2006 Keystone Region MG Founders Dinner
The Keystone Region MG Club and the British Car Club of the Lehigh Valley kicked off the year with their second combined banquet, held at Carmine’s Italian Restaurant in Allentown, Pa., on Jan. 21, 2006.
The dinner was attended by 63 people: 18 BCCLV members, 30 Keystone MG Club members, 13 who are members of both clubs, and two guests.
Both clubs welcomed a number of new members who attended the banquet.
Dick Horn introduced Bob and Susan Beattie, Louis and Jeanne Ferrucci, Sunny Sonnenrein and Ken Czahor, Joe and Myra Carl, and Steve Redash, all of whom joined the Keystone Region MG Club recently.
Ken Beck, president of the BCCLV, welcomed everyone to the combined dinner, and introduced new members of the club: Dale Henninger and Nancy Zaccone, Bill and Nancy Butt, and Scott and Charlene Wilbur.
Attending as guests of Kim and Charles de Bourbon were George Carrasquillo and June Ladden of the MG Car Club - Long Island Centre. George invited everyone to attend his club’s Vanderbilt Invitational show, scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 20 this year on the grounds of the Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport, N.Y.
Classic cars of all types are invited, and shown by year of manufacture, not by marque. All participants receive a photo of their car on a plaque as a commemoration, and there is a free lunch.
Charles de Bourbon showed his fourth “Year in Review” video, which this year was shown projected on a 7-foot screen with speakers, so it was easier for everyone in the room to see. The 30-minute music video production featured highlights from 2005 events, a section called “For the Love of Cars,” and scenes from Kim and Charles’ cross-country trip to MG 2005 in Olympia, Wash.
The evening wrapped up with the fun gift exchange. Anyone who wanted to take part brought a wrapped gift. Numbers were handed out, and everyone who brought a gift could take a turn choosing from the table.
Twenty-eight gifts were exchanged, which included both the bad and the beautiful. The fun part was that anyone picking a gift was allowed to steal one already opened rather than choosing a wrapped one.
Among the gifts were a Viper roadster model, a mini air compressor, a couple of car cleaning kits, books, calendars, some very popular bottles of wine, digital calipers, a set of tools, Hickory Farms beef sticks, a Castrol truck bank, an English license plate reading MGA 1600, an MGB model kit, a cooler bag, retractable antenna, car cover, Celine Dion perfume kit, wallet and cash (!), a California duster, portable spotlight, Union Jack umbrella.
The end of the evening was quite uproarious, as Bill McCarthy desperately sought to get someone to steal his Celine Dion perfume. He even tried to sweeten the pot with some cash, but there were no takers.
A lot of the gifts did change hands at the end of the night, especially the bottles of wine. (The rule is, gifts may only be “seized” by someone else three times.)