Detachment. When someone is so fixated with something,
sometimes the only way to move forward is through detachment. It’s been 8
years since I’ve had anything to do with these web pages,
or with any club activity for that matter. Looking at them recently was
something akin to bumping into an old buddy or a lost love. It was a little
strange – the content was somewhat familiar but the passion was certainly
gone. Still it was nice to remember forgotten memories from 1998 & earlier.
Such as recalling that someone in our Morgan group had been carrying a grudge
for 30 years from 1968! Not wishing to do the same for decades, I’ve
decided to restore my original Morgan pages to how they appeared from 1998
– 2000. To serve as a historical site in this era of DOT COM Morgan
sites. An unchanging Time Capsule, as I have no
further Morgan material to contribute, nor any desire for future updates. Back
in it’s day before I let it stagnate, this site
was one of the most content rich in the Morgan cyber-space universe. I’ve
learned a few things, 10 years after…that one can create the greatest web
site in your area of interest & it’s a ton of work continually
updating & making it interesting to keep those hits coming. In 1997/98 the
potential of email & web sites as a new means for communication were very
exciting. Having a great site may cause people to join your club. Maybe. But if that web site is free, what else is of value
for anyone who might join you? Every club tends to be regionally centered and
what can you do or offer for those hundreds or thousands of miles away? That
was one lesson I learned. Morganeers in our own
Province in Canada felt that our Toronto based group offered nothing to them in
their region, so they formed their own club. All well and
good.Peaceful co-existence. But in the
1990’s with a club name change it was suggested that if we were to have a
name that reflects a national character, then to appease them we must give
themExecutive positions, titles like
“Inter Club Co-ordinator”, “Eastern
Scribe”, and to give them space in our newsletter & later in our web
site to promote their club. And to even encourage our members
to join their group. All of this was folly, for no matter what you do,
the disgruntled will not become keen. Can one imagine that the 13 Colonies
would later gladly join the Commonwealth after they had separated? There was
little reciprocity. We’d come across alienated ex-Club members at events
& no matter how much you tried to show them that things were different now,
they refused to come out to Club events or consider rejoining. Once soured, we
found that no one could bring the interest back.
A gentleman from that group emailed
me in early 1998 that he liked what I was doing on the web & since he had a
whiz-bang high speed satellite set-up & the desire to develop his web
skills, he offered to help me with this site! I was impressed. But said help
never happened & he instead created a site for his own group. It then
became a kind of competition between the webmasters in Canada to promote Morgans
in cyber-space. Well, by 2001, my wife was still coping with her cancer & I
was diagnosed with diabetes. That other web site was well established,
meanwhile our President had me continue to publish every word of those Scribes
from the other group but there were “complaints” if I added a Past PrezSez or any
“offensive” graphics. It seemed I had no editorial freedom or any
creative licence on my own site. Yet when there were
grumbles about racy ValentinTanasse
drawings in our newsletter, as then President I supported the Editor’s
prerogative to run them. The new Prez wanted a
professional, politically correct web site. Well after 3 years I threw my hands
into the air & gave up. The final straw was when my pages at Hemmings were hijacked. Taken over & deleted. It’s one thing to be fired if you are contracted &
paid to do a job but treating volunteers badly is not my cup of tea. I would
caution anyone doing any creative activity gratis (newsletter, website, podcast, blog, video, song or
recording) for ANY ENTITY other than yourself…beware! Others will only
try & control the content.
I’ve always felt that those
with the time, the intense desire, the family legacy, or the commercial
benefit, should be the ones making the effort in such organizations. It’s
unrealistic that new people without any of the above be encouraged to pick up
the banner for the group & run with it! It’s not their baby! I was
pissed at the time, but in hindsight I’ve got to thank Vern DJ and those
other players involved for freeing us from all of this. Otherwise, we could
have remained active for another decade. Trying to do things
for the masses, in the name of the Club. No there wasn’t Morgans Over America (or Austalia or
if they ever come to pass – Morgans Over Asia or Morgans Over South America) for us. Surrendering & letting go was
the best thing for us! We moved on to other things that we may not have had the
time, resources, and money to do – if we kept on. The inspiration to go
to New York City after 911 – which led to 2 more trips with Lynn to
support the people there when the masses were scared to fly. When the health
issues weren’t pressing, we had the ability now to do our own grand
adventures, like sailing a tall ship in the Grenadines, or
the 4000 km Maritime Adventure in a new Miata. Then
there was the hot air ballooning, skydiving, performing
in the Firefighter Calendar Boy Charity Shows! It may beZen thing but living in the moment
& going where the spirit moves in that moment, free of the restrictions of
“kin, clan, or tribe” became what is important. We realized we
didn’t need a Morgan to do these things, or the company of others whose
onlyconnection is that we own the same
make of car (afterall, all cars are only
transportation & no single one is better than another, be it Ferrari or a Kia). “Our own Babies” died when they were
passed on to others. The Southern
Ontario Cigar Society
that we founded disbanded a scant year or so after we passed it on. Yet out of
that experience we gained REAL friends who remain today. I don’t blame
the successor for the disbandment – society was moving against tobacco
& once one couldn’t have a place to smoke, that was the end of it.
Besides, it “wasn’t his baby” to carry on. Likewise, the
British Car Toy Run that we founded was allowed to pass away after a single
year under another club’s banner. Despite having a committee of people &
a larger member base (verses our Committee of one or two) they discovered that
it was a lot of work for the benefit of the charity, ultimately
“what’s in it for us?” keeps cropping up. Despite the British
Car Council’s lip service of “promoting events especially with a
charitable focus”, that organization was rather ineffective except for
the Insurance Program. The best that they could do was a dash plaque program
for driving your car (whoopee!).Afterall, that organization had no money…the big
clubs do. And the big clubs for the most part wished to protect their money
making events & would not hesitate to schedule events the same day as a
charity event (but keep the calendar open for our money maker)! An
exception was the Triumph Club. They supported us from the get go &
appreciated our support of British Car Day.
As for our old Club, It’s
easier now to be more objective. Looking at the Blurb editions online from
recent years it appears that the Club finally has a large, ACTIVE Executive
– rather than the same people holding 3 portfolios, as it was in the
1990’s. It’s also interesting to see that relations with neighbour clubs like the Western New York MOG, MOG Great Lakes, & MOG North West appear to be good. Appeasement of that
other local Club finally seems to have ended! It also appears that the top jobs
are shorter duration ( a year or two), rather than folks doing Prez for 4 years or Events for like 8 years & getting
burned out! It’s nice to see a polished newsletter, compared to our old
photocopied B&W issues, as technology now cheaply allows! It’s also
nice to see events actually having people turn up for. We recall staging a
rally & only having NyalWilsoncome out. Or Pub
Brunches where Lynn & I were only in the company of one other! Other clubs
did tech sessions & had tech articles. We were told though that our Club
wasn’t into that – it “was a social club”. Except the
members didn’t seem very social for own club events but you might see
some at British Car Day or the Ancaster Flea Market!
It’s nice to see the legacy of the Pubs at the Queen’s Head
continue! In the old days, meetings were called “Executive Meetings” . Other Clubs hadmonthly pub gatherings. We realized
there wasn’t that much business to discuss among the Exec so might as
well have social gatherings. Since we hosted just about every one of them for 4
years or more (no body came forward to spell us as hosts) we might as well have
a place that’s just down our street! I guess the place is now entrenched
as a tradition.I see now that one
family has only 2 business cards in the Blurb. At one time it was 3.
That’s OK. We put a card in once when Lynn was the 1st female Manager at a
new Tobacconist chain. There were grumbles about the “tobacco
plug”. Yet no complaints about the Australian Wines plug? It seems that
Booze = Good but Cigars = Bad, at least when it comes to choosing your poisons
among some Morganeers. Not an evaluation folks, just
an observation.
Web Pages 
Freddy K's 2 Air Reserve Wing & 400 Squadron site
My original music website