SECRETARY'S REPORT- May  2020

We met on May 18 by Zoom conference call. Over 40 members attended. The wonders of modern technology allowed us to “meet” with those who usually attend our monthly gathering but also with some others who live too far away to comfortably do so. It was nice to see each other after such a long time. Charlie called the meeting to order. Ted gave the treasurer’s report. Jack gave the membership report and told us a few facts about our five new members. Bill gave his national delegate’s report. Conclave 2020 has been cancelled. Conclave 2021 is set to take place at Big Bear Lake, California. The national club’s offer of a free membership for the first year is set to expire at the end of 2020. It will be replaced with an offer of the first three months of membership for free. Also a program has been put in place to inform local clubs of new national members. The Southeastern Classic set for this October at Lake Lanier Islands Resort in Georgia only had 34 registrations so far. Bill pointed out that it would be our club’s turn to host again in 2022. Bill and Charlie hope to lure the Low Country club members into co-hosting with us, maybe at Hilton Head Island. A voice from the Zoom-o -sphere inquired how it happened that our turn to host seemed to be coming up so soon after our last turn. The answer was that many clubs are refusing to take their turn which gives us something to think about. Next we talked about a drive to celebrate British Car Week which was planned to be done in company with the Triumph and MG clubs. This drive has successfully taken place. Stuart then gave us a short and informative tech session on the subject of cooling issues. As always, he instructed and entertained us. I will not attempt to write all that he said for fear of misquoting him and thus undoing the good he has done us. Suffice it to say, don’t overfill your radiator please. There needs to be some room in there for steam. We have a similar discussion at our house every time rice is being cooked in a pan that is too small. Stuart also told us that silt in your galleries can cause cooling problems. My doctor warns me about that every time I go in for a check-up. It does sound serious. Bill showed us a slide show of photos from last year’s mountain trip. Chuck and Monique gave us an up-date on plans for this year, which have been changed since the meeting. Yes, that is confusing. I’m pretty sure an updated up-date will appear elsewhere in this newsletter. Carl showed us a slide show of photos documenting the restoration and repainting of his BJ8. The car looks swell and we look forward to seeing it back on the road soon. He mentioned he has a Parrish top available if anyone would like to buy one. We ended on this note: if you downloaded Zoom before May first you should download it again to take advantage of improved security measures implemented by the company since that time.

Lisa Bond, Secretary