08Theoctagonaug-Sept2020

ISSUE: 14 Aug/Sept2020 https://victoriamgclub.ca Cover Pg 2 Editorial Executive List Pg 3 The Driver’s View Pg 4 Minutes of Zoom M. Pg. 5 North of the ‘Hat’ Pg 6 History of Octagon Pg. 8 History cont. Pg. 8 Bits & Bites Pg 9 Meet our Members Pg 10 Social Events Pg 11 The Road Ahead Pg 12 Motorsports British Racing Green Pg 13 Membership Form and Thank You’s 1 From the Editor’s Desk ….. On looking over the article written by David Morton, re the History of the Octagon, one can see that this magazine has had many members working on, with, or for it. A big task made simpler by the computer and on-line distribution, which David achieved during his tenure as Editor. From my own perspective, being the Editor of this Magazine is extremely rewarding. Myself, or any other editor, always wonders where the next article is going to come from, but a phone call or two later and the magic happens. (Sometimes the magic also happens without that phone call!) We gained in having the Octagon in digital form, however, I believe that we also lost something when email overtook speech! Communication is the key to everything, and truly, communication keeps the club alive. And that’s the job of The Octagon!. Now, not only are there MG’s in the club, but there are other marques as well, such as Triumph, Jaguar, etc. And today I see that same enthusiasm, the wanting to give and the wanting to belong to a club. Please take a look at the planned upcoming events— it is hard to plan events within the Covid 19 Rules, but in driving your car, you are definitely able to stay at least 6 feet apart and enjoy the moment with the other members. Also, there are some new cars for sale in the Classifieds. Talk to the owners, make an offer—you never know.!! There is a General Zoom Meeting—Sept. 14 at 7:00 pm. Join in, lets hear from you. Have an answer for our new member, Rick? See the article on Page 9 Enjoy, Patricia 2020 VMGC Executive - Email List President Malcom Ives [email protected] Vice-President Gail Adams Secretary Susan Chapple [email protected] Treasurer Russ Cape [email protected] Dir.of Events Derrick Sparks [email protected] Dir.of Motorsport Dave Shepherd [email protected] Dir.of Membership Stu Moore [email protected] Appointed Positions Newsletter Patricia Sparks [email protected] Webmaster Marc Speed [email protected] Historian Armande Morton 2 from The Driver’s View! I was unable to do the run to Randy and Heather‘s place this past weekend but I understand that it was a great event with some Malcolm Ives special treats thanks to Heather, and I did see a picture of Randy VMGC President. sitting on the John Deere tractor, handy little gadget for taking en- gines out and other stuff and of course chores around the place I suppose if you have to! As mentioned in previous notes it’s been a strange year for car events around here and I suppose across Canada and the World. However, I see people are planning for the 2021 year, which personally, I think it’s gonna be 2022 before we get back anywhere near to normal, whatever that will look like! Meanwhile on the car front I see reports showing car sales are doing well in Canada as well as doing quite well in the collector market area, stock markets seem to be improving and housing market seems to be moving up in this area. In my world I’ve been doing another stage of renovation to my habitat and finding some interesting things: i.e. An October 1939 Winnipeg Free Press and Prairie Farmer newspaper stuffed into crevices to prevent Cold air getting through cracks in door framing, on sale were large heads of cauliflower at $.15 each, I wonder what a Winnipeg Free Press Prairie Farmer newspaper was doing here in 1939? The house was built in 1923 and I suppose the back door and back deck was installed later after a modification in 1939. 1939 was in the War years and I wonder who was living in the house and what their story was? (I looked up the Winnipeg Free Press Prairie Farmer and found that these newspapers are sold in a book format as “Twice Told Tales”, from 1946. There are probably other years too. Could be very interesting and you Malcolm, may have stumbled onto something special! Ed) Another little mystery hidden inside another wall was a newspaper from May 1970, where you could have bought here in Victoria, a brand new Datsun 1200 for $2,497, from the Victoria dealer. This in itself brought another puzzle until I spotted it had been stuffed in the wall in order to patch up a hole and replas- ter the area. I am looking forward to the Renfrew run in Sept., and hope to see you there, Do some great car runs and be safe. Malcolm 3 Next date for the EXEC. ZOOM MEETING: Tuesday - SEPT. 8 at 7:00 pm Next date for a GENERAL ZOOM MEETING: Monday - SEPT. 14 at 7:00 pm You will receive an email from Patricia Sparks. However Susan wanted to let you know, that our new system for joining the meeting, is ‘automatic’. The meetings held in August went smoothly, everyone was able to join in without an issue. When you receive an invitation to a zoom meeting,“ JUST CLICK ON THE LINK” which appears just below "JOIN ZOOM MEETING". A passcode is also issued by Zoom, which you will probably not need, but have it handy just in case. It is a good idea to join the meeting about 5 minutes before it is scheduled to begin, however if you are late that’s ok too, as you can just join in. Looking forward to seeing you again! MINUTES of the MG CLUB General Zoom Meeting dated August 10th, 2020 Meeting called to order 7:05 pm Executive present: Malcolm Ives, Gayle Adams, Russ Cape, Susan Chapple, Pat Sparks, Derrick Sparks, Stu Moore. Regrets: Dave Shepherd SECRETARY: No correspondence has been received A sympathy card was sent to Malcolm Baster recognising the passing of his wife, Lucille. We have received a donation of several MG Enthusiast magazines. We will hang onto them until regular meetings start again. MEMBERSHIP Three new members signed up since the last meeting. We now have 65 members. New member, Rick Williams attended to- night’s meeting. Welcome to Rick. NEWSLETTER Editor, Pat Sparks welcomes all new articles. EVENTS A garden gathering to Randy and Heather’s is scheduled for August 23. Bring your own chairs and food. There will be no sharing of food. The event will be held outdoors. A Circle Route drive is being planned for Sept. 13. Planned to start in Victoria, go through Lake Cowichan and drive to Port Ren- frew, through Sooke and back to Victoria. Bring a picnic basket. Stu Moore said he would help with this event. Other possible runs could be to Saltspring Island or Mt. Washington. TREASURER Closing bank balance as of Aug 10, 2020 is $7892.81 MOTOR SPORTS 14 cars took part in the slalom hosted by the Jaguar Club on July 26. It was held on the parking lot at Western Speedway. Jim Mills said the VMSC slalom at Western Speedway followed very strict rules. Max of 50 people, nobody under the age of 19, social distancing enforced. Charge for participants $40.00 Next meeting to be held by ZOOM will be on Monday, September 14, 2020. Meeting adjourned 8:00 p.m. 4 NORTH OF THE MALAHAT Malcolm Baster Hi, All On Wednesday, August 26 the group met at our customary spot in the northeast corner of the Valleyview Centre parking lot, adjacent to Cowichan Bay Road. After a short chat, 14 members went to the Sweet Meadows Mar- ket, 2957 Church Way, on a side road just east of the Trans Canada Highway-Kilmalu Road intersection north of Mill Bay, as our usual Great Greens apparently no longer has an ice cream bar. Malcolm Hope you had a great time—Ed ____________________________________ 5 1925 MG - Old Number One 2020 MG History of the Octagon Newsletter By David Morton The first newsletter of the Victoria MG Club (not initially known as the 'Octagon') was published by the founder and later president of the club, Dot Beaudoin, on March 5th, 1982. Jan 1983 Doreen McFerran became editor of the newsletter and secretary of the Victoria MG ClubPhoto: in January Genny Capeof 1983. Doreen resigned as editor prior to the meeting in May of 1983. Jun 1983 The newsletter became the Octagon with Burns MacDonald volunteering as acting editor. Burns did a great job of encouraging submissions to the newsletter and in his editorial managed to include his somewhat bizarre sense of humour. Burns resigned as editor at the December 1984 meeting of the club. Jan 1985 Barbara Wade became editor. Barbara's publication of the Octagon included a rather whimsical collection of British cartoons … some of the works of art included an MG in a stressful, but humours situation. Jan 1986 Jan Marshall assumed the position of editor. Jan continued the tradition of car humour with cartoons and in ad- dition included a 'tongue in cheek' commentary in her editorials. Jan 1987 Philip and Edna Sumsion combined as editors. The format was changed from a cut and paste procedure to a more formal publication procedure.

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