Welcome to ACHAFR

President’s Newsletter Vol 17, Nr 2, October 2020  

Antique Classic & Historic Automobile world

                   Fellowship of Rotarians

30 years old and unabated energetic !!

Dear Members,

Covid-19 has caused havoc world wide: in human, economic, financial and social terms.

The dramatic developments had far-reaching repercussions within National Chapters and our Fellowship, but these are of lesser importance in view of the numerous victims and casualities, which we had to deplore.

Against the agony and lock down of regions the organization of many tours came to a standstill: many rallys had to be abolished and/or postponed until next year.

Fortunately, our German Chapter succeeded to organize the Muensterlaender Castle Tour  in August, showing 90 cars at the start with some participants dressed up to the period their car saw life. Two BMW Dixi (1928) opened the 92 years car history present with various Rolls Royce ( incl Phantom,Silvercloud, Corniche) , Mercedes (SL , Pagode, R 107 to R 129) and Bentley .With the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation € 60 000,- has been transferred to the End Polio Now ; thus tours are not just fun for petrol heads but also contribute to Rotary’s activities. The success has induced the organizers to have an other Muensterlaender Castle Tour on May 8, 2021

Also our Italian friends have been able to organize the 4 days Raduno/Abruzzo tour in September ,thereby finding some  distraction from the evil of Covid, which has battered the country so heavingly.

Two ACHAFR Euope Tours in 2021

This year’s ARACI/ACHAFR Europe Tour became victim to the pandemy. No less than 60 teams from all over Europe had been looking forward to meet together while travelling to beautiful places and making them to join a very Rotarian service by many local Rotary Clubs , which felt honoured to host all of us and to show the historic, cultural, geographical and of course the gastronomical assets of their towns and regions.

We are pleased and  thankful to our friends of ARACI that they have decided to postpone the tour into June 2021 and to take some advantage of their hard work they had  already put in for some 12 + months to make this  year’s tour a memorable one. And we are sure they will do so in 2021.

Following a  pre-tour starting in Ascoli-Piceno and showing us the beauties of this former Roman city and the beautiful surrounding area- and of course a tasting at a private vinery !! – the Tour will then bring us in 5 days from Ascoli  via the fantastic lentil flower fields in Casteluccio di Norcia and Urbani’s Truffles  to Assisi and from there to Montalcino … for the fine(st) 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 .

In September  2021 our British friends invite us to the RRAF/ACHAFR Europe Tour 2021 , which will bring us from September 6- 10,2021 to the Peak District  (N-W England). We will stay at the fabulous Shrigley Hall Hotel  Macclesfield and will tour from there  through parts of Peak District National Park and into delightful highways and by-ways of Cheshire. The cost for 4 nights Dinner, Bed& Breakfast will  be +/-. € 1100,- per couple and…. your stay may induce you to visit Goodwood Revival.

Apart from these highlights we are confident that many a national chapter and local Rotary Club will organize vintage car tours in 2021. You are advised to keep a close eye on our website www.achafr.eu, where you will also find more details about the mentioned Europe Tours in 2021.

And tours in 2022

Already now we throw eyes on tours in 2022 :

From April 25-27,2022 our British friends invite us to the Cornwall Tour, From the  Penventon Park Hotel in Redruth they will promise : “You may well have visited Cornwall many times but we guarantee that you will go to places where you haven’t been before”.

In June 2022 our German Chapter  will organize the Europe 2022 ROFD/ ACHAFR   Bavarian Lakes and Mountains Tour. This 3 days tour will bring us to Chiemsee ( Herrenchiemsee Castle),to Austria -Fuschel- and Wolfgangsee, Salzburg and Kitzbühel as well as to Berchtesgaden (Rossfeldstrasse) and the Sudelfeldpass at Wendelstein .

If so, we will resume the main characteristic of our vintage car tours: to be ‘ family festivals’ of petrol heads. At those joint events and adjacent social gatherings the close knit car-family attitudes prevail over nationalities and languages and add to Rotary’s philosophy of close cooperation and communication at home and across borders, which is extremely important and valuable in nowaday’s changing environments and tendencies.

The Board of ACHAFR wish all of you good health and trust that this extremely difficult period may be surpassed in the near future: then we can continue to

                                                  KEEP ROTARY ROLLING

With finest personal regards

Matthijs van den Adel

Antique Classic & Historic Automobile world

                   Fellowship of Rotarians

30 years old and unabated energetic !!

Dear Members,

The virus continues to cause world wide havoc:  in human terms as well as in economic,financial and social aspects.

The dramatic developments will surely have far-reaching repercussions within National Chapters and our Fellowship, but these are of lesser importance in view of the numerous victims and casualities, which we have to deplore.

Our thoughts and empathy are with our friends in Italy, the country most heavily shaken by the pandemy.

Against the background of agony and lock down of regions it has been necessary and logic to abolish this year’s ARACI/ACHAFR Europe Tour 2020, which was to take place in June. The tour was due to bring us from the east coast to the west coast of Central Italy along a magnificent course during 7 days. No less than 60 teams from all over Europe have been looking forward to meet together while travelling to beautiful places and making them join a very special Rotarian service of many Rotary Clubs, which felt honoured to host  all of us and to show the historic, cultural , geographical and of course the gastronomical assets of their towns and regions.

With enormous disappointment, but full understanding we supported the decision of our Italian friends to postpone this challenging tour until further notice, when the country will be ready to welcome us in a safe and happy way.

The Board of ACHAFR sincerely thanks Vincent Mazzone and his entire team for all the hard work they put in for some twelve plus months to make it a very memorable tour. We wish all of you well and your esteemed country a speedy and successful recovery.

We really hope that all the work ( reservations of hotels, lunches and dinners, guided tours and boat cruise) has not been done in vain and may be utilized at a later date, for instance in spring 2021.

The Europe Tours have been combined with the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of ACHAFR. Now that this year’s tour has been postponed, we cannot hold the AGM 2020 and will instead  forward the respective documents to the Boards of National Chapters and life time members of ACHAFR.

Also tours and general meetings of National Chapters needed to be cancelled and postponed in the wake of the virus infection.

We can only hope that tours in Germany,like the Muensterlaender Caste and Palace Tour, in  Italy,like the Gran Sasso Tour in September or the Autumn tour of RRAF-NL in the Netherlands as well as many, many tours elsewhere may take place later on this year (for information see also www.achafr.eu).

If so, we will then resume the main characteristic of those tours : to be ‘family festivals’ of petrol heads.

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 nowaday’s  changing environments and tendencies.

The Board of ACHAFR wish all of you good health and trust that this extremely difficult period may be surpassed in the near future: then we can continue to

                                          KEEP ROTARY ROLLING.

With finest personal regards

 Matthijs van den Adel

Antique Classic & Historic Automobile world

                   Fellowship of Rotarians

30 years old and unabated energetic !!

Dear Members,

now that the year-end is at the horizon, it is opportune to reflect on 2019 and to throw eyes on the succeeding year.

With the fine support of Philip Cross of Rotary Club of Wagga Wagga, it is now clarified that our Fellowship has been initiated by RC Wagga Wagga in Australia on  Aug, 31,1989 and received the official recognition  in February 1990 under its present name. Thus, we are amongst the oldest Fellowships within the Rotary and can celebrate our 30^th Anniversary next year.

During these years 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.

In 2019 our Fellowship has financially contributed  to the construction of the multifunctional Rotary-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. Thus, we showed contents to the Leitmotiv of Rotary ‘Service above Self’

It has been an honour to be present at the opening of the Centre by the President of Rotary International on May 5. Mr. Barry Rassin and his spouse came over from Evanston to open it – with the ACHAFR cap !! 

On the occasion of the Rotary World Convention  this year’s Europe Tour ended in Hamburg. No less than 35 teams from various European countries participated in this  very special Tour, which has been greatly organized by our German friends. Teams of our Italian Chapter ARACI even tripled in distance the world famous Mille Miglia by driving 3000 km to and from Hamburg, thereby underlining their thanks-worthy affinity to Rotary and our Fellowship !!

At the Convention we run in the House of Friendship our 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 information obviously has not always reached the addressees. Also, remarkably we had to notice that some local organizations have not  been quite supportive in passing on our information. Although we support the activities/charities of Rotary with financial means and other efforts the adverse of the mentioned Leitmotiv seems to be practice here and there .

Thus, our presence at the Convention has 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 directly welcome new members to our Fellowship.

While being in Germany 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   to henceforth levy at the Europe Tours € 25,- per car as a contribution to ACHAFR.

During the year national chapters and local Rotary clubs have organized dozens of vintage car rally’s, particular be it in Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands or in the United States. They all have welcomed hundreds of ‘petrol heads’, who enjoyed meeting kindred souls, yet unknown landscapes and/or cultures, local cuisines and supporting activities/charities to substantial magnitudes.

We have seen our Italian Chapter growing excessively to become the largest fellowship in terms of members.

Also, we saw the re-start of the national chapter in Germany under the enthusiastic leadership of Hans-Peter Wagner. Antique car owners in Germany are invited to join the re-newned Rotary Oldtimer Freunde Deutschland (ROFD) via www.oldtimer-fellows.de 

Moreover, initiatives have been taken to re-new the Chapter in Belgium and we are confident that this will bear fruit in the coming year. 

The year 2020 will show multiple occasions for ‘oldtimer’ friends to meet each other at rally’s, be it the RRAF Cornwall Tour in April  , the Muensterlaender Castle and Palace Tour in May in Germany, the  Europe Tour in June, the Gran Sasso Tour in September or the Dutch Tour in October and many many tours elsewhere.

All the Tours and registration invitation/ form are/will be published on our website www.achafr.eu

Next year’s Europe Tour will be organized by our national chapter ARACI in Italy and it will be a challenging and impressive one. Following a  pre-tour starting on June 14 in Ascoli and showing us the beauties of this former Roman city and the beautiful surrounding area- and of course a tasting at a private vinery !! – the Tour will then bring us from June 16-20 from Ascoli  via the fantastic lentil flower fields in Casteluccio di Norcia and Urbani’s Truffles  to Assisi and from there to Montalcino … for the fine(st) 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 .

No wonder, that by now already 48 teams from various European countries have already registered their participation and since this very special tour will be limited to say 60 vintage cars only members of ACHAFR, ARACI and  national chapters are called to decide and register on very short notice and take all necessary information via  www.rotarycoast-to-coast.it

While looking into the New Year I wish you and your dear ones

a most Healthy and Prosperous 2020 and initially very Merry and Peaceful Christmas

 For sure also during 2020                WE KEEP ROTARY ROLLING.

With finest personal regards

 Matthijs van den Adel             

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