CAPRICORN CHAPTER
Established 24 May, 2008
Capricorn Chapter MGCC country members living in the Rockhampton, Yeppoon, Biloela and Moura districts can now enjoy more social activities with the Capricorn Chapter being officially recognised following the meeting in Rockhampton.
Founding members from these existing Chapters joined club President David Miles and Assistant Treasurer Kevin Ponting in Rockhampton for the occasion. Gurney Clamp was appointed Co-ordinator of the club's newest regional Chapter, joining Wide Bay and Darling Downs. After holding that position for 10 years, he resigned at the end of 2018 and the role has been taken over by Gary Kunst.
As from 19 January, 2020, Jim Armstrong is the Coordinator of the Capricorn Chapter.
His contact details are :
Phone: 0417 544 222
Email: james.armstrong4@bigpond.com
PROPOSED CALENDAR OF CAPRICORN CHAPTER EVENTS for 2021 is available here.
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Capricorn MG Club celebrates 2021
By Jim Armstrong
The MGCC of Qld Capricorn Chapter finished off its activities for 2021 with a fine dinner and trophy presentation evening at the Red Loin Hotel on Sunday 5th December.
As the members started to arrive, delicious finger food was made available and all enjoyed drinks from our own private bar before settling down to a really 1st class dinner. Beautifully prepared char-grilled chicken and slow cooked lamb made up the main fare before the presentations started.
A report on the 2021 activities was read by Jim Armstrong, chapter coordinator, highlighting the highs and lows of the year and the introduction of all our new members. A tribute and toast were held to our founding coordinator’s wife “Gloria Clamp” who sadly passed away very recently, this being the first Christmas Party she has missed since the foundation of the club back in 2008.
Secret Santa made an appearance with Jo, Katie and Clare distributing gifts on his behalf. There were also six framed MG National Meeting posters from yesteryear drawn as lucky door prizes as well as ten $10 vouchers
Then it was onto the trophy presentations.
Each year a light hearted perpetual trophy called the Broken MG award is presented to the owners of vehicles that let them down whilst on club runs with points being given for the severity of their breakdowns. It was pleasing to say that this year there were not many incidents which indicates that the cars in the club are becoming more reliable. However, this year’s award went to new members Paul and Jo-Anne Davey whose immaculate Indigo Blue MGB broke down on the way home from its maiden voyage after a very thorough rebuild by Paul over the past three or so years. The culprit was a $10 circuit breaker which was probably the only part that Paul did not replace throughout the restoration.
The main award for the Club though is the Janelle Thomasson Memorial trophy, for Clubman of the Year, which as the name suggests is in memory of a brave young club member who sadly passed away some years ago after her battle with cancer. The award which has now been going for over eleven years, recognizes the effort by an individual club member for serving the club well and above what is expected. Elected officers are not eligible but do choose the recipient.
This year’s recipient was Gordon Kelsey for the immense amount of planning and organizing work he put into the Chapter’s successful Great South Western Tour earlier this year where over 14 cars from Mackay, Capricorn, Biloela, Gympie, Brisbane and the Gold Coast joined us and travelled over three thousand kilometers through South West Queensland. Well done, Gordon, it went off without a hitch.
The next trophy was for the observation run, this year organized by past masters, Gary and Julie Kunst and won by Garth and Lesley Barnes who unfortunately are leaving us to take up residence in the Sunshine Coast. Good luck Garth and Lesley. Gary and Julie presented the Barnes’s with their trophy.
Other achievement trophies were presented to the Run committee, Clare Lynam, Jo Emmert and Phil Henry and to Katie and Jo Emmert for their running of the poker run which will be named Glorias’ Poker Run in the future. Clare, the assistant coordinator then spoke on behalf of the chapter and thanked Jim Armstrong for the effort in overseeing the chapter’s activities in 2021.
Dessert was served throughout the trophy presentation and the remainder of the evening was spent mingling. Merry Christmas everybody, we will resume in January 2022.
MGCC of Qld, Capricorn Chapter
Chapter Coordinator; Jim Armstrong 0417 544 222
Assistant Coordinator; Clare Lynam
Run Committee; Jo Emmert; Phil Henry
CAPRICORN CHAPTER'S LATEST MG RUN
MGCC of Qld. Capricorn Chapter
Chapter Coordinator; Jim Armstrong 0417 544 222
Assistant Coordinator; Clare Lynam
Run Committee; Jo Emmert; Phil Henry
Run report Friday 5th November. Putt-Putt Evening
The relatively small numbers did not deter those who decided to come and have some fun last Friday evening. A warm balmy evening added to the ambience of the event which was shared by several kangaroos on the driving range nearby.
After a short cool drink whilst we waited for everyone to turn up, we then played an 18-hole round of mini golf at the Parkhurst Putt- Putt and driving range. This proved to be fun with some very wild shots taking place and whilst no scores were kept those who participated had a really good time and many laughs.
On completion of the put-putt, the barbeque was lit after several unsuccessful attempts and soon the sizzle and the aroma of cooking onion and beef was experienced. Soon we were all tucking into our self-cooked meal with the exception of Laurie and Beth who chose KFC instead.
Laurie told us all that his B was written off after his accident a few weeks back and that he had purchased a nice looking MGBGT form Melbourne that was still in transit. We all look forward to seeing it shortly.
The rest of the evening was spent having idle chatter about past events, what we should do next year and generally enjoying the company there. Another really good enjoyable evening.
Those in attendance were:
Jo and Katie Emmert
Clare Lynam
Phil Henry
John Rowe
Jack and Rae Cowie
Laurie Chetter and Beth Dunlop
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.
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
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