Octagon November, 2017

CHAPTER Chatter
DARLING DOWNS CHAPTER
by Gary Lawrence, Chapter Coordinator
By the time this edition of the Octagon reaches our
mailboxes, the Darling Downs Chapter’s MG year
will be done and dusted. A mid-week lunch run to
the Glenvale Club followed by an end of month
breakfast run will round out the runs for November
and for 2017.
We are in the throes of getting organised for 2018
with the development of our run calendar and
changes for our chapter leadership group.
After five years as chapter coordinator, Gary
Lawrence will be handing over the reins to Glen
Hadfield. We will also say goodbye to our hard
working mid-week lunch conveners Ron and Judy
Gillis after ten years in the role. Phil and Marilyn
O’Brien will be our new lunch run conveners.
Lunch Run 13 September
While enjoying a self-catered picnic for our midweek
lunch run is not new to our group, enjoying
it at the residence of one of our members is
something a little different.
We must say a big thank-you to Phil and Marilyn
O’Brien for inviting us to lunch at their home. We
all appreciated the spectacular views from their Mt
Marshall property. I do like Marilyn’s description of
their car on the attendance sheet, as ‘brick house’.
After an inspection of Phil’s sheds and the many
cars housed therein, mainly by the men, we
regathered for lunch and a longer chat about the
state of the world, and of course, cars.
Marilyn’s freshly baked scones, with jam and
cream, were very well received. They disappeared
very quickly.
Participants: Owen & Kay Douglas; Bob & Mavis
Marsh; Phil & Marilyn O’Brien; Kev & Sylvia Johns;
Ron & Judy Gillis; Gene & Faye Lucas; Gary &
Janis Lawrence; Helen Goodfellow.
Monthly Run 24 September
Grantham, a beautiful hamlet in the Lockyer Valley,
was the starting point for our September run
through the Lockyer and Somerset Regions.
Commencing with morning tea at the Floating
Café where the Toowoomba and Warwick groups
converged, John and Betty Gosper developed a
run that provided a great range of scenery and a
variety of roads. The effects of the long dry period
were very evident throughout, with the usually lush
countryside covered in a blanket of brown.
In a ‘follow the leader’ format, participants departed
the café, traversing local rural roads through the
The Octagon - November 2017 37