Following another busy and successful year the SMMC committee thought it would be a good idea for a note to be sent to all Club Members thanking them for their participation at numerous Motorsport events in 2018. Having taken over the Club Chairmanship from Rod Howat at September’s AGM, I am very happy to put this thank you in place in recognition of your sterling efforts. Your endeavours are appreciated by many different people and clubs who regularly comment on the level of professionalism and expertise offered by SMMC Members at events.
Rod’s decision to stand down from the Chair, although he will remain on the committee as long as his diary allows, was flagged up earlier in the year and I am keen to record the Club’s thanks to him for his efforts while leading from the front over the last 10 years. He took over the Chairmanship while previous Chair Frazer Madder was in the midst of his illness and he has worked hard developing the Club over the last decade. I therefore take over a Club which is in a fine state with a healthy membership of over 180 strong and with our finances in good shape.
Can I also confirm that it is not my intention to remain as Chairman for too long as I have believed for several years now that the position, if and when it became vacant, should be filled by Garry Headridge. At this time however with his Club workload currently including the position of Treasurer as well as being responsible for the Motorsport Radio Group the committee felt we firstly had to look for successors in these two roles before he took over the Chair. This we are now doing although we realise it might take some time to resolve everything and I am very happy to take on the reins until that task is concluded.
The AGM had good support from the Membership and we covered all the necessary formalities a meeting such as this requires. In his final presentation from the chair Rod also reported on the previous year’s successes on many fronts focusing mainly on the Radio Group and Rescue Unit calendars and activities. Our role in the Training arena was also discussed although it was noted a seeming lack of support for Marshals Training from many Scottish Motorsport Clubs had not helped the efforts of our Training Team. My thanks though to all those SMMC Trainers who have continued to support Motorsport UK’s Marshal’s Training days in 2018.
Looking to the next few months we will see the launch of SMMC’s new Club website – a much needed and often discussed item. I can assure everyone the wait will prove worthwhile. What we have coming is VERY different from what we have now but I’ll leave all of that to the announcements we’ll be making about it over the next few weeks.
Similarly, after various discussions prior to and at the AGM we will also be revealing a new package of Members Benefits we have managed to secure. Although this might not at the beginning approach the number of offers available from other bespoke services we hope to develop this over the course of next year. We still await that elusive “offer” to really help with Members’ petrol/diesel costs but we will continue to search for it! Details of what we have secured will be revealed via the new website in early 2019.
It only leaves me then to wish all Members a good festive period. As my motorsport interests mainly revolve around cars and karts going round and round on tarmac this is a relatively quiet time for those of us interested in those disciplines but we all know it won’t be long until the daylight hours are once again increasing and we can hear the sound of those competition engines again. If in the meantime you’d like to make contact please drop me a line to nick@osprey-drive.co.uk or call on 07896 533394 if there’s anything about the Club you’d like to discuss. Thank you.
Travel safely one and all.
Kindest regards
Nick Clarke