Sent out as a Newsletter 6pm today:
This one is a bit different, do rock on down and let's fill the car park with Dukes. Our friends at CIAO (Combined Italian Auto Organisation) who are a Maitland based Italian interest club "The club of clubs of all brands and types of machine Italiano" are visiting the 16 footers for a "DOG's Breakfast" with us. So far they have confirmed a dozen people with 2 Ferraris, 2 Alfas, 1 maybe 2 Fiats in attendance. They have a few Ducs in the club too. So let's make them welcome / come down for a sticky beak and a delicious breakfast with great company & fabulous views!
On other news we now have the ability to make it easy to comply with historic vehicles registration requirements for anyone wanting to register 30 year old bikes - and get the cheap rego and still be able to ride their bikes a lot. This is done via an allegiance with Sydney based CIMAA (Classic Italian Motorcycle Association of Australia) where we have basically swapped ride calendars and have issued mutual cross-invitations, this being the first one! I still need to "house-keep" some aspects and put details on the website, but it is a simple process - just ask me if you want to know beforehand.
Frasers Newcastle also want to get involved more with the club. Steve Couri, the local sales manager, wants to put on a BBQ for our benefit, and even make it a regular event. What has happened at the local dealer was a bit of a surprise to me I must admit. For those that from past experience are a little sceptical about what goes on in and around our local dealer they are respectfully asking people to give them another go. Some detail about what Steve is thinking is here:
http://hunterdog.org.au/DiscussionBoard/index.php?topic=833 and I can only encourage you to check it out for yourself. I believe it is healthy and appropriate for some mutual cross-support / relationship to exist, and we can sort out what that is over time. I well remember when a previous mgr we all liked snuck one of the first 848's to land in the country along to our Christmas do (
http://hunterdog.org.au/DiscussionBoard/index.php?topic=234.0) it lead to a couple of sales, and that is a good thing for all - there should be more of it!
I have made a fair bit of progress setting things up to "self-administer" the club but not quite there yet. When you get auto-notifications of events you will know its happened! The idea being it doesn't depend on me to remember / get to it so there is a real opportunity for people to make this club a success as the technology makes it reliable / self sustaining. The membership lists are now fully "administered", including rectifying some oversights. For the 3 people that sent in membership applications and heard nothing for far too long and are suddenly getting this newsletter for the first time my apologies for that - it was a stuff-up!
For those wondering what the actual status of this club is there are 176 interested people around here (not counting a test account) - not bad eh, aren't you glad you're part of such a good thing!!!
Due to the magic of modern database management I can tell you that you are listed as a "****(OK, So you need to check your personal email for the info!)****".
The current split is as follows:
52 Doggies (who somewhere along the line have coughed up some dosh and have said they want to participate in rides / activities)
116 Puppies (who want to know about / participate in rides / activities at some level but haven't yet made an actual $ contribution)
9 Friends (who only want the "big picture" stuff and will get newslettery things like this, but not automated notices of rides / activities)
2 "Delete Me" (as moved on in life)
Please see
http://hunterdog.org.au/DiscussionBoard/index.php?topic=831.msg2344#msg2344 for more details, definitions, etc of the above.
If you want to change status / think it is wrong just let me know (via Reply To Sender), and if that involves payments it will be done electronically direct to the bank account. I will get around to tidying up the website with these details, but just bug me if you want info beforehand. You can log into the discussion board and switch member types whenever you like, but obviously upgrading needs an approval which means an account $ check. More later...
Say I just checked the status of the Ringwood Raceway DA, still no progress shown in 2012 on Pt Stephens Council website. Unbelievable. I think I will have a crack at ringing the responsible Planner and at least hear what the excuses are for this ridiculous situation.
So, see ya'all Sunday (wouldn't that be a sight!) for breakfast with fellow Ducatisti and friends from CIMAA. The 4 day forecast says "Sunny", bring it on!
