Welcome to Central Scotland, this month's featured Area, hopefully by the end of this article I will have given you an insight into what we in Central Scotland are all about.
Central Scotland covers not quite the largest geographical Club area, but certainly the largest area by population, from Dumfries & Galloway to Argyll & the Isles in the west and from the Borders up the East Coast to Fife, fill in the gaps across the central belt including the City's of Glasgow and Edinburgh and there you have it, a huge land mass to cover with no shortage of quiet and interesting roads.
Membership currently sits at 200, and our meetings average around 24 cars. In 2005 we held 42 events in total, of which 16 were Pub Meets and managed to attract 97 different member/cars over the year. Members are welcome and encouraged to suggest and organise activities throughout the year and full support is given by myself and Gavin Ryans the other Area Co-ordinator. We welcome prospective new members to attend a number of events before deciding to join the Club and our policy is not to put pressure on anyone.
Our events take place two or three times a month and consist of :-
Monthly Runs…A pre planned drive over mostly quiet and unused roads making the most of one of Scotland's greatest assets, the spectacular scenery.
Weekend Tours… We arrange three or four weekend trips per year; these are very popular with our members and highlight the social benefits of Club Membership.
Tech Days… Three times a year we hold Technical days, where members are helped and encouraged to tackle some of the minor maintenance tasks on their cars, we also arrange for discounted four wheel tracking to be carried out at a local garage.
Motorsport & Road Craft…Once a year Central Scotland hosts a Track Night at Knockhill Race Circuit, a few weeks before going on track we organise Track Tuition days for members to take part in, as way of an introduction to track safety and etiquette. To help promote road safety we also organise I.A.M. talks and observed drives.
Inter Club Meetings…Over the years we have met up and driven with members from Dutch, German and American Owners Clubs and for many years we have enjoyed a special relationship with our nearest area across the border…Tyne Tees, apart from our annual meet at Lindisfarne we have often joined up with Tyne Tees for foreign touring, weekends away and member weddings.
Pub Meets…Although historically Central Scotland were never really part of the Pub Meet scene and would far rather be out driving the cars, last year we introduced regular mid week Pub meetings to the calendar, these have proven to be a resounding success, what started as an incentive to the younger members has had a spin off, and new members of all ages are finding and telling us that this type of social gathering was a great ice breaker before coming along to the bigger events, of course it also suits members who have other commitments or work shifts and might not be able to get to the weekend events. So what can you do at a Pub meet I hear you ask!! well apart from enjoying a soft drink and a chat, we more than often find the discussion gets extended to the car park where the bonnets get lifted for topical advice and demonstration, in the lighter night months we will often jump in the cars for a mini-run just to compliment the night.
Car Shows…Apart from visiting many shows Central Scotland proudly takes part in one of Scotland's premier events the 'Callander Classics', this two day event is very popular and most of our members make a long weekend out of it, we have our own Trossachs Run on the Saturday followed by the Central Scotland Party at night. The Sunday is the main event where we arrange the cars to be viewed by the public and is also the venue where we pick our own 'Car of the Year', last year we had Twenty-Two cars on display and managed to sign up Ten new Club Memberships at the show.
Central Scotland has its own web site www.mx5scotland.co.uk where details of all the latest news and events can be found; a much-used forum also exists to provide information and technical advice to both members and non-members. Thank you for taking the time to read about us, as you can see we are a busy and evolving Area, please don't hesitate to get in touch if you would like to join us or are planning a trip to Scotland, I can't promise you sunny weather but I can promise you a warm welcome:-
Remember… the car's the star, but the members make the Club.
Douglas Hunter
Joint Area Co-ordinator.
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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Social Evening "North"
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Saturday, October 04, 2008
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NORTH ANTRIM COAST RUN
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