I would like to thank all club members who have assisted in making another very successful club year. There has been a hard-working executive committee, supported by various appointees, who have all put in a great effort to keep things on track and allowed the club to prosper and grow. I am not sure how many other car clubs have the number of new members that we achieve each year. We currently have a total of 246 members, including over 200 full members, 9 life members and 34 social members.

Vice President Richard Sellars has once again always been willing to step up in my absence. This has included recently for two meetings in a row where I have been unavailable.

Secretary Duane Kaak continues to be a tower of strength within the club and provides us with great service. It is hard to imagine the club running successfully without Duane.

Our treasurer, Lisa Macleod maintains the books very efficiently. Having had this role for the previous 10 years before Lisa took over, I know what a time consuming and at times complicated job this is, and the club owes Lisa a debt of gratitude for her hard work. We had once again budgeted for a deficit for the club year, however managed to finish in a better than budgeted position at years end.

Chris Marshall, who is a chartered accountant and club member has agreed to act as the club auditor and advisor to Lisa on accounting and taxation matters for the next club year, and I thank Chis for taking on this role.

Katherine Bradley as Fastrak Editor position three years ago and continues to produce an excellent publication each month. Again, we are very grateful for all she does in this production.

Secretary Duane Kaak also is our competition secretary in addition to his other secretarial duties. Unfortunately, we did not have a team to compete in the MSCA 6 Hour Regularity Relay this year, and we have only small number of members participating in competition events.

We have had new social secretaries, Charlie and Carol Onody, who stepped into retiring social secretary, Natalie Farrell’s shoes after the last AGM. We have had a variety of great Sunday runs over the last 12 months, with various other club members helping with organising a run, so that the role is not overly burdensome. Thanks Charlie and Carol for doing such a good job, and to all club members who have also assisted.

Lawrie and Kaye Placing continue to organise mid-week lunches each month at interesting and sometimes out of the way venues. These have a loyal bunch of regulars attending, as well as members who attend them now and again, and this lunches continue to be very popular.

Ian Rigby has, as he does every year, carried a heavy club load, and worked tirelessly as Conditional Registration Scheme Registrar and Membership Officer. Ian has a band of helpers on his committee, and I thank these members for assisting Ian in this major role. Ian is also our representative on the Federation of Historic Motoring Clubs and has been instrumental in the past in gaining grants from the Federation for our Day of Triumph.

Life Members, Bill and Margie Berlemon ran the Weekender in May, based at Nuriootpa.  Bill had spent the lead up few weeks in hospital but was determined to have the event come what may. The Weekender was very successful, however must have been a huge strain on Bill. We were all very saddened by the news of Bill’s passing in June, a short time after the Weekender. I reflected on Bill’s huge legacy as one of the TSOA all-time greats in my July report. I won’t repeat them for this report, other than to say that we are all very grateful to have known such an exceptional person as Bill, and for everything he did for TSOA in the many years of him being a member.  Our condolences are with TSOA members Margie, Dean and Lisa, and Kate and the whole Berlemon family.

Margie remains a life member of the club, and I know she has appreciated the support she has received from the club, and in particular Ian Rigby during this sad time. Margie and Treasurer Lisa have been stalwarts on the door, and we are very grateful to them for doing this task. We have spread the load of preparing supper, and several club members have volunteered to do one supper. Mark Griffin has also negotiated for us to have surplus pies, pasties and other goodies from Banjo’s Bakery, Glenelg, which he collects each month and brings to club meetings. Thanks, Mark, for your initiative and hard work.

Dean Berlemon was again the convenor of the day of Triumph Display Day, as well as Regalia sales. Dean assisted by wife Lisa, did a great job and team Berlemon/Macleod remains integral to club operations and success.

We had a great turnout of Triumphs at the All-British Day in March and Stephen Wade was our club representative on the ABD Committee. Thanks to Stephen for all his effort albeit as well as being a member of TSOA, Stephen is also a member of several other British car clubs, so is representing more than just us on the ABD Committee.

Our Christmas Dinner continues to be our largest and best attended annual function of the year. Natalie Farrell organised this year’s event, along with Charlie and Carol Onody, and it was once again a very successful and enjoyable event at our traditional venue, the Royal Adelaide Golf Club.

I covered the 60^th Anniversary lunch in my last year’s annual report. Although this fell into the 2025/26 financial year, it was prior to the last AGM.

We have maintained membership numbers at close to 250 in total despite members leaving each year due in most cases, to having sold their vehicles. New members are joining, and our challenge is to get these new members involved with our club, which offers so much more than just the concessional registration scheme. I have encouraged new members to attend meetings and bring their vehicles for “cars on stage” which continues to be a key part of each meeting.

Storing and transporting our club equipment remains a significant task, and Ian Rigby and Dean and Lisa Berlemon/Macleod continue to do most of this work. It would be great to see another club member take on some or all of this role as Ian, Dean and Lisa are already heavily committed to working for the club in many critical areas.

Next year is the turn of South Australia to host the TSOA National Meeting. We have a small committee working on the planning of this event, which will be in October 2027. Planning is well advanced and I am sure it will be a highly successful week. Thanks to those members helping on the organising committee.

Life member, Roger Lange has been our club webmaster continuously since we first got a website, and has now decided to hand the baton over. Terry and Sue Dowden have offered to take over as webmasters and have recently commenced the role. Roger has also been our club representative on the Marque Sports Car Association (MSCA) committee and has been treasurer of MSCA again for many years. Roger has decided to retire from these roles, and the new club committee will seek to find a replacement for Roger as our MSCA representative.

Thanks, Roger, for doing a great job in both webmaster and MSCA roles over such a long time.

Our club has two awards for service made each year. The President’s Award is made to the Committee member who has made an outstanding contribution to the running of the club, and the Vice President’s Award is to a club member, other than a committee member.

The committee is a small group, and all do a fantastic job. This year, we welcomed Ian Rigby back onto the executive. An anomaly of our constitution is that the Concessional Registrar is not an executive position, however as we have not got a separate competition secretary, we had a committee position open up, and I was of the opinion that this position should logically be filled by the Concessional Registrar.

All club members know that Ian is a tireless worker in the club and maintains our Concessional Registrations in an exemplary manner. He is the go-to person for so many aspects of the club’s activities and is never too busy to help others.  I am therefore very pleased to announce that Ian is the winner of the 2025/26 President’s Award.

Regards

Alex Smithson

President

The AGM has finally arrived, and I have prepared a report on the year’s activities, and the TSOA members who have made the year very successful.

Treasurer Lisa, and Conditional Registrar/Membership Secretary Ian have got membership renewals to the point that we did not have to report anyone on the scheme to DIT as being unfinancial.

Laurie and Kaye Placing organised amid-week run was to the Aldinga Hotel, on 5th August, and Last Sunday, a run from Crafers to Gunellan Hotel, Freeling, organised by Katherine Bradley. I did not attend the Aldinga lunch but was able to get to the Freeling Hotel for a great lunch and a good turnout of members.

The Bay to Birdwood is on Sunday 18th October, and registrations close on Monday 31st August. For those planning to participate, I suggest they contact Duane Kaak to arrange to arrive at the starting paddock at the same time and be able to travel in convoy.

Day of Triumph is on September 13, and Dean Berlemon has planning well advanced. Please try to get there with your Triumph, or if you have another non-Triumph on the conditional registration scheme, we would also love to see it at the DOT. There are also opportunities to become a judge on that day. This is not an arduous task, and I encourage all members to think about offering their services as a judge. Don’t just leave it to the same small band of club volunteers.

Alex Smithson

President

We have had a good start to the year with the All British Day (reported on in my February report) and the All Triumph Observation Run in March. Unfortunately, circumstances conspired to have this last event poorly supported, despite a lot of planning put in by Dean and Lisa.

I am not sure why this was, as the weather was great, as was the lunch venue, being Mary Ann Reserve at Mannum. Those of us who did attend had a very enjoyable picnic lunch by the banks of the Murray. We collectively decided to forgo the questions and answers, due to there being only three Triumphs in attendance.

The low attendance, which contrasts with other club events in recent times which have good attendance, begs the question as to whether the club wishes to continue the tradition of annual observation runs. I know there were various reasons why people could not attend, including a clash with MSCA at Mallala, big increases in fuel prices because of the middle east war, and being in “mad March” with Fringe and other events happening. I plan to email all members with a questionnaire regarding social events in the future, including whether they want us to continue to have observation runs, as there is a lot of work involved in setting the run, as well as catering, and it is not fair to organisers (this year Dean and Lisa) if the event is not well supported.

At our last meeting, we had an extensive supper, which Mark Griffin sourced from Banjo’s Bakery Café at Glenelg. Sue Smithson has done a short article thanking Mark and Banjo’s in this Fastrak. It has also been great to have several members volunteer to do a supper during the year, rather than this task fall upon the same few each meeting. Between Mark and the others offering to help, we should continue to have great suppers at meetings to come.

We had two cars on stage at our March meeting, being Norm Barrett’s Spitfire 1500, and Paul Marshall’s TR6. It was also great to see Norm’s wife Camille at the meeting.

Norm’s Spitfire is work in progress, and whilst it is in good condition, he does not have a hood or frame, so it is very much a dry weather car. Luckily, it did not rain on Tuesday night.  It was an original Adelaide delivered vehicle and had not been driven for quite a while before Norm purchased it.

Paul had already purchased another TR6 a few months ago, however he saw this one on Carsales, which was in excellent condition, and decided that the cost of getting his original purchase to this standard would be way more than the cost of buying a fully restored vehicle. Paul purchased it from Warrnambool and drove it back via Mount Gambier on a day of around 42 degrees.  The car performed well and did not overheat, unlike the driver Paul, who by his description, was suffering from potentially serious heat stress by the time he reached home.

Paul does, however, now have a very nice car, being an American import, but fully restored and converted to a PI with overdrive, in a full body-off resto some years ago.

At our last meeting, I advised that life member, Roger Lange, after many years being club webmaster, now wishes to relinquish this role. We, as a club, are very grateful for all the work Roger has put in to maintaining our website, including having to rebuild it due to hackers infiltrating it a couple of years ago.

Filling this vacancy may have been a difficult task, as the collective level of computer skills in our club is not anywhere near the level of mechanical skills, however I am pleased to advise that Terry and Sue Dowden have stepped up to take on the webmaster role as from July, when they return form the overseas travel. Thanks Terry and Sue (both of whom are self-described computer nerds, as well as car nerds), and to Roger for all his past work, and agreeing to continue in the role until the July hand over.

At our next club meeting, we will have finalised the club budget and will announce membership fees for the next club year. We will be issuing an email to all members advising them of this soon after the April meeting. We ask that all members aim to have fees paid prior to 30^th June. Logbooks will be able to be updated/stamped or replaced at the May and June meetings in preparation for the new financial year, for all those members who are financial.  Please get in early as the jobs of Treasurer and Conditional Registrar are onerous enough without them having to follow up members who have not complied as at 30^th June.

Our next mid-week run is scheduled for Thursday 9^th April, being lunch at the Bridge Hotel in Langhorne Creek. The fuel situation due to the Middle East war remains uncertain, with fuel now at record high prices. Lawrie Placing will monitor the situation, as Langhorne Creek is quite a long drive from Adelaide. Lawrie has contingency plans in place if he decides closer to the event that we should have a venue closer to Adelaide.

We then have a run on Sunday 19^th April to Tenafeate Winery at One Tree Hill. Whilst not as far for most people to travel as Langhorne Creek, we will similarly monitor the fuel situation prior to this event. Hopefully by then, the world may have got back to some semblance of normality.

Alex Smithson

President

I have been away travelling and then at the TSOA Nationals for the September and October club meetings respectively, and thanks our Vice President, Richard Sellers for chairing these two meetings. Secretary Duane was also away for these meetings, and thanks to Ian Rigby and Lisa Macleod for taking minutes at these meetings. We are now back to normal, albeit that there are no formal club meetings in December or January.

We have traditionally held an informal meeting in January however the committee has decided that due to low numbers attending in past years, we will not book the Sporting Car Club for January. If any member would like to organise an informal meeting either at their house or another venue, please advise me and I will ensure it is properly publicised.

The TSOA Nationals at Port Stephens were a great success. A report is on the website and is in this edition of Fastrak. Superb location, 110 registrants and a full week of activities as well as great meals and great company. Next year is a Toowoomba, and expressions of interest will be called for shortly, and registrations open in February.

The Day of Triumph was organised at short notice by Dean and Lisa Berlemon at Civic Park, Modbury on 2nd November after the original event had to be cancelled due to bad weather. Although the weather was still not brilliant, there was a good turnout of 31 Triumphs. Congratulations to all winners, and special thanks to Dean and Lisa for the great effort both put in to make this day successful. Also, thanks to all those who assisted in judging and tallying scores, and of course, Dino and Lisa Vettese for providing discount breakfasts at Café Primo.

As Trevor Hawkins’ TR4A is now in master class, due to winning the last three concours events, there was at least a chance for the rest of us. Roger Lange’s TR7V8 was judged the best car on display.

Thanks again to Lawrie and Kaye Placing for organising a mid-week lunch at the Old Noarlunga Hotel, on 11th November. I was unable to attend; however I understand there was a good roll up and an enjoyable time was had by all who attended.

The Presentation Dinner was on Saturday 22nd November. There will be a report on this event in the next edition of Fastrak.

South Australia’s turn comes around again in 2027 to run the TSOA Nationals. A committee has been formed, and I am calling for others to join this committee. We have booked a venue for the event which will run from Friday 22nd October 2027 to Friday 29th October 2027. Being part of the organising committee is a great opportunity to get involved with our club. Having not attended a Nationals previously is definitely no impediment, so please contact me if you are interested.

All British Day registrations close on 1st December. The event is at Echunga Oval on Sunday 22nd February 2026. TSOA traditionally has a strong turnout of members attending this event, and it would be great to see this tradition continue. Contact Stephen Wade if you need any further information.

The After Christmas run has been organised by Natalie, Charlie and Carol, and will be on 30th December. This is always a well-supported event and I am sure this will be the same again this year. We also have our annual ice cream run through the beachside suburbs to finish at the Grange Jetty kiosk on Sunday 18th January. Another club event not to be missed.

We had on car on stage at our November meeting, being Dylan Taylor’s 2500TC saloon. Dylan has had two PI saloons previously and has owned this car since 2009. He was overseas for 10 years, and so the car was in storage for that time. He has liked Triumphs since he was a boy, and enjoys driving this car.

Alex Smithson
President

Welcome back all TSOA members and friends to another year’s club activities. I trust all had a great Christmas and New Year and are raring to go in 2026.

Since my last report, we have had several club events, including the Après Christmas Run in late December, ice-cream run in January and mid-week lunch in early February. Thanks to Natalie Farrell for organising the Après run, Charlie and Carol Onody for the ice-cream run, and Lawrie and Kaye Placing for the mid-week lunch.

The All-British day was on Sunday 22nd February. Despite the forecast of 25mm or more of rain, we had a mainly overcast, but rain-free day, which also was not too windy (no repeat of the disaster of three years ago). We had 40 owners nominate TSOA for their display, although there were at least 6 people who I don’t think are current members of TSOA, but were listed with us in the programme. Unfortunately, we were down a few cars turning up on the day, due to a variety of reasons (including one car having been sold prior to the day, and a break down en-route to Echunga), as well as the non-members almost all being no-shows.

Overall, however, the TSOA display was again one of the largest marques at ABD, and there were around another 15 Stags on display with the Stag Owners’ Club. Thanks to everyone who attended, and in particular; Ian Rigby, Dean Berlemon and Lisa Macleod for marshalling and bringing, setting up and dismantling the gazebos, and Duane Kaak and others for marshalling. Our ABD representative, Stephen Wade has worked all year on the committee, and had our layout worked out and managed with military precision. Thanks Stephen, for all your work on the committee and on the day itself.

The ABD president, Jamie Sandford-Morgan indicated in his welcome, that in 2027 the feature marque will be Triumph, due to it being 50 years since the last Stag was produced. Whilst I would have thought that being 60 years since the first TR5 was produced may have been a better reason, I am however, still very pleased to hear this news. I hope that we can have a record turnout of Triumphs next year, and will be talking about this more, as the 2027 ABD approaches.

As previously advised, South Australia’s turn comes around again in 2027 to run the TSOA Nationals. A committee has been formed and had its first meeting. Thanks to all those members who have joined this committee. We have booked a venue for the event which will run from Friday 22nd October 2027 to Friday 29th October 2027. We are now working through the daily program and have plenty of great ideas to make a fun-filled week.

Our first club meeting for 2025 in February was well attended, and we had a couple of guests looking to join our club in attendance. It is great to see that we continue to grow. Ian Rigby gave us an update of life member, and club stalwart, Bill Berlemon’s health. It sounds like treatment has been quite successful and Bill is feeling better than he was a few months ago. It was great to see Bill and Margie at the All-British Day, with Bill’s green 2500PI saloon back on the road, with some considerable help from Ian.

We had one car on stage at our February meeting, being Nigel Genders’ 2500S saloon. I had planned to have a second car on stage however the owner had a last-minute family commitment and will hopefully have it at our March meeting. Nigel has not had his car for long, however has had numerous Triumphs previously, including a Herald when he was 18. The car may have been in the club at some time previously, however I understand the last owner was not a club member.

Nigel is very happy with the car, and thinks it drives better than any of the ones he owned previously.

My wife Sue talked at the February meeting about suppers, ongoing, as Margie and Bill are having a well-earned rest from doing suppers each meeting. Sue has also done a short article for Fastrak. Thanks to those members who have put their hand up to help. We have most of 2026 sorted. As with all jobs in the club, the workload tends to fall on a quite small group of members, all of whom are volunteers. Please support us by offering to do supper for one meeting during the year to share a small part of the club workload around.

I look forward to a good turnout for the next club activity, the All-Triumph Observation Run on the 15th March. I have been instructed to ensure that Sue and I do not win under any circumstances, and as Dean and Lisa are running the event and therefore, also can’t win, the event is wide open.

Alex Smithson
President

After over 7 years in planning, the 44^th TSOA National Meeting which ran from Friday 17^th to Friday 24^th October 2025 finally happened, and it was well worth the wait. As many may know, this event was originally planned for 2020 but was cancelled due to COVID.  However, having already negotiated a fantastic deal with management at The Anchorage resort at Port Stephens, the NSW team was able to lock in 2025 at a fixed room price only 15% above that agreed for 2020. As a result, we had exceptional accommodation at a price way below current room rates. We all had great views over the marina and Port Stephens Bay, with balconies and terraces to soak in the view.

There were 110 registered participants (over half from NSW) with SA having 14 members attend.  Due to being in NSW, where there are over 400 TSOA members, and the exceptional value offered at The Anchorage, registrations were filled within a few days of release to the market, with a long waiting list. Due to the inevitable withdrawals as the time approaches that happens every year, almost everyone on the waiting list were able to be included in the final numbers.

Most of the SA contingent drove over, with Lawrie and Kaye Placing leaving a day before the rest of us, to catch up with friends in NSW en-route. Sue and I took the soft option and trailered my TR5 there, borrowing Neil Martin’s car trailer. Stephen Wade, Duane Kaak and Ian Rigby all drove their Triumphs and Roger and Cherri Lange decided at the last minute to take the Porsch Boxter rather than the TR7, due to the forecast hot conditions. Air conditioning in cars is a wonderful invention which is noticeably absent from many Triumphs.

Disaster struck between Tailem Bend and Lameroo, when Ian Rigby’s saloon had electrical problems. Ian had recently replaced the distributor, but the replacement still failed. The combined expertise of Ian, Roger and Duane concluded that there was no easy fix, and so Ian organised for the RAA to truck it back to Adelaide, and for his wife, Raelene, to drive her car to the breakdown spot, with their son in law picking her up from there to take her back to Adelaide. Ian then drove Raelene’s BMW on to Port Stephens, having a night arrival in Hay, our first overnight stop.

I also had problems between Balranald and Hay, when the inside wheels of the car trailer clipped a large steel object on the side of the road (thought to be a dropped road train trailer coupling) and I managed to wreck both tyres and rims on that side of the tandem trailer. Having only one spare, I limped into Hay, with the second flat tyre totally disintegrated by the time I got there. Luckily, we were staying next to a tyre shop, and I was able to get two new rims and tyres, bright and early the next morning. Fortunately, there appeared to be no damage to hubs or wheel bearings from this incident.

We all enjoyed a second, incident-free day and night in Dubbo, before driving through to Port Stephens on Day 3. Ian’s wife Raelene flew to Newcastle, Duane’s wife Meranie and daughter Indy flew to Sydney and then caught the train to Newcastle, and Dino and Lisa Vettese trucked their Stag to Sydney and then flew there and drove to Port Stephens.

As always, everyone had a great week renewing old friendships, making new ones, and celebrating our love of Triumph cars. There were quite a few “first-timers” attending, as well as a lot of us who make it an annual pilgrimage.

Our first event was the welcome dinner on Friday which had a “beach” theme, bringing out the best of the creativity of the rally delegates. The main function room was not available on this first night due to a wedding at The Anchorage, and we were in the breakfast room, which includes under cover verandahs. There was a massive thunderstorm and heavy rain which required some people to relocate so as not to get wet, however the lightning show was spectacular.

On Saturday we all washed and polished our cars and headed into the d’Albora Marina in Nelson Bay for a show and shine. This was a great venue (at least the equal of last year in Albany which was until then the best S&S venue in living memory), and there were many locals who came out to see our vehicles, and with lots of food and coffee options around the marina. No trophy was awarded, however there was a “people’s choice” as well as casual judging.

Peter Wards, who is well known to many TSOA members as a now-retired professional Triumph restorer was judged in first place with his superb TR6. This car had also won this year’s TSOA NSW Concours event. Trevor Norris from Victoria’s immaculate TR7 V8 was second, and our own Dino and Lisa Vettese’s Stag was third. The popular vote was a tie between a far from standard TR6 with a 3.9 litre TVR V8 motor, owned by Steve Ralston from NSW, and Ron Farrugia from Victoria’s modified TR5 .

Dinner on Saturday night was at The Anchorage, with happy hour drinks on the Sunset Terrace. This is a facility built out on the breakwater where we had dolphins putting on a show right in front of us, as they did every night we had drinks at this venue. The shared plates meal was exceptional, although far more food than anyone could do justice.

Sunday saw us drive some 50km to Ringwood Park hill climb, a facility owned and operated by the MG Car Club of NSW. This is a neat little loop track, with cars doing individual timed runs, and no CAMS licence was required to drive it. Duane and Roger took their Stag and Boxter respectively around the track, however both exercised commendable restraint, knowing each vehicle had to get back to Adelaide. After lunch, spectators also were able to drive the track in parade laps behind a pace car.

The first “Ironman” events were then held at Ringwood. For the uninitiated, there is an annual competition between the states, of essentially novelty events, with the winning state taking away the perpetual “Ironman” trophy. This is very large, quite unattractive, is hard to transport in cars with limited space, and must be brought by the winning state to the next Nationals. Naturally, it is keenly fought over, with each state hoping to win this highly sought-after national trophy.

There was a competition for cars getting as close as possible to a pole marker without touching it, and then driving through cones with a ball placed on the car bonnet, without letting the ball come off. Dino, Lawrie and Duane flew the flag for SA in this event. (Editor’s note – Lisa navigated for another driver who eventually was declared the winner – well done Lisa!)

Monday was a 60km drive to Newcastle and a tour of Fort Scratchley, the primary defence for Newcastle against invasion by potentially the Russians and others in the 19^th Century. We were then encouraged to explore Newcastle including the “Bathers Way” walk and beaches. We enjoyed a meal that night at Nelson Bay Golf Club.

Tuesday saw us drive some 40 km to Lemon Tree Passage on a peninsula in Port Stephens, to have a lunch cruise on the “Wangie Queen”, a 100-year-old former Sydney Harbour ferry. Port Stephens Bay is some 134 square kilometres in size, much bigger than Sydney Harbour, and so there is a lot to see and do.  We had good weather for this cruise which was very enjoyable, with no sea sickness. That night was free, with some of us going out to dinner in Nelson Bay.

Things were heating up weather-wise by Wednesday, with the temperature reaching 39 degrees. The organisers decided to change the original program to make this a free day and allow everyone to cool off as best they could. There are some great beaches in the Port Stephens area (both in the bay and on the ocean side) as well as two swimming pools at The Anchorage. Some of us went to visit the “Fighter World” museum at Williamtown RAAF Base, some 25 km from The Anchorage. We were treated to seeing take offs and landings of the RAAF’s new F35 Joint Strike Fighters on the runway right next to the museum, and well as close up looks at retired aircraft including an F111 and an FA18 Hornet jet fighter. (Editor’s Note – a small number found a slot car track and did some laps!)

We went to the Nelson Bay Bowls Club for dinner that night. As many may know, in NSW gaming machines are in sporting clubs rather than hotels, and as a result, these are often huge facilities, most unlike the modest bowls clubs in South Australia. Nelson Bay boasts several bars, gaming areas and large dining facilities. Our 110 people were easily accommodated in one of their function rooms.

Our final day was Thursday, and we drove some 65km to the quaint town of Morpeth, where we had a series of “observation run” questions to answer. Luckily a cool change had come through, and we all enjoyed spending time in this historic township. (Editor’s Note – Morpeth is the birthplace of some noted Aussie companies, notably Soul Patterson, Arnotts and Brambles)

Before dinner, we had the final Ironman event at the Nelson Bay Golf Club driving range, which was a timed event for radio-controlled model cars, including slalom and motorkhana.  Our driver was the youngest attendee, Indy Kaak who put up a mighty performance. She found reversing a bit tricky but otherwise was right up with the best of the older and more experienced drivers.

Our final dinner was at The Anchorage, with the theme being “dress to impress”. The only perpetual trophy on offer was the Ironman trophy, and sadly South Australia could not repeat last year’s famous victory. With 60% of the attendees, NSW had a Melbourne Cup field of Iron people to select from for their teams and were crowned the winners. SA vowed to come back stronger than ever next year and try to wrest back this much sought-after trophy.

The week was fantastic, and I doubt whether anyone else will ever be able to match the standard of accommodation and meals provided by The Anchorage at future National meetings. The organising committee, headed by convenor John Stokes, did a fantastic job of making sure the week ran very smoothly, and everyone in the NSW club really pulled their weight to make it such a great event. It was encouraging to see a lot of new faces to the Nationals, and I am sure that, after such an enjoyable week, many of these people will be planning to attend next year.

On the last night, Peter Connor from Queensland gave a presentation on next year’s Nationals to be held at “The Platinum International Hotel” in Toowoomba from 10^th to 17^th October 2026. The program looks great, and whilst we won’t be in a beachfront resort, we all agree that the heart and soul of the TSOA Nationals is the camaraderie we enjoy at each event, and the fun of visiting new places that we would otherwise be unlikely to see. Expressions of interest will be sought shortly, and registrations will be opening early in 2026. Demand is expected to be high.

No major dramas were reported on the way home, although I can report that Duane, Stephen, Sue and I had a meal at a pub in West Wyalong, and I won the meat tray raffle. Read all about it in last week’s edition of the West Wyalong Gazette.

Thanks again to TSOA NSW for putting on such a well organised and enjoyable week, and we look forward to seeing the Nationals family again next year in Toowoomba.

Alex Smithson

Prior to the July club meeting we had a thankyou night pizza meal for members who have helped the club during the year. The club does not run itself, and we have a range of people who make things happen, including the executive committee of Richard Sellers (Vice President), Duane Kaak (Club Secretary and Competition Secretary), Lisa Macleod (Treasurer), Natalie Farrell (Social Secretary), Katherine Bradley (Newsletter Editor) and Dean Berlemon (Committee Member, as well as Regalia and Display Day co-ordinator).

Other key club members include Ian Rigby as Membership/Concessional Registration Secretary and his committee of Duane, Kevin Foster and Graham Dean, mid-week run organisers, Laurie and Kaye Placing, Weekender organisers Bill and Margie Berlemon, Web Master Roger Lange, and Librarian Greg Page. Margie and Lisa also greet us at the door each meeting and organise the raffle, and Bill and Margie also organise supper rosters, and do much of this catering. Sue Gibson has for many years, organised the Christmas Dinner, and she and Rory remain very involved with our club. Various other club members also help out at events, including motor sport, Day of Triumph and organising individual runs.

I am very grateful for all club members who contribute to the running of our club, and hope that other members will give serious thought to becoming involved in some of these tasks at our AGM in August. Without members taking on these roles, our club will cease to function, despite being 250 strong.

There were no cars on stage at the July meeting, Unfortunately, the members who I organised to bring their vehicles were unable to do so, however cars on stage will resume as from our September meeting.

Our 60th Birthday Lunch at Dimples, Tea Tree Gully Golf Club was on Sunday 20th July, and was a great success and enjoyed by all who attended. A special thanks to Sue Dowden who is Business Manager at TTG Golf Club and was able to get us a special deal. We had around 80 attend the event, with more booked in, however there were some last-minute apologies for health reasons. Our Secretary, Duane Kaak was MC for the event, and as well as telling some very amusing jokes, up to the high standard he sets at our club meetings, also wrote and recited a great poem about our club which was arguably even better received by the attendees than his jokes. Life Member Roger Lange gave a great talk about the life of our club over 60 triumphant years of our history, and Life Member Bob Anderson cut the cake to celebrate the occasion. All attendees were able to take home an etched glass with our 60th logo, a printed placement/poster and a piece of birthday cake.

I would particularly like to thank Noel Schmidt who did the artwork for the 60th Logo, and also worked until midnight, one night getting the 250 or so photos for the slide show properly formatted, Dean and Lisa for organising the glasses and getting them etched, Duane and Roger for making the day so entertaining and enjoyable, Natalie and Sue Gibson for doing seating plan, Lawrie and Kaye Placing for manning the welcome desk, everyone who brought along memorabilia, trophies and supplied photographs, and. Last but far from least, my wife Sue for doing many behind the scenes tasks too numerous to mention.

The display of Triumph Cars did not go completely to plan, due to the excess of vehicles to parking spaces at TTG Golf Club on a Sunday morning and particularly around lunchtime. Whilst there was a spot on the pitching green reserved for us, it was not signposted, and lots of others at the Club who could not find anywhere in the car park, decided to park in our space. Ian Rigby has agreed to direct our vehicles to this area, but by the time most TSOA cars arrived, the pitching green was full of TTG members’ cars.

Victor Harbor Rock ‘N’ Roll Festival is returning for its 16th year from September 19 – 21, 2025. Cars will feature in Shannon’s Show ‘N’ Shine across Warland Reserve and Albert Place, and registration is free. Register now at rocknrollfestival.com.au via the Vehicle Display.

Alex Smithson
President

I would like to thank all club members who have assisted to make this club year very successful. We have had a hard-working committee, supported by various appointees, who have put in a huge effort to keep things on track and allowed the club to prosper and grow.

Although Vice President Richard Sellars was not called upon too often, he was always willing to step up, including taking meeting minutes in Secretary Duane’s absence. Richard has prepared guidelines for nominating Life Membership, based on his research and experience with kindred organisations. This has been adopted by the club and we are grateful to him for his work in this regard.

Secretary Duane Kaak continues to be a tower of strength within the club and provides us with great service. It is hard to imagine the club running successfully without Duane.

Our treasurer, Lisa Macleod maintains the books very efficiently. Having had this role for the previous 10 years, I know what a time consuming and at times complicated job this is, and the club owes Lisa a debt of gratitude for her hard work. We had budgeted for a deficit for the club year, however managed to finish at close to break even. Lisa and I also attended a Federation, one-day workshop with the ATO regarding tax return requirements to which all not for profits must comply. Again, Lisa was able to lodge our tax return on time, and we did not incur any tax liability.

Katherine Bradley as Fastrak Editor position two years ago and continues to produce an excellent publication each month. Again, we are very grateful for all she does in this production.

Neil Martin relinquished the role of Competition Secretary last year, and Secretary Duane Kaak has taken on this role in addition to his other secretarial duties. Unfortunately, we did not have a team to compete in the MSCA 6 Hour Regularity Relay this year, and we have only small number of members participating in competition events.

Life Member, Natalie Farrell as social secretary provided a great range of monthly events which continue to be well attended. Several members have assisted Natalie by organising individual monthly runs. Lawrie and Kaye Placing continue to arrange mid-week lunch runs which have a small but keen following. Thanks to all who have contributed to the varied program.

Ian Rigby has, as he does every year, carried a heavy club load, and worked tirelessly as Conditional Registration Scheme Registrar and Membership Officer. Ian has a band of helpers on his committee, and I thank these members for assisting Ian in this major role. Ian is also our representative on the Federation of Historic Motoring Clubs and has been instrumental in gaining grants from the Federation for our Day of Triumph.

Bill and Margie Berlemon ran the Weekender again this year, this time based at Burra. This three-day, two-night event was highly successful and enjoyable, and is always a highlight of any club year. Bill has been on the sick list this year, and the club hopes that he is now over the worst and can get back to normal activities as soon as possible. Margie, along with Treasurer Lisa, has also been the stalwart on the door, and, together with Bill, organising the raffle and supper at club meetings. A particular vote of thanks to both Margie and Lisa, and other club members who have assisted for suppers.

Dean Berlemon was again the convenor of the day of Triumph Display Day, as well as Regalia sales. Dean, assisted by wife Lisa, did a great job and team Berlemon/Macleod remains integral to club operations and success.
Dean also joined the club executive committee this year . This came about because of there being no dedicated Competition Secretary in 2024/25. Our constitution provides for this position to be “Competition Secretary or Committee Member”. An anomaly of our constitution is that one of the most important roles in the club, that of Concessional Scheme Registrar is not a committee position. Altering the constitution is a laborious process, so I have proposed that the position of “Committee Member” be reserved for the Concessional Scheme Registrar if there is no separate Competition Secretary.

We had a great turnout of Triumphs at the All British Day in March and Stephen Wade was our club representative on the ABD Committee. Thanks to Stephen for all his effort albeit as well as being a member of TSOA, Stephen is also a member of several other British car clubs, so is representing more than just us on the ABD Committee.

Our Christmas Dinner continues to be our largest and best attended annual function of the year. Life member Sue Gibson, along with Natalie, is the main organiser of this event, as she has been for many years. Thanks, Sue once again for making this such a successful and enjoyable event.

This year has been very special as it is our 60th Anniversary. A TSOA club in South Australia was proposed by a then youthful Tony Case, together with the late Ron Fergusson. The first meeting was held on 22nd January 1965 at Ron Fergusson’s house to discuss the constitution and aims of the new club. To celebrate this milestone, we had a birthday lunch at Tea Tree Gully Golf Club on Sunday 20th July. This was a great event attended by around 90 past and present members. Secretary Duane Kaak was MC, and Life Member Roger Lange gave us great talk about the club through the years. The birthday cake was cut by life member Bob Anderson. Thanks to everyone who assisted in the organisation, helped on the day, provide photos and memorabilia, and attended the lunch.

We have maintained membership numbers at around 250 in total despite members leaving each year due in most cases, to having sold their vehicles. New members are joining, and our challenge is to get these new members involved with our club, which offers so much more than just the concessional registration scheme. I have encouraged new members to attend meetings and bring their vehicles for “cars on stage” which continues to be a key part of each meeting.

Storing and transporting our club equipment remains a significant task, and Ian Rigby and the Berlemons (Bill and Margie, as well as Dean and Lisa) continue to do most of this work. It would be great to see another club member take on some or all of this role as Ian, Dean and Lisa are already heavily committed to working for the club in many critical areas.

Our club has two awards for service made each year. The President’s Award is made to the Committee member who has made an outstanding contribution to the running of the club, and the Vice President’s Award is to a club member, other than a committee member. The committee is a small group, and all do a fantastic job. Our secretary, Duane Kaak is always ready and willing to take on any additional tasks asked of him, including this year, Competition Secretary, and MC of the 60th Birthday lunch. He is also on Ian’s Concessional Registration Scheme committee and does a lot to assist Ian in this regard. Duane’s joke telling is legendary, and he is always there to talk with me about any club issues that may arise. I am therefore very pleased to announce that Duane is the winner of the 2024/25 President’s Award.

Regards
Alex Smithson -President 2024-25

Thanks to Graham Keynes and Richard Sellers for bringing their Stags along to this month’s meeting and having them on stage, for a club “Stag Night”.

Richard has recently sold his TR8 to an interstate buyer and purchased a very tidy white Stag from Collectible Classics at Strathalbyn. Unfortunately, Richard has been through bit of a bad patch, health-wise, and has not driven his new car more than a handful of times but is very happy with how it drives.

Graham has a Tahiti Blue Stag which was at some time previously, owned by past club member, David Treen. I have been going through old photos of club events for a slide show at the 60th Birthday lunch and have seen this car is in several of those photos, when in David’s ownership. Graham is also greatly enjoying the Stag experience.

I am pleased to advise that we have over 80% of members financial as at the writing of this report. If you have yet to pay your subscriptions for 2025/26, please make sure these are paid prior to 30th June and save a lot of unnecessary work for Treasurer Lisa.

The Conditional Registration committee of Ian Rigby, Kevin Foster, Duane Kaak and Graham Dean were once again, hard at work stamping logbooks at the June meeting. Remember that you need to have your logbook stamped and signed by an authorised signatory by 30th June for your vehicle to be legally registered after that date, so please contact one of these committee members to arrange this if you have not already done so. This obviously can only be done if you are a financial member.

Bill and Margie Berlemon organised a fantastic weekend away at Burra from Friday 6th June to Sunday 8th June. We were not blessed with great weather (Saturday in particular, was very cold, wet and windy), however despite this everyone attending had a great time. Bill and Margie have a knack of finding very interesting places to visit. We had dinner at the Burra Bowls Club on both nights and enjoyed great home-cooked meals provided by bowls club members, and Paxton Cottages were very cosy and comfortable, and provided very good-value accommodation.

We are close to 100 people booked for the club’s 60th Birthday celebrations which will be on Sunday 20th July, at Dimples Restaurant and Function Centre at Tea Tree Gully Golf Club. If you have not done so, already, please do this as soon as possible, so we can lock in numbers. As previously advised, this will be great celebration of an amazing 60 years of history and should not be missed. Please see the flyer in FasTrak regarding booking for this very special event. There is a $10 discount for the first 100 registrants which is still available. Get in quick as there are only a small number of places left at this discount price.

Noel Schmidt is putting a photo slideshow together, to run during the lunch. If you have any photos of the early days of the club, could you please contact me ASAP so these can be included in the presentation. We also will be having a memorabilia table and again, please contact me if you have any items that you think would be suitable for display. We will have club perpetual trophies and the like, but I am sure there are other items of interest that we could display on this table.

Orders have now closed for the special shirt being offered to members to celebrate our 60th Birthday and will be delivered at the July meeting, so those with shirts will be able to wear them to our 60th birthday lunch.

Alex Smithson
President

Thanks to David O’Loughlin for bringing his TR3 to have on stage at our May meeting. David’s car was an original Triumph company demonstrator and press vehicle in the UK and was fully optioned from the factory. David has much original paperwork for this special vehicle, which is in fantastic condition, and is probably the only “Salvadore Blue” TR3 that most of us will see in our lifetimes.

David is a passionate Triumph side screen owner (he also has a TR3A) and we are very pleased that he has decided to be a member of our club, as well as being actively involved with the TR Register.

As advised at the April club meeting, the executive committee has decided to increase subscriptions for 2025/26 to $60.00 for full members and $30.00 for social members. I am pleased to note that we have over 50% of members now financial for 2025/26. Hopefully we can get all renewing members to pay subscriptions prior to 30th June and save a lot of unnecessary work for Treasurer Lisa.

Unfortunately, our conditional registrar, Ian Rigby was a late apology for the May meeting due to coming down sick after his recent overseas holiday. Thanks to Ian’s fellow committee members, Kevin Foster, Duane Kaak and Graham Dean for all their work stamping logbooks at the meeting. The team will be available again at the June meeting. Remember that you need to have your logbook stamped and signed by an authorised signatory by 30th June for your vehicle to be legally registered after that date.

Thanks to Roger and Cherri Lange for organising the run to Middleton Tavern on Sunday May 18th. The event was well attended, and we had a great meal at Middleton.

Bill and Margie Berlemon have organised a fantastic weekend away at Burra starting on Friday 6th June through to Sunday 8th June. As always, this is packed with visits to interesting places and great meal venues. We are staying at Paxton Cottages and Bill has suggested to those attending, that bringing a small fan heater for the bathroom may be wise. Thos attending are really looking forward to a great weekend away.

Lots of members have booked their places at our 60th Birthday celebrations which will be on Sunday 20th July, at Dimples Restaurant and Function Centre at Tea Tree Gully Golf Club. If you have not done so, already, please do this as soon as possible, so we can lock in numbers. As previously advised, this will be great celebration of an amazing 60 years of history and should not be missed. Please see the flyer in FasTrak regarding booking for this very special event. There is a $10 discount for the first 100 registrants which is still available.

Orders close for the special shirt being offered to members to celebrate our 60th Birthday at our June meeting. This costs $55.00 and must be pre-ordered. Please see details in FasTRak and on our website. These will be delivered at the July meeting, so those with shirts will be able to wear them to our 60th birthday lunch.

Finally, Dean Berlemon gave us the exciting news that this year’s Day of Triumph will be held at the National Motor Museum, Birdwood, on 21st September

Alex Smithson
President