The Fairford Classic Car Club

As those of you who were at the AGM on the 10th Oct will have heard, our long standing President, Geoff Amey, regretfully tendered his resignation (top left). Geoff, together with June, has been a stalwart member of the club for many years and as only our second President, following Ron (Steady) Barker, has continued to provide guidance and advice whenever required – and not without a certain amount of humour! Certainly his short, but impassioned speeches at the AGM will be sorely missed – I think his record was summing the year up in a three word address! Geoff assures us that he and June will still continue to be very involved with the club activities and continue to provide advice and support to members and their classics.

Since Geoff made his decision known to the committee we have been discussing who could be a potential successor and also the role of President in a club such as ours. Having taken advice from a number of members, we have come to the decision that whilst Ron and Geoff played a very important role in the establishment of the club early years ( after all we are only 24 years old!), the committee structure we have in place is presently well equipped to manage the club and take it forward over the foreseeable future. However, this may change and therefore, whilst we will not presently be seeking a replacement for Geoff, circumstances in the future may dictate that we reintroduce the position of President.

It was good to see so many people at the AGM and if all those who had sent apologies had come, we would have been very short on space. The club continues to receive a steady influx of new members and it was especially pleasing to see and speak to some of them at the AGM (stand up the Richard’s family). At our annual ‘concourse’ which followed the AGM (postponed from the rain affected Walnut Trees event). it was also good to see Geoff Tebby win the Memorial Trophy with his lovely TR4A. (middle left)

Over the past year, I have visited a number of shows where I have often been disappointed to see the classic car displays crammed together, sometimes in a corner, and comprising just rows of cars, with no real order or ‘display’. At the Kemble steam fair I was interested to see how some of the military vehicle group actually tried to provide greater ‘atmosphere’ by displaying their vehicles in the context they were used for i.e. desert display, camouflage etc. This got me thinking, with the possibility of FCCC putting on a simple display which could be used as a central theme when we are at shows etc. One idea could be to develop a period garage ‘backdrop’ which could be attached to one of our gazebos, with two or three cars and parts in front being worked on by suitably dressed club members. Obviously it has to be simple, easily transportable and will require commitment from members, but I would very much like to hear your thoughts and ideas. Initially we could pick two or three shows and maybe even have an autojumble as part of it – certainly, amongst us, we must have plenty to contribute!

Winter is now almost upon us so time to start checking the antifreeze and getting on with all those small jobs. Or, in my case, trying to finish the large jobs and actually get some more cars rolling for 2010

Malcolm Cutler (bottom left) – October 2009