Welcome to ACHAFR

Touring with Rotary

Antique, Classic, & Historic Automobile world Fellowship of Rotarians

The Secretary called the meeting to order and handed over to President Matthijs who welcomed those present to our Fellowship AGM and mentioned that it was good to see some 32 members in attendance and no apologises.  And in particular members from ARACI who had driven up from Italy and introduced Vincent Mazzone who would be giving a detailed presentation on the 2020 Coast To Coast tour later.

The President then went on to give his report.

Tours in 2018

 In 2018 we attached much attention to the 30th Anniversary of our Fellowship and highlighted the success of the fellowship at the special ACHAFR/RRAF-NL Europe Tour in the Netherlands: again many thanks to our Dutch friends, who organised an impressive tour on land and at sea.

In addition to the ACHAFR/RRAF-NL Europe Tour  I met many fellowship members in 2018 at the ARACI Coast-to-Coast Tour in Italy, the Muensterlaender Tour in Germany, the Gran Sasso Tour in Italy, the RRAF-UK Normandy Tour in France and the RRAF-NL tour in the Netherlands

Promotion

During 2018 we have been at the Ri World Convention in Toronto with an own booth perfectly organised and manned by our Chairman of the North America Chapter Bob Reynolds who met and reported about new contacts with visiting Rotarians

May 5, 2019 the newly constructed Rotary Multifunctional Centre in the earth quake hidden area of Arquata has been opened by RI President Barry Rassin.  Also our Fellowship and in particular ARACI  supported this fine construction financially. The event has been reported in the International Rotary Magazine

At this year’s RI Convention Hamburg we are present in Booth number 3818 and we will welcome many of you. It was a disappointment that after many exchanges of mails with the convention team we, ACHAFR, could not have a display of our vehicles to highlight our Fellowship.

 Our presence at the booth attracted a very steady stream of  interested  Rotarians and many new members not only expressed interest but joined on the day. We have selling caps and pins and presenting the assets/activities of our fellowship(s) to many visiting Rotarians from all over the world.

Our website is visited by Rotarians and non –Rotarians of many countries; remarkably it is still largely unknown to members of ACHAFR and the supporting national chapters (also at the Convention I have frequently being asked ‘where can I find the information about the Fellowship). Therefore  again I  ask all secretaries of Chapters within our Fellowship to be more vocal in directing  personnel  to our website where they will find information not only relating to their own chapters but to the fullness of all other Chapters and their activities.

Decision of the Board

With a view on the decreasing balance sheet of our Fellowship the Board has decided to levy € 25,- per car at Europe Tours, starting in 2020

Furthermore it has been decided  to levy €25 for commercial ads

Recently we have been approached by Rotarians in Southern Germany with the request of establishing a cross border fellowship around the Lake of Konstanz in Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Since we have a cross border Fellowship in Northern America the Board does not recognized objections to this request and President Matthijs put it to the AGM where it was  approved with no against. This will now be put to a meeting of prospective members within the designated area for their consideration.

With forthcoming Rotary International Conventions being held 2020 Honolulu, 2021 Taipei, 2022 Houston, 2023 either Warsaw or Melbourne and 2024 Singapore ,it is possible that due to distance that serious consideration be given to not having a booth presence at these conventions, although discussions will be ongoing with both Rob Wooley and David John in Australia should 2023 convention go to Melbourne.

Secretary report.

Under membership, it was reported that with our website now up and running a steady stream of request for memberships from across Europe and further afield was coming in, it there was a distinct lack from within the UK

There is a good exchange of mails between the Board and Chapters which is a very healthy sign of togetherness which our Fellowship encourages and all mails are dealt within a 24 hour period.

Treasurers report.

Johannes, spoke to the accounts and gave a detailed breakdown as circulate (and attached)  which has seen a continuance of our Fellowship development and confidently  believe that measures we have incorporated, are now coming to fruition and that this is not the time for pessimism. As usual it is all about strengthening our financial position so that we have a secure position to support our Fellowship. There were no questions from attending members and the accounts were accepted.

Closure

With no other matters being put forward by the attendees the President closes the meeting by pointing attention to the folllowing presentation of the 2020 ARACI/ACHAFR EUROPE Coast-to-Coast Tour by Vincent Mazzone Board Member of ARACI and the next AGM will thus being held in June 2020 in Italy.

( this presentation is now on the ACHAFR website !!)

President’s Newsletter Vol 15, Nr 2, June 2019

Antique Classic & Historic Automobile world

                   Fellowship of Rotarians                                    30 years old and energetic !!

Dear Members

It is the 31^st year of existence of our Fellowship and thus we are among the oldest international Fellowships of Rotary and we really are “international”.

Starting in Waku Waku in Australia in 1988 our Fellowship gradually spread its wings over continents and now counts national chapters in Europe and North America and representatives in many countries all over the world.

Over the years we, petrol heads (Australian expression for ‘car nuts’), have grown to become a magnificent group of friends meeting each other on various occasions. Rallies in Italy, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and in particular our yearly Europe Tours have become ‘family festivals’. At those joint events and adjacent social gatherings the close knit car-family attitudes prevail over nationalities and languages and that adds to Rotary’s philosophy of close cooperation and communication at home and across borders, which is extremely important and valuable in nowadays’ changing environments and tendencies.

In addition to the social aspects we should not forget the financial/granting aspects of these gatherings. Jointly, ACHAFR and its national chapters have supported activities like End Polio Now and specific projects in member countries with substantial funds.

With the great support of ARACI as well as from local Rotary Clubs in Italy and abroad, also our Fellowship has contributed to the construction of the multifunctional center in the heavily earth quake shaken area of Arquata. In this area housing facilities need to be built and in order to motivate young professionals to remain or to move to the region, the center will be at their disposal with work rooms, studio’s etc and internet connections.

In late April no less than 54 vintage cars (try to) find their way from Orbetello via the world famous Museo Piaggio in Pontederra to Fiesole- where I received the honorable  “Accademico ad Honorem della l’Accademia della Fiorentina” -. I am very grateful to the Accademia for being honoured with this high order, which I also regard as a distinction to the fine work we have exercised in our Fellowships!! From Fiesole we went via Bagna di Romagna downhill to the historic and cultural highlight Ravenna .

Again this ARACI’s 10 th Coast-to-Coast Tour brought us to magnificent country sides, winery and cucina, we otherwise would not have discovered and  highly appreciated. Vincent Mazzone, Rodolfo Torri and Luigi Olivieri and their team many many thanks for this great event, which creates high expectations for next year !!

On May 5  we had the honour to be present at the opening of the said Rotary Multifunctional Centre in Arquata. The President of Rotary International mr. Barry Rassin and his spouse came over from Evanston to open ( with the ACHAFR cap !! )the Centre, which also documented that our Fellowship adapts the “’Leitmotiv ’of Rotary ‘Service above Self’. With substantial financial means our Fellowships supported the financing of this splendid activity for Young Professionals in the badly hidden and devastated area of Arquata.

At the end of May with 5 cars  our friends from ARACI made their way with no less than via 3000 miles to and from the Rotary World Convention in Hamburg . The world famous ‘Mille Miglia’ has thus been greatly beaten by them at length!!   Initially they joined us in the Netherlands and from there with 17  vintage cars we  toured to Adendorf and integrated into the ROFD/ACHAFR Europe Tour 2019 , which started there. With 38 vintage cars from various European countries we puzzled the Lueneburger Heide and visited the magnificent Museum of Prototype Cars in Hamburg before throwing an eye on the Convention and/or its House of Friendship..

This very special Europe Tour has been greatly organized by our German friends who provided unforgettable days to the participants. Johannes Zilkens, Joachim Wendel, Hans-Peter Wagner and Friedrich Lang we owe you sincere thanks for all the work you had to exercise !!!

In the House of Friendship our Fellowship run its Booth and gratefully welcomed dozens Rotarians from all over the world. Remarkably, our Fellowship proved still to be unknown to (too) many visitors ! We and our national chapters have approached many, many national and local Rotary organizations, but our informations obviously have not always reached the adressees. Also, remarkably we had to notice that some local organizations have not  been quite supportive in passing on our informations . . Although we support the activities of Rotary with financial means and other efforts the adverse of the mentioned Leitmotiv seems to be practice here and there.

Our presence at the Convention has thus resulted in some ‘missionary work’ with more than hundred brochures finding their way to Rotarians from all over the world. With great pleasure we were able to welcome new members to our Fellowship and gathered dozens of visiting/business cards, which of course will be followed up by us. Overall ,we can be very satisfied with our Booth at the Convention: the results justified our joint efforts.

While being in Adendorf we held our Annual General Meeting. The delegates gave approval to the financial statements of 2018 and the proposed budget for 2019, which hopefully will show a small surplus. Our financial means largely depend on the contributions of only three national chapters from Italy, Netherlands and United Kingdom. This is an unpleasant small platform. Therefore, the Board has decided in 2018  to levy at the Europe Tours € 25,- per car as a contribution to ACHAFR. Also, commercial ads of non- members on our website will  need to be paid. Both decisions will be henceforth be applied.

The General Meeting finally challenged the delegates (and spouses) to positively consider their participation at next year’s ARACI/ACHAFR Europe Tour in Italy.

Vincent Mazzone held an impressive presentation of the tour, which will start with a pre-tour in Ascoli and the beautiful surrounding area- with of course a tasting at a private vinery !! -on June 14-15 and will then bring us from June 16-20 from Ascoli  via the fantastic lentil flower fields in Casteluccio di Norcia to Assisi and from there to Montalcino … for the fine wines and  finally on a day cruise to the island of Giglio and Giannutri before saying ‘Arrivederci’ after the Gala Dinner in Argentario Osa Village .

Since this very special tour will be limited to 50 vintage cars only and many members of ARACI have already expressed their interest in joining the tour ,members of ACHAFR and national chapters are called to decide and register on short notice and take all necessary informations via www.rotarycoast-to-coast.it

In the course of this year there will again be a wide variety of tours in member countries to which all  Fellowship(s) -members  are kindly invited.

For details of these tours and all other messages of our Fellowship  you may look at our website www.achafr.eu

While looking to these informations /invitations you may agree that also this year will be a successful  year and thus  jointly   

                                    WE KEEP ROTARY ROLLING.

With finest personal regards               

 Matthijs van den Adel             

President’s Newsletter Vol 15, Nr 1,February 2019

Antique Classic & Historic Automobile world

                   Fellowship of Rotarians                                    30 years old and energetic !!

Dear Members

Now that cold temperatures are fading away in the Northern Hemisphere we can throw eyes on the new Rallye Season.

Again ACHAFR and National Chapters are ready in preparing and organizing various exciting tours, which will bring many of us to yet unknown cities, villages and landscape. This is a major asset and advantage of our Fellowship.

Last year it has been the  30^th Anniversary of our Fellowship and we have attached much interest to this great occasion … and for good reason ! We are among the oldest international Fellowships of Rotary and we really are “international” and remain energetic !

Since its start in Waku Waku in Australia in 1988 our Fellowship gradually spread its wings over continents and now counts national chapters in Europe and North America and representatives in many countries all over the world.

Over the years we, petrol heads (Australian expression for ‘car nuts’), have grown to become a magnificent group of friends meeting each other on various occasions. Rallies in Italy, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and in particular our Europe Tours have become ‘family festivals’. At those joint events and adjacent social gatherings the close knit car-family attitudes prevail over nationalities and languages and that adds to Rotary’s philosophy of close cooperation and communication at home and across borders, which is extremely important and valuable in nowadays’ changing environments and tendencies.

Our friends in Italy will again take the lead in organizing a major rally: the Rotary Coast-to-Coast Tour, which will bring some 50 antique and classic cars to the start in Orbetello on April 26. After various preceding tours under various logo’s, it is this year the Thermal Tour. During the five days till May 1 the participants will visit Montecatini Terme, will cross the Apennines , will experience magnificent Bagno di Romagna and will finish in Ravenna and throw eyes on the Adriatic Sea. On the long course there will not only be challenges of driving along hidden and steep roads but also competitive “time-speeding”. During these days the teams will ‘fight’ in 3 rounds for the Trofeo Amato Olivieri – in memory of a great inspirator of rallies, such as the Coast-to-Coast Tour. For further information and reservation, see www.rotarycoast-top-coast.it

After taking some rest in early May ,in particular the Italian members will head for a long and challenging tour to the Rotary World Convention in Hamburg. They will cover no less than 1300 km vice versa, a thankworthy initiative- also reflecting the spirit of our Fellowship !

They will join participants to the ROFD/Europe Tour, initially on May 27 in the Netherlands, where ACHAFR Board Members organize a pre-tour under the logo “On the Way to Hamburg”. PP Maarten Kaptein and myself will show participants from England, the Netherlands and Italy some beauties of the Netherlands, such as the Royal Delft Porcelain Factory, the former Airborne Headquarters, from where the operation ‘a Bridge too far’ started in 1944 , the  large collection of 250 antique and classic cars at Louwman Museum, Giethoorn-Venice of the North-  before joining all participants at the ROFD/Europe Tour in Reinstorf Germany.

Thanks to the initiative of the Treasurer of our Fellowship, Johannes Zilkens, this year’s Europe Tour is organized by our German Chapter Rotary Oldtimer Freunde Deutschland (ROFD) .

On May 30 we will ‘rally’ through the Lueneburger Heide and  visit at the “Museum zur Luftbruecke”, memorizing the airlift by the Royal Airforce, US Airforce and the French Airforce during the period August to September 1949. During this period in total 277 569 flights brought 2.2. million tons of goods  ( coal-1.5. million tons and food – 0.7 million tons) to the population of West Berlin, which suffered from the Soviet blockade.

On this day we will also have our yearly Annual General Meeting, during which all members reflect  on the activities of the fellowship , hopefully in positive terms.

On June 1 the 40 teams of antique and classic cars will drive to Hamburg in order to see fascinating prototypes of car construction at the Prototypen- Museum, before  hopefully parking in front of  the World Convention in Hamburg, where the (co)drivers will be welcomed at the ACHAFR booth in the House of Friends.

As in the preceding 15 years we will again show in our booth at the Convention the visiting Rotarians from all over the world the features of ACHAFR and induce some of them to join our Fellowship and/or establish a new National Chapter elsewhere .

By doing so, we may add impetus to the objectives of ACHAFR.

In addition to the social aspects, there are the financial/granting aspects of these gatherings. Jointly, ACHAFR and its National Chapters have supported activities like End Polio Now and specific projects in member countries with substantial amounts of funds. In Italy, for instance we have contributed to the construction of the multifunctional center in the heavily earth quake shaken area of Amatrice. In this area housing/working facilities need to be built and in order to motivate young professionals to remain in the region, the center will be at their disposal with work rooms, studio’s etc.

By supporting these various activities and projects we jointly demonstrate, that vintage car owners do not only enjoy the events (and their cars) ,but in particular live up to the ‘Leitmotiv’  of Rotary  “Service above Self”.

For details of these tours and all other tours organized by ACHAFR and its National Chapters you are kindly invited to  look at our website www achafr.eu and to register your participation at one or more of the tours in 2019.

This website has grown to become an important information and ‘marketing’ channel of our Fellowship- not only to members of the fellowships, but also to ‘petrol heads’ in many other countries. Statistics and flow charts provide some evidence that the activities of our Fellowship are seen as interesting and supportive to the communicative and cooperative ideals of Rotary.

Thus jointly  WE KEEP ROTARY ROLLING

With finest personal regards                 Matthijs van den Adel             

President’s Newsletter Vol 14, Nr 3, October 2018

Antique Classic & Historic Automobile world Fellowship of Rotarians

                           30 years old and energetic !!

Dear Members

Now that the leaves are falling- at least in the Northern Hemisphere- it may be opportune to reflect on the year so far.

It is the year of our 30^th Anniversary of our Fellowship and we have attached much interest to this great occasion … and for good reason ! We are among the oldest international Fellowships of Rotary and we really are “international”.

Starting in Waku Waku in Australia in 1988 our Fellowship gradually spread its wings over continents and now counts national chapters in Europe and North America and representatives in many countries all over the world- this year we welcomed the Philippines.

Over the years we, petrol heads (Australian expression for ‘car nuts’), have grown to become a magnificent group of friends meeting each other on various occasions. Rallies in Italy, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and in particular our Europe Tours have become ‘family festivals’. At those joint events and adjacent social gatherings the close knit car-family attitudes prevail over nationalities and languages and that adds to Rotary’s philosophy of close cooperation and communication at home and across borders, which is extremely important and valuable in nowadays’ changing environments and tendencies.

In addition to the social aspects we should not forget the financial/granting aspects of these gatherings. Jointly, ACHAFR and its national chapters have supported activities like End Polio Now and specific projects in member countries with funds of well above € 100.000,- In Italy we have contributed to the construction of the multifunctional center in the heavily earth quake shaken area of Amatrice. In this area housing facilities need to be built and in order to motivate young professionals to remain in the region, the center will be at their disposal with work rooms, studio’s etc. The President  of ARACI mr. Giuseppe Giaconia di Migaido and myself  have been present at the laying of the first stone of the center, which will open its doors by year-end.

By supporting these various activities and projects we jointly demonstrate, that vintage car owners do not only enjoy the events (and their cars) ,but in particular live up to the ‘Leitmotiv’  of Rotary  “Service above Self”.

As mentioned in my former letter we celebrated  ACHAFR’s 30^th Anniversary in June in the Netherlands. Participants from Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and the Netherlands enjoyed the fantastic scenery, drove to historical places and royal palaces and took some rest on antique sailing vessels while sailing on the IJsselmeer. At the jubilee dinner we attached some thoughts and reflections on the history of our Fellowship and toasted on the success and future well- being of ACHAFR and its national chapters.

In September  32 teams from Britain, the Netherlands and Germany joined the RRAF-UK Normandy tour . Peter Griffith and his team brought us to hidden treasures of the region and of course did not forget to show us the ins and outs of the largest Calvados brewery, where at top harvest time some 150 000 tons of apples are waiting on the parking spot to be transferred to this fine delicacy.

Also in September I rushed from the Normandy to Roseto, where Rotary Clubs of the Province of Teramo organized their first Raduno Abruzzo Teramano Tour. Under the splendid guidance of  Sandro Pelillo we learned about the attractivities of culture, history, arts and landscape of the Teramo area. We admired the ceiling of the church of Castelli with its ceramic artwork and have been impressed by the work of students of the high-school of ceramic art.  A very specific memory will remain: a  concert at 2400 m height on the rocks of the Gran Sasso. It were not only we driving in vintage cars but also the police, which brought in a Alfa Romeo Giulia 1960 police car directly from the Museo di Policia. Of course, the gentlemen police officers have been at the focus of all spectators during those magnificent 4 days.

Next year ACHAFR and its National Chapters will provide their members with a variety of tours:

be it in the last week of April the fabulous Coast-to-Coast tour from Orbetello to Ascoli-Piceno in Italy,  which with the support of various local RCs will touch wellness resorts, magnificent wine yards and provide specifics of Italian history,culture, art and cuisine

the Muensterland Tour in Germany on May 11

and in particular the ROFD/Europe Tour on the occasion of the Rotary International World Convention in Hamburg.

This special Europe Tour will be organized by ROFD, our National Chapter in Germany from May 30 to June 2 and will bring us from the Lueneburger Heide to Hamburg where we will visit the booth of ACHAFR in the House of Friends of the Convention and of course we will throw eyes on other attractive sites of the city. For members from Britain and the Netherlands there will be a two days pre-tour from May 28-30 from the Netherlands to Reinstorf in the Lueneburger Heide area- the starting point of the Tour.

For details of these tours and all  other tours organized by ACHAFR and its National Chapters you are kindly invited to  look at our website www.achafr.eu

The National Chapters and ACHAFR can reflect on a very active and successful year and will continue to do so in 2019  – jointly   WE KEEP ROTARY ROLLING.

With finest personal regards                              

Matthijs van den Adel

Touring with Rotary

Antique, Classic, & Historic Automobile world Fellowship of Rotarians

Minutes of AGM 9^th June 2018 held at Oud London Hotel,

Zeist . Netherlands

Calling the meeting to order, President Matthijs in welcoming those present to our Fellowship  AGM and whilst there were 25 members in attendance it was hoped that more would have been available to attend our 30^th anniversary.

In his report he paid particular attention to the developments in ARACI and thus welcomed the New Board of ARACI  headed by the new President Giuseppe Giaconia de Migaido, VP Rodolfo Torri and Secr.Vincent Mazzone. Since the new board appointment membership had increased to 198 members.

Since our last AGM there has been an influx of new lifetime members from Germany, Switzerland and Philippines and our webmaster provided encouraging figures where number of clicks show advancing trends of membership interest on the increase from various countries outside of Chapter’s countries….and the strengthening of our Fellowship.

During his visit to Australia he took the opportunity of meeting with David Webster of the Australian Chapter which gives rise to hope of a bright future for our Fellowship within Australia.

He directed our attention to our new Chairman in North America- Bob Reynolds- and thanked him for his ongoing support at the RI World Conventions in Atlanta and now in Toronto where his unstinted efforts is raising greater awareness of ACHAFR to visiting Rotarians is creating an expansion of members.

He paid particular attention to the charity contributions of chapters in 2017 it was in the region of € 100 000 and already now € 120 000 in 2018 with more to come. All this money is put back into communities through responsive programming. Thus our fellowship is very successful within Rotary- which may not the case with other fellowships.

The President brought to members attention our current difficult financial position, which does not allow us to be as creative with  PR and produce PR material – like ties, banners etc.

With the GDPR now in being since May 28^th 2018 there was now in place an ACHAFR authorized written version for all Chapters to follow, and the Secretary had forwarded these to the Chairmen of Chapters to put into use. Also copies were available to be collected from the Secretary. This also applies to Board members. Thanks were expressed to Michael Sullivan of RRAF who digently put the document together.

Treasurers report.

Johannes Zilkens went through the current balance sheet highlighting issues of concern but these would be eradicated once the new Board recommendations are put into place. Major outlay for our Fellowship have been booths at Rotary International convention in Atlanta and Toronto but this was a budgeted cost as we need a presence to attract new members and inform current members of our advancing trends in Chapter activities.

‘The Board agreed to a no increase in National Chapters fees/contributions but stated that from 2019 participants for ACHAFR tours will have a 25Euro or £20.00 per car included in the overall participating fee. The organising national chapter would then be able to determine use of surplus funds as they so decide after payment to ACHAFR.’

The Board also agreed to levy a donation of  € 25,- per commercial message/advertisement on the website of ACHAFR….this is for commercial advertising only….and reflecting Colin’s remarks  NOT for members wishing to advertise their cars, they of course will not be charged !

Secretary’s report.

The Secretary stated that he had received no apologies

The Secretary pointed out the need for Chapters to keep their members up to date with Board initiatives and would they please refer to our website which we now keep up to date with added information. He pointed out that copies of GDPR were available for collection as were details of initiatives to celebrate 30 years of our Fellowship. It is also important to remember that in a number of instances we are using the old Rotary International branding ….it is now two years since the new was introduced, and we should be looking to revising letterheads and other Fellowship material to conform .

Future tours:

2019 Hamburg.   To coincide with Rotary International convention. Johannes gave a presentation which after discussions was uplifted from two days to possibly four with RRAF-NL combining with Germany. It has to be appreciated that the proposed dates of 30^th May – June 2 2019does create a logistic problem due to holidays.  However Both Johannes and rraf-nl will meet to discuss how best to proceed and make it a two centre tour.  Further information will be posted on the website as and when available.

2020 Coast to Coast Italy. Luigi Olivieri (ARACI) travelled from San Benedetto to be with us and gave a comprehensive presentation, including proposed route from Ascoli Piceno  travelling through, Trevi, Assisi, Umbria  and Tuscany.  Luigi stated that there will be a maximum of 50 vehicles and that whilst ARACI are aware of distances to be travelled prior to the start, they are making every effort to cost out cars for multi transportation on vehicle loaders from UK and areas within Europe.

It was agreed that we would arrange for a bi-monthly update to be posted on our website thereby alerting all members to application forms, travel arrangements etc.

A.O.B. David Spenser rraf-uk brought to attendees present that the balance remaining from the Flat cat and whippet tour in Yorkshire June 2017 was 600 pound sterling and this was put to buying a Rotary Shelter box.

In closing the President again congratulated rraf-nl for their commendable results in this our 30^th anniversary tour and that he would be referring to it in his address to members at the evening gala dinner.

Date of next AGM meeting: Friday May 31^st 2019 venue to be advised.

There being no other business the chairman closed the meeting at 19.20

President’s Newsletter Vol 14, No.  2  July 2018

Antique Classic & Historic Automobile world Fellowship of Rotarians

                           30 years old and energetic !!

Dear Members

As I write we are celebrating the 30^th Anniversary of our Fellowship and we attach much interest to this great occasion … and for a very good reason ! We are among the oldest international Fellowships of Rotary and we really are “international”.

Starting in Wagga Wagga in Australia in 1988 our Fellowship gradually spread its wings over continents and now counts national chapters in Europe and North America and representatives in many countries all over the world- this year we welcomed the Philippines.

Whether we are reaching out to those in our own clubs, or reaching halfway across the world, personal involvement has always been fundamental to our Fellowship. Over the years we, petrol heads (Australian expression for ‘car nuts’), have grown to become a magnificent group of friends meeting each other on various occasions. Rallies/tours in Italy, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and in particular our Europe Tours have become ‘family festivals’. At those joint events and adjacent social gatherings the close knit car-family attitudes prevail over nationalities and languages and that adds to Rotary’s philosophy of close cooperation and communication at home and across borders, which is extremely important and valuable in today’s’ changing environments and tendencies.

This year some 50 vintage cars from various countries lined up on April 21 in Ascoli Piceno and crossed the regions of Tuscany, Marche, Umbria, Abruzzo and Lazio on their Coast-to-Coast tour to arrive in Orbetello on April 25. On our ways we highly appreciated ‘hidden’ roads and the magnificent hospitality of many a local Rotary Club.

On May 5 even 80 vintage cars from Germany and the Netherlands took course along six impressive (water)castles in Muensterland. This was the first oldtimer tour organized by RC Luedinghausen and its overwhelming result may induce a follow up next year.

From June 8-10 RRAF-Netherlands called us to join them and celebrate  ACHAFR 30^th Anniversary Tour. Participants from Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and the Netherlands enjoyed the fantastic scenery, drove to historical places and royal palaces and took some rest on antique sailing vessels while sailing in the IJsselmeer. At the jubilee dinner and in presence of the  District Governor we attached some thoughts and reflections on the history of our Fellowship and toasted on the success and future well- being of ACHAFR and its national chapters.

On June 9 we also had our Annual General Meeting (AGM), during which we took a criticall eye on the financial position of our Fellowship. Although the financial accounts show a negative result for the year 2017/18, it was decided not to increase the fees/contributions of the national chapters to our Fellowship, but  henceforth have a   levy € 25 per car on the annual ACHAFR Tour. Moreover, it has been decided to levy a donation  of € 25 per commercial message/advertisement on the website of ACHAFR.  Private messages/advertisements of members continue not to be charged.

In view of the costs involved attendants at the AGM asked the Board to evaluate the presence of ACHAFR at  Rotary International World Conventions and report correspondingly at next year’s AGM.

On June 10, the 30^th Anniversary Tour brought us to the Louwman Museum, home of one of the world’s largest collection of automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, carriages and other unique vehicles.

By offering us such a perfectly attuned program the organization team of RRAF Netherlands deserves our most sincere thanks- they kept us on challenging roads but also put us in the same boat !

Seph, Ronald, Peter, Dick and Kees  many, many thanks for an unforgettable 30^thAnniversary Tour !!

At this year’s RI World Convention in Toronto we have again been present with an own booth manned by the new Chairman in North America-Bob Reynolds- and his team. By doing so, his unstinted efforts has raised greater awareness of our Fellowship to visiting Rotarians and may create an expansion of members. Bob many thanks for your great unselfish support.

At midterm of the year the charity contributions of chapters ( some € 120 000,-)have already topped the entire 2017 result. This money is put back into communities through responsive programming. Thus, our Fellowship is very successful within Rotary- which may not be the case with other fellowships.

And some more tours are still to come, like the 2018 RRAF Tour de Normandie in September and ARACI Tour of Sicily and Malta in October as well as RRAF Netherlands Tour in October.

Members are invited to all tours of ACHAFR and national chapters by consulting our website www.achafr.eu.

Finally, can I now draw your attention to the ROFD/ Europe Tour 2019, organized by our German Chapter. This Tour will coincide with Rotary International World Convention in Hamburg, where our Fellowship will again be present with an own booth. It is planned to have the Tour taking place from May 30 – June 2, 2019 and to jointly visit the booth on June 1. Further information will be posted on our website as and when available.

The National Chapters and ACHAFR have yet been very active and successful and will continue to do so in 2018  – jointly we KEEP ROTARY ROLLING.

With finest personal regards                              

Matthijs van den Adel