'Bertie' new voice of vintage rally | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

The Vintage Car Club's International Rally has appointed a new face.

Longstanding VCC member, Napier councillor John Cocking, has lent his talent as art deco character Clarence Bertram St John Fitz Montague - more commonly known as "Bertie" - to the club to be their official master of ceremonies for next year's rally.

Bertie was officially announced at VCC High Tea yesterday, attended by members of the VCC rally committee, local supporters, mayor Annette Main and councillors.

Rally director Bruce Hutton said the idea behind appointing Bertie was to give a professional, formal approach to the rally, which he did not want to be a flash in the pan for Wanganui.

The Heritage Market Day and the following dinner on Saturday was an example of the spirit and tradition they were trying to achieve for both the rally and for Wanganui.

"We want to think that groups in Wanganui can get together and organise activities like this in Wanganui so that it becomes an ongoing event," he said.

Mr Cocking, who has a 1935 Austin 7 Sports Special, said he had been a club member for more than 10 years, and was looking forward to coming back to Wanganui next year to officiate for the rally.

Yesterday, he hitched a ride in another vintage car and took part in Wanganui Vintage Car Club's annual Burma Rally.

Wanganui club member Ed Boyd said 46 cars took part in the rally, which would be overtaken by the international rally next year.

This year's Burma rally was a test run to iron out problems which might come up in next year's rally, such as making sure people could read and follow the straight line navigation systems, and timing how long things took to set up, he said.

The rally went well and support from Wanganui for the national event had been very good, he said.

Mayor Annette Main said walking up the main street on Saturday and seeing the dozen stores that had made an effort to dress up was just the start. By the time the rally came to Wanganui everyone would be dressed up.