Committee members 2025
Chairperson; Kathleen Friel
Vice Chairperson; John Sheppard
Hon Secretary; June Millar
Treasurer; Walter Kilcullen
Membership secretary; John Hanlon, Avoca,Giltown, Beauparc, Navan, Co Meath C15 X0E9
Regalia Officer; T.B.A.
Newsletter Sec.; Paddy O'Rourke
P.R.O.; Walter Kilcullen
Health and Safety representative; Ian Millar
Committee:
Paddy McManus
Joe Smyth
Pat Hanlon
Gerry Rathbourne
The Celtic Old Vehicle Owners Club, based in Kells Co. Meath is now in its thirty third year and is one of the most active clubs in Ireland.
OUR MEMBERSHIP
The club caters for owners and enthusiasts of classic, vintage and veteran cars, vans, tractors, motor bikes and even a couple of fire engines. Its one hundred and sixty members are drawn from places as diverse as Portlaw, Drogheda, Dublin, Kildare, Westmeath, Louth ,Cavan and even U.S.A. as well as its core from all over Co. Meath.
OUR ACTIVITIES
Club Members are regulars at vintage shows and events all over the country and generally feature high amongst the prize winners. Every May Bank Holiday Weekend COVOC hosts the Norman Pratt Run, an enjoyable jaunt around Co. Meath, which has become so popular that entries have in recent years have had to be restricted. There are class awards for every decade and judging is by an independent external scrutineer. This event has raised a considerable amount of money for local charities such as St Vincent de Paul Kells, Ashbourne Youth Project, Meath Palliative Care, Muscular Dystrophy Ireland among others since its inception in 1992.
Its members are well travelled and can be found at English shows like Beaulieu, NEC, Stoneleigh and others, and some have travelled as far as the Essen Techno Classic, Stuttgart and Antwerp events. In 2000 the club went on a run to Yorkshire where they visited ‘Heartbeat’ country in a convoy of classic cars and in 2010 year we repeated the expedition on the June bank holiday weekend with 25 cars and well over 50 participants. In 2014 we ticked off Scotland on the list of places to be visited with a similar number of cars and participants.
In addition to attending events around the country the club hold regular runs on varied routes and these occur at least once a month throughout most of the year. Each year there are also a few weekends away for members to take their cars to hotel based locations to indulge their favourite passion and we frequently meet up with the local car club in the county that we visit.
Other activities include our Christmas dinner dance, barbeques, and various other excuses to get together.
OUR MONTHLY MEETING
The monthly members meeting is held in the parish hall beside the Presbyterian Church in Kells on the last Wednesday of the month (with the exception of December). It is a time for discussing events, parts problems and generally having a natter with like minded people followed of course by our trademark homely cup of tea and sandwiches supplied voluntarily by a club member. Most meetings feature a speaker or video/picture demonstration and are usually attended by well more than half the members.
OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
Midway through the month we send a newsletter with articles of technical nature, member’s cars features, dates of upcoming outings, reports of events and items for sale or to buy. It is eagerly waited with anticipation to see whose car is featured or updates on events that we should not have missed.
Another trademark of our club is at A.G.M. time, when there are more people wanting to go on the committee than are places available.
On the whole it is a fantastic club of which to be a member.
For more information contact [email protected] or [email protected]
