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THE MG CAR CLUB of WESTERN AUSTRALIA inc. A potted History by Syd.Sunter-Smith I suppose many clubs have a history of success and failure and the path of the MG.Car Club of Western Australia is no less chequered than many. I hope the following is some interest to you. Our Club evolved from a loose association of young MG owners, some of whom worked together and often congregated at Bernies Hamburger Bar by the river where the idea of a club was often discussed. The first meeting of about ten owners was held on Graham Sully’s father’s veranda and subsequently at a variety of venues including the Swan River Yacht Club and the Mt.Lawley Tennis Club. The saga of suitable clubrooms seemed to go on forever. Perhaps the main difficulty was establishing a permanent home for the club. In 1987 after much labouring and developing skills by Members and by putting Club finances in peril, a clubhouse constructed of fibro with a corrugated iron roof was opened in time for the Club’s 25th anniversary. However, situated as it was in a paddock on the outskirts of Perth it was soon vandalised and stripped of anything of value including the plumbing and electrical fittings! A subsequent sub rental arrangement with a sister motoring club ended in court resulting in a substantial loss of club funds and once again we were without a permanent home. The current brick clubrooms on which we have long leases have been renovated by the Club to a very high standard complete with kitchen, storeroom, library, TV\Video and room to display a car for technical nights or general waffle. It is to be hoped that this is our final move with perhaps the next logical step being freehold to guarantee security of tenure? The Club magazine is ‘The Octagon’ and is the principle source of communication for members and is the major item of expenditure. For several years a ‘Yearbook’ highlighting the past year’s activity was produced and was an excellent publication indeed. Unfortunately the last edition was in 1992 due in the main to the huge cost of production…..Pity really. Over the years , activity has been a mix of social and competition events. Annual highlights include our Safety Fast Run which is a two day country run, the Abingdon Speed Classic; a series of one hour team relays on a race track, Winter Woolies run, Twilight Navigation trials, Concourse day, Wine runs, riverside picnics and culminating in the Presentation Dinner at Christmas. Many of our members are regular competitors in inter club events such as hillclimbs, motorkhanas, marque racing, navigation trials and rallies and historic meetings including ‘around the houses regularity runs’. Each State or Territory in Australia take turns annually to host the MG National Meeting held over the four day Easter weekend. Not withstanding that we live several thousand kilometres from the Natmeet in most centres in the Eastern states, we nonetheless have several people attending, many driving their MGs across the 1500 km of the virtually uninhabited Nullarbor Plain. In 1995 we hosted the National meeting titled “MGs Downunder 1995”….”an International MG Meeting”. The year was of course the 50th anniversary of the MG TC which was therefore the feature model and theme of the event. Jean Kimber Cook was our special guest joined by a large contingent of enthusiasts from across the country and overseas. The goodwill and camaraderie was something to behold with the weekend extending to a week long round of fun including several days touring our beautiful South-west and culminating with a day at Barbagallo Raceway where many visitors took the opportunity to do a few laps in cars loaned by local members. A great deal of work by many people (although too few) resulted in what was a rewarding, memorable and enjoyable experience for participants and onlookers alike. I trust the foregoing conveys some impression of our Club which currently has a membership of around 250, is dynamic and looking forward to being part of sports car history as we enter the new millennium. So whoever you are and wherever you come from please make yourselves known when you next visit this wonderful part of the world. |
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HISTORY - MGCC CLUBROOM Whatley Hall, Hardy Rd, Ashfield
by Ian Campbell, President 1995 to 1997.
In 1991 & 1992 the MGCC was paying the Light Car Club in Moojebing Rd Ashfield some $200 per month for the sub lease and use of its clubrooms two nights per month for meetings and the use of the site for meeting before club runs at weekends. After some negotiation with the LCC it was planned for the MGCC to construct their own clubroom on the site, however this was never proceeded with as relationship with them deteriorated. In early 1993 the MGCC committee agreed that the use of the LCC facility should be discontinued and that we should have our own independent clubroom.
I was Club Captain at the time and volunteered to search for an alternative facility. I then wrote to most of the City Councils and shires around Perth enquiring as to whether they had any small halls or similar buildings not currently in use. The only positive response to this enquiry came from Bayswater city council.
After an initial inspection of Whatley Hall in June 1993, which was in exactly the right location for our purposes, all agreed that we should hire the hall. At the time the only other persons using the hall was a local dancing teacher who held classes there twice a month on Saturday mornings. At that stage the initial contact with Bayswater council was Stan Halberg who was the Property Manager. Later it changed to Ern McCallum after Stan retired.
Our first General Meeting was held in the hall in July 1993. Pretty quickly all agreed that we should try and lease the hall rather than rent it monthly. We wrote to the council and asked whether this was possible and whether we could carry out extensions to the building at our cost. By October 1993 we had received approval in principle for this to occur.
Over the next few months Colin Cleaver (who was Club President at the time) prepared a drawing of the proposed extension. It will be noted that this was in two parts. A building extension at the rear of the hall and the enclosing of what was an entry verandah to become the kitchen. The original kitchen facility in the hall was along the front wall. We ultimately dismantled and relocated it. Ron Kilcullen, who was a builder and one of our newer club members at the time, volunteered to be the builder in charge of the overall works and to negotiate with Bayswater council re building matters. I continued to be the organizer for club volunteer labour and internal hall refurbishment.
Final approval was granted for the building works in April 1994. As part of the works the Bayswater council agreed to replace the asbestos roofing which was on the original part of the building at the time we installed our new metal roof on the extension. From then on club members volunteered to perform works such as digging trenches for the extension concrete footings, installing metal roof frames, repainting and upgrading of the hall facilities etc.
The brickwork for the extensions was completed by end of September 1994 and the rest of the basic building works including roofs, doors and kitchen fitting installation etc was completed by March 1995 just prior the the MG’s Downunder Nat Meet here in Perth which was organized by the MGCC. During the Nat Meet we had Jean Kimber-Cook (Cecil Kimbers daughter) officially dedicate the building. You will see a plaque in the entrance foyer.
After that most of the rest of the internal works to the current level were completed by June 1995. We held our first Christmas in July – Official Clubroom Opening Dinner in July 1995.
The overall cost of the works to that date was in the order of $18,000, plus many hours of volunteer labour by club members. Since then additional major expenditure to the building have included :-
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