Cape Vintage Engine &
Machinery Society Newsletter
February 2001
PARAFFINALIA No 7
Hello All!
This is a short interim newsletter,
to report on the meeting today with the Trekker & Enjinmanne, of which
some of us are members (15), and some not. I would welcome any feedback.
Western Province Tractor
and Engine Club meeting 9th February . Several topics were
discussed at this friendly and informative meeting, so those of you who
are thinking of joining up, renewing membership, or even considering cancelling
membership, might find this interesting. Firstly, the name must change,
as the club is now on its own, affiliated to the national body, whose initials
escape me, but they do include Tractor and Engine. The name above
is only one of the suggestions put forward (in Afrikaans). The idea is for
the name not to be too long, yet to encompass most of our activities. The
next important point raised was that not all of the members of the smaller
tractor groups, eg Piketberg, are members of the WP club. This was new to
me, and that puts them on a similar footing to us. The decision was made
that if one had paid a sub to one of the smaller groups, then that amount,
on production of a receipt, would be deducted from the current (R150 pa)
sub payable to the WP club, for full membership. I then asked whether non-members
of WP club could attend, say, the Annual Worcester show, and the answer
was a most definite yes. It was then decided that anybody who is a fully
paid-up member of the WP club would be excused the customary registration
fee at that show, and that an outsider would be charged a sum of R20 per
tractor. At this point I raised the point that any of our members who
was not a WP member, should not be penalised for bringing more than one
engine, if he saw fit to bring two, three, four, or 17! (Guess who!) It
was decided to make the registration fee per person in the case
of an Engine man.
We discussed the Mission and aims of
the club, and in the text which Hennie Richter read out, we could hear references
to the mission statement which appeared in the last issue of this newsletter.
Hennie acknowledged that he had found it useful as a guide.
The National body has come up with
an idea of making a register of all the collectable old iron in the country.
This will be a massive undertaking, made perhaps easier by computers, if
one considers they are talking about tractor, tractor implements, engines,
machinery, the works! Everybody at the meeting was highly excited about
this idea, and were surprised when I brought up the security aspect. Certain
of our members have already expressed worries in this regard, and those
lists of members' engines and equipment which I keep, are held in confidence,
and only used to bring members together who have similar equipment, to help
one another. I was assured that the information would only go to this body
and that body, and when it came to the Tourist Board, I thought it might
as well be printed in the daily papers. Please contact me with your
feelings on this subject. The idea is that if a foreign visitor or
party is interested in, say, a Clayton & Shuttleworth Trusty engine,
then they will be able to find that they can view it in my workshop. I would
be happy to pass on a list of engines and equipment, without saying
where it is, and that anybody interested could contact me first. I
would then contact the owner, and ask his permission to pass the information
on. I do, however, feel that this might be a way of controlling the export
of our national treasures for R11.25 £'s!
Long discussions took place regarding
the venue, and format of the 2002 Annual Show, which will be the club's
10th, and they want to make it a milestone, with 200 tractors! We were encouraged
to attend, and to also push for a bumper attendance. No decision was reached
as far as the venue was concerned, although if it wasn't for the ploughmen,
I think that Kleinplasie would have won the day, hands down! An exciting
idea has been suggested for the layout of the equipment, with rows of equipment,
(Tractors, engines, balers, cutters, etc,) by make, in date order, including
branch lines where different makes merged, each row ending in a stand of
modern equipment of that make, shown by their present-day distributors,
who would be requested to sponsor a part of the cost of the show.
The issue of insurance, particularly
third party and public liability was raised, and we must be sure we are
covered. Simon de Jongh just phones his broker before an event, and covers
himself for the days in question, which he says is inexpensive. Please check
with your own insurers that you are covered, even if you have your own public
liability cover, that it covers this type of activity.
New Members.
Jacques Hough, who is the Ceres delegate at the WP Tractor
& Engine Club reports that he has not one but two horizontal
Tangye's, which he is planning to restore. As they are both engines with
outrigger bearings, he is not sure how to exhibit them, not wanting to put
them in a fixed position, where it cannot be exposed to the public. Any
ideas?
Regards