REPORT BY A very grateful
Rod Byrne

Fifty two Club members arrived at Auchendarroch House at Mount Barker in brilliant sun shine for morning tea, and to prepared for departure to Clare for the weekend.

At the lunch stop at Kapunda Football Club rooms, our numbers had increased to  54 when John & Jan Heneker,( friends of Club members Micheal and Debbie Russell ) joined the group. John and Jan are members of the SCC of SA. And had come along to
See what the Members of the MGCC of  SA were like.
Even though the rain was coming down quite heavily in Adelaide the sun continued to shine upon us.

The Ladies from St Roses Catholic Women’s League in Kapunda prepared our lunch and looked after us in grand style.

After leaving Kapunda we had two breakdowns :
John and Jan Heneker our visitors in their MG TF with a failed fuel pump, which was replaced from a spare carried by Derick Laynes…it was the only “twin fuel pump” TF running in Australia
Barry and Nancy Softley, in their MGA, had an electrical fault which was eventually terminal and they had to leave it in Tanunda…they arrived late at the Motel in a hired vehicle arranged by The RAA.

Another member, who stopped to assist John and Jan, Barry Bahnisch, left one of his shoes on the side of the road and arrived in Clare “one shoeless”.
Fortunately the Russells spotted the shoe and picked it up…we made Barry hobble around most of the evening in one shoe. Eventually he discovered it hanging with the balloons above his table…. I wonder who put it there ??????

Our final destination for the day was the Clare Valley Motel
The evening meal was superb, and  many of the attendees came along in Aussie theme.
Lots of laughs and many great ideas were displayed
Decorations for the dining room and tables were a treat, of course in Australiana theme, thanks to Kath and Alvin Whittle who were assisted by a great team of helpers, blowing up balloons and generally decorating tables and setting up the dining room.
Thanks to all those who helped….the finished product was great.
Our host, and owner of the Motel , Malcolm Leaske and his Motel Managers  Bev and Geoff and Chef Andre, were  the greatest with the utmost cooperation and amazing service and superb food.

Entertainment by Peter Eaton was a DVD on the travels in the outback with vintage Whippets...one 1927 and the other 1929… to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation. An amazing experience for all those whom participated on the venture.

Many prizes were awarded for efforts :

Best Male in Theme                                             Alvin Whittle
Best Female in theme                                           Joy Pearson
Best Car decorated                                               Gary Davies
Observation run to Clare                                      Don Walker
Funniest answers for the Observation run            Maurice and Steph Linehan
Lucky seat                                                            Nancy Softley
Best drawing of the “MAP”                                 Kath Branson
Lucky RAA bag                                                   Peter Coulson
Most original disaster                                           Barry Bahnisch
Biggest Hard Luck story                                      Barry Softley
Runners up for Car decoration                             David/Joy Pearson
                                                                              Derick/Elizabeth Laynes

During the weekend Maurice and Stephane launched their new book “Mad Cars disease 2”. They generously donated many books as prizes and supported our venues with gifts

 On Sunday after a very hearty but healthy Breakfast at the Motel we visit “Goode’s Restorations’ (Motor Vehicles) in Clare and saw some amazing vehicles completed, and many vehicles in progress at various stages of restoration.
 
We then headed off  for morning Tea at Martindale Hall combined with a most interesting history lesson about the house, its past owners and its restoration ,followed by  a tour of the old house… we were even allow to take photos inside the house.

 Our numbers had swollen to 66 by this time with other MGCC members ( Ray/Janet Hill and Jeff/Meredith Levett) and a couple of friends from Clare joining us for the visit and tour.

A short ,but very scenic run, into Sevenhill for lunch at the local Hotel where our numbers again grew, to 68, with more Clare people joining us for the luncheon :
John/Barb Miller,Glenn/ Shirley Waldhuter, David/Zonda Weckert, Tony/ Evelyn Dann,

Once again the meal we received was great and some could not eat all that was served to them.

Thanks to Glenn Waldhuter for organizing the venues  Martindal Hall and Sevenhill Hotel and  the scenic run from Clare to Martindale Hall and onto Sevenhill.
Glenn was also the co-ordinator of the Clare people and made many phone calls drumming up support.

It is always a danger to thank individuals for their efforts and support, however,  I have tried to acknowledge all I can  recall.
Those whom I had not  mentioned were Gary and Lynda Davies for organizing morning tea at Auchendarroch House and lunch at Kapunda,  Barry and Nancy Softley and Jenny for their help and ideas for the weekender in general and helping to co-ordinate arrangements with the Clare Valley Motel.

Finally my sincere thanks to all whom participated in the weekender, for without you all, the event would not have been so successful.

Those who attended  were:

SOME EXQUISITE PHOTO'S TAKEN BY KERRY BARNES.