Three New Life Members as Eastern Southland Car Club Celebrates 60 Years

Three new Life Memberships were awarded as the Eastern Southland Car Club celebrated 60 years at their annual dinner and prizegiving at the Heartland Hotels Croydon in Gore on Saturday night.

Three tireless workers for the club, Craig Jessop, Errol Hewlett and Karen Laird, were all honoured with Life Membership at the dinner. All three have performed a multitude of roles within the club over many years and all three also acknowledged the support of their respective spouses over that time.

The club also acknowledged their champions from the past season on the night with Brendon Mitchell of Winton taking out the Club Championship for the first time ahead of Roger Laird of Gore and Riverton's Dave Jenkins.

Mitchell was also the Most Consistent Competitor, the Class B Champion and was third in the Clubsport Championship while Laird won the Gravel Events Trophy and Jenkins took the Class D Championship. Laird's son Kevin, based in Alexandra, won the Autocross Trophy, the Gravel Sprint Trophy and the Sealed Sprint Cup while wife Karen Laird won the Class A Championship.

Two other families fared well at the awards, the Gouman family of Greenfields in South Otago and the Henderson family of Woodlands, near Invercargill. Paul Gouman won the Class C Championship, and the Hillclimb Cup and also took the Hard Luck Award for his off road excursion at the Morris Saddle Hillclimb where he put his car on it's side. Meanwhile son, Scott Gouman, won the Junior (Under 18) Championship, the South Otago Challenge Cup and the Under 18 Clubsport Championship from Scott McLaren and James Morris. Sam Henderson won the New Competitor Award, shared the Sealed Events Trophy with Neville Krammer of Wallacetown and finished second overall in the Clubsport Championship. Henderson's wife Brodie who is also the daughter of Dave Jenkins, broke Karen Laird's twelve year stranglehold on the Ladies Championship to take that honour.

Other winners on the night were Gavin Read of Invercargill who won the Motorkhana Trophy, Jim McDonald of Gore, the Tokanui Hilllclimb, Dean Bond of Balclutha the Rally Challenge Trophy and Krammer who added the Overall Clubsport Championship to his shared Sealed Events Trophy win.

Three other special awards were made with Brigg Henderson of Gore taking the Member Of The Year accolade for the second time. Mark Dean of Ernslaw One received a Special Award to thank the company for their ongoing support of Eastern Southland Car Club events while the winner of the Spirit Of 60 Years Photo Competition held to celebrate the club's anniversary was Becky Ladbrook of Fast Exposure Photography.

The many guests were also treated to an enthralling talk by Paul Mullan of Black Magic Media who spoke of his worldwide adventures filming and telling great stories. Original club member 'GT' Graham Taylor also spoke during the evening, congratulating the club on their achievements during the past 60 years.

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