Thursday 14th October:
Southwark Cyclists AGM and October 2004 meeting.
ATTENDANCE: Amy Aeron-Thomas, Hugh Bolton,
Roger Geffen, Alastair Hanton, John Hearns, Gary Jones, Rebecca Lack, Philip
Loy, Adam Maddison, Barry Mason, Geraldine Mason, Karen Price, Kit Reynolds,
Sue Richards, Andrew Rodgers, Jacqueline Saunders, Claire Smith, Cllr Richard
Thomas, Bernard Walsh, Cheryl Williams, Ten Yen.
Apologies from Eleanor Purser
and Roger Stocker.
It’s only 6 months since the
AGM in April, but to refresh memories: it was agreed to change the AGM to
October, so as to give the new committee plenty of time to prepare and plan
for Bike Week the following summer.
As per the agenda:
1. FINANCIAL REPORT.
Hugh reported an active year
for the Southwark Cyclists’ bank account thanks to the Burgess Park Bike Track
(BPBT) grant and Dunwich Dynamo (DD).
Of the fully spent £9948 BPBT
grant, £6000 was paid to Southwark Council for hire of earth removing machinery
and much more. Southwark Cyclists took an administration
fee of £493, which represented a notional volunteer cost of £7 per hour.
DD took ticket sales of £3900,
and brought back 250 people in £3140 worth of transport (5 coaches, 1 trailer
and 1 furniture van). The much larger than expected but very gratifying surplus
was in part thanks to very hefty last minute demand for coach seats. The surplus
was split 50:50 between Southwark Cyclists and Patrick Field’s London School
of Cycling.
All other expected miscellaneous
receipts and payments to the end of September 2004 leave the bank account
with a healthy £3169 unrestricted funds, having started the year with £250.
It was also discussed and
unanimously agreed to change our financial year to 1st April, as
of 01/04/04. This is to fit in with grant applications which require the standard
April-March financial year accounts. (Note: Only LCC require calendar year
accounts.)
At the November meeting, Hugh
will table accounts for the period 01/04/03 – 31/03/04.
2. COORDINATORS REPORT
Barry reported:
Since our last April 2004
AGM...
Rides list a bit thin right
now but the website shows 62 rides and events since start April. Not all ours
but never mind.
May saw the first of our weekly
Afterworkers mostly done by Michael. Right through till 21 September. Includes
Borough boundary, Putney, Woolwich Ferry and over, and the 42 miles into the
Surrey hills monsters.
20 May was our successful
GLA Lambeth/Southwark election meeting. Good relations with Val Shawcross
since then. 5 or 6 meetings.
Peter's Canterbury ride.
June started with Michael's
Chilterns ride. And then Bike Week. Our best ever. Really good attendance
at all the events except, oddly, our Herne Hill Velodrome day. We ran 12 events
that week:
Burgess Park Bike Track opened
on time and under its tiny budget. There were Afterworkers every weekday evening
- with our very successful stall outside the new Evans at London Bridge, our
regular meeting place. I really enjoyed our Bike Breakfast at Tate Modern..but
the Ministers let us down. No speeches. And there was the Border Patrol ride
and of course Midsummer Madness on 21 June...strictly outside Bike Week but
recognised as an honorary BW events by National Bike week's organisers and
insurers.
31 July saw the biggest ever
Dunwich Dynamo. 350 did the 120 miles. That's 42,000 person miles if ever
I start on about unnecessary hyper-mobility throw that at me. We organised
the coaches back and made a deserved very useful surplus for the group. Thanks
to Cheryl for all her help with ticket sales.
July also saw our punk newsletter
by Ten that upset Greenwich Cyclists and that's now a collectors item.
August had Michael fixing
loads of bikes at the Mint Street Park festival. And some of us away for a
long weekend and the Wild Wales mountains ride in Bala, Snowdownia. And some
didn't come home for ages.
September had some of us on
the first leg of the Sustrans ride to the Eden Project.
And Sue's excellent newsletter.
And another £1,000 for Burgess
Park Bike Track.
October was the Ride of the
Falling Leaves..and me suffering from a bruised hip.
October too was last night's
LCC AGM.
Those Peabody bike etc sheds
off Mint Street nearly won Best Bike Facility.
Burgess Park Bike Track won
Best Community Facility. Great to have Christine and Brenton there to pick
up the award. Nothing came close.
A Tower Hamlets Wheelers project
won Best Children's.
And London Bike Personality
of the year was a very embarrassed but deeply grateful and humble me.
November sees us at the Turner
Prize exhibition at Tate Britain helping with Jeremy Deller's memorial to
killed cyclist James Foster. Roadpeace are joining us.
And lots more. Our monthly
meetings have fairly been well attended, averaging 12 people. We've done less
work than I'd hoped on saving Herne Hill Velodrome but I've struggled to find
much enthusiasm for that. Some of you may know that I'm a Trustee of the national
charity Re~Cycle. Or was until last month when all the Trustees resigned en
masse after months of frustration with the founder. We've commented on lots
of planning applications, on 4 road safety schemes, we've put in several unsuccessful
funding bids, we've got to a number of Community Council meetings and submitted
funding proposals to 3 of them. Several of us got to the Safe Routes to
rangering for us.and there's more.
We've had a good few months
since our last AGM.
What next?
Greenwich Cyclists ceilidh
on Saturday 1 December. 25% of the tickets have now sold. See me after for
yours.
Next years events are starting
to become clear:
We've asked NFT for an evening
of Bike Films on Saturday 11 June.the first Saturday in Bike Week. They're
considering our proposal now.
Our Bike Breakfast that week
will be at The Globe Theatre, Bankside on Wednesday 15 June and the planning
of a big community event round that has started.
Then Midsummer Madness of
course on 21 June.
Dunwich Dynamo 13 on 23 July.
August Bank Holiday Wild Wales
weekend.
But what plans? That's for
these meetings to sort out and agree but:
Planning Group
Community Councils
More grants for Burgess Park Bike Track
More rides
Regular newsletter and distribution
Improved website and capture of elist info
More active members
Better liaison with LCC...
But thanks.
3. DATE OF FUTURE AGMs.
Do we agree on a permanent
change of the AGM to October? Yes.
Before the elections, there
was brief discussion of a new committee position of “Planning Group leader”
(see later), and this was agreed a good idea.
4. ELECTIONS TO THE MANAGEMENT
COMMITTEE.
Many thanks to Alastair for
chairing the elections. And the results are:
Co-ordinator: Barry Mason
Secretary: Andrew Rodgers
Treasurer: Hugh Bolton
Planning Group leader: in
negotiation
Newsletter Editor: Sue Richards
Rides Coordinator: Ten
Webmaster: Kit Reynolds
Press Officer: Sue Richards
(with assistance*)
Sustrans Liaison: vacant
(* and the assistants are:
Rebecca, Barry, Adam, Jacqueline, Phil)
There was No Other Business,
so we moved on to the regular monthly meeting.
1. September meeting notes
were agreed. Introductions had been made.
2. LCC AGM.
This was held the previous
night (Wednesday 13 October), had a good attendance of about 150 people. So
a good move to move this meeting to a weekday night (cf. Saturday day of last
year, when about half the number turned up).
3. There was a unanimous decision
for our monthly meetings to revert to the second Wednesday of the month.
4. Formation of Planning
Group.
Why? Previous discussion in
meetings and on the elist agreed that there’s too many planning consultations
etc for just two or three individuals to deal with, and too much planning
detail taking up time at the monthly meeting.
Who? Alastair, Barry, Andrew,
Roger Geffen, Eleanor, Amy, Rebecca, Jacqueline, and Roger Stocker for Southwark
Council. They’ll meet once a month, and the leader (in negotiation) will report
back on the second Wednesday in abbreviated format.
When? On the fourth Wednesday
of the month, an OPEN meeting, anyone can attend – details will be posted
on the elist as and when.
The first meeting will be
on 27 October, at 7pm, venue to be decided.
Other planning issues, in
brief:
Awaiting the outcome of the
first CRISP report, and agreed that we should meet with Roger Stocker (Southwark
Council Cycling Officer) to review this new process of cycling infrastructure
implementation.
Barry apologised for forgetting
to table Eleanor’s very good and comprehensive draft Road Safety plan, which
we’ve been discussing on the elist. Closing date for comments is 29 October,
so any more comments please send them to the elist asap, and Eleanor will
finalise the draft for submission by this date.
5. Fund-raising plan and future
projects, discussion thereof was postponed to November meeting.
6. Newsletter – thanks to
Sue for her first one.
7. Rides.
Ten will be keeping us informed
by email.
8. Southwark’s Cycling Officer,
Roger Stocker sent apologies.
9. Any Other Business.
Lucy Davies from LCC had asked
Barry to mention that the Islington Chinese Association has organised a bike
ride on Saturday 23 October, from Gabriel’s Wharf to Hyde Park, starting at
10am, and would be grateful for any volunteers to help marshal. If you can,
email lucy@lcc.org.uk
Rebecca suggested that we
invite representatives from the City of London police to attend the November
meeting, to give a brief talk about bike security (20 minute slot, including
Q&A).
Agreed.
Next meeting Wednesday 10 November, 7pm, Blackfriars Settlement, 1-5 Pocock Street, SE1