2026 Annual General Meeting
10 November 2026 / Story by Ian Combes & Bryan Shedden, Photos by Rob Wilko
The 2026 Annual General Meeting of the Mazda MX-5 Club of NSW was again held at the Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club. Many thanks to our Vice-President Jeffrey Rowe for organising the venue and buffet – the food was excellent as always. This was Jeffrey's last responsibility as the VP as he formally stepped down at this AGM.
The AGM was attended by 58 members with 65 apologies recorded. This year we simplified the format a bit. We didn’t have a video link this time. The video is a nice thing to do but difficult to set-up and manage, so this year we did not provide this option. We also didn't use a projector this time, which simplified things again. The incremental value in having the projector seems borderline, and I don't think was a significant issue. The lower stress on the organisers seemed worthwhile – everyone could enjoy the food and socialise with the other attendees rather than rush around setting stuff up. The low-key format seemed to work quite well.
In the President's Report, I presented an overview of the Club’s activities over the last year, so everyone is encouraged to read that. I did run through a lot of it in the meeting.
John Purcell presented his final Club Captain's Report – John officially stepped down at the AGM. Being his last report, John went through the extensive list of activities. I’m not sure that everyone is aware of what John did over the course of the year, but the AGM attendees certainly do now! As I said in the President's Report, John’s contribution is considerable. Apart from his normal Club Captain tasks (including the President's Picnic and social run permits), John organised the Brass Monkey this year with Michael Soulos, and coordinated the runs for NatMeet 2026. Your enthusiasm will be missed John!
In lieu of an elected Motorsport Secretary during 2026, I presented a Motorsport Secretary's Report. This was our second year in the CSCA (Combined Sports Car Association). It was a pretty good year in motorsport, and much easier now that we don’t need to run all our own track days. Part of the delay in seeking a new Motorsport Secretary was our desire to finish documenting the role (and the other motorsport roles). Much of the heavy lifting in 2026 was done by our Motorsport Coordinator – Gaynor Lawler. More of the work is also done by the Motorsport Event Secretaries in recent years as well. That made it possible to get by with a part-time Motorsport Secretary. We have now just about finalised the split in responsibilities between these different roles so we could actively fill the Motorsport Secretary position. As of the 2026 AGM, Lou Iezzi is our new Motorsport Secretary. Lou has enormous experience in motorsport so the Club is very fortunate to have Lou’s services. Welcome Lou.
Our Treasurer Helen Green presented her Treasurer's Report. This year there was considerably more cash going through our books for NatMeet. The Club had two previous attempts in 2020 and 2022 at getting our NatMeet off the ground. Both failed due to Covid. Those attempts lost significantly due to uncoverable expenditure. However, factoring in the retained Mazda Australia sponsorship for 2020, the overall NatMeet picture of 2020, 2022 and 2026 was effectively break even. The Club remains in a strong financial position, reporting a small net profit of $6,095.94. Helen continues to do an incredibly thorough and professional job on our accounts, and members are encouraged to sift through all 17 pages of her report.
At each AGM, we need to re-elect half our office bearers, so this year that was Helen Green (Treasurer) and Wesley Hill (new Vice-President). We also re-elected half our greater committee, including Manpreet Banga (new Club Captain), Lou Iezzi (new Motorsport Secretary), Ian Mash (Governance Officer), Senia Gaunson (Publications Officer) and Rod Nicholas (new General Committee Member). The Club’s committee now has all positions filled.
Welcome to the 2027 Committee - Jonathan Wood, Graham Fletcher, Kay Godfrey, Bryan Shedden, Wayne Luxford, Helen Green, Ian Combes, Fiona Shedden, Wesley Hill, Lou Iezzi, Senia Gaunson, Pauline Schofield, Manpreet Banga. Absent were Ian Mash, Rod Nicholas, Stuart & Michelle Ducat, Zan Dimovski, Phil Betts, Rose & Geoff Smith.
Awards Presentation
Our retiring Vice President Jeffrey Rowe presented certificates of appreciation to two Chapter sponsors who attended the meeting: Manpreet Banga of Banga Financial (sponsor of RPM Chapter) and Robert O'Connor of Wollongong Mazda (sponsor of Illawarra Chapter). Additional certificates will be presented to other sponsors by the Chapter Convenors. Jeffrey did an outstanding job over the last two years, establishing five new Chapter Sponsors and cultivating stronger relationships with our existing Sponsors. He also grew the advertising in Club Torque from one to eleven advertisers, which goes a very long way towards reducing the print costs of the magazine and avoiding the need to raise membership fees.
Membership Tenure Awards were presented next. We had 60 members for 5-year badges, 63 for 10-year badges, 15 for 15-year badges, 11 for 20-year badges, 4 for 25-year badges, and 1 member for a 35-year badge. The full list of tenure awards call be found here. Both Lindsay Burke (35-Years) and Bill Dougall (25-Years) spoke eloquently about their many years of enjoyable Club membership.
Lindsay Burke (35 Years) and Bill Dougall (25 Years)
Ian Bennett (20 Years) at his first club event in at least 14 years!
15 Year Members - Helen Green (and Grant Webber), Maree Eccleston, Steve Eccleston, Andrew Lord, Fiona Shedden, Ian Combes
10 Year Members - John Purcell, Chris Cameron, Gillian Camilleri, Godwin Camilleri, Rob Wilkins, Cathy Combes (collected by Ian), James Cook (collected by Jean)
5 Year Members - Abigail Webber (collected by Helen), Librayanti Kooyman, Linda Suttie, Andrei Voican
The recipients of the MXV Award in 2026 were Wesley Hill, Gillian Fletcher and Rose Smith (absent). Earning an MXV awards takes some real commitment, so many congratulations!
Somehow I managed to hang around on the Committee for 10 years - this was the only Service Award this year.
The next award was Life Membership to Michael Soulos. Michael served 11 years as Club Captain, organised almost as many Brass Monkey runs, and instigated the Breakfast Club in 2009, which continues to this day. This came as a big surprise to Michael, and we were very fortunate that he was able to attend the AGM to receive the honour. Needless to say, Michael, well and truly earned it!
The President's Award this year went to John Purcell for all the reasons I mentioned earlier. John has made a massive contribution to the Club over many years. That enthusiasm and commitment will be sorely missed. A very worthy winner.
