On Thursday 1st June we held our 2023 AGM as part of our first Thursday Noggin at the Bird in Hand. It was good that there was such a large turnout at our AGM. AGMs can be quite dry events, and I know that some of you thought the proceedings would go on for an hour or so. I hope you found ours to be light-hearted yet informative, and we completed the formal part of the meeting without it dragging on. I would like to thank everyone that attended. I also thank those of you that gave your apologies.
This year we were joined by Paul Hughes a local volunteer First Responder. His CPR talk and demonstrations were very informative and many of us learnt a lot. CPR techniques have evolved over the years and Paul got us up to date. It was good to have a go on the dummies to get a feel for how much pressure is needed to do an effective job. With this and the wider availability of defibrillators it is hoped survival rates will improve. We all felt honoured to meet Paul and to see the work he does to save people. This was a great extension to this year’s AGM.
With the AGM in mind, and on behalf of the Centre, I would like to thank the outgoing Committee for all their hard work, achievements and great teamwork over the last twelve months.
Moreover, I am pleased to announce that at our AGM, the meeting unanimously approved the election of the following committee members for 2023/2024:
- Centre Secretary - Roger Bluff;
- Centre Treasurer – David Williams;
- Centre Membership Secretary – Ann Vodden;
- Communications Officer - Steve Bridge;
- Regalia Officer – Richard Clayton;
- Website Officer & Data Controller - Dave Vodden;
- Harte and Magpies representative - Chris Nickless;
- Additional Member – Chris Beck.
I thank you all for being willing to serve for another year.
During the meeting I had the pleasure of awarding our trophies for 2022. The recipients were:
Richard Thorne Charity Trophy
Frank Lomax – for his splendid and tireless work in raising funds and awareness of Help for Heroes and Combat Stress by: arranging Morgan gathering; taking part in long distance charity drives; and selling Morgan related items.
Sadly Frank passed away in March. In memory of Frank’s long time charity work, and with the backing of Richard and Helen Thorne, the trophy will be renamed in his honour.
F.H. Douglass Trophy:
This is awarded to the Morgan owner that has travelled the most miles in their Morgan during the year.
This year the trophy has been awarded to Karen French, who uses their Morgan on a daily basis, as well as on extensive tours. Congratulations Karen, we are all jealous of all those miles you did in your Morgan.
Badge Number 1 Trophy
Sometimes known as the Noggin Trophy, is awarded to the member who has attended the most Noggins in their Morgan. This year the trophy is awarded to Chris Nickless. Chris could not join us at the AGM, so Chris Beck will be presenting to Chris at a later date.
SGT Trophy
The SGT Trophy is awarded to the member who has most exhibited the best traditions of Morgan ownership and its furtherance in true club spirit. This trophy has been proudly received by members.
This year it is awarded to John French for offering to design and build the ThamesMOG trophy award to commemorate my 25 years as Centre Secretary. The trophy, which is unique in its design, took John many painstaking hours and much dedication to complete, which did in his usual good humour. Of course it is now 25+1.
Well done to all our trophy winners for 2022. Good luck to everyone for 2023.
In May we also had a splendid visit to the Battle of Britain Bunker at RAF Uxbridge, if ever you get the chance it is well worth the visit. I would like to thank Chris Beck for arranging this visit. You may read of our visit in a future Miscellany.
Over a period of two weekends at the end of May/beginning of June ThamesMOG attended motor racing twice at the Brands Hatch circuit, once for the Master’s weekend, and once for Brands Britannia 2023. I would like to thank Graham Larby for arranging these trips.
By the time you have received this report, ThamesMOG will have visited the Aston Martin Heritage Trust, near Benson, and also some of you will have helped marshal at MOGfest23, or have attended over the weekend. I hope you all had an enjoyable and entertaining time.
On Sunday 23rd July there is the Chilton Open Air Museum Vehicle Show. Come and admire an amazing collection of classic cars, motorcycles and historic bicycles. You will also be able to see a collection of historic tractors and wagons on their farm, which was once used for filming TV drama Downton Abbey. If you would like to exhibit your Morgan the museum would love to have you there. Admission is free for the driver and one passenger. Standard admission prices apply for any additional passengers. They would like exhibitor’s cars to arrive between 8:30am and 10:00am that is before the public arrive. The show ends at 5:00pm if you wish to leave before 5:00 you can be escorted from the site. Please find the booking link at on the event page on our website