National Gathering Griffith NSW 2025

We had a fantastic National meeting in Griffith NSW. It was great to catch up with our counterparts from Victoria as it has been 15 years since the last gathering in Coffs Harbour.

The weather was good to us for the whole weekend.

Starting Friday afternoon we had a private whisky tasting then we joined a coach to travel to a wine bar for pre dinner drinks. From there we walked across the road to the first dinner of the weekend at Giuseppe's Restaurant for a wonderful Italian dinner. Then back on the coach for the journey back to our hotel and some more drinks before bed.

Saturday morning saw a few hardy members from NSW arrive at the show and shine area at 6am to erect our marquee and set the tables with the regalia and trophies. Many thanks to Kerri and John Wallace and Chris Marchant for a great effort. Chris also needs a special mention as he only finished the canopy for the trailer late the night before, as rain was expected.

We had 16 cars to judge at the show and shine and the results are as follows :

900 Classic - Atholl Johnstone (VIC)

9000 - Van Rafael

93 - Geoff Coates (VIC)

93SS - Kerri and John Wallace

95 - Gary Milburn (VIC)

And last but not least People's Choice went to our 9000 Bathurst James Hardie 12 Hour 1992 race car.

We trailered this car as it is still under restoration.

After the show and shine we were off to De Bortoli Winery for wine tasting and lunch. Some of the members discovered a warehouse full of heavily discounted wine. One member was even seen lowering his back seat in order to fit in all his wine.

Saturday night was the presentation dinner and trivia night, at the motel restaurant, which was a good, fun night.

Sunday morning saw some members head for home while others moved onto Calabria Wines for another round of wine tasting and lunch in the private cellar of the Calabria family. That night we dined at Little Italy restaurant for yet another fabulous meal.

Monday morning seemed to arrive very quickly and we began the journey home.

We had enjoyed a fantastic weekend thanks to the hard work of a few people, however thanks go to Van Rafael who worked tirelessly on this project.

Craig Marchant

President