Chairman’s Report July/August 2020

Dear Members,

Well, I/We thought it time to just wave a little flag to say we are still here and hope that all our members are safe and well and are coping OK with the “ lockdown” as this a very unusual  situation we find ourselves in.

There will be some of us that have not stopped going to work during this period, may be key workers, some like me that spent a few weeks working from Home, lap top based but now back in the office full time to  others that have been unable to work due to their particular profession, we feel for everyone. Of course then you have people on Furlough, in the case of our company, we know the Government pays 80% but we have topped up the 20%, so I think many jobs have been done around their homes.

In my last report I spoke about the bad weather we had been having and looking forward to Rally season, little did we know! I guess we would say now how great it would be to sit in a wet field. We did just manage to have a meeting at Hassocks Garden centre, which does seem a distant memory. This was a very good turn out which certainly has been growing. As you may recall I called it a “Breakfast Meeting & Gas Up”, that did not fail to disappoint, and many partaking in the 10am Breakfast ritual. That was the last time that club members got together.

You will see our Website states that due to Coronavirus, events have been cancelled and as soon as we hear of a cancellation we aim to make people aware. There are too many to mention and organisers have to decide early as there is so much work goes into the organisation, that should circumstances change, they can’t suddenly switch it back on again. It does depend on how long social distancing goes on for before we could even look to organise a small event, just to get people and engines out. With some members being more venerable than others no chances can be taken so we will have to be patient.

Regarding our coach trip that was planned for later in the year by John and Heather Moss, this was to be to the Fleet Air Arm Museum but as we have uncertainty to what the future will allow us to do, we have made the decision to put this off until 2021. Even through it would be a few months away , we could not afford to book coaches etc only to find that we could not fulfill our commitment.  This will give us something to look forward to in 2021.

One thing I do hope certainly for the members that were not working  before the lock down, they have had time out in their workshop and have made progress with new projects. I would love to see a few words and pictures of what you have been up to, so we can bring people together in sharing our projects even though we can’t see them in the flesh so to speak. On a personal front , I have worked through every piece of the Land Rover I have at home in the workshop. They are all restored, new items bagged and tagged but the main elements are at my friends parents, so I have not seen it/made progress for some time now. I am sure when I do see people again they will ask “when do you think it will be back on the road?”

That leaves me to say, from all at SEAMS we wish everyone to be safe, and hope for the gradual improvements and we see a reduction of cases of the virus to a level that some normality will return.

Stay safe,

Steve Rowland    SEAMS Chairman

P.S. I have agreed to extend the deadline to those not re-joined for this issue. However if you do not re-join, this WILL be the last issue of the Newsletter you receive. Now, more than ever, is a great time to keep up to date with the Club happenings etc. We look forward to welcoming you back.