Post by Admin on Apr 24, 2021 9:52:07 GMT
Cycling UK North Birmingham Member Group AGM Minutes
Tuesday 5th November 2019 at the Cooper Room, Shenstone.
Present: Matt Hinkley, Paul Griffiths, Julie Snook, Ian Bolton, Sue Perry, Dave Frost, Ros Llewellyn, Sue Jinks, Mike Fowler plus 15 other members.
1. Apologies Nick Madeley, Lesley Pymm
2. Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting were read and it was agree they were a true record.
3. Matters Arising: None
4. Annual Report 2019
During the past year the club rides programme has become fragmented in that different groups riding on the same day no longer start their rides from the same meet up point and more often than not go to a different venue for coffee and/or lunch. Similarly there are now two different festive meals arranged to cater for these diverging groups of members. In many ways there is nothing wrong with this set up. These different rides are well supported and cater for a variety of abilities and likes within the group.
In the past Cycling UK, North Birmingham Group has offered up to sixteen rides a week. Over the past year this number of rides has fallen.
Tuesdays – the B ride regularly has a good number of members and often has to split into two groups; the C ride is not so well supported. The Alternative Tuesday Rides attracts a good number of members each week.
Wednesdays – an afternoon ride which departs at 13:50 for a small number of members. Some feel that many members do not consider to support this ride due to its late start time
Thursdays – the B ride attracts the largest weekday number of members and regularly splits into two ride groups. The support for a C ride has fallen and has often not taken place.
Fridays - two distinct groups meeting up in two different locations and cycling to two different coffee stops.
The above rides are regularly supported mostly by cyclists who have retired.
Saturdays – The faster, longer rides of Groups 1, 2 & 3 are attracting fewer riders so these groups are often combined into two and sometimes one group.
The numbers for Group 4 and 5 are again not what they were so they are regularly combined into one group.
Saturday Group 6 rides also attract a smaller number of members compared with the past.
Sundays – Support for doing a full day ride on a Sunday has completely fallen. There have been occasions on a Sunday when there have been groups riding together such as the Club Audax, Club One Hundred, Annual Cyclists’ Memorial Service and to the Club Barbecue.
Off-road Rides – thanks to Matt Hinkley (one Saturday a month) and Nick Madeley (once a month on a weekday) for organising these rides.
A big thank you to all those members who organise the rides programme, to those who lead the rides and also to Paul Griffiths who compiles the Quarterly Rides Lists.
The Saturday rides are often the only time members who are working full time can attend. However, this type of cyclists does not seem to be attracted to our club anymore. Over the past five years many new cycling clubs have been created locally, many of which have Cycling UK affiliated status with our club. These new groups have also attracted some of our younger members.
Several rides throughout the year were cancelled due to inclement weather of one sort or another. Rides have not taken place when there have temperatures of 4 degrees Celsius or less at the departure time of the ride. Several rides have not started when there has been torrential downpours of rain more often accompanied by strong winds. Recently a number of Saturday rides have suffered due to the televising of the Rugby World Cup matches from Japan at 9 am.
Cycle Touring
I’m not aware of all the Cycle Touring that our members have done during 2019, here are the ones I’m aware of:
Two separate tours of Brittany organised by Ian Bolton
A long weekend away in Dieppe organised by Mike Eades and Ian Bolton
A Spring weekend and an Autumn weekend away organised by Dave Frost
A weekend away organised by John Bedford
A Scottish Tour by Richard Firkin, John Llewellyn and Nick Madeley
The Way of the Roses Coast to Coast by Mike Fowler and Pete Farrell
Touring France and the Island of Jersey by Mick Noble, Stewart Davis and Paul Griffiths
Coast to Coast of Spain by Alastair, Gail, Lynne and Rob
Lynne and Rob Davenports touring in too many countries to mention or remember
Pete and Anne Kelsall in France and the Middle East
Cycle Jumble Sale 2019
This event was cancelled last year when the Beast from the East bought a heavy fall of snow during the Friday night prior to the event. The 2019 event went ahead without any hitches thanks in the main to Organiser Alison Readman and a loyal band of helpers. Despite not having to pay a hire fee for the use of the Erdington Methodist Church hall facilities, takings all round were down. Nobody has come forward to take on the role of organiser of future Cycle Jumble Sale events.
Beer and Skittles Evening.
A successful Beer and Skittles Evening organised by Julie Snook took place on Saturday 9th March 2019 at The Walsall Arms.
Club Audax 2019.
The Club Audax took place on Sunday 12th May 2019 and used the larger premises and better facilities of Shenstone Village Hall. Unfortunately the number of participants was well down on the numbers for 2018 mainly due to it clashing with the Birmingham Velo. Next year’s Club Audax is to take place on Sunday 14th June 2020 which is a week before next year’s Birmingham Velo which takes place on Sunday 21st June 2020. With some good publicity we should be aiming for a record attendance. Once again a great big thank you to Organiser Roy Bishop and assistant Terry Dwyer for all their hard work in making our audax a well-run event.
Annual Cyclists’ Memorial Service.
About a dozen club members were among the 400 people who attended the Annual Cyclists’ Memorial Service at Meriden Green on Sunday 19 May 2019. Sara Hinkley presented a wreath on behalf of the club.
Club Barbecue.
A successful Barbecue was held on a warm sunny Sunday back in July at The Colville Arms, Lullington. There were over thirty in attendance and many members cycled to the venue. The quality and quantity of the food was excellent.
Club One Hundred
This year’s event was organised as a low key event on a turn up and go format at the beginning of August. Despite the atrocious weather a few hardy members completed the event.
Cycling UK Member Group Tool.
This new initiative arrived at the end of July from Cycling UK Head Office, several months late. This tool permits member groups to contact their membership in a way that is GDPR compliant. There is an entry for each of our 443 individual members that are on our club database. Each of these 443 entries require individual editing; a tall order in anyone’s book.
Matt Hinkley has used the tool to email the individual members to ask if they wish to receive the Group Newsletter. Out of 443 individual members 103 replied. Consequently we are assuming that we only have this number of active members.
Sarah Hinkley in her role of Communications Officer has supplied me with the following data accessed via the tool. During the past year we have had 36 new members join our group: 9 with Household Membership, 15 with Adult Membership, 7 with Senior Membership and 5 as Affiliated Individuals
Three of the new adult members, cycle with our group and one new senior member is out cycling on Tuesdays and Thursdays with our group.
The four new affiliated groups means that we now have a total of seventeen affiliated groups on our membership list. I notice that Boldmere Bulletts and Chapter II have now ceased to be on this list.
In concluding my report I wonder how many of our active and non-active group members actively engage with Cycling UK? Was your Cycling UK Trustee Election form, which arrived recently with the latest edition of the Cycle Magazine, returned to Head Office or was it put to one side and forgotten.
Have you attended any of the Cycling UK meetings that have been organised in central Birmingham over the past few years? Has anyone written to their MP to lobby them on behalf of a Cycling UK campaign?
Election of Officers:
The following officers agreed to continue their roles for another year. There were no objections.
Chair: Matt Hinkley
Treasurer: Paul Griffiths
Secretary: Mike Fowler
The following members agreed to do the following roles:
Sundays Rides Sue Jinks
Tuesdays Rides Julie Snook
Wednesdays Rides Sue Perry
Thursdays Rides Ian Bolton
Fridays Rides Paul Griffiths
Saturdays Rides Groups 1, 2 & 3 – Vacant
Saturdays Rides Groups 4, 5 & 6 – Dave Frost
Membership Sarah Hinkley
Social Julie Snook & Ros Llewellyn
Welfare Ros Llewellyn
Any other Business
1. The Year 2020 will be the centenary of Cycling UK North Birmingham Members Group and there will be a Planning Meeting open to all on Tuesday 21 January 2020 at 7:30pm
2. Discussion on the use of mapping technology for leading rides.