This year was a very memorable Memorial and Christmas run. The memorial run started in 2016 in recognition of Tom Curtis who was taken from us in December 2015 and since 2017 Liz has hosted the Christmas function at her home in Henley Brook. The memorial run is also a time for each of us to reflect on family and friends that are no longer with us and reflect on memories of people close to us and celebrate their lives. And also, for us to spend some time with fellow club members over a meal.

It was a great turnout again this year and it demonstrates that we as a club are building closer friendships with one another and creating a community for new members to feel welcome and also for longer term members as well.

At the club meeting this year we spoke about our future runs, and the opportunity to do more with the Charger Club in the future as well as reflecting back on the successful 45th Anniversary Celebration. After the meeting concluded we gathered outside around John Ingham’s car to work out where the rattling sound was coming from under the bonnet.

The route taken this year was the same as in 2018 and for the most part the cars remained together, apart from the quick light changes at the intersection of Waneroo Road and Beach Road which split up the group into three. Eventually we all came back together again at the intersection of Marmion Avenue near Trigg beach and remained together travelling North along the Beach on West Coast Drive. It was a nice sunny day and the ocean water was lovely and calm.

We remained fairly close to one another along the route until we arrived at Liz’s house. After a brief chat on the lawn we made our way to the patio to meet up with everyone else, Liz’s family and the bicycle club that both Liz and Tom are members of. A lot of people contributed to the lunch by bringing a dish to help Liz on the day and we were lucky that the weather was not too hot again this year. It was fantastic to see everyone enjoying themselves and taking time to have a chat with other members both old and new.

After our meal, Martin gathered us up and we all made our way to the Garage. Some of us were wondering why we were heading to the Garage instead of the Gazebo, but it soon became evident that Liz and Rob wanted us to see the memorial that they worked so hard on in Tom’s memory. The Garage was immaculate like a showroom, floors polished, cars and memorabilia on display as well as photos of Tom and items that were close to him and in particular his yellow cycling jersey, bicycle and car.