Tuesday 21st January saw a smaller than usual amount of Dorset Group members attending the annual A.G.M. Rob led an informal meeting outlining previous events that we had held or attended over the past 12 months. The big one of course was the 2019 Jurassic International Rally. All of whom agreed that is was a great success. Despite lowering the normal Rally Fees and the camping fees, after taking out all expenses we managed to hand over to the National Club just over £1550 plus the initial £500 loan that helped get us going. All in all a great time for all of us in Dorset. Derek gave a brief outline of the accounts and we are quite well off financially. Due to the amount of money that the Group managed to raise over the Rally weekend it has been decided that all pre-paid up members will get their 2020 membership free of charge. All new members wishing to join will still be charged the nominal amount of £6.00. Derek was thanked by all for his hard work throughout the year, this year was especially hard with the International Rally. Keith reported that the spares scheme had been very slow throughout the past 12 months. Hopefully this issue can soon be resolved. We are planning on making a list of spares available from Keith in each issue of The Austin Express. Speaking of the Austin Express, Elaine Henson has sadly decided to give up her role as magazine editor. We would like to thank Elaine for all of her hard work over the previous years. So that now means that Rob Stanley and  myself (Jeff Carter) will be taking over as joint editors. Hopefully between us we can keep the magazine a viable contribution to the Dorset Group. Regarding the website I am a little concerned that it is not really conveying what we do as a Group. Obviously we are doing something right as we have had in excess of 800 individual visitors in just over 12 months. This is not 800 hits, but 800 people. Many thanks to you all., It makes all of the hard work worthwhile. But I would like to expand the website and try and collate much more from the archives. I have now amassed a large quantity of old Dorset Group magazines and I will try and scan some of the pictures. Unfortunately many of the pictures are low quality resolution and may not scan at all. But I will try. If you have any old articles that you feel would benefit fellow Dorset Group members, then please get in touch. Finally, Len Jeanne has decided to hand over the post of Dorset Group membership secretary. If anyone would like to take on this role, then please contact Rob and he will guide you along the way. The committee members were all then voted back en mass and Rob thanked everyone for attending.  

As is standard practise after our A.G.M. Stan Chatterton had organised a light hearted "easy" quiz. In Stan's words "well it's easy if you know the answers" 15 Austin A30 A35 related questions were read out by Stan with the possibility of 20 points on offer. Stan had also very kindly supplied a book about travelling around Dorset as a prize. Questions included: What was the last vehicle that was fitted with a Zenith 26 J.S. Carburetter? What is the longest A30 A35 vehicle produced in feet and inches? In Austin terms, how do you spell carburetter......? By the way everyone spelled it C A R B U R E T T O R. But check your workshop manuals..... Many thanks again must go to Stan for producing such a fun quiz at such short notice. The winner with a very impressive 19 points out of 20 was Alan Hilling. Very well done indeed, you certainly know your Austins.