Hunter Chapter's 10th Anniversary
26 October 2016 / Article: Lindsay Green & Josh Fitzgerald - Photos: Peter Hilkmann, Helen Green, David Gazzard
The planning started many months in advance and big decisions had to be made. Do we have a formal luncheon or a casual lunch? “Formal” isn’t really the Hunters style so a casual, social style lunch it was. Now where to hold it? Oh no, the Hunter Valley vineyards don’t really do ‘casual’ or have a price to match. A few quotes that knocked us off our chairs helped to shorten the list of locations and after a few “secret” scouting lunches it was decided, Nanna Kerr’s Kitchen it was!
The location was sorted, now on to the festivities. Having never organised a major event like this before, this was where the nerves hit! What are people expecting? How do we celebrate a 10 year milestone of a sports car club? Well that last parts easy, it has to include a drive!
The number of members registering for the day came in thick and fast, with members from Hunter, Illawarra, Sydney, MNC & Canberra registering to attend, with many attending the run with Hunter to the venue. Given the large number of cars for this run, it provided the perfect way to involve the previous Hunter Convenors with them each leading a group to the venue.
We had some volunteers offer to help with parking and registration, so not wanting for them to miss out on any of the fun, we decided we would lead them on the same run, starting earlier to allow time to set up.
Well no sooner did we arrive at our meet point did everyone else start turning up for the main run! Soon the car park was heaving with almost 50 MX-5’s on a gorgeous sunny day, what a sight! With another 9 MX-5’s from Sydney making the run up the putty, plus a handful of other members, including Hunter Life Members Rod and Zan Menzel meeting us at the venue, the car park at Nanna Kerr’s was going to be put to the test.
So off we set with our helpers. 30 minutes later the first group set off led by Tom Wilde, followed in 10 minute intervals between the following groups lead by Phil Mayo, Peter Hilkmann and Mark Gray, taking the Hunter members and our guests on an hour of driving through some of the scenic and fun roads the Hunter Valley has to offer. Soon enough the first group arrived and our parking marshals sprung into action. The car park was quite tight and we tested members’ reverse parking abilities to try to set up the ideal photo of MX-5’s in front of the backdrop of the vines and the Broke ranges. Must say all passed the parking test with a big tick!
Our registration ladies were set up on a desk to mark off members as they arrived and hand out commemorative badges to the Hunter members, a beautifully designed silver badge with the silhouette of an MX-5 in red surrounded by a navy blue ring to tie in the Hunter Chapter colours.
The Nanna Kerr’s staff had set up an outdoor bar on the grass for the 104 attending members to collect their complimentary drink and to socialise before lunch. Allowing time for catching up and reminiscing about years gone by with familiar faces, including our invited guest, Hunter's first Convenor Sean Thompson who was instantly spotted by Hunter members who were there at the very beginning.
Inside Nanna Kerr’s the canapé’s started doing the rounds and the wine flowed. Scattered on the tables were flip books of photos from Hunter events over the years (thanks Peter Hilkmann!) and the article of the inaugural Hunter meeting from Club Torque back in 2006 allowing guests to relive the past years of the chapter.
The start time for lunch was planned slightly later to allow our club president Bryan Shedden who was racing in the NSW Super Sprints at SMSP that morning, time to do a session or two before hightailing it up the M1 for the event. Thanks for stretching yourself between commitments. The mad dash was worth it though, as the MX-5 Club of NSW took out the NSW Super Sprints Championship for the third time in a row!
Lunch was soon served with perfectly cooked Lemon Chicken, Lamb Puttanesca, & Vegan Moussaka. With speeches beginning towards the end of lunch starting with the very first convenor of the Hunter Chapter, Sean Thompson, talking about how the chapter began and what it was like in the early days. Big thanks to Sean for taking on the challenge of setting up the Hunter Chapter! After our speech covering more recent times, members and their cars and successes for the chapter, then came Bryan’s speech covering his personal connection with the Hunter and how the chapter has evolved (unfortunately no projector to display a pie chart). Then we invited major club sponsor Peter Battisson of ACDC to say a few words and he presented a gift to the past and present convenors. Arranged by the club and sponsored by ACDC was a scarf in Hunter colours with the club logo and each convenors name and period served.
With official duties now done, on came dessert with sticky date pudding and a luscious pavlova. Nanna Kerr’s Kitchen certainly looked after their guests! As the day was drawing to an end, members started to make their way home, although in typical fashion, Hunter members were the last to leave!
We’d like to thank the past convenors of the Hunter Chapter, Sean Thompson, Tom Wilde, Phil Mayo, Peter Hilkmann and Mark Gray and all the members of the MX-5 Club of NSW who have participated and been involved in making the Hunter Chapter the success it is! Bring on the next 10 years!
More of Peter Hilkmanns Photos: HERE
More of Helen Greens Photos: HERE
More of David Gazzards Photos: HERE
