Southern Tablelands Heritage Automotive Restorers Club Inc.

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10^th Anniversary Dinner July 2011	Car of the Month

STHARC 10^th Anniversary Dinner July 2011 Article by Lawrie Nock In 2011 STHARC celebrates the 10^th anniversary of its foundation. The club decided that it would be appropriate to mark the occasion with an event subsidized from accumulated reserves. The idea was to get as many as possible of club members to attend for a social evening together. A location which was as convenient as possible to as many as possible of the club members was desirable. The location chosen for the party was the RSL Bowling Club in Yass Road. In previous years the club has attempted to run a dinner dance providing our own music and exclusive use of the venue. The very high overheads associated with this option have been a worry for successive committees. The breakeven participation level has been around 100 people and this has put a lot of pressure on organizers. In 2010, with only about 40 members committed to the annual dinner just two weeks out from the proposed event, the committee decided to cancel and instead an informal BBQ party was held at Ray and Barbara Malam’s property. Club members started arriving at Yass Road from about 6.00 pm and before 7.00 pm we had about 60 people including a handful of children socializing at many decibels and waiting for their meal. It was good to see so many club members who we seldom see at club events. The menu was a banquet style Chinese dinner. At about 7.30 pm serving of the meal was halted following soup and entrees while the formal proceedings were conducted. Preparations for the annual Dinner included arranging for special badges for those members who were the Foundation Members of the club and are still financial members. The first meeting to establish what became STHARC, was attended by over 30 people. To this group was added a few other people, who were not able to attend that meeting but were part of the foundation membership of the new club. The records show that there was a total of about 36 people who were part of the original formation of the club. The preparation of a Constitution and By-laws was not as simple then as it is to-day. Registration plates had to be obtained by members but it wasn’t a simple matter of turning up at the motor registry to collect them. Even the naming of the magazine and the club itself and creating a logo had to be dreamed up by the likes of the Spencer and Neuss families. Since I wasn’t there my ability to refer back to other than what was available from the early magazines is limited. However, it is a testimony to the successful structuring and operation of the club that 27 of these people are to-day financial members of the club which last year had a membership of over 80 families covering well in excess of 120 people . A retention rate of 75% over 10 years in any special interest group is a notable achievement. At present, renewals of financial membership represent just over 50% of those listed as members. It is appropriate to remind members that the historic registration of any club vehicle is preconditioned by financial membership of the club and therefore vehicles should not be used on public roads unless your financial membership is current. But back to the birthday party. Because we were sharing the venue with other members of the public we decided to get our presentations and any formal aspects of the evening completed before the music started. There was a lot of noise even without the music. I thought that those other people attending the club were pretty loud and wondered how we were going to manage our proceedings with them present. I wasn’t at all embarrassed, but once our lot stopped talking the place was very quiet and that suggests that we were having a good time. I reckon that if we give the others plenty of notice of our intentions and we book in for this event at the same place next year, the other patrons might stay away to avoid that noisy lot of car people and we will have the place to ourselves. A photograph of those foundation members present for the dinner serves as a record of that part of the club’s history. The club hopes to hold a daytime function later in the better weather part of the year, when we can try to get all of our foundation members to attend and hopefully with their old cars to obtain a more representative historical record of the club’s survival. Annual club awards were then presented. Club person of the year, a perpetual trophy sponsored by Gary and Ros Hatch, is based on the choices of club members. This year it was awarded to Pam and John Corbett. Pam and John have both been office bearers in one role or more since the formation of the club. Ronda Cornwell again won the attendance perpetual trophy sponsored by Seiffert Automotive having cunningly arranged for husband John to be unable to attend one meeting, so by a margin of one she was the outright winner. President’s Choice sponsored by Motor Spares went to Chris Hillbrick-Boyd in recognition of her tireless and very successful effort to hold together the Secretary and Events Director roles during most of the last year when both positions have remained effectively unoccupied. Chris and Allan very skilfully avoided conflict with their family guideline of not having any more than one family member holding a committee position, by not accepting appointment to either position, thereby leaving her free to do both without any apparent conflict with family guidelines. Editor’s Choice sponsored by Better Tools went to Paul Hogarth. Some readers might well ask why he should get it, he seldom if ever sends in articles. We don’t even see him at club events very often. Well for those who don’t realize, the content of our magazine is the work of an editor supported by club members articles – and keep those articles rolling in because the Editor needs your help. The job isn’t finished when it is ready for printing. The Editor arranges to print the front cover and gets the rest of the copy to Paul who then arranges to have it copied at no cost to the club. This issue has been raised before but warrants repetition. Previous Committees have examined the operating costs of the club. Without the input by Paul, it would not be possible for the club to put out a magazine on a monthly basis at the current membership subscription level. When Paul has done his trick, the publishing committee (sometimes referred to as the tea and cakes club) assembles the production, labels it and puts it in the post. Most Travelled Trophy sponsored by Electroplating Technology, went this year to Gary and Ros Hatch. They have been so busy travelling on long distance events that they have often been unable to attend other club events. They were unable to be present to receive their trophy, possibly they were recuperating from their travels or perhaps still on them. The Encouragement Trophy, sponsored by Capital Powder Coating, went to Barry and Kim Davis for their display of bravery in their decision to undertake the restoration of a Fiat 850 shed find. We are looking forward to the emergence of this sweet little bit of Italy in rejuvenated form. Restoration of the year award sponsored by Independent Steel Company went to Mark Culmone for his restoration of an International R190 truck. This truck is a family member and has been with Mark for longer than he has been with our club. We will look forward to being able to inspect the vehicle when Mark brings it to an outing somewhere closer to home – perhaps the Christmas party. Home Restoration of the Year trophy sponsored by Australian Brake Sleeving went to Paul Anderson for his incredibly quick turnaround of A Chrysler Hillman Hunter. It seemed like no time at all between when he went to collect the vehicle and when it turned up at Battle of Waterloo Day. It is going to be interesting to see the Valiant when it emerges from its more detailed restoration. Lady Baden Powell was unable to attend the function but Jo Schilling received on behalf of the guides, a bouquet of flowers and a donation for $350 from the club to contribute towards the cost of maintaining the Guide Hall where we hold our meetings. Formalities over we attacked a wonderful selection of dishes complemented by fried rice followed by birthday cake, ice cream with topping and coffee or tea. Those who needed to leave early did so and the rest continued to the hard core group who finally finished their party discussions in the car park on the way home. A big thanks to Brian Thomas for suggesting the venue and organizing it for us and for Chris Hillbrick-Boyd and Steve Cole for preparing the venue for the evening. Thank you to all of the club members, their families and friends, who came out in the middle of winter to share the evening with us and make it a memorable and enjoyable celebration. Article and photos by Steve Cole
	STHARC 10^th Anniversary birthday cake
	STHARC foundation members celebrating 10 years. Standing left to right: Graham Bates James Corbett John Thomas Pat Smith Gracie Corbett Albert Neuss Bob Cannon John Corbett Pam Corbett Allan Boyd Belinda Hogarth-Boyd Lyndal de Ligt Ronda Cornwell John Cornwell Kneeling: Warren Cochrane Jodie Thomas
	Celebrating 10 years are Left to right: Pat Smith, Pam Corbett, John Corbett, guest,Lyndal de Ligt, Donovan de Ligt, guest hidden, guest, Gracie Corbett, guest, James Corbett
	Celebrating 10 years are Left to right: Graham Bates, Andrew Neuss, Albert Neuss trying to hide, 2 guests, Malcolm Stewart, Paul Hogarth at end of table, Allan Boyd, Belinda Hogarth Boyd, Barry Davies, 4 guests, Bob Cannon
	Paul Hogarth and Chris Hillbrick-Boyd at the 10^th anniversary bash
	Allan Boyd and his daughter Belinda Hogarth-Boyd at the 10^th anniversary bash
	Malcolm and Raelene Stewart enjoying the evening
	Ian and Krystina McLeish
	John and Pam Corbett
	John and Pam Corbett cut the 10^th anniversary cake
	John and Pam Corbett are presented with Gary and Ros Hatch perpetual Trophy for Club Person of the Year by Club President Lawrie Nock.
	John Corbett has provided outstanding support to the club as vehicle registrar and not to be outdone Pam has given wonderful assistance as membership secretary
	Presentation of Capital Powder Coatings Encouragement Award to Barry and Kim Davies
	Chris Hillbrick-Boyd is presented with the Motor Spares President’s Choice award by Club President Lawrie Nock.
	Paul Hogarth is presented with the Editor’s Choice award by Club magazine editor Malcolm Stewart.
	Rhonda Cornwell is presented with the Seiffert Automotive Best Attendance award by Club President Lawrie Nock.
	Jo Schilling from the Queanbeyan Girl Guides with a presentation of our gratitude for the ongoing use of their facilities for club meetings and functions.
	Jane Nock with Jo and Pauline representing the Queanbeyan Girl Guides

Photos by Steve Cole.

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