January 2004 - Issue 11

IN THIS ISSUE:

* Welcome New Councillors

* Events Update

* Leadership & Registration

* Organiser's Liability Insurance

* Members' Choice of DA

* Local Groups on Website

Welcome New Councillors

As a result of recent elections CTC sees a lot of new faces, a number of whom will be involved in local groups policy and of course all of whom are your local representatives. Please could you ensure that they are on your DA magazine circulation list and that they get invitations to your DA activities, particularly the new councillors.

Congratulations to Andy Cook who has stepped up from Chair of Cycling Development Committee to Chair of full council this year - don't know how he fits it all in. We believe Andy may be the youngest chair of council for a very long time, if not ever. At 40 he only just qualifies as a time trialing veteran and has a long way to go before he can take part in the CTC's Tri-Vets.

The Cycling Development Committee which sets policy for local groups, events and all CTC's development activities now consists of:

Jim Brown (Herts DA and East Region)

Mike Stapleton (Cambs DA and East Region)

Cathy McNulty (North West Region)

Julian James (Wessex DA and South West Region)

Arthur Spurr (Yorks and the Humber Region)

The full council and their locations/contact details are shown on the attached sheet.

Events Update

As you will see in February/March issue of Cycle the Event Guide has had an overhaul and is now part of the main editorial. It will appear in each issue the magazine is expected to expand by 8 pages in February, April and June in order to give much better coverage. There is also more space for snippets and editorial about individual events so please give Dan Joyce your highlights.

Newsnet, CTC's weekly email to members, is now available for your event news or indeed any other stories to be shared with other members. It isn't an events listing, but is aimed as a news piece and we are always on the lookout for humorous and human interest snippets as well as national policy. Let Yannick Read have your selection. (If you are forwarding Newsnet to your DA or Section circulation list why not make sure they are all registered so that they can have their own copies?)

For those who want the full events guide we can send it out as a hard copy or electronically - just ask members to call the Helpline at HQ. Another advantage is that we can now take corrections and new events throughout the year so if you want anything changed please let Della have the details.

Looking Ahead

We are trying to restore the CTC Forward Event Planner which used to have a schedule of CTC national events for several years ahead. This is similar to the French Semaine Federale which always has at least 4 years in hand. It would help deal with the complaint that some events always end up at one end of the country and would also stop the annual cajoling of volunteers by councillors. A suggestion kicking around is to move towards a regional roster that means that each region only has to run each significant event once every 12 years, and if an individual DA cannot be found, the region at least has a lot of notice to find an organiser.

This would mainly apply to the Birthday Rides, National 400km and the Annual dinner/AGM. Let us know what you think.

We are now of course forward planning for these events in 2005. There was a lot of provisional support after the last Birthday Rides with people going off to investigate opportunities. Initial enquiries welcome - please contact Della.

Leadership & Registration

It's not all bad news! When news of CTC's work on leadership and insurance reached some Tandem Club members in Hampshire they decided that their own club runs did not have clear enough protection. So welcome the CTC's newest section - Portsmouth DA Tandem Section.

Generally registrations are still rolling in and the outstanding queries are being dealt with by Councillors or HQ staff. A reminder from the Cycling Development Committee:

* All CTC rides must have a named leader or organiser.

* All leader/organisers must be registered by the local group with HQ.

* Without these measures no organiser's liability insurance can be guaranteed and this may expose individuals to personal liability. Just going out as "a group of friends" does not remove the risk.

A list is attached confirming all those DAs and Section whose registration forms have been received.

Guidance notes

Following the general feedback that groups felt a standard set of guidance notes for riders and leaders would be useful, some work has been done and we are looking to have Codes of Conduct out for when activity really peaks in the spring. Copies of existing codes have been really useful - if you haven't yet sent yours to Greg Woodford please do so.

The principle on which codes are to be created is to set frameworks and guidance, not specific detailed advice. This would be impossible with the range of cycle rides that CTC runs. In particular the objective is to give participants a very simple 12 point set of tips on enjoying group cycling. An example from the working drafts is "established groups have usually got a range of calls or signals to indicate hazards or manoeuvres, find out yours from your leader"

Child participation policy

Thanks to Alistair Campbell at North Hants DA for his query following publicity for the Child Participation Policy in Cycle. It is confirmed that leaders on open, all age rides do not have to sign a self declaration form. It is only compulsory for child specific events.

CTC Scotland has been registered with the CRBS and is now able to make criminal checks for volunteers (free) and paid staff (£13.50). Pat Harrow (CTC Scotland Councillor) is the registered collator / signatory.

England & Wales registration is still bottlenecked with all CRB's problems but if anyone needs clearance we can get it through partner bodies - contact Greg.

Organiser's Liability Insurance

We received a query from a DA asking whether CTC would meet the first £250 excess of an Organiser's Liability claim relating to a CTC event. At their last meeting the Operations Committee of National Council agreed that CTC would meet this excess.

Members' Choice of DA

An interesting query was raised early last year by Oxfordshire DA about whether members could choose a DA rather than have one allocated by post code. Historically council had allowed this change but details had not been maintained in moves to new systems and with the wholesale reallocation of post codes by the Post Office in recent years. Issues such as volunteer registration had raised the issue again.

The issue was researched by the Cycling Development Committee and it concluded that the issue fell into two parts. In terms of organising, volunteering, riding and working with a DA or section there was absolutely no reason why a DA or section could not choose its own officers so someone from outside the DA could be a runs leader or committee member, provided that the person was selected and appointed by the correct procedure for that DA. For example if a potential treasurer lives outside the DA their proposer and seconder at the DA AGM must come from within the DA and only DA members may vote but they can hold the post. Similarly if the runs secretary is the person in the DA who signs off runs leaders then that person can choose any CTC member he/she sees as fit.

However good governance of voluntary organisations suggests that allocating voting rights, participation in competitions, allocation of levies should be run on a consistent system and as CTC has chosen the post code system it should stand as the only system.

Thanks to Oxfordshire for clarifying the point, it will be formally documented as a CTC policy in the new year.

What do other DA.s and sections think, is this an issue elsewhere in the country?

Note: DA boundaries are fixed by DA.s following consultation with members, council and adjoining DA.s. This issue can also be resolved by a boundary change in some circumstances.

Local Groups on Website

To be honest this area has been an embarrassment for nearly a year. As you may be aware some of the set up for the CTC web site relaunch last year was rushed when the original host contract was pulled and we had to migrate in a hurry. One of the features that had been popular on earlier versions of the site was the interactive map to find local groups, so a re-instatement was always planned. When we had to upload the site we had to rely on contractors to programme that part of the site to get it done on time with a promise that they would make any amendments for us. Well as many of you are aware they just didn't do it, bigger projects than just amending one or two details in CTC's local groups kept coming up.

We have now rebuilt all of that part of the site with databases that we control for events, accommodation, right to ride representatives and local groups. Cyclists Welcome and the events listing are now on line and all the local groups detail is being tested as we write. Once it is on line all your amends can be done through normal channels, you tell Della and we get it done on line. And what a relief that will be.

upDAte is a way of sharing news and ideas within CTC local groups and head office. Please send contributions to Della McGavin, CTC, 69 Meadrow, Godalming, Surrey GU7 3HS, della.mcgavin@ctc.org.uk

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