Post by Admin on Apr 12, 2016 9:45:16 GMT
April Newsletter Part 2
We Can't use Sheepy Magna on THURSDAY 14 APRIL
Dave Frost is Leading a "C" Route to a different Venue from the Fox as per the rides list
The "B" Ride are having a Joint Meet with WALSALL CTC Traveling to BRIDGNORTH and ARLEY
Meet at St Peters at 9:00am and traveling to Pelsall Clock and meeting up with Walsall at 9:30am
Distance will be about 60 Miles plus to and from the start.
Shenstone Rides: 2016 Sunday 8th May
Appeal for assistance
Dear All,
You may be aware that I’ve taken over the organisation of the (4) NBCTC Shenstone Audax rides from Terry Dwyer who has done a sterling job for the last three years.
Changes for 2016
In recent years we have had difficulties recruiting enough volunteers to run the village hall Controls at Ipstones and Wyaston as well as Shenstone.
However, Terry Dwyer and I found out that the Ipstones Hall Committee now run a café service during the week,
(see cafeconnectipstones.co.uk/ ,I’ve already been up to check the quality and it’s very good).
They have agreed to organise the catering for us on May 8th and fortunately Wyaston can do the same.
Additionally both can offer a wider menu choice than the cakes a drink we provided, although I know these have always been much appreciated in the past.
Volunteers still required at Shenstone
We already have a small team to helper on the day in Terry and Marjorie Dwyer, Mary Evens, my wife Mariel with Sue Wright on cake duty again.
Nadine Branston has generously agreed to co-ordinate the helpers at Richard Cooper Hall.
However, some additional assistance would be appreciated, mainly on refreshments.
It’s a long shift from opening up at 7:15 am to the last few riders on the Castleton arriving around 8:00 pm.
However, it would still be a great help if volunteers could commit for just part of the day.
Help during busiest periods
Timings
Start: Help from: 7:15 to 9:30 am
Hall opening at 7:15 am. Aiming to provide hot drinks and DIY bread or toast from 7:30 am
The first ride leaves at 8:00 with the others following at half hour intervals up to 9:30 am.
============================================================================================================
Mid-day – Lunch time Help from: 12:15 pm -
Rosliston 54 K riders should return first from 11:45 am for their free cake and drink,
with additional food available for purchase.
The Staffs Lanes from about 12:30 pm onwards.
=============================================================================================================
Afternoon – Tea time Help from: 4:15 pm -
The first Derbyshire Dales riders should be arriving from 3:00 pm with the Castleton shortly after, (having started an hour earlier).
Busiest periods for the longer two finishers should be in between 5:00 and 7:00 pm.
=============================================================================================================
If you are able to help I’d be grateful if you could contact Nadine Branston to let her know when you’re available and for how long.
Alternatively you could contact Terry or me as below. (Unfortunately I am away from tomorrow until Thursday evening).
Contact Email Tel. No.
Nadine Branston nadbransto@aol.com 0121 386 3667
Roy Bishop royabishop@blueyonder.co.uk 0121 357 2570
Terry Dwyer terencedwyer@rocketmail.com 0121 709 4101
Hope you can help,
Best wishes,
Roy Bishop
========================================================================================================
The Northern - in or out? The case for staying as a CTC member group
The short read
CTC North Birmingham – the Northern to its friends - is a successful club with 185 active members, £6000 reserves and a proud 97-year heritage. We currently have the most successful CTC Member Group in the country with sixteen rides each week. A steady stream of new riders join us. We have members and volunteers of more than 65 years’ standing who are proud members of both the club and the CTC; they are still actively involved in helping run the club and are strongly opposed to both the club being dissolved and the association with the CTC being reduced to a mere insurance tie-in.
We need new blood on the committee and there is new blood ready to come forward and help run NBCTC but not to be involved in setting up or running a new club. We do not need to dissolve the club to make it more flexible and forward-looking. The reserves belong to CTC so the new club will have to build up new funds without the assistance of many of the current volunteers. The 33 signatories will do everything necessary to keep the Northern going and will form a new CTC member group if needed.
If you want the club to modernise within the current CTC structure, come and vote against the resolution on 30 April. Whatever your views, please come out and vote and do bring your CTC membership card with you.
The longer read - intro
I am Mary Evans and I am a member of the committee and the social secretary of CTC North Birmingham. I have performed this role as a volunteer for 10 years during which time we have had enormous fun socially as well as in the saddle. I oppose and am deeply saddened at the prospect that the club may be dissolved as are the 32 other signatories of this note. Among the signatories are 15 leaders and 14 volunteers, including the organisers of the audax and the jumble. We will do everything necessary to make sure that the Northern lives on to celebrate its centenary in 2019. Even if we lose this current vote we will re-form NBCTC as an inclusive club and CTC Member Group and keep its fundraising events going.
The notes in the April newsletter present the dissolution of CTC North Birmingham - the Northern to its friends – as a fait accompli. Members have nothing to lose by deserting the ship and jumping onto a new one. Nothing will be different and all will be well in the best of all possible worlds. Let me put a different point of view. Here are some thoughts on why the club should not be dissolved so that members can take an informed view when they come to cast their votes.
How is the club doing these days?
We currently have the most successful CTC Member Group in the country with sixteen rides each week. There was an influx of faster riders about five years ago. Very few of them did anything except ride with the club. Scarcely any of them espoused the spirit of the CTC and volunteered to lead rides or help out at fundraising and social events. That influx of members has largely moved on. We greatly enjoyed their company but numbers are now more manageable.
What about the reserves?
NBCTC currently has over £6000 in reserves. The committee is proposing to dispose of the assets before the club is dissolved, including passing some start-up capital to the new club. The committee is not proposing to pass the reserves back to the CTC as required by the clear directive in the policy handbook.
What about change?
Those behind the resolution to dissolve the club point to vague perceived restrictions in the current CTC Member Group policy handbook. They have spoken of their plans should they be given free rein. Yet they form the majority of the committee and have not made any significant changes (let alone proposed any changes that have been stymied by the policy handbook) during the time that they have been on the committee. The facts put simply are firstly that the main changes proposed are that cyclists who are not members of the CTC will be permitted to join, so long as they have other third party insurance; this may make it cheaper to cycle with the new club. Secondly, families and beginners will be referred to Bike North Birmingham.
What about the constitution of the new club?
The new club proposed is a members’ association so all members will have personal unlimited liability for the debts and liabilities of the new club. There will be more autonomy than in a CTC member group but there will not be more flexibility since the new club will need policies on all kinds of matters to ensure that it treats issues consistently. Who is going to write and review those policies? The constitution of the new has not been published – is it wise to hold a vote when such a vital part of the structure has not been settled?
Can we stay as one club?
Those behind the proposal to form a new club make great play of their desire to keep the club as one organisation. Regrettably the atmosphere has turned nasty with older member berated in the review meetings for not keeping up with the times in terms of use of social media and so on. Alison Readman and I have been patronised for daring to question the wisdom and legality of the resolution and it is we who are being accused of being undemocratic – perhaps this is a taste of things to come?
The proposers of the resolution have no loyalty to the CTC or its inclusive ethos. They just want to form a new club without the effort of building up a membership, a rides programme or a volunteer base and with no care or respect for the long standing and loyal CTC members who have built a successful club all these many years. We fail to understand why those pressing for a new club joined NBCTC in the first case - there are a large number of Independent affiliated clubs already existing which they could have easily joined.
What is the best way forward?
Please consider if it is really necessary to dissolve a successful club that will celebrate its centenary in three years’ time with many long-standing members still loyal to the CTC. If you don’t like the current set up you are not prisoners of the club. Just leave amicably and let the club do the modernising needed in a more caring and inclusive way.
Thank you for reading my note and whatever you decide please do vote on 30 April.
Yours in cycling
Mary Evans; Eddie Asbury; Joan Asbury; Mary Bardsley; Mike Bardsley; Beryl Bedford; John Bedford; Roy Bishop; Alf Bowers; Carol Cartwright; David Dilly; Brian Farrell; Peter Goodman; John Griffin; Pam Green; John Heald; Keith Hitchcock; Chris Jones; Val Jones; Brian Langdell; Sally Langdell; John Maer; Bob Malvern; Nigel Marshall; John Montgomery; Tom Moore; Alison Readman; David Ross; Joan Scott; Sylvia Sharples; Roger Stroud; Simon Wilson; Tony Wilson