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Fred
Thorne (November 1960)
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Fred was one of
the founding members of the Club in 1950 and a
member of the first nine committees, serving as
President from 1952 to 1956, and again in
1959. His original Austin 7 Special was the most elegant car
at the early Albert Park Club meetings and is still in the
Club.
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John
Pryce (April 1962)
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John was
extremely active in all sections of the Club, but
in particular with Observed Section Trials, which
he introduced into the Club shortly after joining
in 1950. John had competed in O.S.T.s in England,
and continued to compete in Australia with
participation from all members of his family. He
served on committee from 1950 to 1958 and on the
CAMS Track Safety Committee for a number of years.
Having been President of the CAMS Victoria State
Council for some years, John was recognised with
the CAMS Award of Merit. During all this he still had
time to be the Competitions Manager of BP
Australia. A notably affable and enthusiastic
member, his passing was commemorated by renaming
the Park Orchards Trial in his honour.
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Frank
Walter (October 1964)
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Frank served
for 18 years on the club committee
and ran the communication team at Sandown Park
during the Club's tenure at that function. He also
served as the Club's CAMS Delegate for some years
and was a recipient of the CAMS Service Award. In addition, Frank was on the Longines Timing Team for
the Bluebird land speed record attempts in Australia and
was the course checker for the Sun Rally in 1953 which
became the BP Rally. A computer
expert from the days of home built examples, Frank oversaw the Club's adoption of
the technology in membership, spares and
accounting. His keen ear for detail and intimate
knowledge of the Club's constitution and history kept the committee on track at meetings. He passed all his
expertise in Club membership recording to Geoff Taylor who still uses
his instructions.
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Fred
Darling (December 1965)
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Fred was an
accountant in an earlier life and put in nine years as
Vice President/Treasurer (1956-64), and
subsequently served as our Honorary Auditor for
some years. He ran the communications team at
Phillip Island in its various incarnations, was on
the team at Sandown capping off this communications career by
heading up all the A.G.P. teams until the years
stopped being prefixed by "19". After all this he found
to completed the restoration of
his Austin Seven. Fred still regularly attends every monthly
general meeting.
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Trevor
Cole (September 1974)
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Trevor served six
years on committee and on a number of
sub-committees, whilst also being one of the most
active Austin 7 racing drivers. He has competed
continuously from the 750 Formula days right
through into the historic era and was still at it until
recently.
He attained his pilot's licence in time for his
eightieth birthday and it is rumoured that he is
being considered for classification by the National
Trust.
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John
Whitehouse (September 1974)
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John was a committee
member for four years, and an active racing
participant. He was responsible for introducing
the Six Hour Relay Race to Australia, with our Club
conducting the event from 1960 to 1969. He also, in
collaboration with Bill Morling, built a
definitive 750 Formula car, the Whitmor, which they campaigned
for a season in the U.K., to the dismay and astonishment of
the local Austin 7 racers.
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Dale
Shaw (September 1974)
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Dale was
Secretary of the Club from 1966 to 1971, having
already commenced an active motor sport career. A
gifted and innovative designer, Dale progressed
through Austin 7 racing cars, and then diversified
into O.S.T. cars, with which he dominated for many
years, winning the Victorian
Motorkhana Championship twice in one such car. It
is a testimony to his workmanship that both his
racing car, and some of his trials cars, are still
extant up to 40 years later.
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Graeme
Logan (December 1977)
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Graeme commenced
his service to the Club as Membership Secretary
from 1969 to 1972, and has been involved in some
capacity pretty much ever since. Highlights include
the establishment of the spare parts section, which
he ran from home for many years, and later being
instrumental in the acquisition and reconstruction
of our Clubrooms, including our new Spares store. The quintessential Club man,
Graeme co-organised Arthur's Seat Hillclimb,
officiates at Myrniong and Historic Winton and still finds
time to rebuild Austins. He is always
active in Club runs, and can be relied on to
quietly get on with the job.
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Geoff
Taylor (December 1977)
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Geoff was Club
Secretary for five years up to 1965, subsequently
Comp. Sec., later
returning to the committee as Membership Secretary. He is well known for
his participation in O.S.Ts, being one of the first
to build a Special, the AusTen. In more recent
times, Geoff has campaigned the Buggeratti, which
is a bit like Grandpa's axe, bearing scant
resemblance to its initial
specification.
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Tony
Johns (December 1977)
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Tony spent
several years on Committee in various capacities,
culminating in his Presidency in 1973. Amongst
other activities, Tony is notable for his tidy and
extremely rapid conduct of a series of racing
Austins, and spearheaded the legendary "raid", when
a team of cars was built and taken to England,
showing the locals how an Austin 7 racing car should be built.
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John
Bowring (December 1977)
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John "Shanks"
Bowring served on the Committee for six terms between 1958
and 1968, and was well known for creating and
competing in the whole spectrum of cars, from
O.S.T. specials through racing cars to his very
smart Ulster Austin. His work officiating at the original Park
Orchards was legendary and later his technical expertise was
renowned in helping with Club Spares. He is a great loss to
the club.
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David
Lowe (December 1977)
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Competition
Secretary from 1968 to 1971, David was deeply
involved in running the Six Hour Relay, being
Secretary of the Meeting from 1967 to 1972, when
our Club last conducted the event. To show
that he hadn't had enough, he then ran the Arthur's Seat Hillclimb
and when this finished he took on a new Historic Sprint
Event at Myrniong. A knowledgeable designer and builder of racing
cars, David is one of the fortunate few who derives
his living from refettling classic cars for
others.
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Bill
Sheehan (December 1978)
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Bill served seven
and a half years on Committee, winding up as
President. Coachwork creator, raconteur and walking
encyclopaedia on all things Austin, Bill is
familiar as a commentator at historic events, his
erudite insights giving counterpoise to the
ramblings of others. His work on starting Historic Winton will
go down in Club folklore.
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Robert
Humphreys (1980)
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Rob joined the
Club in the early 1960's, and has served
many roles on the Committee. Six years were
spent as Editor of The Light Shaft and in 1995, a
year as President then came back for more,
having volunteered once again as Editor in 2002!
Rob was active in O.S.Ts but has now settled back
into more Austin-like pursuits. He also contributed
very greatly to the modifications to the Club Rules required for the Clubs incorporated
role.
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Ilona
Booth (1983)
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Ilona is
more than just a pretty face, having a sharp
intellect and a range of interests far wider than
merely the sphere of vintage motoring. Her
involvement with the Club encompasses the whole
gamut, having joined the Club many years ago with her late husband Bob. Ilona has been a trials passenger,
Winton Meeting Secretary and Editor, as well as a
driving force in encouraging a diversity of social
events with their focus above the bonnet.
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Brenda
Campbell (1983)
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From modest
beginnings passengering for husband Grant in
O.S.Ts, Brenda's organisational capacity soon
became apparent. Her fifteen-year tenure as
Secretary of the Historic Winton race meeting
coincided with its development as the pre-eminent
event on the National historic calendar, and her
polite but determined persistence has resulted in
many improvements for historic racing
generally.
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Norma
Brown (1986)
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Norma appeared on
the scene initially as "Stewie's Mum", but remained
for years after his departure, cheerfully and
tirelessly doing any mundane task, be it
scorekeeping at an O.S.T., or any other chore. A
jolly soul, and a jolly good sport.
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Grant
Campbell (May 1995)
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Grant arrived on
the scene in the 1970's as one of those
"naturals" excell at winning O.S.Ts. Trouble
is, he hasn't stopped winning yet, with many John
Pryce Trials to his name, plus all other
OST trials. Grant's input into the early running
of Historic Winton can't be overstated,
particularly in the design of programmes and
artwork for both this and Arthur's Seat hill climb. With
Brenda they represented the Club as
delegates to CAMS State Council- a thankless task but necessary.
Grant's forthright
contributions to Monthly club meetings kept the Committee on its toes.
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Doug
Veel (November 1995)
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Doug Veel was one of the
club originals joining in 1951. In the early days he was noted
for the number of different Austins he had owned,
often buying one on the Saturday, competing in a
Sunday event, and selling it the next week. He was
also noted for the diabolical cunning with which he
set the clues for Treasure Hunts. With a stint in
1993-4 as President and the posts of Vice
Pres/Treasurer and Minute Sec. in early years, he
has always contributed much to the running of the
Club.
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Michael
Shegog (1999)
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This Club is
fortunate in having members who can channel their
expertise to the Club's advantage. One such is Mike
Shegog, who has put untold time and effort into the
development of our Spares Department. Whether it be
sourcing parts worldwide, or commissioning the
manufacture of items not otherwise available, Mike
has built this area into the envy of other historic
marques.
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Bob
Booth (2000)
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Bob was lively as a
cricket, with an enquiring mind and a gift for
lateral thinking. His birthdate of Feb. 29th
meant that he was always young- perhaps this explained his boundless enthusiasm.
He was always forthcoming with hints and encouragement for
car builders young and old, creating
mechanical marvels from the most unlikely sources.
His work in Club Spares developing parts such as the legendary
magneto to coil device will always keep him in mind - he is
greatly missed by all who knew him.
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Rick
Perry (2001)
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Another one of
the Club's quiet achievers, Rick first came to
prominence as a special builder par excellence in
the sixties, with a succession of cars for the
O.S.T, 'khana and clubman sports categories, along
with his friend and rival Dale Shaw. Rick
subsequently became more involved with Austins,
while still finding time to campaign a succession
of historic racing cars. His organisational flair
manifested itself as Treasurer, in developing our
accounting system to its present high standard, and
his calm, pragmatic approach to management problems
is invaluable in tackling issues that may
arise.
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John
Cox (2002)
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A tireless worker
for the club, especially OSTs, John joined the club
in 1972, competing in OSTs, Motorkhanas in a 'seat
of the pants' style that endeared him to all who
watched. He won the Geoff Taylor Trophy & The
John Pryce Memorial (Park Orchards Trial) on a
number of occasions. He later moved into directing trials.
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