MGCC of Qld Capricorn Chapter.
 

Run Report - 16 May, 2021

 Impromptu Run  - Moura and Biloela

 

Well for a run of such short notice, this run was very well subscribed. It all started at 7:30am when the Yeppoon contingent assembled at the Oaks servo and proceeded to travel to Rockhampton to meet the Rocky folks at the Duckponds. Soon after a quick briefing was held and new members Jason and Yolinda Foss and guests Lyle and Pat Fielding were introduced and made welcome by those in attendance.

 

Jason and Yolinda in their brand new grey metallic Mazda MX-5 and Lyle and Pat in their silver 1968 Ford Mustang. Both cars and Clare Lynam’s new acquisition, a Blue 1970 MGB GT attracted attention and possibly more so on this day as the Capricorn All Classic car club were meeting there also before their run to Gladstone. This little stretch of the Bruce highway was adorned with old Cadillacs, Chevys, Holdens and Fords most of which could easily have carried our MGs in their boot. Along with our contingent of MG’s, Mazda’s, Volvo 1800E it must have looked quite impressive as many passing motorists sounded their horns as they went by.

 

In due course we departed heading to our destination out west. All went well up the Mt Morgan range and to our first comfort stop at Dululu where Jo came across one of her past students and her two little girls who were travelling through. Jo gave the little girls a joy ride in her MGB up and down the road. In the meantime, an inconsiderate Motorhome owner elected to empty his toilet waste down the dump point which was situated right in the middle of where we were parked. What a stench don’t know what they had been eating! Time to head off once more but just as the leaders hit the Leichhardt Highway, a telephone call came through to say that one of the cars wouldn’t start.  Nev Funch and yours truly did a U turn to see if we could help out. Now Gurney Clamp, who absolutely loves to win the annual broken MG award was at it again, this time with a flat battery. After a quick push start of the little white MG, we were on the road once more, next stop Moura for morning tea.  

 

We were met by new members Clem and Jean Hill in their immaculate early bright red Mazda MX-5 at Moura. As luck would have it the Moura Sunday Markets were on, so the ladies in the group hightailed it over to check them out. The weather in Moura was quite cool as the nippy westerly winds were blowing, but Phil and Gordon found a coffee shop and warmed themselves up a little.

During smoko Jo and Katie drew the rusty door prize, which was won by Glenis, I hope she likes Turkish Delights! After smoko and after pushing Gurney, next stop was the fairly new Moura Miners Memorial that pays tribute to miners who had lost their lives in mining tragedies in the life time of mining in Moura and Kianga Mines, now called Dawson. A very touching tribute to those unfortunate men.

Next stop, after once again pushing Gurney, was the viewing platform at the mine that has been revamped and situated right above a busy part of the mine. There wasn’t a lot of mining activities going on but the group did get to see several huge dump trucks working several hundred feet below us. Before long we were on our way to Biloela, this time Gurney had parked on a slope and was able to roll start his car.

 

Phil, who was suffering from some sort of dog wog and wasn’t feeling the best asked if I could give him a spell from driving which I did, but that meant that Sandra who hadn’t driven my GT for several years had to drive it across to Bilo. She did very well considering the circumstances. 

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After a nice drive to Bilo, I must say that Phil’s MGTF drove very nicely. We stopped at the Biloela Hotel for lunch where Jo and Katie finished off the card dealing for the poker run which was won by none other than Katie with a hand of three of a kind. Well done, Katie. Lunch was served reasonably quickly and soon it was time to head off again this time to home, Gurney requiring his last push start. Ian and Rosemary elected to stay in Bilo to spend some time with old friends.

 

All in all, a very pleasant and interesting day, enjoyed by everybody in attendance.

 

Footnote: Gloria and Gurney arrived home safely as did Phil who was feeling off colour all day.

 

Jim.

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Photos by Clare and Phil

 

Those in attendance were:

Gurney and Gloria

Trevor and Glennis

Ian and Rosemary

Phil Henry

Lyle and Pat- Guests

Jo and Katie

Clare

Neville

Phil White

Jason and Yolinda- New members

Gordon

Clem and Jean- New member (reside in Biloela)

Sandra and myself.

THE BIRTH OF THE CAPRICORN CHAPTER

by founding Chapter Coordinator, Gurney T Clamp

 

After purchasing my 1972 MG B in Brisbane and shipped back to Yeppoon, I started driving it on every opportunity I got in and around Yeppoon and its surrounding area.

Then, one day I came across a couple driving  in their  red MG B doing as I was, so I caught up to them and found that they were from Rockhampton and doing a cruise around Yeppoon. Their names were Dale & Margaret Volling. I told them that I was going to try to form a MG Car club in Central Queensland and asked them if they were interested in joining a club such as  I was trying to form.

 

They agreed that they would be interested, gave me their contact details and I told them that they would be number 2 members. On arriving back home, one of my neighbors, Robert Hanson, called over to  have a good look at my MG and told me that he knew of another MG owner, Trevor Williams, who lived in Yeppoon. He agreed to take me to meet him and this visit turned out to be very important as he tried unsuccessfully to form a MG car club several years ago. He had a list of names and contact details of people that owned an MG in Central Queensland, which he gave to me.

 

I returned home and started making contact with everyone on the list, asking them if they were interested in forming an MG car club in Central Queensland. The response was just what I was hoping for so then, I had to contact them all again informing them that on Sunday, 4 May 2008,  a meeting of all interested MG owners was going to be held at Beaman Park Yeppoon at 9.00 a.m.

 

On Sunday, 4 May I was overjoyed by the number of MG’s and their owners that arrived at Beaman Park. They had come from as far away as Moura, Biloela and Rockhampton. All present indicted that an MG car club should be formed. I was elected as chairman and spoke on how we should go about forming the club.

 

Jim Armstrong and Gary Kunst who were current members of the MG Car Club of Queensland, suggested that we should seriously look at becoming a chapter of the MG car club of Queensland if this club had any chance of survival. The MQCC of Qld already had two chapters operating quite successfully called the Darling Downs and Wide Bay Chapters. In doing this, we would  have the back up of the MGCC of Qld’s support in legal liability, financial matters etc., if successful and accepted by the MGCC of Qld. All present agreed that this was the path that we should take and indicated that I should continue as an unofficial chairman of this fledgling organization.  

 

On Monday, 5 May 2008, I contacted the MG Car Club of Queensland’s then President, David Miles,  informing him of the outcome of our meeting at Beaman Park in Yeppoon. I then asked him what steps needed to be done for the MG owners of Central Queensland to become a chapter of their club.

 

The response was an overwhelming “We will be glad to welcome you into our club”.  He indicated that information would be forwarded to me and he asked me to call a meeting of all interested MG car owners to attend another meeting at a time and venue suitable to all concerned.

It was agreed that a meeting should be called on Saturday, 24 May, 2008 at the Rockhampton Golf Club, and the club president David Miles would attend.

He was supported by Brisbane members, Val Horgan, Kevin Ponting, Wide Bay chapter coordinator Ian Bryant and Darling Downs coordinator Trevor Watkins, all arriving in Rockhampton on Friday, 23 May in their MGs. My wife Gloria and I were invited to attend a dinner at the motel they were staying at in Rockhampton. And of course we attended.

 

On the day of the meeting at the Rockhampton Golf Club premises, David Miles addressed all present on functioning and policies of the MG Car Club of Queensland and what was expected of the chapters that are affiliated with them.

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These discussions were well supported by the Brisbane members and the chapter coordinators, the late Ian Bryant and Trevor Watkins.

 

A vote was taken to accept that all Central Queensland MG owners become a chapter of the MG Car Club of Queensland, the result was unanimous. Next step was that we now need to find a name for our chapter. A few names were suggested but Capricorn Chapter was selected.

 

I was then elected as the coordinator for the newly formed Capricorn Chapter, the next step was to select a suitable time of each month to have a get together of members, once again a number of suggestions were put forward with the 3rd Sunday of each month be adopted, which was duly voted on and passed.  

 

David Miles indicated that the results of this meeting would have to be approved by the MG car club of Queensland and I would be notified of the result by mail, A letter dated 28 May, 2008 was received from MG Car club that the management committee of the MG Car Club of Queensland had accepted our application to join as the Capricorn Chapter.

 

After a couple of years at a Christmas function, Ian Wilhelmsen and Phil White suggested that we all should find interested members to assist in the running of the chapter, to which I agreed. Ian Wilhelmsen was elected as assistant coordinator, Phil White and Terry Dwyer as event committee members. Since then I have found that this to be of a great assistance to myself, as we now prepare the following years calendar in November of each year with suggestions of places we should tour to coming from individual members.

 

FOUNDATION MEMBERS

ARMSTRONG   Jim & Sandra - Moura / Yeppoon

BREED  Peter & Tracey - Rockhampton  Past members    

CLAMP  Gurney & Gloria - Yeppoon

CLARK  Stuart & Ada - Goovigin

DWYER  Terry - Rockhampton

FOX  Bill - Yeppoon  Past member

GUBBINS  Tony (Deceased) & Merilyn WEST- Rockhampton Past members

KIRWAN   Wayne - Biloela

KUNST   Gary & Julie - Moura / Yeppoon

MADDEN  Don -Yeppoon   (Deceased)

O’DEA       Tom & Kathy - Yeppoon   Past members

PIDCOCK  Ted & Margaret - Yeppoon   Past members

RUSSELL   Brian & Glenis - Biloela

SULLIVAN Pat & Stephanie - Rockhampton

VOLLING  Dale & Margaret - Rockhampton  Past members

WHITE       Phil & Pam - Rockhampton

WILLIAMS Trevor - Rockhampton  Past members

MGCC of Qld. Capricorn Chapter
Chapter Coordinator; Jim Armstrong 0417 544 222

Assistant Coordinator; Clare Lynam

Run Committee; Jo Emmert; Phil Henry

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Run Report, 19 February, 2021

 

Finally, a beautiful day. All the Yeppoon members gathered at the Oaks Servo at 7:50 for an 8:00 depart to Rocky that is, except one. Yours truly misread his own run sheet and was there at 7:50 so had to wait an hour for the others. It is amazing the number of classic cars around travelling the Yeppoon to Rockhampton road at that hour of a Sunday morning. Two Jags, several Mustangs numerous old Holdens and Falcon went by while I was waiting.

 

So anyhow, the Yeppoon contingent set sail at around 8:00 for an uneventful run into Rockhampton where we met the Rocky mob. Unfortunately, Clare was riding shotgun with Jo as the week previously she and husband Paul took a trip to Barcaldine and Longreach and as luck would have it, hit a huge roo in their beautiful little MGA on their return.

 

The run was a mini mystery tour with Jo and Clare leading the way through Rockhampton along the old Bruce highway to the actual location where the Tropic of Capricorn crosses the road.

 

Interestingly, Anne told us that her father had constructed the location pillars on either side of the road many years ago as he was a prominent Rockhampton bricklayer at the time. We stopped there for our first smoko and photoshoot. Quite shortly, we on the road again and to our next phase, another smoko break at the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens.

The next and last stage was led by yours truly and we travelled down towards Emu Park to the Cawarral turnoff through the small town of Cawwaral crossing the Yeppoon road and onto our final destination of the Caves Pub for lunch.

 

We arrived just before another car group did and soon the beer Garden was packed. Lunch was quickly served I think everybody enjoyed their fare.

 

The group were addressed by myself and the group were asked if there were any more takers for the Airlie Beach weekend as numbers for this upcoming trip were extremely low. Also, Clare and Jo were planning a trip to Emerald to meet the Great South Western Tour participants for their last night in Emerald before returning home and expressions of interest were sought.

 

Bellies full, one by one our little Caves Pub trip participants left for home. All agreed that they had a lovely morning and drive. 

 

Those in attendance were:

 

Jo Emmert and Clare Lynam

Terry Dwyer and Anne Burbidge

Robert and Yvonne Holbeck

Ian and Rosemary Carleton

Paul Davey

Phil Henry

Neville Funch

Gordon Kelsey

Phil White
Myself

MGCC of Qld Capricorn Chapter.
 

Chapter Coordinator: Jim Armstrong 0417 544 222

Assistant Coordinator: Clare Lynam

Run Committee: Jo Emme, Phil Henry

 

Run Report -  4 June, 2021 - Yeppoon Cruising Yacht Club Dinner

 

A cool night and a spectacular sunset over the Roslyn Bay Harbour were the setting for Friday night’s MGCC Capricorn Chapters’ June dinner at the Cruising Yacht Club. As their chef was away, we were previously offered a self-cook bar-be- que which turned out a very good choice. Their Bar-be-que packs were quite reasonable and contained a fillet of steak, a lamb chop and two sausages all supplied by one of Yeppoon’s most noted butcher. The poker run funds bought some salad and bread rolls and other ladies also bought along extra salad. Thanks to all and good to see the poker run money being used again in this manner. Thanks to Jo and Katie for all their hard work on our regular runs.

 

At around 6:45 the bar- be que was lit and we started cooking our meals with each cooking their own meat to avoid not cooking to their own liking. I must say the onions were cooked to perfection (I wonder who cooked those?) Soon we were all eating and enjoying our fresh meals. Rick and Michelle Taylor who have been absent from runs for one reason or another for a while and as this was the first opportunity,  were presented with their Broken Mg Award from 2020, an award that is given in fun to the person/s with the most breakdowns throughout the year. 

All the meals now eaten, Judy surprised us with a beautiful chocolate sponge cake, the very first cake she has cooked since moving into their new home, it was delicious.

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Now it was a condition by the cruising yacht club that we clean up after ourselves so all (well most) chipped in and in no time at all the place was exactly how we found it.

 

After a few more drinks, the ladies suggested that we go to Beaches for a goodnight coffee which most of us did and enjoyed. A few of the men elected to skip the coffee and have a further nightcap.

 

In all, an excellent evening with excellent friends.

 

Those in attendance were:

Jo and Katie Emmert

Clare Lynam

Phil and Margaret Henry

Gurney Clamp

Ian and Judy Hamilton

Rick and Michelle Taylor

Paul and Joanne Davey

Lyle and Pat Fielding (guests as prospective new members)

Sandra and Myself

 

Jim Armstrong

Photos by Clare Lynam