President's Ramble - September 2024

One of the things that amazes me is that I am still president, can’t figure out why some of you haven’t had enough of me and my ramblings yet. I checked and found I wrote my first one in August 2010, immediately into the job and immediately changing the President’s contribution to the magazine. It used to be called the Presidents Report but as I put it in 2010 “The Presidents Ramble (once called the Presidents Report but the new one likes to ramble).” Greg Winkley who was President before me I think was the longest running person we have had in the job, he did it for 7 years, I am now into my 15th term. Time for reflection and I think pity help anyone who takes over from me, assuming that they are duty bound to extend the record further! In the meantime, the committee has had a small refresh, one new face, thank you Martin, and a real jockeying of positions, Jayden to Vice President, Liesje to Secretary and Matthew to Membership Secretary. For those that were unable to attend the AGM the big news – if that’s the appropriate moniker for it – is that we did not pass the constitution, in fact other than a brief overview of the situation nothing more was said of it. The situation is that a last minute check found that there was still some more tinkering to do, that we still have next year to legally vote it in to be compliant with the law changes and it was determined it will now be voted on at the AGM next year. On the subject of ramblings, I have just come back from Nelson, visited alpine temperatures at St Arnaud, the beach at Tahunanui and managed a day tramp with water taxis in the Able Tasman. The relevance to us as automotive fans is that from what I observed they have a larger % of classic autos in everyday use, or at least regular use, than anywhere else I have observed in this fine country of ours. It is an automotive Mecca. Admittedly I saw nothing older than a 206 from the Lion brand, but plenty of other makes were represented in the older vehicle category. On the culinary stakes, I can now add seaweed butter to food I have tried, not sure that I would recommend it beyond giving it a go, I thought it tasted a lot like a Paua fritter, perhaps not surprising given Paua graze on seaweed to exist! See you at the upcoming show and shine, Brent ☺