2024 Presidents Picnic
27 October 2024 / Ian Combes
MX-5 Club of NSW Presidents Picnic 2024
The Presidents Picnic is the most important event on the Club’s calendar, and as always, it was held at the historic Ebenezer Church on the Hawkesbury. I can’t imagine holding it anywhere else, so that was an easy decision when that topic was raised earlier this year. The setting and the weather were both stunning as always. Hard to imagine, but it was an even more pleasant day than last year with a nice gentle breeze.
It is really is a very relaxing environment to spend a day in, and a great opportunity to walk around and talk to Club members.
After many years in the capable hands of Michael Soulos, this year was the first event organised by our new Club Captain, John Purcell, who introduced a few new innovations, with great support from Senia Gaunson, not to mention many other volunteers who helped on the day. The day ran very smoothly (well, apart from the dead battery in the Club’s PA – thankfully Ebenezer Church loaned us theirs). Well done John and Senia! Even the coffee van was an improvement.
This year there were some changes in how the categories were judged. This year again, there was no Concours – this was replaced by a display and the Best In Show award, which was open only to cars in the other categories.
With the original NA MX-5 now 35 years old, it was fabulous to see the display of MX-5’s over 30 years of age. The MX-5 was developed into a genuine classic, so it was great to see so many pristine examples on show.
As always, there was great support from the Ebenezer Church volunteers who are always great hosts. As always, the Club made a donation to the church – this year $380 was raised. Thank you to everyone who chipped in for that – very generous.
This year there was a different take on the Careflight charity collection on the day. One of Senia’s main contributions was organsing a charity raffle on the day, which involved approaching businesses (including Club Sponsors) for donations of goods and services that we could use for prizes in the raffle – and there were a lot of them! Senia will publish a full acknowledgement for the prize donations in Club Torque, but thank to very much to all the businesses who made donations – some were very generous. Above all – thank you to Senia for the time, effort and enthusiasm for putting this raffle together! This effort was reflected in the proceeds for the raffle – the Club raised $2438, was sensational.
Congratulations to the winners of the show and shine awards.
The category for NA Show N Shine was won by a red NA entered by Julie Sando.
The category for NB Show N Shine was won by a red NB entered by Frank Verheyen
The category for NC Show N Shine was won by a yellow NC entered by Frances Molden
The category for ND Show N Shine was won a Gey ND entered by Rod Nicholas
The category for Best Ladies Entry was won by a Black ND entered by Marlene Cosier
The category for Best Modified was won by a blue ND entered by Mark Pullman
The categories for Best Historic and Best in Show were won by a white NA entered by Kevin Chappell
Ian Combes
