New Zealand Four Wheel Drive Association Inc.

Hi all you keen 4wheelers.

Darren Pettengell here, the new Central Zone President.

I would like to tell you all a little about this year's NZFWDA National AGM hosted by Central Zone in Silverstream, Wellington.

Well, what more can I say, it was a huge success, we had a great week four-wheel driving from the 19th - 23rd of May showing the attendees some of the special 4x4 spots we have on offer down here. We then had a prizegiving on Friday night at one of our local breweries Wildkiwi in Upper Hutt, which was a lot of fun and a great chance for everyone to get together and share their stories from the week. 

This was followed with the AGM on Saturday where we had the usual NZFWDA meetings to iron out the creases followed by some great guest speakers from Rothbury Insurance's Bruce Mawson, Manawatu Civil Defence's Nick Calpin and then Kevin Marlow taking us through the Macetown progress.

After lunch Steve Adams our re-elected National President hosted the AGM which went very smoothly. After sitting down for a lot of the day it was time for a couple of refreshments and to socialise with the attending delegates from around the country.

After a great dinner, we were very lucky to have another guest speaker Sherryl Wells, who not only had us in fits of laughter telling us stories of her and her husband Mike's adventures in the offroad racing scene and women in 4-wheel driving but was also very motivational. 

Another great success that wrapped up the night, was the auction after Sherryl's presentation. We were very lucky to have so many awesome items to auction off from a host of very generous sponsors. I would personally like to thank all those that dug deep into their pockets and bought everything on offer with a bit of encouragement from the refreshments, Ian Grant our Auctioneer for the evening, and an abundance of giveaways to sweeten the deals. 

I would like to put out a special thanks to all our CZ helpers, without these guys this wouldn't have happened:

• Trevor Hendra - For not only donating some great items but also organizing a large chunk of the sponsorship items and organizing some of the guest speakers.
• Dan Hawkins - For setting the wheels in motion, organizing and running two of the AGM trips
• Colin Lindsay - For helping me keep track of all the numbers and keeping the mood light
• Barb Adam - For sorting invoices and keeping track of the dollars
• Grant Purdie - For his wealth of knowledge and editing skills
• Steve Adam - For advice and a sharp stick to keep proceedings on track

All our trip leaders and assistants that did an amazing job on the week of wheeling

• Shaun Ross
• Frank Allan
• Dan Hawkins
• Liam Hoffman
• Daniel Morris
• Barry Insull
• Ian Hutchings
• Hamish Wilson
• Clinton Carroll
• Jason Norman
• Kent Barrell

I would also like to put out a huge thankyou to our generous sponsors, without these people the AGM would be a very expensive exercise. So please support these companies and let them know that you belong to the NZFWDA.

• Rothbury Insurance
• Epuni Motors
• Action Overland
• Kohls 4x4 Ironman
• Repco
• Supercheap
• Chester Plumbing
• Bunnings
• Steel With Love
• 4x4 Events
• Trundles Automotive

I would also like to thank the Silverstream Retreat - For letting us use their great facility 

One last thankyou goes out to all the attendees who came along for the ride. I hope you all had a good time and enjoyed the AGM proceedings.

Thanks again
Darren Pettengell
Central Zone President