President’s Report - March 2025
Autumn greetings everyone
It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of Geoffrey May. Geoffrey, an Ian Dodd recipient and 50-year member passed away, peacefully on the night of our last general meeting after a long and brave battle with cancer. Geoffrey was certainly a character of our club and will be fondly remembered and missed.
For me he was a constant source of encouragement in my pursuit of acquiring a Silver Cloud. When my dream was realised Geoffrey and Xaiver joined me one evening to go over the car and we spent a very enjoyable evening over a pizza and glass of red grape juice talking all things motoring from late afternoon till late evening – a very fond memory for me.
The club extends our congratulations to Gerald Snowden, who was awarded the Medal of Order of Australia (OAM) for services to the community through philanthropy in this year’s Australia Day Honours.
A big thank you to our members who attendee the AOMC British and European show at Yarra Glen. It was a cool day with the occasional shower, just to keep the dust down and as usual there were some fabulous cars on display from many marques and clubs. I particularly would like to thank our members Terry Farrow, Terry Harris, Calum Russell and David Russell who volunteered to be award judges on the day, very much appreciated.
I would like to put a call out to members for some assistance for our newsletter editor Wayne Spittle. Wayne has done a stellar job with the newsletter and this is a vital role for the club as the newsletter is really the glue that joins all of us together. The role would really suit a retired or semi-retired member or partner that has a good eye for detail and is proficient with contemporary computer packages. Wayne will be there to assist but due to his work and personal commitments we need to find him some assistance. If you are at all interest, please contact Wayne directly
Our March General meeting is our Ladies and Partners night and to celebrate we have a very special guest speaker. Mrs Maureen Ross is the convener of the Florence Thomson Tour for the AOMC and is also a lifelong motoring enthusiast. Created in 2017, the tour is a totally unique rally just for women drivers celebrating the pioneering spirit and contribution of women to Australian motoring and is, proudly supported by RACV. The tour was aptly named after Florence Thompson, who, in 1905, was the sole female entrant in the Dunlop Reliability Motor contest from Sydney to Melbourne. She was one of the 16 entrants who successfully completed the five-day trial, driving a six horsepower Wolseley, over what was then nothing more than 562 miles of dirt track between the capital cities. Some of our members have participated in the Florence Thomson Tour and will again this year I’m sure you will enjoy hearing about the tour, Florence and Maureen herself on the night. Please bring along your wives and partners.
Following this we have a really exciting Drive and Be Driven event. Drive and be Driven is an event that is unique to the RROCA Vic, I certainly don’t know any other club that does it in the way we do. This time though, its drive and be driven with a twist and the twist is bring your other car. May of our members have interesting cars that do not have the Rolls-Royce or Bentley badge and for this event we are encouraging members to bring these along and let the members attending experience the pleasure of other marques. Whether you have a special non marque car or not, you will be assured of being welcome and of an enjoyable day.
Keep your eyes on the calendar in the newsletter and on your emails for other forthcoming events as there is plenty of variety to keep us all entertained.
Drive safe and stay well
Keith Mortimer
