Words by Nick B. Pictures by Mike, Mat & Nick.
The Motafenz Annual General Meeting was held on Sunday 28th July.
Apart from being a great time to catchup with lots of people at once, we always had a little club business to administrate so it’s a big day on our calendar.
Whilst everyone was enjoying a browse of the carpark full of members cars and grabbing a warming cup of coffee and cake, committee members were processing new and renewal memberships and administering the legal requirements to ensure we had the quorum, or the minimum number of eligible voting members personally present to officially conduct the AGM.





We had about 13 new and renewing members on the day, which is always good. This took our number of eligible voting members to 103, meaning we needed 26 members to have quorum. The number of eligible voting members personally present was 37. So, we were good to go!
Apologies and proxies were received prior to the meeting and additionally from the floor, and then we passed the motion approving the minutes of the 2018 AGM.
Alan, as President, gave a review of the highlights of the past 12 months of activity.
Russell, our Treasurer, gave a brief overview of the financial position of the club, noting the club ran at a small loss for the year – this was due to capital expenditure on a club property trailer and new t-shirts for events. A motion was moved and carried to accept this. He also noted a slight membership fee increase.
Extra effort was taken in presenting the Annual Reports on the full activities of the Committee – we hope you enjoyed the revised format ☺
Stalwart members Chris G and Chris K were presented the Member of the Year awards.


It was then time for the current committee to stand down, and Rod Brown kindly chaired the election of the incoming committee.
The results for election of committee members is as follows…
First, we dealt with the election of named office bearers:
- PRESIDENT: Alan Benedetti
- SECRETARY: Joseph Sirianni
- TREASURER: Russell Lees
- EVENTS CO-ORDINATOR: Jeff Whitehead
- PUBLICATION EDITOR: Nick Bassett
- WEBMASTER: Nick Bassett
- CLUB PERMIT OFFICER: Mat Giacomantonio
Under the new constitution, 8 general committee members were elected as follows: Brett Huxtable, Ross Junor, Anthony Wiseman, John McLeod, Gordon Campbell, Chris Gallagher, Damian Calderwood, Mike Frith.
Note: Due to personal circumstances, Damian has resigned from the Committee effective 14th August 2019.
Chris M who runs the club Slot Car nights announced the winner of the Motafrenz 2018 Slot Car Championship – Congratulation to John M!
The People’s Choice for Best Car at the event was awarded to Mike F for this Plymouth Fury.
It was mentioned, that the estate of the late Brett Tooke is being sold and a number of BMC/Morris vehicles are to be sold. A full listing of vehicles is available, by contacting Gordon C – gordon@motafrenz.org.au
Nick B moved a motion of thanks on behalf of the club to Michael Frith who is stepping down as Club Permit Officer after many years of service in that position.
The official meeting was then closed although a few of us lingered longer for a final cup of coffee and some more banter.
Our thanks go to the Victorian Historic Racing Club for the use of their premises again this year.
At the Committee Meeting on 14th August, we decided on the following portfolio allocations:
- AOMC Delegates: Jeff Whitehead & Chris Gallagher
- Community & External Liaison: Anthony Wiseman
- Federation Delegates: Alan Benedetti & Ross Junor
- Membership: Brett Huxtable
- Property: Nick Bassett (pro-tem)
- Privacy: John McLeod