Canberra Chapter Christmas Lunch and Presentations

Gathered at Yowani 2022 - 2
Gathered at Yowani 2022-1 Gathered at Yowani 2022 - 2 Peter leads the choir The President speaks Winners are Grinners - Lili Chi1 Winners are Grinners - Lili Chi2 Winners are Grinners - Maryanne Nicholas

19 December 2021 / Words and pictures by Rod Nicholas

Saturday 11 December 2021

The year once more
Is near the end
Our MX-5s
Turn one more bend
We'll raise a glass
To bid farewell
To another year
Of Covid Hell!

The Canberra Chapter wrapped up another interrupted year with a most enjoyable lunch at the Yowani Country Club, hosted by our Convenors Peter and Annemie Wilson.

The year started brilliantly as we all quietly hoped for a less disruptive year than 2020. And so it was, for the first six months anyway. June to October was an on-again off-again period, with more events COVID-cancelled than held, but well-attended when they did get underway. In the early part of the year Convenors, Runs Coordinator and Run Leaders breathed a sigh of relief as run after run went off like clockwork. The same group mumbled and cursed when events were later cancelled as lockdowns were called, although we all managed a smile more recently.

We held Coffee & Lies, our monthly get together, ten times over the year, missing only two occasions during the depths of the ACT’s lockdowns. Attendances were pretty good – a high of 41 and an average a tad under 30 members. Even with the lockdowns and restrictions, we filled the days with 16 runs, four of which were multi-day runs. Again, attendances were pretty good albeit a little down on previous years as some members engaged in ‘an abundance of caution’ in relation to gathering in groups. And still we managed to hold three social events – each really well-attended – during the year. So, 2021 wound up with 29 events, which feels like a good effort.

Our final event for the year was our Christmas Lunch. Forty-one members gathered at Yowani to make sure the year ended with some laughs (it was particularly pleasing to see a couple of newbies among the group – I trust we haven’t scared you off). We had the pleasure of the company of our Club President Peter Battisson who spoke briefly about several interesting developments for the Club expected to be implemented in the nearish future.

Yowani presented another delicious lunch and those gathered around the tables presented chatter and laughter (and plenty of it too) as we prepared for the presentations part of the day. Co-Convenor Peter thanked all those involved in the Chapter throughout the year – those who took active roles in the ‘administration’ (Runs Committee, Website etc), Run Leaders, those who helped with social events, and (of course) all the wonderful members who joined runs, attended C&L and otherwise helped to make the Chapter such a joy to be part of. Peter also welcomed our new members and hoped their first taste of the Chapter this year was enough to have them coming back for more.

The process of figuring out who gets the awards is sort of simple. Membership points are awarded for participation in various Club activities – organising an event or run, participating in an event, preparing reports, submitting photos and sundry other activities. The Run Leaders and Convenors provide information (such as the sign-on sheets) to some clever people in Sydney who tally the points across all Club activities, wave a wand and just like the magic sorting-hat in the Harry Potter world sift out the results.

Congratulations go to:

  • Maryanne Nicholas - Canberra Chapter Member the Year
  • Lili Chi - Canberra Chapter New Member the Year 
  • Chris Barnes - Canberra Chapter Motorsport Member of the Year

President Peter took over to announce a couple of extra awards to members of our Chapter:

  • Lili Chi - Club New Member the Year
  • Frances Wood – Runner-up Club New Member the Year.

That members from our Chapter once again prove to be among the Club’s most active is a testament to the strength of our Chapter, the interest of our members and the enthusiasm we have for Zoom Zooming. Long may it continue.

Co-Convenor Annemie led the draws for the ‘lucky door’ draws, with prizes aplenty (although strangely the non-alcoholic wine was just about the last in the prize pool snatched up).

Congratulations to all the award recipients (and prize recipients)!

Our Lunch & Presentations was a resounding success – plenty of laughs, plenty of talk, plenty of tucker and a roomful of great people. There was general consensus that we did have a good year, and 2022 was looking even better.

Cheers all. Have a safe and happy Christmas/New Year. May you Zoom Zoom to your heart’s content in 2022.