Julie, made many friends in TSOA
clubs around Australia.
Our club is strong with a membership of over 250, however we only see a reasonably small proportion of those
members at club activities. Filling committee positions remains difficult, and for the club to continue to prosper, others
will need to take on some responsibilities in running the club in the future. We do, however have quite a few very
dedicated and hard-working members, who Peter and Tony Case acknowledged at the AGM.
The President’s Award for members of the Executive committee was jointly awarded to Fastrak editor Katherine
Bradley and Treasurer Lisa Macleod. Kat and Lisa are both relatively recent members who took over their roles after
the last AGM and have done outstanding jobs, so much so, that they were both re-elected unopposed at the AGM this
year.
The Vice President’s award for non-executive members was jointly awarded to Laurie and Kaye Placing. Laurie and
Kaye have been long-serving members of TSOA NSW, however moved to Adelaide a couple of years ago. They
have run mid-week get togethers each month and invited all members to an Australia Day BBQ at their house in
January. They were also very supportive of me for the 2022 Nationals and a regular attendee at almost all club
events.
Secretary Duane, Membership/Historic Registrar Ian and Competition Secretary Neil have continued to do a great job
in their respective roles, and the club would not be able to operate in its current form without any one of these three
members. I am extremely grateful that they are all continuing for 2023/24.
Life members, Bill and Margie Berlemon are retiring from the Social Secretary role, however will still be organising the
Club Weekender, the door at club meetings, supper etc, so it is hardly a retirement. Bill and Margie are tireless
workers for TSOA, despite having many other community roles, and it is almost impossible to imagine our club without
them. Thanks to Bill and Margie for everything they have done and will continue to do for TSOA.
Whilst the Social Secretary role remains open, the Regalia role, which my wife, Sue has done for many years has
been filled. Thank Sue for doing such a great job and thanks to Dean Berlemon for taking this on for the future. Dean
(Bill’s son) is also running the Day of Triumph, our club’s premier event, and his wife Lisa is Treasurer. As I have said
previously, the work of the club is done by a small portion of the membership.
We do, however welcome Richard Sellers to the Executive Committee as Vice President.
Finally, I congratulate our newest life members, Rory and Sue Gibson, who were unanimously elected to Life
Membership at the AGM. Rory and Sue have been the epitome of dedicated and hard working TSOA members for as
long as most of us can remember, having been part of our club for over 30 years. Rory ran Day of Triumph for 8
years and both have been integral members of the last five Nationals organising committees, including putting the
Rally Guide together, arguably the biggest job on the committee. Sue was social secretary for 8 years and has
organised the club Christmas Dinner for 10 years. They have won the Clubman Award around 8 times, run many club
runs and observation runs and prepared many suppers over their 30 years with our club.
fasTRak – August 2023 3
I look forward to another successful year of TSOA. The club has been going for nearly 60 years, and we are very
fortunate to still have our joint founder, Tony Case in our club, and who remains an active (and vocal) part of Club
activities. Thanks, Tony, for all you have done, and continue to do for your brainchild all those years ago.
Regards,
Alex Smithson
TSOA SA President