Article from Free Wheeling, Nov 2024, by Neville van Leeuwen, VFWDC President.

On Saturday the 19th of October 2024 we Celebrated our Club’s big 5-0 at the Waltzing Matilda. The room looked great with themed decorations, balloons, old photos and magazines and four very large posters which displayed the cover off nearly all the magazines, a great tribute to our
magazine over the years. A big thank you to Sally who put a lot of hours creating this.

People started arriving and donned a name tag, we had a lot of past members in attendance so there were a lot of people catching up with old friends as well as current and previous members.

We ended having almost 80 people in attendance, a fantastic achievement. Everyone looked great all dressed up and many new members were sporting the new 50th club shirt.

Sally our wonderful MC called us to order, and we took our seats, everyone received a gift (a travel mug with the club logo) as well as a raffle ticket with the instruction to hang on to it for the whole night. (I’ve got my eye on that ARB compressor).

I then gave a little speech thanking all our club presidents (we had composed a list of all the presidents over the last 50 years only missing two years records from the 70’s). I also gave a brief history of where the club had come from, to where it is today. The earlier members certainly were the pioneers of 4WDriving.

Craig Ryan the CEO of Four Wheel Drive Victoria got up on stage and introduced himself as well as giving a brief outline of his role. He then presented the club with a beautiful plaque
commemorating our 50th.

We then had our first raffle and very appropriately Mark Kochan (our longest serving member) was called out. He took home a tasty bottle of Fortified Wine from St Anne’s Winery as well as a beautiful charcuterie board that Daisy hand decorated.

Dinner was served, and somehow I had managed to find a seat on the table that was last to go up. But I did not need worry as there was mountain of food to choose from all of which was delicious, I even made room for some dessert.

We then had our next raffle and Harsha and Melissa Fernando walked away with two bottles of Champagne including a bottle of Dom Perignon donated by Alykan (Sally & Tristan)

Next up we had a Panel discussion from one person from each decade the club has been around:

• 70’s Patrick Casey
• 80’s Mark Kochan
• 90’s John Partridge (he was the closest we had to the 90’s joining in the very early 00’s)
• 00’s Steve Pitcher
• 10’s Megan Whitworth
• 20’s Dennis Alphonsus

Each member was asked a series of questions, and for me this was one of the highlights of the night. Listening to all the stories of when and why they joined the club. What vehicles they had, what they learned and a favourite story.

The underlining theme here and throughout the night is the close social network that is formed. As well as going on great adventures throughout the country we really form great friendships, and this is a wonderful tribute to our club.

Next up we asked Patrick Casey to come up and draw the next raffle the ARB compressor. Steven Miller was the lucky winner.

The final segment of the night was the awards. Dave got up to present the renowned “Good On Ya” award. With three nominees called up for a bit of good hearted roasting including Sally, Andre and yours truly.

Everyone gave a cheer for those they thought most deserved this coveted award and Andre was the clear winner for going camping without his tent and chairs.

The next award was “Most Trips Run” which we deferred from our usual AGM presentation Sally and Tristan took out this award. We appreciate all the trips you guys run!

Next, we had the appreciation awards that I was honoured to hand out. In organising this event and looking into the clubs history as well all that people do for the club it really amazed me how many people contribute to this club. All the recipients were very well deserved.

There are many more people that contribute in so many ways so please accept our great appreciation! Please see the list of recipients further on.

This was the end of the formalities and people continued to watch the slide show created by Andre (Thanks Andre it was great), look through the old photos and magazines we had on the centre table as well as continue socialising.

The night was fantastic and enjoyed by all, I am privileged to be part of such a great group of people.

Neville Van Leeuwen
VFWDC President
president (at) vfwdc.com

Certificates of Appreciation – Presented by Neville

Ann Crocket	The quiet achiever. Always willing to help out, she has been managing the catering for our club meetings for a number of years now making sure we all have our drinks and snacks to keep us going.
Steve Pitcher	Has had a broad ranging contribution to the club across a variety of committee positions including Treasurer and President. He also steps in to run the AGM meetings when the committee steps down each year, runs a variety of trips consistently and has contributed to the organising of this event.
Stuart and Maree Bowker	They participate in all aspects of the club and have contributed to the committee, to running a huge number and variety of trips, helping with the raffles. Encouraging others to participate in the club to get the most from it and has contributed to the organising of this event. (Unfortunately absent on the night as they were having a lovely time in WA)
Daisy Quinn	For coordinating and hosting club run events. Making sure there is enough great food for members and that they enjoy themselves. Always keen to make sure people are having a good time and has contributed to the organising of this event
David Heard	Being one of 3 members over 50 years who contributed by being President for 4 years from 1995 through to and including 1998 to ensure the club keeps running and enabling it to be where it is today.
John Partridge	Being one of 3 members over 50 years who have done the President Role for 4 years. Also supporting the development of our training and being Part of the Driver Training team.
Peter Pink	Being one of 3 members over 50 years who contributed by being President for 4 years including 1993 and 2008 – 2010 to ensure the club keeps running and enabling it to be where it is today.
Sally Higgs	For her broad ranging contribution to the club including the development of the Trip Leader training material and course to give more members the confidence to get out and run trips for the club. Running trips, participating on the committee in a number of different roles and providing support to the current committee and members to make the most out of their four wheel drives and the club. Also made a huge contribution to this event.
Ben Whitworth	Being a long serving member on the committee in his role as Web Manager since 2014.Making sure our website keeps running, the committee can get their emails, helps people set up their system so they can fulfill their committee roles. He has also been President for 2 years in this time as well. He brings a wealth of knowledge and guidance to the club that not many people get to see.
Ly Ho	Ly has been another quiet achiever and has been on the committee since 2016 where he started as the Magazine Editor for a number of years before transitioning to the treasurer. Both of these roles are quite time consuming and are key to the running of the club. He always does it with a smile.
Phil Griffith	For being an integral part of our driver training team. This course is run every year and Phil is there to do the theory night as well as the weekend course. Leaving our members better trained to get the most out of there 4WDin a safe manner.

---