Welcome back they proclaimed, as Barry and the rest of the gang tied me to the chair!! It seems like only yesterday that I was writing my last report, but alas, you will have to put up with my waffle for at least another twelve months.

Honestly though, it is both a pleasure and an honor to be asked to take on the job again, and straight off the bat, I must sincerely thank Barry Aitken for the two years he served as President. Barry certainly understands that
running a business as well as trying to steer this club does take any extraordinary amount of ones time and effort. I commend him for his commitment and his efforts and I now look forward to working with him and the rest of the committee during the coming year.

The recent Parade weekend was another success as far as events, social activity and overall planning were concerned. I would like to thank John McQuay for taking on the task of locating a suitable venue for not only the Saturday lunch, but more importantly the Saturday night cocktail party event. Due to Porsche Cars Australia undergoing major renovations, we were unable to utilize their showrooms this year, so something special was required to fill the void. We believe John amply supplied this to our normally high standards and the evening was a great event. I also would like to thank all of our committee members for the effort that was put in to make the event work and also to the generous support of their wives and the other volunteers for their contribution at the park on Sunday.

With it becoming harder by the day to encourage and entice sponsors to our cause, it was excellent to have representatives from both Porsche Cars Australia in Pamela Ward and her husband Lionel, along with Pierre Niclas an his wife Simone from Castrol/BP Australia, join us at the cocktail party. Whilst unable to make Saturday night, Michael Inserra and his company Michelin Tyres Australia, were well represented again this year at Sunday's Parade, with the inclusion of the very large inflatable Bibendum amongst a large range of their products. We hope to see these sponsors plus many others attending more of our scheduled events in the future, to help cement our relationships and to offer a special something in return for their generosity.

A special thank you to Michael Albrecht for his beautiful raffle donation, Dennis O’Keefe - Aporschapart for his long standing and continued support and Di Morrill (USA Goodie Store) for her contribution and donation plus all our other sponsors for their valued support and commitment.

In late July of this year we lost a very dear friend and founding member in Peter Grosshans. Peter was a quiet but extremely talented person, whose engineering skills were legendary in the building and manufacturing of engine and transmission components.

He had recently relocated with his wife and daughter to Ballarat from his longstanding workshop in Dandenong, embarking on a new chapter in his life. Unfortunately this was cut far to short and it would be remiss of us not to acknowledge his friendship and commitment to our Register. Our thoughts go out to his wife and daughter and other members of his family.

Earlier in the year we also unfortunately lost Mrs. Jean Gregory, wife of the late John Gregory, after a long battle with illness.

A lovely lady who enjoyed life with her family and friends. Again we offer our condolences to Lisa, Michael and their family.

I should now close on a much brighter note, that is to wish everyone a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year, hoping that it is a safe and prosperous one for all.

HO! HO! HO!
Wayne Hevey