The fifth annual Hamilton Holden Car Show, hosted by the Holden Special Vehicles Club Inc in association with Ebbetts, was held on Saturday, March 14 at Ebbetts’ Anglesea Street service yard and a section of closed road.
Months of planning were under threat of bad weather again for the second year in a row as Cyclone Pam descended on New Zealand from the tropics. Last year’s event coincided with the arrival of Cyclone Lusi, but the organizing committee decided to continue with the 2014 car show and brought the total amount of money they’d raised for charity to more than $10,000 over four years.
Although Cyclone Pam was virtually knocking on the door, the meteorological service had forecast fine weather for the day, which was lucky as over 100 washed and waxed Holdens were lined up for the public to view by 9am. As always, it was a massive organizational exercise requiring a vast amount of voluntary input from a small team of dedicated and passionate club members.
This year’s event was to raise funds in support of Hospice Waikato’s Rainbow Place, which specializes in therapeutic support for children and young people experiencing change, loss, and grief around the serious illness and/or death of a loved one. Rainbow Place also provides specialized nursing support for children and young people who have a serious, or life-threatening, illness.
It was obvious that the people of Waikato hold the local hospice in very high regard with many placing large denomination notes in the collectors’ buckets when all that was required was a gold coin to gain admission to the display of cars. Local band Tethra waived their usual performance fee to provide live music throughout the day, despite only finishing their previous gig at 1am in Mount Maunganui the night before. Many local businesses were also very supportive, donating goods and merchandise towards the event and contributing to its success.
Ronnie Phillips from radio station The Breeze was guest judge for the day and selected the ten class-category winners, with the prestigious People’s Choice award going to Russell Camp’s 1969 GTS HT Monaro.
On Monday, March 30 a group of members from the club’s executive committee, and the show’s organizing committee, presented a cheque for $2330 to the Hospice Waikato Rainbow Place’s Chief Executive Craig Tamblyn, and Fundraising and Events Coordinator Monique Webb. On presenting the cheque to Craig, Club President Jim Cooper reflected on the efforts of a dedicated group of organizers and all of the sponsors and supporters, whose tremendous generosity contributed to the event’s success. He also committed to the club’s ongoing support of the Rainbow Place charity by way of donation of the profits raised from next year’s car show.
The club would like to acknowledge the generosity and support of Ebbetts, ProTune Automotive, Top Town Tyres, Waikato Security, Danny Doolan’s, Mike Fraser-Jones (Bayleys Real Estate), CAL Isuzu, HSV Dealer Network, JP Marshall Engineering, AliFletch Window Maintenance, Grab A Fix Espresso, X-site Group, Porter Group, ANZ Bank, Couplands Bakeries, Tethra, David’s Emporium, and Bryant’s Watch Centre