Third/Fourth Quarter 2016

What’s New!!! A lot has happened since we last talked!!

We had another fantastic Chapter Contacts meeting in Louisville, KY. We were anticipating a rather low turnout as we had to hold the meeting in the evening, but we were surprised. We had 29 attendees representing 26 of our NAMGAR Chapters. As usual everyone had a lot to talk about. Thank you so much for attending. We had a full agenda covering many topics. But most of our meeting centered on the difficulty of our Chapters trying to host a regional meeting to be in compliance with current NAMGAR guidelines. Our Chairman, Carol Shamonsky was helpful in guiding the discussion. The Chapters felt that it would be beneficial to have a document that CLEARLY defines what a Chapter can and cannot do to host a regional event. Many Chapters said that they would consider hosting a regional event if they had a clearly written guide to follow. Colleen and I will be suggesting that the NAMGAR Board work on such a guideline and put this as an agenda item in the annual board meeting in January.

Another area that we want all Chapters to be thinking about is their insurance. Currently, each Chapter has FREE insurance for their officers provided at NO COST to the Chapter by NAMGAR. We have been working with Hagerty and starting next year, the underwriters will be needing more information from the Chapters. We hope to have more details by the next newsletter, but each Chapter will have to supply NAMGAR with their ASSETTS and REVENUE. We don’t expect you to know this off the top of your head so I would like you to talk to your treasurer and president about this. W will have more details later, but assets will probably be what is in your savings and checking account and perhaps any capital equipment, land or other possessions the Club owns. Revenue will be how much the club brings in each year from dues, and other activities (think auctions, raffles, meetings) that bring in money. We are NOT ASKING FOR THIS NOW, but will be doing so in 2017. It is important that we get this from ALL Chapters, so that Hagerty will be able to cover ALL Chapters next year. We will have more on the details of this in our next newsletter.

As you can see, we are combining our third quarter and fourth quarter newsletter. Hopefully we will be back on track for the first quarter 2017.

Chapter and Interest Group Responsibilities

This is hugely important so we need to hear from each of you about this. One the responsibilities of the Chapter & Interest Group Coordinators is to monitor the health of the local chapters and interest groups. To do this we need some help from you and we need it pretty quickly as we have to submit this information to the NAMGAR Board in January. It is very important that we get the following information from you:

Review the Contacts Information found in the latest edition of MGA!. Please do this very carefully and let us know if all of the contact information is correct for your Chapter. If anything needs to be changed please email us and email our Editor as well.
Next we need to know something about the makeup of your club members. We need a count of the total number of club members and the number of members that are members of NAMGAR. Please submit those numbers directly to us.
Finally, we need to make sure that we are getting copies of your newsletter or other publication that is sent out to your membership. Copies need to be sent to both the Communications Manager (i.e. editor Michael Tooke) and us, the Chapter and Interest Group Coordinators. Please DOUBLE CHECK this. You may have a new newsletter editor. Make sure that your newsletter is getting to us. If you only have a printed format, email me to get my correct physical address. Please check with the person in your club that sends out your newsletter and make sure that both parties are included in your distribution.

Upcoming NAMGAR Events

June 19–23, 2017 GT – 42 Solvang, CA
After a six-year hiatus, the GT will once again be on the West Coast!! Two of our California Chapters, the MG Owners Club-Northern California & the Paradise British Car Club are co-hosting this event. This is a great area of California to explore. Start making your plans now!!

Annual Chapter & Interest Group Contacts Meeting
It is way too early to have details about this, but be assured Colleen and I will be hosting our annual Chapter Contact meeting. Details forthcoming!

April 21-23, 2017 GOF South 2017
Organized by Suncoast Classic MG Car Club, Crystal River, FL

You don’t want to miss this one. When April comes around everyone will want to head South to warm up. You can fly, but driving is even better. The Suncoast Classic MG Car Club is hosting the GOF South at the Plantation Inn in Crystal River, Citrus County, FL. Join them for three days of Sun and Fun in this wonderful part of Florida. Visit their website for more information.

April 24-28, 2017
Organized by Key West British Car Club, Key West, FL

The Key West British Car Club is holding its annual “Brits in Paradise” event in Key West April 24-28, 2017. This event coincides with the Conch Republic Independence Festival. This is your chance to drive your car from “coast to coast” in the famous Independence Parade down Duval Street. Other events include a Bocce Ball Tournament and a spirited Miniature Golf Tournament. For registration and hotel information visit the website.

NAMGAR GT Chapter Recognition Award

In 2016 the award criteria for the NAMGAR GT Chapter Recognition Award was changed. The NAMGAR Board of Directors has created this award to recognize the NAMGAR Chapter that best meets the new proposed criteria. Last year in Louisville the Michigan Rowdies received the award. Here is how we determine who the gets the award. The award is based on points in the following categories:

10 points for hosting a GT (for the past 5 years)
5 points for hosting a NAMGAR Regional event (for the past 5 years)
3 points for having a complete chapter profile on file at www.namgar.com
3 points for providing annual report to Chapter Coordinators including the number NAMGAR members and total number of members of Chapter by December 31st each year.
2 points for having submitted their chapter newsletter to NAMGAR
1 point for article submission of an event or activity to either MGA! or website (article must be published and does not include National and Regional reports on events).
1 point for each new NAMGAR member (as confirmed by the Registrar)

Colleen and I are excited about this new format. This will give smaller active chapters a chance at receiving the award. There are several things on this list that reflect on the responsibilities of the Chapter Contact. Do your part to help your Chapter accumulate points!! Starting this year, the award will be $100.00 to the winning chapter, plus a photo on website and in MGA!

NAMGAR Regional GTs – Something Your Chapter Might Want to Consider

Are there any events on your club’s calendar such as a weekend trip or a car show that could be expanded to become a NAMGAR Regional? Is it something that you might want to consider? What the heck, the more the merrier. If you’ve already done the planning for an event then you’re more than half way there. Having a regional just might fill up that motel or enhance your car show field. Contact NAMGAR Vice Chairman Jeff Becker for details and advice on hosting a NAMGAR Regional.

Chapter Newsletters

We enjoy reading your club newsletters. Please let us know when a new one has been posted to your website or include us on your e-mail list. Those using the British Marque News as your newsletter vehicle, please let us know when you’ve submitted one to the Marque News so we know to look for it.

Chapter Events

Post yours on the namgar.com Events Page

NAMGAR Web Coordinators Peter and Anne Tilbury provide a service on the NAMGAR web site to post your upcoming club sponsored events which might interest other NAMGAR members convenient to your area. Please use this FREE service to promote your MG or British car hobbyist event.

You may add your club events to the Calendar of Events by visiting the Calendar of Events page or directly at the Events Submission page.

Renkenberger Spirit Award

This award is presented by the NAMGAR Board of Directors to a member of a Chapter or Interest group upon request of the local Chapter. The member does not have to be a member of NAMGAR. Each NAMGAR Chapter or NAMGAR Interest Group is eligible to nominate one of their members every three (3) years. As most Chapters have their annual planning meetings coming up this would be an appropriate time to suggest that your Chapter’s Board consider nominating a member for this award. Also our Interest groups can think about nominating one of their members. All Chapters and Interest groups have individuals that spend vast amounts of time and energy making the organization successful and this award is a very appropriate way of recognizing them. The guidelines are attached.

The award is prepared and sent to the Chapter Contact by NAMGAR upon receipt of the Chapter’s 300-400 word nomination submission to the Chapter Coordinators, along with a photograph of the awardee. These will be published in MGA! and posted on the NAMGAR website. It should be noted there is no cost to the Chapter for the award, which is provided by NAMGAR, and we do encourage each Chapter to use this award to recognize an outstanding member.

For more information on how to submit a nomination please contact us or visit namgar.com.

Lastly, please share this newsletter with your Chapter and Interest Group members. We look forward to your response to our requests and hope you are able to attend the national GT or a Regional GT local to you. We also encourage each Chapter Contact to reach out to a neighboring Chapter to see if there are club activities that would be enhanced by including a larger pool of British vehicles.

Happy Motoring!

Ed Sass & Colleen Quinn, NAMGAR Chapter Coordinators