Riding On Report Autumn 2020

The Ulysses Club 2020 National Rally in Lismore provides the ideal opportunity to announce the winners of our two prestigious awards for branches of the club that have raised funds during the last calendar year.

The Jo Dearnley Memorial Award is a perpetual award won by the Ulysses Club branch that raises the most funds for our preferred charitable cause of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) research for the previous year.
The award is in honour of the memory of Jo Dearnley who lost a 20-year battle with RA. Jo was the wife of the late Stephen Dearnley OAM, our founding member.

The Good Joint Award was introduced as a perpetual award to recognise the generosity of smaller branches that due to their size are unable to compete in raising funds with larger branches.
The winner of this award may be either a single small branch or a cluster of small branches that raises an impressive amount of funds during the previous year. The award recipients have their branch achievement scribed onto respective perpetual shields and each receive a take home trophy.

2019 has been a sleeper year for the National UCARF Biennial Raffle. However, after the conclusion of the upcoming National Rally we will begin immediate planning for the 2020 raffle.

As the UCARF coordinator I recently travelled about an hour from home to meet up with Wellington members of the Dubbo and Western Plains branch at the Tin Shed Café at Lithgow. You may notice I used the word travelled and not rode. Despite our prolonged drought conditions this day was forecast as a wet trip for me and you guessed it, I chickened out and jumped in the Territory. The weather forecast for the 2 ½ hour ride from Wellington was for a reasonably dry event. However, the seven Wellington riders copped rain from Mudgee for the latter 1 ½ hours.
I was presented with a dry cheque by John Jannus and Peter Ogden to the tune of a whopping $5,000.00 for UCARF.

I am sure you will recall my previous praises of the three amigos of John Jannus, Peter Ogden and Phil Melhuish and their extraordinary selfless achievements of raising funds for charity, including UCARF. Champions! We waved goodbyes as the intrepid riders departed for home in the continuing rain.

The following donations from Ulysses Club branches and members have been gratefully received since the last recognition in the Summer 2019 edition of Riding On. Thank you for your generous support, in no particular order these contributions are as follows –
Yarra Ranges Branch $1,000.00, Wollondilly Wanderers Branch $200.00, David Nash $40.00, Upper Hunter Branch $250.00, Shearwaters Branch $2,000.00, Southern Cross Tourers Branch $150.00, Hobart Branch $400.00, Woy Woy Peninsular Branch $271.00, Lockyer Branch $6,600.00, Westgate Wanderers Branch $500.00, Sale and District Branch $1,000.00, Yarra Ranges Branch $20.00, Tweed Border Branch $300.00, Redcliffe Branch $1,000.00, Wellington members of the Dubbo and Western Plains Branch $5,000.00, St George/Sutherland Branch $ 1,000.00, Lake Macquarie Branch $500.00.

Please note that UCARF has received a donation of $207.30 and a donation of $384.75 that we are unable to identify. It would be much appreciated if the relevant donors contact us so that we may recognise these contributions in the next edition of Riding On. As the coordinator I would like to be able to expand on these fund donations in the UCARF reports. The methods branches employ to raise funds are often wide and varied and interesting.

UCARF quarterly quote – Who needs a weather report when you have arthritis?

Kim Kennerson
UCARF Coordinator,

#6929 L.M. 14.