AUK OFFICIALS' REPORTS 1994 SECRETARY For A.U.K. 1994 has been another year of steady progress. Membership and the number and variety of events have increased yet again. By the time of the AGM your Committee will have met on three occaslons in the last twelve months. Because the members live so far apart and meetings are held only when necessary, the Committee keeps under constant review the way in which it carries out it's business and co-ordenates lnformation and activieies. Arising from that process is the decision that the Secretary is now routinely used as a focal point for information about the more important actions of each Committee member in between meetings in order to maintain an overview of the activities of the Association. We are also taking steps to make maximum use of our investment in information technology to reduce any unnecessary manual clerical or duplicated tasks carried out by Committee members. The steady flow of letters and telephone calls during the year has ranged widely and included requests for detailed information about preparing for "round the world cycle tours" and a request from Japan on how to organise and train for randonees. I have also received a small number of complaints from the public and members which I have attempted to resolve as quickly as possible. As the Association increases in size I think the "customer care" aspect of the Secretary's role also increases in importance and I would encourage any member who feels that they have a legitimate complaint to contact me. It remains a pleasure to work for AUK on the Committee and I would be happy to continue in 1995. Peter Hansen MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY The trend of increasing membership has continued this year. The increase in new members is similar to previous years. I have again used the format of previous years for the table below. The figures for 1993 are as at 16th Sept. Last year the CTC advertisement and York Rally resulted in 20% of the new mernbers, this year 60% were from these two sources. Towards the end of 1993 many members renewed for 1994 and had to wait for confirmation of this, as there were no publications to send out until the year end. Most members renewing at this time wish to have the calendar of events promptly, and I send them out as soon as I can. Last year they arrived on December 24th, perhaps I should have continued my voluntary work over the festive season! Delays, if any, are kept to a minimum. Membership figures for the period 1988 to 1994 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 Total 1114 1302 1424 1596 1801 2013 2376 including: Familv members (reduced rate) 156 198 212 206 235 216 254 Life members* 37 37 40 40 40 50 57 Lapsed (rejoin this year) 30 30 ? 32 15 15 19 New members 250 317 427 503 528 643 596 (including those whose subs cover the following Year 36 16 16 21 15 25 69 Non renewals 187 204 309 331 355 467 462 * As from 1991, life members pay towards magazine costs. Ben Steven MAGAZINE EDITOR This year we've produced the four, seasonal issues of Arrivée plus an Arrivée Extra which included the Calendar of Events. The Extra edition was worthwhile, making the Calendar available for posting before Christmas and enabling the weight of the successive issues to be kept within the second 2nd-class postal band. Members should note that it is only possible for those who have renewed before December to receive Arrivée Extra in the first posting direct from the Publishers - the rest are dealt with by the Membership Secretary. The number of copies for each issue has increased from 2,000 to 2,200. The club has bought a scanner with optical character recognition software and now a laser printer. The former, along with the cooperation of contributors, has made my job far easier and the latter has improved print quality and enabled Francis Cooke to process photos for printing (otherwise expensive items) in-house. We use a hand scanner so when writers produce typewritten copy it is helpful to leave at least a 1½cm margin on the left hand side. A clear, well-spaced font, such as courier, also helps along with plain print without bold, italic, underlining or written comments within the script which confuse the scanner. Of course, there's nothing like a disc when possible, but please do include a print-out in case we can't cope with it. Don't worry if you can't type - the odd handwritten article keeps my touch typing in shape. Originally, advertising rates only took account of production costs. When rates were increased this year to cover distribution costs as well, the number of advertisers fell, though the alternative of Small Ads was offered. However, new advertisers are taking an interest; Graham Baxter has had good returns from his Sporting Tours ads and the Bolero bus people want to come in as well. Thanks to Bry Ferguson who makes a long journey to proof read, Membership Secretary, Ben Steven, who produces the address labels (NB if you need extra copies, Ben has any available), Tradeprint who do the printing and mailing, and our AUK writers and photographers who are so continually praised that I leave those bits out of the Letters to avoid repetition. It's a pleasure to work with you - we've got the best cycling mag around! Sheila Simpson HON EVENT SECRETARY This year has been a little disappointing - we didn't make 250 Events, though 246 isn't too bad a total: there were some cancelled, but they were more than made up by new ones. Anyway, it was the highest number ever. We all owe thanks to the Organisers (approx. 120 of them), and the Helpers (probably most of the rest of the Club apart from the Riders). The figures for Events break down as follows:- BPs: 16 50km - 81km; 85 100km - 140km; 29 150km - 165km; Total 130 AUK: 53 200km - 225km; 12 300km - 310km; 4 400km - 412km; 1 600km - 618km Total 70 LRM: 18 ditto; 6 ditto; 8* ditto; 7 ditto Total 39 71 18 12 8 +2x1000km. Total 111 * 400s include Flêche and Arrow. Total 241 Then, counted, but not Events as such, 5 BPTs. Total 246 AAA: 14 100km; 1 150km; 17 200km; 6 300km; 3 400km; and 2 600km (Total 43) (Please note that multiple starts are counted as individual Events; after all there is no real difference between three starts for the Windsor - Chester - Windsor and having Chepstow and Edinburgh 600s on the same weekend). Peter Coulson TREASURER A copy of the accounts for the year is set out opposite and reflects the continued healthy state of the club's finances. As a consequence of this I do not recomend any increase in Fees or Charges with the exception af the Validation charge for events registered in Paris. To take account of their charge to us I recomnend the Validation Charge be set at 45p. The option of paying fees by standing order is working well though a couple of members with commendable generosity instructed their Banks to pay the yearly fee on a monthly basis! The accounts are set out in their usual format. If any member would like further information or amplification of the figures would they please contact me before the AGM so that I can extract the required infomation. Press Secretary Steady growth in membership and participation may be boosted from time to time by an Audax feature in the cycling press and other outlets eg the John Lewis Waitrose house journal. The feature in the CTC's magazine Feb/Mar 94 edition appears to have been well received and hopefully we can look for a similar response from Cycling-Plus in February 1995. The current edition of the AUK information leaflet/membership form has been seen at major rallies at home and abroad and I would be pleased to send members copies at any time for their in recruiting new members. We continue to feed Cycling Weekly with outline information on events and a growing number of organisers have indicated to me that they are happy for their names and telephone numbers to be listed so that individual readers may obtain more detailed information on a specific ride. Alan Rushton of Sport for Television joined AUK during the year and sees the possibility of the Paris-Brest story being of interest to a production company for Channel Four. We hope that something will come of this but Alan has been exceedingly busy in 1994. As a rider of some challenging but most enjoyable rides this year (in Wales) I have seen the new AUK/CW signs put to good use. Perhaps I can best quote from a letter received from an organiser "I must say they looked a whole lot better than the home made ones I used to use. Gives a touch of class to the proceedings". We have a useful stock and I will be pleased to forward additional signs to organisers on request. Brian Morris INTERNATIONAL EVENTS The major interest this year as far as enquiries are concerned has been in the Raid Pyreneen. Following that come the French BPF brevet and BCMF. Most of the queries have been phone calls, which could usually be answered the same day, following the pattern of previous years. This cuts down on letter writing. Barbara and I rode a 200km event in Denmark during the summer, the total number of riders being 6, so the event was not as social as AUK events. We had to seek control stamps from garages, bars, etc, after the pattern of most R.M. events we have come across abroad. Apart from that we visited BPF sites in France, and toured in Germany. Prospective PBP riders should note that Noel Simpson, as ACP Covrespondent, negotiates the PBP formalities for AUK riders, and has the up-to-date information. As it is an ACP event, it is really an internal RM event and not an 'international' one. Noel is the expert, but all details appear in Arrivee as they are known so individual requests for information are unnecessary. I shall be returning to Denmark to do one of the Loppet series of rides in Scandinavia on the first week-end in July next year. This 315 km event starts at Koge, near Copenhagen. Anyone wanting information should contact me soon as I have asked for entry forms etc.. and entries close when full (six thousand riders from many countries !). I would urge members not to encourage non-members to ask the Internatioaal Events Secretary for help. I had several calls starting 'I have been given your name ....' early on in the year. It is a service for, and benefit to, members. Having been reponsible for the International Events for several years, I would be happy to stand down in 1995. If anyone with an interest in languages and riding events abroad wants to become a Commitee member, please contact me and I will explain what is involved. Dave Patey ACP/LRM BREVET VALIDATIONS As at 31/08 the number of cards processed for validation by ACP was 1761. This total comprises: 16 x 200K events 1052cards 5 x 300K events 261 cards 5 x 400K events 213 cards 5 x 600K events 199 cards 1 x l000Kevent 36 cards This 1994 total is about a 30% increase over 1993. For some Perfectly Brief Perceived reason I suspect that the increase for 1995 will show at least this again. For each event all cards have to be checked against a database of 2000+ riders, amendments made where necessary, and sorted into club allocation order. Then forms completed and despatched to France, validation stickers received back and attached to cards (that's a messy process, I get water everywhere) which are then posted back to organisers. With this in mind, and the 1995 date deadlines to meet, I would greatly appreciate organisers and riders' assistance in ensuring riders and club names are legible and that only one club box is ticked - this being the club/DA chosen on the first card at the beginning of the year. Bernard and I will be looking at ensuring the speedy processing of cards to ensure nobody misses any deadlines. Fax facilities will be used for those few late events. I will be contacting those organisers nearer the date. Dave Whitney AUK/ACP CORRESPONDANT As intermediary between these organisations, I have enjoyed another busy year: forwarding reports and queries to ACP & replying to questions from our members. Correspondance was received from cyclists abroad and I was able to find accommodation for those visiting this country and give information about AUK & its activities to others. Communication with other correspondants has been maintained, in particular with respect to the problem of the PB tri-bar ban and the delay in obtaining RM validation. Journals from other RM member organisations have been perused and exeracts sent for publication in Arrivee. And one ACP Brevet 5000 was obtained. Much time from August onwards has been devoted to preparations for the 1995 PBP which are now well in hand and I hope early in the New Year to despatch details of accommodation, entry forms and an advice sheet for new riders. Several enquiries have already been dealt with. But it's not all hard work! In January 1994 I again attended on behalf of AUK the ACP annual dinner in Paris and met with some members of their committee at the Semaine Federale in August [both at no cost to AUK] . Several topics were discussed and answers given. MILEATER DIARIES Nearly l00 diaries were sold this year: an increase of some 15% which is probably due to an article printed in Arrivee. This was derived from the diversity of entries recorded by our riders and which gave rise to some interest and hilarity [though I had to suppress some of the more scurilous and salacious comments!]. The overall male winner was again Pat Kenny on trike/tandem/trike but it was especially pleasing to have a new lady champion in Theresa Poddington, who is not without a sense of humour [see Summer edition of Arrivee]. A highlight of the Mileater year was the reunion at Cheddar in June with the originator and initial funder of the scheme, Mick Latimer, over here from Tasmania. Noel Simpson Permanents Secretary This year is showing an apparent increase over last year. At present (end of September) approx. 230 rides have been validated compared with 243 in 1993. The final figure will probably be about 260. The most popular distance is 200km and of these, Hostel Darts, Northern French PROFS and Peter Coulson's Midland series have been busiest. Some have ridden further, several End to End's (all northbound!), 2 Grand Triangles, and 4 Trafalgar-Trafalgars. Several new routes have appeared during the year at all the super randonneur distances and moves are afoot to resurrect the Indian Mail. The leading riders at present are Liz Creese (36 points), Alan Young (32) and Bob Locock (29). Next year is PBP year, so I am sure more Permanents will be ridden. Would riders please give the permanent organisers as much notice as possible of their intentions (many of the organisers are also trying to qualify). Bry Ferguson also asks that organisers needing brevet cards order them before February, to spread his workload. Duncan Peet