Riding On Report Winter 2025

I trust everyone had an enjoyable time at Armidale despite the rain spoiling the last few days. My ride to and from the rally with mates from the Joondalup Branch took 5 weeks to the day and a total of 12995km. It was great to catch up with the Ride for Rheumatoid in Port Macquarie and spend a couple of days with the group. TedE the UCARF Dog even got himself on TV as we arrived at the showgrounds. I did not get to see much of Armidale during the week with UCARF duties and ticket sales but did thoroughly enjoy myself meeting up with all the committee and old and new members and friends.

Some comments about the rally.

Ride for Rheumatoid
Congratulations go to Robert Hunt for getting the Ride for Rheumatoid up and running. Hopefully this can become a bigger annual or bi-annual event in the future. Cheryl and Patick Mahedy did a wonderful job in the promotion of the ride with the South Coast Branch and certainly sets out a template for branches and individuals to follow.
Out treasurer John Tout has finalised the total amount raised by the ride to the end of May, and it is a fantastic result.
Cheryl and Patrick Mahedy Sponsorship effort raised just over $3665, plus we had a balance of $9870 from the Law Partners Grant, together with Ride Fees, lots of Donations, and Raffles raising a further $3491, giving a grand total of $17,026 from the ride. I thank all the branches and individuals along the way for their efforts in holding raffles, donating and coordinating the ride routes and events, we had a ball! 

UCARF Rally week
I had a very busy week on the UCARF raffle ticket table with good ticket sales from Tuesday to Friday. The first day was a bit erratic finding a permanent location to set up. This was solved when the trader’s hall was opened. I was helped each day with two wonderful volunteers, Tom and Thomas, without their help it would have been a very hard week! Of course, the success of the raffle would not have been possible without you, the fantastic members at the rally who supported UCARF.
Although only a minor UCARF Raffle this AGM, we did have 35 decent prizes, including cash cards, donated by the various traders around Armidale, notably Woolworths, Bunnings, Indian, BMW, Law Partners and the Lion Clubs. A first prize of some value was donated by Fleet Helicopters. We were able to run 10 raffle draws on both Wednesday and Thursday nights which created a bit of fun and interest in the raffle for the big draw on Friday afternoon. The helicopter flight was won by member Steve Turton #48393.  
Again, from the end of May running tally information from the Admin Office, a total of $2924 was made by ticket sales and various direct donations over the week plus we had donations from the Ulysses RV Group ($150), Adle Lions Club ($500), Rally Traders ($1504.55) and the CWA ($1000). With the monies raised by the Ride and Rally effort, I think we can all be very proud of raising over $20,000 for UCARF.
The awards afternoon went well and reports back from branches was that the 1000Plus certificates presented to the Branches mentioned in the Autumn Riding On, were well received.

Other
Branch donations for March, April and May came to $10346 with thanks going to Albury Wodonga ($130), Sunshine Coast ($246), Eastern Creek ($550), Orange ($1000), Tamworth ($200), Port Macquarie ($500), Westgate Wanderers ($120), Canberra ($5000), Brisbane West ($1000), Joondalup ($950).
Individual donations from Yazzy Pierce ($140), Rinda Lynch ($150), Marita Williamson ($20).

United Petroleum still going strong with $4828 this year! Cash for Cans over the past three 3 months was a total of $371.

To date, we have three UCARF Ambassadors – Cheryl and Patick Mahedy for NSW, Janet Mulgrue in the ACT and Ros Rees in Qld. Please let me know if you are interested in becoming involved and joining the team.

I do have a number of Ride for Rheumatoid Patches and Stickers left over. If you would like one or some, please send an email with your postal address to tede@ucarf.com 

Cheers all and enjoy reading this winter edition of Riding On.

Ken and TedE
UCARF Coordinator,
#51189 DM #67