Words by Nick.
Sunday 20th September the club held its Annual General Meeting, and what a totally new experience for us it was, our first AGM to be held virtually via Zoom.
It was an early start for some of the committee who joined the Zoom call at about 10am to run through some final points and to test the technology. Members joined from 10:30 and we all enjoyed some much-needed chats and laughs. A final rush of members joined right at 11:00am, just before our President, Alan, opened the meeting formally at 11:05.
Joseph, our Secretary, explained we needed 36 members present to have quorum and be able to conduct the meeting, we had 42 members present.
We warmly welcomed two observers: Braidy Davies – President of the Morris Car Club (Vic) and David Shepperd – Committee Member of LAMBDA Car Club (USA).
Braidy was introduced to the club by one of our members, Marcus. She joined our AGM as the Morris Car Club is holding their first virtual AGM soon and was seeking some tips and pointers. David was linked in as LAMBDA is a sister LGBTIQA+ car club with chapters all over the USA.
The Minutes of the 2019 AGM, the Annual Report of the Committee, and the Financial Reports from our Treasurer were as matter of procedure; moved, seconded and accepted. The club was reminded that, as foreshadowed in the Annual Report, membership fees for the 2020/2021 year remain at: $50 for single memberships, and $65 for family memberships.
With the procedural formalities out of the way, we moved on to the happy task of presenting the club awards for the year.
First, we named our Member of the Year: Alan spoke of a member who was quiet and unassuming, yet was a constant presence within the club this year. Writing a wonderfully detailed article for Cruise Control and who attended every club event he could (although you might easily miss him, as he is a listener foremost in social environments).
The Member of the Year award was presented to Les Fitzgerald.
Les accepted his award in his usual humble manner, thanking the club for providing a place he felt he belonged.
Next we moved on to presenting our Life Memberships. The committee discussed who to award this recognition to, and in the end, we couldn’t pick just one person…
Our first recipient was Michael Frith. Michael has been a member since attending his first event in 1999, he joined the next day! He is known to most members with vehicles on the Club Permit Scheme (CPS) as he served as club permit officer for over a decade. Mike’s role often meant phone calls and visitors at weird hours to accommodate the CPS administration. It is fitting that his extra-ordinary dedication and contribution to the club is recognised in this way.
Our second recipient was Anthony Wiseman. Anthony has been a member of Motafrenz since 2003 and has been on the committee in one capacity or another almost as long. A tireless advocate for Motafrenz and willing to do whatever the club needs, we are delight Anthony’s longevity and keen governance to the club is recognised.
Chris, our slot car guru, announced that our slot car season was cut short. Based on rankings to date, we had a tie, so the award this year was split between Alan & Mat.
Next came the election of the Committee for the 2020/2021 year. Long standing member Brian Rowe served as chair for the election – I’ll save you the boring election process (it was electronic and fancy), so here are the results:
President: Alan Benedetti
Secretary: Gordon Campbell
Treasurer: Russell Lees
Events Coordinator: Jeffrey Whitehead
Social Media Coordinator: Nick Bassett
Publication Editor: Nick Bassett
Club Permit Officer: Mathew Giacomantonio
General Committee: John McLeod, Anthony Wiseman, Brett Huxtable, Chris Gallagher, Paul Hollingworth, Colin Mcintosh, Daniel Borton, Kelvin Mounsey.
The incoming committee was welcomed. A few quick thankyous were given and the meeting closed. All done and dusted in 1 hour, a record possibly!
Some members ducked off for lunch whilst others hung around to talk all things cars. Around 15 of us had approximately an hour and a half of Garage Talk with a few members showing us their cars and motorbikes.
A successful day that showed as a club we can adjust as required to new experiences. I think we are all looking forward to our AGM being in person next year! The allure of a snag in bread is strong!
