Corowa
As someone that was extremely excited about the tracked vehicle theme for Corowa 2008, having every intension of taking my Bren carrier, Halftrack and my M3 Stuart light tank, the thought of seeing more than one Stuart rumbling up the main street of Corowa and then with the chance of driving around at the airport WOW what more can you say!
I was a little amazed when the cracks started to show within the KVE landscape. Ian Pullen contacted me regarding my intensions of what vehicles I planned on taking, and mentioned that a meeting would take place in October about the event. As an owner and operator of these vehicles it was thought that my input could be valuable. Thus said I attended this meeting and at the end of the day it seemed that a couple of handshakes and an apology was all that was needed and we were back on track. However latter in the day decisions made changed dramatically. A meeting again at Corowa was mentioned/planed and my intention was to go to that as well. I had offered to give what ever assistance that I could. As we know now that meeting was cancelled by some of the committee two days prior and pretty well everything that was proposed would seem to have fallen over.
Without the participation of Ian and Alex in the running and organisation of the heavy/tracked vehicles I am really anxious about the safety of people involved, insurance and our relationship with the community of Corowa. What was going to be a wonderful and exciting event with world wide interest and participation now seems to be a childish miss adventure, and at this point while still having every intension of going to Corowa my tracked vehicle’s will be staying at home. The expense of transport and organisation required to have taken these machines would now be unreasonable and unenjoyable.
The thought of sharing my small part of the History of these vehicle’s with other collectors and interested spectators is what this is all about, not the ego's that seem to have taken over.
I have been indirectly involved with Corowa for many years as many of the South Australian participants have since the very first event dropped into my Families business to say hello and find some elusive MV parts. While I have only been attending since the Late 90's it is the one weekend of the year that I catch up with a number of very close friends and people who's company I enjoy greatly. One of whom it has always been a pleasure to see and talk to is Jan Thompson, the Face and heart of the event as far as I and many participants are concerned. In fact the other members of the committee were unknown to me until the meeting at Corowa. It is very distressing to see that a number of people are inclined to not attend at all.
This event would have been and still could be a world class event if the likes of Ian, Alex and Jan are allowed to run and organise the event.
Tim Scriven
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