As usual I am sending this out to colleagues who are identified as contacts for local Member Groups, members that I have met at AGMs, events or out cycling as well as other CTC friends. There were quite a few changes of Member Group officers in the recent round of AGMs. I’ve not taken anyone off the list but please let me know if there are newly elected volunteers who I should add.

Please do let me know if you want to unsubscribe from this mail shot or if you know other members who might be interested. I always value feedback and observations from members because without this it is difficult to represent the West Midlands at National Council.

National News A lot has been happening since I happily set off for the Alps in July!

Kevin Mayne Firstly, I have to tell you that our Chief Executive Kevin Mayne has very recently been appointed senior role with our European partners the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) based in Brussels.

This is a great personal achievement for Kevin and recognition of the way CTC’s work for cycling in the UK is respected by our international partner. Kevin has been a dominant force in our organisation and in cycling for nearly 14 years. When the next history of the CTC is written there will no doubt be a whole chapter on the Kevin Mayne years when the National Office was extensively modernised, membership achieved its all time high of 68,000 and the Club’s annual income rose from £1million to £6 million. There will be many opportunities to congratulate Kevin in the coming months but I have put on record now my thanks for all he has done for CTC and cycling. While we are delighted to see Kevin’s career develop in this way managing the transition and appointing a new CEO is yet challenge for the Council and for staff across the country. This may be a significant change of personality but not a change in our vision and values of CTC.

Charity Registration Next, as you will have seen from the Stop Press item in the latest (and I think excellent edition of Cycle) we have had a bit of a set back with our application to the Charity Commission in England and Wales. In Scotland there was now problem and we are registered but the officer of the English Commissioners did not like aspects of our amended historic Memorandum and Articles of Association (which to some of us is like not liking the King James Bible) and scrutinised historic material on our website which insufficiently emphasised the public benefit of what we do. We have taken new legal advice and are asking the Charity Commission for a formal review of this decision. However, this is a set back and we as Council, staff and advisers should have anticipated some of this reaction and we now have more work to do. We should know the outcome of the Review in the new year.

Staff Restructure As highlighted in the last Update, the ending of some of the CTC’s project funding streams in 2012 means that there has had to be some retrenchment in staffing and a restructuring. This is being done in two phases affecting managerial posts first and then field staff in the new year. The process has been carried out with good human resources advice and practice and negotiation with the union. Some staff have left and others will not get contracts renewed and we are losing some very committed people who have given a lot to CTC and their fellow cyclists over the years. The outcome will mean that there are fewer people to do the work at National Office but there are key regional teams with a wide brief to build our work both by supporting volunteers and attracting grants to continue cycling development work under the new Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) and other funding bodies. Steve Bailey is responsible for the West Midlands and will be getting around the patch and meeting people in 2012.

CTC Roadshows Over the Autumn I have been to two “Roadshows” , in Manchester and Birmingham, presenting the work that CTC has been doing through BikeClub and Cycling Champions to bring more people into cycling. The object was to celebrate the achievements of projects funded through Big Lottery, Cycling England and the Asda Foundation and develop the partnerships that will create sustainable projects under the LSTF into the future. Most impressive were the presentations, talks, DVDs etc in by people who have benefited from the projects and discovered or re-discovered the joy of cycling.

Council Awayday In October the existing Council went into a sort of retreat at the old Railway Hotel in Derby. This was not quite as indulgent as it sounds but we had an opportunity to better understand our finances and review how we manage meetings and build our relationships with officers and staff (governance is the technical term). However, the most important element was to hear feedback from some independent research we had commissioned on what members and potential members think about the CTC. This was invigorating like a cold shower is when you have forgotten your cape. The most revealing insight was to find that many people did not really understand what CTC stood for nor the full scope of our activities. Our image was seen as inward looking and our campaigns rather serious. If we are to attract new members and support we need to build an emotional affinity with the organisation and bring out more strongly our passionate enjoyment of all types of cycling and get the fun back in! I know many member groups are very good at this and as Council explores what this means for future plans I would be very happy to explore these “image” issues further with local members.

AGMs I manage to get to 4 AGMs this year and thoroughly enjoyable they were too. Peter Mathison managed to get to most of the others. Thank you for welcoming me. Most were well attended this year, several ended with copious servings of food, especially Coventry where pies arrived at 10.00! It was good to see the sound organisation of each group and the way new members were being attracted especially by introductory rides, good support and interesting things to do on a bike like visits to wildlife centres or trips to the Brooks factory and Aston Hall. I would particularly like to pay tribute to Bob Tinley (Coventry CTC) who has stepped down after 17 years as secretary. At CTC North Birmingham John and Beryl Bedford (Secretary and Treasurer) stepped down – John having served 22 years! Perhaps I should say stepped up because he continues as Chairman. Their colleagues proposed them for a well deserved CTC Certificate of Merit

CTC Council The recent round of elections have produced some changes at Council. Locally, Peter Mathison will be stepping down after nine years of impressive service. Peter has been a great mentor for me with his years of cycling and business experience and his local knowledge of the club. Nationally he has been a Trustee of the CTC Trust, played a key part in the purchase of our “new” National Office building and chaired the important Awards Committee. No doubt he will be able to up his mileage in 2012 but his wisdom will be missed on Council. This time around I was re-elected (thanks) and I am pleased to welcome Dan Howard from Kidderminster as a new Councillor. Apart from his impressive cycling career (3 Paris Brest Paris rides – on fixed, trike and tandem !!), Dan has held office in Kidderminster CTC and has a strong background in IT and governance from his professional roles. He joins Colin Brown and Roger Crosskey (London Region) and John Radford (Yorkshire and Humber) in a refresh of Council membership and I look forward to working with them.

Cycling Although that fixed wheel (probably going to sell it) followed by a hard tandem ride has done some damage to my knees, I did get some good riding in this Autumn. A visit to our daughter in Connecticut was interrupted by a freak (wrong kind of snow) storm which pulled down stacks of (still got their leaves) trees down. This wasn’t quite the Fall we were looking for and it wiped out a lot of power lines resulting in 2.4 million people including us losing power. It still a frontier society in some ways. We evacuated to a sunny Washington but my usual cycling group were out with power saws clearing bike paths. I managed one beautiful sun blessed ride around the Connecticut estuary starting nostalgically in “Essex”. Highlight of the Autumn was the Worcester Challenge Ride organised by CTC. Spurred on by Tony who I’d met a Coventry AGM I did the longer 92 mile ride and it was fabulous. The views and the light in the Teme Valley were exquisite and although I know the area I would never have thought about joining up 20 hills in quite that way. I’ve now retired from the NHS so as long as CTC business doesn’t grow to completely fill the vacuum I’m hoping knees permitting to get a lot more mid-week rides in during 2013.

Best wishes for Xmas and the New Year

David

The meetings to miles ratio has been just about right in July and August – one Council meeting and then a lot of cycling.

Council Meeting 16th July

This was a key meeting with two main themes. Firstly, the AGM decision means that the CTC is now acting as a charity with charitable aims. We reviewed the complex work programme needed to put this commitment into effect by preparing the documentation for registration with the Charity Commission, closing the CTC Trust and bringing its assets back into the Club.

The other business of the meeting was discussing the process of developing the budgets for the next financial year. Like most organisations in the voluntary (and other) sectors we are preparing for a reduction in income especially as some grant aided projects complete in 2012. This was to be expected and the projects will leave a legacy of cycling development in many parts of the country. The net effect will also be a reduction in the overheads that we can use to support the CTC activities. On the positive side the CTC is currently involved with partners in bids under the Local Sustainable Transport Fund and these will support new cycling development projects and posts but the income is less certain. The benefits of Gift Aid should also begin to support CTC budgets and activity later next year.

A group of us stopped at Hatton Lock Café the other Tuesday and I was pleased to see some of the Coventry members there. We all made it a bit crowded and as we started moving furniture around, I was concerned about disturbing a couple with a dog in the corner. I needn’t have worried, they were very friendly and it turned out that one of us had been at school with the lady and the gentleman was the son of the late Joseph Milford Blakelock a well known tourist and CTC member whose obituary was in Cycle’s Dec 2010 edition. They had recently donated some of his memorabilia including a Winged Wheel metal café sign to the Coventry Transport Museum.

David

P.S. As usual I am sending this out to colleagues who are identified as contacts for local Member Groups, members that I have met at AGMs, events or out cycling as well as other CTC friends. Please do let me know if you want to unsubscribe from this mail shot or if you know other members who might be interested. I always value feedback and observations from members because without this it is difficult to represent the West Midlands at National Council.