My first year as your President has fast come to an end and what a great year it has been. I will again stand for another year at the AGM and if elected I am sure the next twelve months will be just as enjoyable.
In the main, it has been a pleasure to work with such a great bunch of members and having a committee with some very dedicated people makes running our club a lot easier. Like any club or organisation one always finds one or two distracters and our club has been no different, but I guess that’s democracy. Being a good committee member requires a lot of hard unpaid work and dedication and I thank those who delivered.
There was a sad note that we ended the year on and that was the passing away of our Club Patron, John Cooper CBE, after a long battle with cancer. John Cooper, who really turned the Mini into the cultural icon we know and love, died on Christmas Eve aged 77. A tribute to the great man is in the centre of this magazine and I thank my mate from Melbourne Stephen Dalton, who was indeed a good friend of John Cooper, for writing it for me.
This year has already started off where we left off last year with 35 cars and over 60 members turning up for breakfast at New Farm Park, our first outing for 2001. The breakfast was followed by a very scenic run on great Mini type roads up through Mt Glorious, down past Wivenhoe Dam and on to Laidley where we were joined by fellow Mini owners from Toowoomba over lunch.
Throughout 2000 we staged a variety of events, all of which were very well attended. We had day runs to all parts of South East Queensland including Northern NSW, Gold Coast Hinterland, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Maleny and various locations around Brisbane. We had a very successful outing with the FX-FJ Club with a big turnout of Minis and Holdens and we have planed another run with them in May this year. We even managed our first Golf Day and a weekend camping and ski-ing trip to Mogerah Dam. The highlight was of course, the Mini 2000 at historic Lakeside International Raceway in June. The weather was not kind but the members and the public still turned out in force and the club did make a profit. One can only wonder what might have been had the day been dry and sunny. We are again planning a big event for this year, ‘The Australian Mini 40”, to be staged on the Queen’s birthday weekend. A working committee, under the chairmanship of Tony Formosa, has begun the hard work that is required to make such an event a success.
Last year saw the club became affiliated with CAMS which allowed us to stage motorsport events as well as being able to take advantage of the great public liability insurance cover that CAMS has to offer. We held two events, the sprints and motorkhana at Lakeside during the Mini 2000 and the driver training at the motorcross track at Willowbank. Thanks to Glen Carpenter and his team for staging these two successful events. I am sure he will come up with more this year.
Our magazine, “The Mini Mag”, has continued to be a talking point among Mini and other car clubs around Australia. We have been using a different printer since the middle of last year and while the cost is slightly higher, I am sure that you would agree that it is well worth it. Thanks to the sponsors and advertisers who support us, because without them we would not be able to keep up the high standard. I hope you all support those who support you. Thanks also to the many contributors who have supplied articles over the last twelve months. Keep it going this year.
Thanks again for all the support in 2000 and I hope I can do it all again this year.
January 2001