Meeting opened at 10:50
Apologies received from NS, NH
All others present except RW
Simon Doughty also present
Matters Arising
Place advert in the next edition of Arrivee for delegate to the Recorder.
Action NH, SS
Terry Bateman still to be contacted.
Action FC
Correspondence
CTC request booking for York Rally stand. Agreed to go ahead.
Message relayed from Duncan Peet asking why his permanent events had been removed from the list.
RT said that he had not paid CTC affiliation fees because they had not answered his queries about the increase from £32.00 to £75.00 (attributed to insurance costs) nor quoted as requested for affiliation without insurance. He will await their reply.
Action RT
KH had received a letter from members wishing to ride an Easter Arrow as two teams, but riding a major part of the route together. Agreed to allow this but the teams would be ineligible for awards.
Action KH/SG
Reports
PP. 'Ticking over'. Printing more cards this year.
RT. Concerned about costs of LEL.
IH. No response so far to advert for replacement secretary.
PM. One 'Cyclopassion' missing because of delay in subscription renewal. RT volunteered to supply the missing copy.
GG. Renewals completed to very tight schedule for pre-Christmas deadline. Hoping in future to send out renewal notices in the Autumn - explanatory article for Arrivee. Will produce a diary of deadlines for publication through the year. Also will advertise for a delegate to allow Julian Beach to concentrate on database development. Mike Wigley is doing a sterling job in preparing and sending info packs in response to replies to adverts. He needs notice of future adverts so he can prepare responses.
Action GG, SS, etc.
FC. Simon Ward has put a php interface on the website to allow easier access to various areas of the site. Committee members should familiarise themselves with its workings.
SS. Arrivee is as good as it can get. Asked for comments on the policy for adverts in the publications. Some discussion. It was noted that these contributed a large amount to the costs of publication. Occasional problems with advert copy not delivered or late could be resolved by grouping adverts together. Discussion about payments to photographers. Agreed to maintain payments as laid out in the handbook. One against.
KH/SG. Validation system set up and running. Cards being returned within one week. Job at present taking two evenings a week, but envisage more time needed during the summer. Validations up by 13.5% overall on last year. Greater increase in 200ks than 100ks. PP said that the organisers of the Cotswold Corker had to turn away 100 people. This would be disappointing to those who were pursuing a National Series award. After discussion it was agreed that more of the shorter events would be designated 'National' next season. Advertise for NS organisers for next year. Comments noted after the Corker event were positive.
PC. There are over 500 calendar events this season.
Permanent Secretary. No report received and no response to letter sent by DKB, nor to phonecall. Cards being returned except that there appear to be some missing batches including batch given to RW at the AGM. Agreed to ask John Ward to stand in for day-to-day business and inform RW and organisers of this. Kevin Moreland has volunteered to help with route checking and to take over some events. Official note to go in Arrive.
Action IH, TW, JW, etc.
LEL
Simon Doughty gave a presentation showing what had been achieved so far. He felt it should be seen as a flagship event in keeping with AUK's status as a significant member of LRM. After discussion it was agreed that the committee would take responsibility for the event with SD acting as Project Manager mentored by BM. Lee Valley hostel is more expensive than expected. Approx cost £9,000. Some of that to be recouped by charging for accommodation there before the event. Start time now 08:00. Entry form should include relevant regulations and order form for goods. More helpers still required. 4 people have volunteered to marshal on motorcycles. SD showed a logo devised by John Rivers. Discussion about costs. Budget predicts a loss at current figures. Agreed to revise fee to £90.00, cap expenditure at approx £21.00 per head. Charge £8.00 for pre-event pasta meal. Charge £25.00 for Lee Valley accommodation. Entry window should open asap. Food hygiene course needed for those in charge of catering. Discussion about start procedures.
Advertising
CTC email newsletter now includes AUK press release info. Adverts in Cycling Plus are continuing. None in Cycling Weekly at present. Much interest in AUK events at the triathlon exhibition. C+ have expresses an interest in next season's national Series. C+'s website and discussion forum was discussed. Some interest there in AUK events.
Progress towards Ltd status
Articles have been produced and need to be checked. Facility to remove a director to be added. Sub-committee formed: SS, RT, DKB, IH. Wording on entry form and membership form needs altering. All members have to be on a register updated each year. Final documents to be checked by lawyers. Discussion about directors' liabilities and responsibilities.
Action SS, RT, DKB, IH
DAs
DAs still exist, but the CTC does not want the term used in press releases, etc., because it does not convey meaning. After discussion it was agreed to move all CTC groups to a CTC list for award purposes. All other clubs to remain as they are. Warning to members to be specific as regards their CTC membership of DAs, sections, etc.
Action FC, GG
Clothing and Badges
New design of jersey shown and go-ahead given for artwork and production. KHSG have stocks of the old design medals. PP is selling these at events. Suggested to put medals and badges on order form and returns sheets. Sending medals with card orders reduces postage costs. There was discussion about recovery of costs of production of medals, especially die costs. It was suggested that they could be phased out.
Action PP
Self-validation
The current officers decided to leave things as they are for a year and report their findings then.
Action KH/SG
AOB
PP said that publicity packs from Mike Wigley should have a badge included as this was usually given to new members. At present only mudguard stickers were given.
Next meeting
Monday 13th June starting 10:30. Birmingham.
= = = = = = = = =
Meeting commenced at 10:50
Apologies received from NS; PM; GG; RT. All others present except for RW.
Simon Doughty and John Ward attended.
Matters Arising: Delegate for NH. Francis volunteered to help.
Bernard Mawson is acting as delegate.
Terry Bateman not yet contacted.
Action FC
Query whether CTC affiliation fee has been paid.
No information received for the meeting from RT regarding incorporation. Question asked: can it be completed before LEL?
Actions RT
Advert to place in Arrivee for ACP/LRM correspondent as NS is relinquishing post. Also require a contact for mileater award administration.
Action SS, TW, IH
Reports: PC reported some problems with organisers sending details very late for masters for brevet cards. Organisers packs for 2006 would be sent out within 2 weeks after discussion with safety officer.
Action PC
SGKH reported that validations were up to date. Gave a comparison
of figures for this and last year, pointed out that monthly figures
varied greatly, but average was17% increase on last year at six
months. Entries on the line were fewer, presumably because of poor
weather forecasts. Job load is heavy and would be very difficult
for one person. Would like consideration to be given to redesigning
cards to make them easier to process.
Some organisers are not good
at paperwork (agreed this is a hazard of the job). There have been
a larger than expected number of home-made and recycled cards.
Would like to see organisers graded by competence, in consultation
with PC. PP will send Bernard's advice to organisers about how to
process returns. Possibly organise a training + Q&A session at the
AGM for organisers. Need to look again at organisers' guidelines.
Cards should be returned in alphabetical or numeric order.
Suggested self-validation for BPs, with a reduced fee in
consequence. Discussion about this. Agenda item for next meeting.
Further suggested that new organisers should send cards in for one
year before possible self-validation.
Sending medals to organisers
for sale or return has produced no increase in sales. It has
increased postage costs.
Action SGKH, IH, PP, PC
NH reported that he was pretty much up to date. Some events from March-April were not on the website. Liaise with Bernard M to rectify this.
Action NH, FC
FC reported a website failure over the weekend. He warned that there might be further outages and was backing up as many files as possible. He reminded the meeting that RT had asked for an inventory of equipment. Said that members should ask if they required equipment such as printers or similar. It was suggested that the club needed a depreciation policy for equipment. FC pointed out that computer equipment depreciated very quickly.
SS reported some criticism received about article by Pete Matthews in Arrivee. Some felt it was too close to advertising. It had been noticed that the cover picture of the latest issue was a repeat. Arrivee deadlines could be moved two weeks forwards or back.
PP said that she was producing a large number of cards. On weekends with a large number of events, the entry fields are smaller.
GM said that Cycling Weekly showed little interest in AUK events. Cycling Plus persisted in using old contact details.
SD gave a report on LEL. Risk Assessment form still to be completed. Draft information for riders was distributed at the meeting. Route needs to be finalised. List of helpers nearly complete. Online list doesn't show timetable of when individuals are available. Full details of entrants still to be compiled. Most controls have a qualified first aider, and SD, who is qualified, will be roving. Discussion about liability risks regarding cycle repairs during the event. Some helpers may not have received a response to their offer. PC will contact all. Bedding supplies ordered. Arrivee pages to be help for stop press finish news. Sponsors to be mentioned in publicity. Deficit currently approx £2000.
DAs and clubs could be asked to organise controls in their areas in future years.
Thanks to FC, SS, NH, SG, KH for their help.
GG: Written report provided. Says she is happy for members joining on or after York Rally to have membership to the following year. PP should receive surplus and old Arrivees. New delegates approved.
Mick Latimer. He has contacted the club regarding various historical items. Contact him to ascertain what these are. Discussion about the difficulty of reliable archives/archivists.
Action ??
JW said he was still picking up the pieces. Thanks to FC for help. No response from RW to letter with request for files and SAE. There are likely to be some cards sent to RW after the April announcement. Noted that a Trafalgar-Trafalgar card was among those still missing. Further letter to RW. JW willing to stand for post at next AGM.
Action IH, JW
Numbers of events. Discussion about ways of improving communication between organisers. Mention of creating open webspace for them to liaise directly with each other over dates. It was suggested that new organisers should be subject to scrutiny.
Action FC, PC
National series will have badges this year and medals thereafter. PP has a source of medals with no die cost. FC will provide design. Next year series will consist of 2 600s running down to 6 100s. Aim to provide a good geographical spread but prefer to hold events of same distance on the same day.
Action PP, PC
New jersey design. Decided to sell these in two colour versions, traditional RWB, and the new colours. PP has sourced a winter weight jersey and a wind/shower proof jacket.
Action PP
Donation to charity on behalf of Jane Thomlinson. £250 agreed. Mentioned that organisers and volunteers work for AUK not for charities. Letter to JT in recognition of her fund-raising efforts.
Action DKB, IH
Any other Business; Renewal date needs to be on renewal form.
Action GG, Julian Beach
Agenda for AGM will be added to next calendar. Proposals and nominations requested in the next Arrivee.
Actions SS, IH
There will be only three committee meetings this year.
Next meeting in Birmingham on 27th September.
Meeting closed at 16:00
= = = = = = = = =
Minutes of the meeting held at Birmingham on the 27th Sept 2005
Meeting commenced at 10:45
Apologies from NS. All others present. In attendance: Richard Phipps; Roland Massett; Arthur Vince, Julian Beach.
Matters Arising
Terry Bateman, archivist, still to be contacted
Action FC
CTC affiliation fee has been paid after contact from Kevin Mayne.
Mick Latimer to be contacted re historical documents relating to AUK. Query what he holds.
Action IH
Major championship award winners and Merit award recipients to be offered free accommodation at AGM.
Action PP
Publication closing dates
Submission of events - 30th Sept
Calendar - 15th Nov
Renewals go with Autumn Arrivee
Membership cards with Winter Arrivee
Cards, handbook, and Arrivee through letterboxes by 15th Feb.
As PC is away during November late events will not go into the calendar, and will instead be published in Arrivee.
Correspondence
PM: Receiving requests for next year's overseas events, but no information available yet.
FC: Document (international agreement) received from ACP with request for us to translate to English by the end of the month. Agreed that RM or PM can do it by 3rd week October.
Discussion about LEL validations. Agreed to validate three late riders following precedents set by ACP after PBP. 1 against.
PC: CTC Cycling Development Committee has not met recently, has now been renamed Events Steering Group.
PC volunteered to attend.
Action PC
NH: Queries from members about validations missing from ressults
list. Nearly always because they had failed to supply their
membership number.
SGKH: Had received similar enquiries.
GM: Kevin Moreland had taken over Rob Kilby's events. Discussion about problem of 'double ownership' of some perms. JW will sort this out.
Action JW
Steve Snook hs volunteered to run AAA and change the scheme to follow the new system proposed at the last AAA meeting. Secretary to contact SSn
Action IH
IH: Donation received from Brian Rowson for help given.
Officers' Reports
PM: Nothing much will happen until the end of October.
FC: Website now on new server after recent breakdown.
SS: All editors are now using the same software, Adobe Suite. All
committee members should check their areas of handbook and calendar
as they are being updated now.
Action All
PC: Events being received. 200 so far, about as expected.
NH: No report
SGKH: National 400 now received and validated. Still awaiting
Bryan Chapman 600 cards (postal problems, but should be on their
way). Torplex 100 cards not received. Chase organiser.
Action IH
Total validations up through the year, estimate 12% or more increase by the end of the season. Many returns include cards with missing controls or otherwise incomplete. Asked for advice on what to validate.
Agreed that such cards should be returned unvalidated, and a note to organisers reminding them that they should only send cards which they believe are in order.
Action PC SGKH
Discussion about substitution on the day of a shorter event for a longer one. Decided that, unless the option was pre-arranged and agreed with the events sec, it should not be allowed except possibly where the shorter event was a BP.
Action PC
GM: Cycling Weekly had published a short piece about LEL. They said they would list finishers in the Christmas edition if there was room. It was becoming very difficult to get news published in CW. Would prefer to deal with Cycling Plus.
GG: Had an enquiry form a new member asking about support vehicles.
RT: Accounts presented. Estimated loss for the year of £5000.
JW: Some cards were still missing. Most people very understanding
about the problems. There were about 6 queries outstanding. RW had
not been contacted. Updated list of permanent events would be ready
for the next calendar.
There was a shortage of events in Scotland,
but several people had volunteered to take over DP's old events.
John Walker was giving up the YH Darts post. These were often the
most difficult to validate. Scheme needs an overhaul. It was
agreed that a tie-in with YHA to generate publicity would be a good
idea.
Simon Jones was running a 2 day BP Falmouth to London to
commemorate Trafalgar. Organise publicity for that.
Action GM
Agreed to put a notice in Arrivee that insurance was required for permanent events, and charged extra for temporary cover as with calendar events.
IH: Richard Phipps will stand for the post of Secretary at the AGM.
LEL report from Simon Doughty (received by Richard Phipps) was read
and discussed. There will be a meeting of all involved with the
event on the 8th October. Agreed to provide basic travel expenses.
There was some criticism of apparent lack of control of expenditure.
Stricter financial control and a sub-committee needed for future
events. Full accounts not yet received.
Sub-committee volunteers: PP; DKB; SG/KH; SS. Sugested that Melita
Luxton may wish to be involved.
There should be no further expenditure without explicit
authorisation. £1000 authorised as total expenditure for the 8th
Oct meeting. SD to be advised of this.
Action DKB, IH
DKB will email all controllers asking for expenses.
Action DKB
Committee vacancies
Richard Phipps has indicated he is willing to stand as secretary. Roland Massett, Arthur Vince, and Peter Marshall are willing to stand for ACP/LRM correspondent. FC is currently dealing with the data exchange part of the job and would wish to hand it over to the new post-holder. PM is nominated to act until the AGM.
AGM
There was discussion about who should present the awards; agreement that a fresh face would be a good idea.
Awards made by the committee were discussed.
Incorporation
Name of company to be 'Audax United Kingdom (Long Distance Cycling Association)'. Draft articles have been distributed. Minor corrections to be made.
Standing Orders
Now in place for new season. Online membership - semi-automatic; MW receives immediate notification, but new member still has to send cheque by post.
National Series
Cycling Plus has offered to put the National Series on their website, and to publicise AUK events. Agreed to run 'double-century' event or events as C+ promotions and ask them to mention Nat Series.
National Series will be any 100 to qualify then designated 2/3/4/600 events. Awards as before.
AUK Shop
New lines - polo shirts, mugs. Some adverts not correctly run in
Arrivee resulting in poor sales. Vital that items are listed on
cover sheet with Arrivee.
New supplier for medals, sourced in
China with no die costs. Large stocks of medals, presumably bought
in quantities to reduce unit cost. Club is over-stocked. Offer to
organisers for sale. New supplier must be capable of rapid
delivery. It was suggested that organisers could decide to add £1
to entry fees and supply medal to all finishers.
AOB
PP distributed stationery.
Next meeting at 10:00 7th January 2006.
AGM in 2007
Llandrindod Wells has offered prices of £44 pp per night for two nights, or £49 for one night, first week in January.
Meeting closed at 16:00
Ian Hennessey