February 2003/March 2003
Classic Motorcycle Club of Natal
Committee Members
(Phone Number Area Code is 031 unless otherwise stated)
CHAIRMAN
EDITOR / JIM CRAMER
62 HILLTOP RD
BLUFF 4052 / (H) 466 2108
VICE CHAIRMAN
RACING CLERK OF
THE COURSE / BOB WEST
15 PLANTATION GROVE
KISSIN LANE.AMANZIMTOTI.4126 / (H) 9036007
(W) 467 0382
TREASURER / RON DUKES
32 INVERNESS
49 SOUTH RIDGE RD
GLENWOOD 4001 / (H) 201 3316 (W) 265 3000
FAX 265 3011
CELL 082 465 5839
E-mail:
SECRETARY / HAVERLEY DUKES
As above / (H) and FAX : 2013316
CELL 083 661 3879
E-mail:
CLUB REGISTRAR / ANDREW MATHER
11 WINDSOR DRIVE
DURBAN NORTH 4051 / (H) 563 7986 (W) 305 6952
CELL 083 309 0233
E-mail:
CLUBHOUSE MANAGER / MIKE MATHEWS
600 MARINE DRIVE
BLUFF 4052 / (H) 467 8648
(W) 301 6422
CELL 082 377 8580
PIST ‘n BROKE MANAGER / LIZ MATHEWS
As above / (H) 467 8648
DATING OFFICER / BRIAN ELAM
50 BERKSHIRE DRIVE
NEW GERMANY 3610 / (H) 705 1954
CELL 083 797 1954
LIBRARIAN / ALAN YOUNG
152 ORIEL RD
BLUFF 4052 / (H) 467 7294
(W) 902 3209
CELL 082 653 8971
OUTINGS CO-ORDINATOR / GEOFF WELLBELOVED
96 WINCHELSEA AVE.
BLUFF 4052 / (H) 467 7209
CELL 082 202 2841
(H) 467 7209
ASSISTANT OUTINGS CO-ORDINATOR / DEREK PIRIE
36 MYRTLE RD
GLENWOOD 4001 / (H) 2056844
(W) 9104636
CELL 082 673 1335
CATERING MANAGER / SUE WELLBELOVED
As above
SPARES MANAGER / MICHAEL BURDEN
60 LLANDAFF RD
MAYVILLE 4092 / (H) 261 3982
(W) 765 6012
100 CLUB ORGANISER / SALOME VAN NIEKERK
P O Box 41587
ROSSBURGH / (H) 4655831
(W) 3612054
RACING COMMITTEE
CHAIRMAN / GEOFF ISACKS
4 WINDHAM AVE
HILLARY 4094 / (W) 363 1629
(H) 464 9121
REGALIA OFFICER / AUBREY CILLIERS
24 PASTOLL RD
PINETOWN
3610 / (H) 708 5934
(W) 464 0900
CELL: - 083 922 0133
RALLY CLERK OF
THE COURSE
SAVVA DELEGATE / KEN SINK
11 LOVAT RD
ROSEHILL 4051 / (H) 563 2403
SHOW DIRECTOR / BARBARA SINK
As above / (H) 563 2403
CHIEF STOREMAN / BADIE BADENHORST
P O Box 39355
QUUESBURGH
4070 / (H) 4644148
CELL 083 738 0527
Classic Motorcycle Club of Natal
HEADQUARTERS POSTAL ADDRESS
137 TARA ROADP.O.BOX 21759
BLUFFBLUFF
DURBAN4036
FEBRUARY 2003/ MARCH 2003.
SUBS ARE NOW OVERDUE. PLEASE PAY UP AND SMILE – AT NEXT MAIN MEETING.
2002 CHAIRMANS REPORT.
Dear Friends
Having already welcomed you to the 22nd Annual General Meeting I now ask if you will please stand for a moment of silence and remembrance of all our departed members and friends whose names are enshrined on our Memorial Board which bears the epitaph “ We remember them with much affection.”
Yet another one to remember is Mike Coffey who was a life member. He passed away a few day ago.
Thank you
Once again we’ve had a successful and eventful year. Thanks to Clerk Of The Course, Ken Sink and his Rally Committee, we had an excellent Natal Classic Regularity Trial. Thanks to the late Jerry Hope-Bailie and to Barbara Sink our “Durban Wheels Show” was yet another success. Our racing fraternity did their thing at Idube and Masons Mill, thanks to Bob West and Geoff Isacks. We had various Breakfast Runs organised by Geoff Wellbeloved, Alan Young and Derek Pirie. The run to Riverview Club at Port Shepstone raised ± R11 000.00 for the South Coast Hospice. Our two bike/jumble sales, i.e.” Plums in May” and “Strawberries in November” went off well. At the November one three bikes and one sports car changed hands as well as all the bits and pieces! We await confirmation from the SPCA as to how much we raised but we expect it to be over R1000. Thank you to all who assisted in these various activities and to all who attended and/or supported them in some way. Once again we will be donating R500 to the local police force for their annual Xmas function.
My committee have carried out their tasks with their usual efficiency and I thank them all for their hard work and for their support. I am not going to name each of them – they know who they are and so should all of you, as their names and designations are regularly featured on the inside cover of Shop Torque. I am however going to name some of our ladies whose efforts are very much appreciated. Our club secretary, Haverley Dukes, spends many hours at her keyboard tapping out minutes, agendas, and correspondence and of course our Shop Torque for which she has the daunting task of reading my handwriting and that of our other Shop Torque contributors. Salome Van Niekerk who struggles valiantly at each Main Meeting to sell all the tickets in our 100 Club – and succeeds! Liz Mathews who so efficiently manages our ever-popular Pist‘n Broke. Sue Wellbeloved, our Chief Caterer in charge of Dadsbag Café, who at the drop of a hat can and does willingly produce whatever it is that we want to fill our tummies with, which includes our tea and snacks at our Main Meetings. Often assisting her is daughter Janet Muller and Veronica Hinks who also willingly and successfully sells raffle tickets for us whenever so required. Of course part of her success is that she induces her clients to purchase tickets by offering a hug and a smooch in return. Who knows what you might get if you buy all the tickets! Apart from being deeply involved in our bike and wheels shows Barbara Sink also play a vital roll in our Natal Classic along with Rally Secretary Fiona Clark. Then just lately I see that Jill Hope-Bailie has been roped in to assist on race days by our shrewd Vice-Chairman Bob West. He’s even got little Heidi Hope-Bailie working there too! Gentleman, as ours would indeed be a dull and colourless club without these dear ladies, and others who occasionally grace our premises (what’s more we would have to do all those lousy jobs) please rise and give them all a big hand.
A non-member of the fairest sex who deserves mention is Len Van der Merwe who regularly assists in Dadsbag Café on Main Meeting days. Thank you Len.
A very big thank you to those who regularly contribute to Shop Torque and to the occasional contributors too. Shop Torque would be quite boring without you. Please don’t be shy to contribute even if you may think that your writing skill and/or your grammar is not up to scratch. Please consult the Calendar of Events in your Shop Torque to find out what’s happening in your club, and then you won’t have to ask me and get a rude reply.
You will recall that we tried to purchase this land, which we have developed, and on which we have built our clubhouse but the Council refused to sell, assuring us that in all probability our lease would be renewed when necessary. We were also informed (in writing) that the matters of leasehold related to Council Policy, in respect of sporting clubs was currently being reviewed by the Land Affairs Committee and that the question of conversions (to freehold) would be considered in conjunction therewith. Well that letter is dated 28 May 1998 and to the best of my knowledge neither review has been undertaken nor has any sort of policy been established by such Land Affairs Committee.
Our lease expires on 25 June 2014 – i.e. eleven years hence. So there is no reason for any panic at present. I may not be around by then but we are fortunate to have members such as Andrew Mather and Dave Renwick who are fairly high ranking council officials and who will at least have some inside knowledge and will endeavour, I am sure, to do whatever they can in our interests. Although as I have said there is no cause for panic, there is of course reason for some concern when one reads in the press of 3 November 2002 a bold headline that states “EQUITY TARGETS FOR SPORTS CLUBS” – “Durban’s sports bodies must shape up or ship out – that’s the warning from a City Councillor who wants more Africans in Club houses.” The article goes on as follows: “A top ANC Councillor in the eThekwini municipality has made a controversial call for a racial audit of Durban’s sports clubs. Councillor Thami Ntuli’s demand that Clubs achieve equity targets comes in the same week as the government demanded racial quotas in cricket. Ntuli, a former labour arbitrator and ward councillor in Umlazi, says the Council must examine long-term leases given by the City to sports clubs. He says that clubs are perpetrating apartheid because they have insufficient African membership and their rules preserve exclusivity. Ntuli outlines his thoughts in a motion that was to be tabled before the council this week – a motion, which he says, wasn’t accepted because of consideration for the ANC’s political allies, the new National Party and the Minority Front. However, he is adamant the motion will be tabled at the next council meeting and, if passed, will allow officials to check on all lease agreements with clubs and also council premises let to businesses. Ntuli calls for termination of these leases to prevent exclusivity and ensure equity especially with regard to the African Community.”
Well, I have no idea as to whether or not Mr Ntuli’s motion was indeed tabled at the following Council meeting or whether it was passed. We can be sure though that in all probability Mr Ntuli will persevere with his crusade and even if he slackens off some other like minded governing militant is likely to take it up. If we look on the darkest side what could happen is that a delegation could arrive here one day and having seen virtually all white faces could then demand that within a certain time frame we have enrolled x number of Africans or face eviction.
On the bright side of course that may never happen. It may well be that in June 2014 the Club Chairman will sign a new lease with the Council and the Club will continue as before. That I’m sure is what all of us would hope for. But surely it is sensible that we should be prepared for the worst. I am not prepared to be told to ‘shape up or ship out’ (as per the sub title of the press article) by some militant official. I have no objection to anyone with a different skin colour who has an interest in classic motorcycles joining our club but I am not prepared to go out and plead or beg Africans to join us in order to save our lease and to please radical officialdom. Many, if not all of you, probably have the same sentiments.
The answer of course is that we should be prepared for the worst but if we love our club we should have a solution. And obviously the solution is that we must have enough money in the bank to say “up yours” and then be in a position to finance new premises somewhere suitable. Ladies and Gentleman, over the last five years during which we have been staging our shows our club has come a long way financially. Look above you at our new veranda and at the far end of the clubhouse at our new braai facility. Show profits financed them as well as many other improvements such as our street fence, our gabion wall, internal improvements, our containers etc. You will see from Big Ron’s financial balance sheet we still have a considerable cash balance. Most of this has been raised from our past shows, which we could not have staged were it not for the support of you the members. But in order to be in a position to thumb our noses at racial officialdom if necessary we need more capital. So I appeal to each one of you to please give your full support for the 2003 show and to assist our hard working chief organiser, Barbara Sink, as much as possible. We need many bikes and many different bike stands. Each and every one of these stands must be attractive and to achieve this we need enthusiastic assistance from all of you. I hope to have a suggested list of stands and helpers available at our AGM. If your name doesn’t appear please add it on to whichever team you’d like to join. And if your name is there but you would like to join a different team please do so. Although the show is six months away we need to get organised. So each team should start getting together at our Main and Social meetings to discuss their stands, their strategies, their requirements etc. As for requirements, please be sure that the club will provide finance where necessary. At present some of us are already meeting with the various Lions groups every two weeks at various venues but we need to have regular meetings and discussions with our own members too. So instead of setting evening dates I suggest we have regular show discussions at our social meetings. If at this AGM, members indicate preference for evening meetings then so be it.
When all is said and done I am asking each and every one of you to please do your bit thus contributing to ensure the future of our beloved Classic Motorcycle Club of Natal.
Thank you guys and dolls for your attention and for your perseverance with me in the Chair over the last nine years. You know it was in January 1994 that I took over from Brian Botes as Chairman. A month later I retired from the City Engineers Department after forty-two years of service. I hope I’m not going to be Chairman of the Classic Motorcycle Club of Natal for that length of time! Surely it is time for a new leader. One who is younger and more energetic, prepared to “kick ass” and get a lot more of you onto your bikes for club runs. Able to entice you to attend more club social events and so on. Please think about it. Meanwhile I wish you all the very best for the coming festive season, good health and safe riding in 2003.
Jim Cramer
Club Chairman
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Since compiling my report I must tell you that Councillor Thami Ntuli has indeed put forward his motion calling for “Equity Targets” in Clubs whose properties exist on land leased from the Council and that it has been adopted by the Council in spite of vigorous opposition from the D.A. and I.F.P. political parties. It has in fact been resolved that the Health Safety and Social Services Committee investigate and report to Council within two months the number of lease agreements that have been concluded for Council owned premises by sporting bodies and business enterprises and the possibility of how Council could expedite the termination of the leases in an attempt to prevent exclusivity and at the same time ensure equity, especially with regard to the Indian, Coloured and African community. It was also resolved that sports clubs be encouraged to put in place transformation policies and equity targets with time frames. As I said in my Report, I have no objection to anyone with a different skin colour who has an interest in classic motorcycles joining our club. Our Club Constitution has never proclaimed exclusivity for whites. In fact, at the request of Motor Sport South Africa we have quite happily added the following to part (a) of Rule 3. MEMBERSHIP….”irrespective of race, gender, religion or political affiliation.”
So now we wait to see what transpires. I will of course keep you informed, but in the meantime let’s not sit back and do nothing. Each one of us must do as much as possible to ensure the success of our 2003 Wheels Expo Show which, if all goes well, will ensure complete financial independence in the years to come. Between now and July 12th/13th you will be given constant reminders.
Jim Cramer
Chairman/Editor.
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NEW MEMBERS
We welcome Richard Sawkins who was successful at ballot at our Main Meeting on 7th December.
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UP FOR BALLOT – SATURDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2003
Jill Durant (Country Member) and Raymond McMurray.
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REPORT BACK
There was a very pleasant gathering of members at the club on the afternoon of 24th December. Most of uswere home by about 18H00 awaiting a visit by the Fat cat in the red threads. Regretfully I didn’t find any BSA. bits in my stocking – perhaps better luck this year?
Saturday 21st December was our Kids party with Raymond Taylor being the centre of attraction as Santa Claus and of course uttering the well-known “Ho Ho Hos.” The kids had a great time. Thanks Raymond - you just might have ousted Harry Marks from the job of Santa
To round off 2002 we had an enjoyable New Years Eve party. Some braaied and some partook of the terrific buffet at R25 per head – an absolute bargain. Organiser of both this event and the Kiddies party was Catering Manager Sue Wellbeloved. Thank you Sue and thank you to all who assisted including Liz Mathews, who attended to those thirsty at Pist ‘n Broke. And thanks to Salome van Niekerk for that terrific very tasty trifle.
Going back a bit. Before the festivities was our Annual Brunch Run ably organised by Alan Young. After a pleasant ride from the Club, which went inland somewhat before heading for Toti, we finished up back at the club where Sue and her helpers took good care of our tummies. Thanks ladies, the food and service were terrific and thanks Alan for an enjoyable ride.