45th Club Anniversary
Neal Crocker
It was a belated Anniversary Celebration for the Club, unfortunately we all know that COVID came along and postponed our plans to have our Anniversary in May. Even though it was delayed it was still a great success.
On 4 May 1975, a notice was published in the West Australian Sunday paper "The Sunday Times'. The notice was printed in the Motor Mart Section under Valiant and asked for 'R' and 'S' Series owners interested in forming a club to contact the advertiser. The response was encouraging with 11 owners all of whom were very enthusiastic.
The first official meeting was held in Morley on Sunday 25 May 1975. From then on, several meetings were held to discuss a name for our Club and ways of promoting it.
Members voted unanimously to call the Club the 'R' and 'S' Series Valiant Car Club of W.A. In July 1977 our Club name was changed to the 'R' and 'S' Series Valiant Car Club of Australia.
There was a lot of preparation for the event, Bridget organised our 45th Anniversary Cake, Liz and Rob organised the catering, Ken brought the Microphone and a TV, Bev and Martin assisted with the Hall setup and also organised drinks, and Clint and Jim prepared the hall. I also came to assist with the setup of the hall, but also with some of the memorabilia. I managed to find the original advertisement that was published in the Sunday Times back in 1975! It is amazing what you can find in the State Library’s archives!
The room looked fantastic with the streamers and balloons hanging from the walls and the memorabilia on display on the walls.
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As club members started to rock up to the club rooms, we parked are cars in the designated “R” and “S” areas, however there was something wrong. There was no “Q” area. It was great to see all the cars on display at the club grounds, especially later in the evening when the lights turned on! Courtesy of Jim organising this with the local council!
People starting turning up right on time and it was not too long before the hall was full of activity. It was great to see so many people that had an association with the club over the years turn up to celebrate the occasion and catchup with old acquaintances and talk about old times. From all accounts, everyone had a great night!
The highlight was the cutting of the cake by Jim Mitchell and Peter Mills.