Well, I can’t believe that it has been 12 months since I was stood here reporting in 2018. And as my first year as President - what a year it has been. The club we see today in 2019 seems stronger than ever. We are seeing a good engagement on all our events as well as through our social media on FB and the web page.
To start the meeting – I have to thank all the Officers and Directors for their support over the last 12 months:
Steve Sandke – our club VP
Anita Weemaes – for membership
Dolores Quintero-Sanchez – the lady with the money
Michael Toibin – who took on Social Media for the first time last year
And the remainder of the directors:
Nikki Tildesley
Tina Sandke
Christoph Fritsch
Rick Sanchez
Christine Toibin
Gordon & Alison Lee
Mick Brown
Vickie Casacca
Anne & David Sitter
Crystal Tucker
Brian Dotterer
Larry Anderson
We are lucky as a club to have such a strong team behind us who are all willing to step up to the mark and take some responsibility for the running of the club. This could be in the form of owning a run to organizing a venue for a club meal such as today to sorting out ordering things for the club. I would like it acknowledged by the club members that all of the Officers (me included) and the Directors do this on a voluntary basis purely based on their passion for the MINI and the club itself. None of us gets paid for our work and I think we should all give them a round of applause as a mark of thanks for their hard work and commitment. And for 2020 – thanks to the en-bloc voting – all the Officers and Directors will remain the same with the addition of Sarah McGlashan who will also become a director.
So what happened since our last annual meeting? The answer is a lot!! The biggest change in the club was the decision we took to drop the Gmail based membership and migrate over towards Motorsportreg.com. This was something that although had a few teething problems – now seems to have settled down and is working well. I thank all of you for supporting the Officers and Directors in the migration. My particular thanks also go to Anita and Christine for getting the whole thing set up and being the gurus for my silly questions with me not being IT savvy. Over the coming year we will continue to iron out issues – refine the use and look at how to expand its usability more.
Financially the club is fine. If you want more information on finance please contact Dolores Quintero Sanchez at info@norcalminis.com The club donated $500 towards the Mini’s for a Cause charity supporting the victims of the Butte County fires as well as the $328.50 raised from today's annual meeting given to the SPCA animal rescue in honor of all the fur babies that NorCal members have taken on as rescues. This raise our charitable donations this year to over $2000 between the club and the members.
Membership has also done well this year. We streamlined the process by handing out credit card type memberships cards. This required the club to invest in the machine and has made things much more efficient for the future. Whilst the membership number is down slightly from 2018 – we have still continued to see new memberships sign up. For those who didn’t renew – I personally followed up on some to find out why. There was nothing towards the club and how its run – main reasons were: my lease ended / no longer owns a MINI, moved away or don’t have time to come on the club events
Runs and events this last year have been plentiful and very well supported.
Oct 2018 – we drove to Coalinga along Hwy 198 to Harris Ranch. This saw a group of the members deciding to stay overnight at the ranch and have some good fun around the pool and enjoy dinner together in the evening. Also, in October a few of the members supported the All British Car Show hosted by our friends at MOASF at Blackhawk museum in Danville. This is a fun event and gives you the chance to show and shine our cherished cars. One of NorCal, Alex Tildesley, actually won the best in class for his 2004 Gen1 MC40.
November took in a fun drive up Hwy 1 to Bodega Bay. Due to the fires burning in Butte Country though much of the run was shrouded in smoke preventing us from having clear view towards the ocean. It didn’t spoil the fun though for the group though. Our lunch was followed by a drive out to the Peninsula and we even had a “Welcome NorCal MINI’s” sign hanging outside the visitor center in Bodega Bay.
December was our annual holiday run. This started in San Jose and then drove up the peninsula to San Francisco. A drive by of Mini of San Francisco had been arranged but sadly, due to the traffic situation in the city – the group did get split up. We managed to get together again on the Marin headland national park before heading to Tiburon for a yummy lunch.
And so onto 2019
January gave a great run up to Jack London state park. The weather was kind to us – with quite a warm day. Many of the members had not visited the park before and seen the ruins of the house that Jack London never actually lived in. After the park – the group headed to Napa for a meal at the famous Gotts restaurant.
February was an experiment run – which we tried and succeeded!!! This was our first overnight trip of 2019 and involved NorCal meeting up with SoCal in Morro Bay before the wider group all driving to Pismo Beach. This was attended very well by both groups with the number of MINI’s reaching 39 cars. The drive on the beach was fun followed by a group dinner and some drinks at the bar in the town.
March saw two runs in the month. The first was a charity event which was organized by Lew Allison from Capital City Mini’s. NorCal supported this event with 13 cars each contributing towards the fundraiser. The club supported by adding $500 towards the $1,240 raised by the membership. The second was also a new experiment for the club – a mystery run. Our group met later in the than we would normally in Livermore at which point nobody had a clue where we were going. We drove north up Hwy 116 following the levy. Our final destination was a super cool farm called West 12 Ranch where a photo shoot for each car and owner had been arranged.
April was our second overnight run driving down the Sequoia National park. This was a bizarre drive with temps in the 80’s on the valley dropping to below freezing in the mountains with several feet of snow still lying around.
Our annual Absent friends run to Mount Hamilton moved from March to May owing to the previous year’s suffering from cancellations and postponements due to inclement weather. This was well supported as always due to fun roads on offer. This run will be in May again for 2020.
June gave us Hwy 1 drive south to Big Sur. Lunch was enjoyed by all in the warm sunshine in Carmel Valley before the group drove down to Bixby bridge stopping for an Oceanside photo shoot on the way.
For July – we had another two events. Our first was supporting the July 4th parade in Speckles. Whilst only 8 cars attended – it still gave a good show of MINI’s amongst all the other cars being driven through the town. The second – an overnight drive – was heading north on Hwy 1 to Fort Bragg and the Avenue of the Giants. This has been a run done on several occasions but never fails to appeal to those who go.
Our final run before today’s annual meeting was the club’s annual BBQ picnic. A rather large group of 35 cars met in Woodside before taking in many of the more familiar back roads that many us of us are fond of around the peninsula and Half Moon Bay before heading back to Anita and Christoph’s Cabana club for an amazing picnic. Thanks to all of those who contributed towards the food pool and a great time. A special NorCal MINIS thanks to Christoph for doing the cooking.
So, what about the rest of the year and looking towards 2020. Well we have 4 more events for the remainder of 2019. The first is the Over the Hills and Far Away drive to the Mammoth Lakes region takes place on 11th thru 13th of October. This is recommended as a two-night trip – but can be done on one night as long as you don’t mind a long drive on the Saturday. The second October event is returning to the All British Car show at the Blackhawk in Danville on October 20th. Please sign up to show your car at this event. Be good to have a great NorCal Mini’s turnout. November will see a run to Point Reyes and Stinson beach via the Golden Gate Bridge. This should avoid the summer fog on the coast. Our final run of 2019 will be the annual holiday season run. Details on this are still being worked on.
Moving on to 2020, it is now time to reveal the results on the online voting. We received 48 individual votes. For the Officers and Directors – there 100% agreement for the en-bloc vote as the current 2019 board with the addition of Sarah McGlashan also now being a director for 2020. As for the run ideas, some of the selection are new and some are ones we have done before. As yet we don’t have set dates– but here are the results. So in order of popularity:
1. Columbia / Jamestown / Sonora / Twain Harte
2. Highway 1 Coastal Run – Big Sur
3. Highway 1 Coastal Run - Mt Tamalpais / Point Reyes.
4. a-MINI-zing Race / Mystery Tour
5. Carmel Valley and River Road Wine Trail
6. Disney Museum (San Francisco)
7. Safari West (Santa Rosa)
8. Ironstone Vineyard Concours d'Elegance (Murphys)
9. Lavender Farm (Napa)
10. SF Peninsula - La Honda / Pescadero / Fish n chips
In addition to the above – we will still hold our annual Absent friends run to Mt Hamilton sometime in May.
And our choice for overnight runs are:
1. Apple Hill / Placerville
2. Dunsmuir Railroad Resort (Mt. Shasta)
3. Solvang - Santa Ines Valley
4. Lake Tahoe
5. Santa Barbara via Foxen Canyon / San Marco Pass
6. Glamping
There are currently more runs than months in the year. The Officers and Board of Directors will meet now and see which best fit and if we can support more than one run per month and if any can be merged. This info will be available around Oct time – but it sure looks like an exciting year ahead for us.
We will also slot in additional runs as the Officers and Directors see suitable.
So as we close another annual meeting – my sincere thanks to all my officers and directors for your ongoing support. 2020 is going to see the club continue to get stronger. And my thanks to all the paid members of the club. Without the membership there would be no NorCal MINI’s. Through your passion and enjoyment of this car – we have made friendships and created an extended family.
Simon Tildesley
President – NorCal MINI’s
