Tim Newbery presenting Ray Clay with a certificate of thanks     

RAY CLAY - CYCLING UK EAST MIDLANDS REGION

Ray has been actively involved with the Cycling UK East Midlands

Region Committee (formerly CTC East Midlands Region) for many

years. A LONG SERVICE indeed as he was instrumental along with

John Allen in setting up the Regional Member Group back in the year

2000. Ray would be our ‘Secretary’ for some 20 years when in 2020 he

changed roles and was elected ‘Chair’.

 

Ray has ridden tandem and solo bikes, accomplished a side to side and

an epic Land’s End to John O’Groats ride. He was actively involved the

‘Loughborough Wednesday Cyclists’ Group and the instigator of the

annual Beaumanor cycle camping weekend which ran for many years.

 

At the age of 85, Ray now wishes to stand down from the Cycling UK

East Midlands Region Committee and to take it a little easier.

In recognition of all the hard work over the last 24 years working on the

Regional Committee, Ray was presented with a signed card and a

framed ‘Thank You’ certificate at the Cycling UK East Midlands Region

AGM held on 20^th April 2024.

 

Ray, we thank you.

CYCLING UK EAST MIDLANDS REGION AGM 2024

The Annual Regional Meeting of Cycling UK East Midlands Region will take place on Saturday 20th April 2024. Meet up at 12 noon, with the meeting to start at 12.30 pm.

The venue will be the Swan In The Rushes Public House, 21 The Rushes, Loughborough LE11 5BE.

The meeting will be held in the 'Den' function room (downstairs).

The meeting will be 'hybrid' with the option of participating via the Zoom digital platform.

To join the meeting via Zoom, click on the link below:

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/3754465648?pwd=dFVwNzNrOWFUZks3Sy9rM1pjazlRdz09&omn=79360391798

If required:

Meeting ID: 375 446 5648
Passcode: 3fVeeB

The 'Zoom' will start at approximately 12.30 pm with a break of about half an hour for lunch at 1.00 pm.  

All positions are open for election. 

There'll be vacancies for Chair and Secretary as Ray Clay and Tim Newbery have indicated that they are to stand down.

Currently, the following positions are held by the following officials:

Chair: Ray Clay.

Secretary: Tim Newbery.

Minutes Secretary: Jean Deacon.

Treasurer: Ian Hill.

Auditor (honorary - non committee role) : Neil Platts.

Safeguarding Officer - Tim Newbery 

Member Group Representatives

Alfreton CTC: Tom Fox.

CTC Derby and Burton: Ian Hill.

Leicestershire and Rutland CTC: Vacant.

Cycling UK Lincolnshire: Tim Newbery.

CTC Northampton: Position vacant.

Notts CTC: Terry Scott.

General Membership (maximum 3 positions): John Catt and Ian Prince. 

Cycle Advocacy Network (maximum 2 positions): James Pocklington. 

Affiliated Groups (maximum 2 positions): Positions vacant.

VOTING can be in person at the meeting or by post or email via proxy through the Chair. To appoint a different proxy, please provide your proxy’s name and contact details, including email address. If voting by proxy, please email: timnewbery@hotmail.com or Tel Landline: 01507 600084. Postal address: Secretary, Cycling UK East Midlands Region, 7a Linden Walk, Louth, Lincolnshire, LN11 9HT

Free Web Resources

There are many resources available at no cost on the web, although you will probably have to register to take advantage of them.

If you need a website Google Sites provides an easy way to set up a simple website - see https://zapier.com/blog/google-sites-tutorial/. An example of a Google Site is that of Loughborough Wednesday Cyclists - https://sites.google.com/site/wcyclists/. As you can see you don't have to buy a domain name if you don't want to.

An easy way to update the content of the site is to embed a Blog (such as the one you are currently viewing), which is again made available at no cost by Google. The ride reports on the Wednesday Cyclists' site is an embedded blog. It is very easy to set up the Blog so that many people can contribute. For more details see https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1623800?hl=en . 

In addition Google provides Google Photos where you can store photo albums and link to albums or photos from the website. This archive site is a good example of this.

Another free resource is a Facebook Page . The Wednesday group also takes advantage of this resource -  https://www.facebook.com/Wcyclists . Again you can store photos in the Page.

Update from October 2017 Board

October 21st marked another of our Board meetings and this time we met at The Friends Meeting House on Euston Road which provides good facilitates at very reasonable prices and is about as good a location as can be for a group of Trustees dispersed across many locations. At short notice I was asked to Chair the meeting as our Chair was unwell. I can report that despite the last minute preparations, it turned out to be a honour and a delight. This is my high level summary of the meeting and . . .in no particular order. . .

Update From October 2017 Board

Notably this meeting was the last for 3 of our Trustees. Kristian Gregory is a more recent Trustee and served over the period we were changing our governance and branding. Kristian is a very active campaigner and has been working closely with Rogers team over a number of years. Kristian brought a certain much needed youthfulness to our board and accordingly an important lens through which to see our work. It reminds us of the need to ensure that we continue to strengthen the diversity of the board but also Kristian’s experience and feedback points to a need to improve upon the induction and mentoring for new Trustees, especially those who may not have experience of working on a board. Martyn Bolt has served as both a Trustee and a member of staff over time and has a very strong presence in cycling in his area. Martyn has played a key role on ensuring that as a board we are serving our members well and in accordance with our governing policies and documents. Jim Brown’s dedication to Cycling UK over many years, as a Councillor, Vice-Chair and leading the charge on cycling in Stevenage is nothing less than remarkable. Jim’s absolute determination around diversity and serving our member groups will remain etched in our consciousness and we all said that we would continue to serve this agenda in his memory in perpetuity. We want to say a heartfelt thank you to Kristian, Martin and Jim and wish you all the very best in your future cycling adventures.

I can report that the board is really shaping up now and it was really clear that the debate reached the appropriate balance of strategy and detail with excellent scrutiny as well as board members using their expertise to help shape discussions and reach agreements. When I fed this back to the board at the end of the meeting this observation was shared and I have since received some messages that Trustees felt not only was it a good meeting but really starting to enjoy their roles. There can be no doubt that this board is committed to improving cycling for all.

We had a presentation from Duncan Dollimore and to be honest we were bowled over by the comprehensive, strategic and thoughtful approach of Duncan and his team. You will no doubt have seen Duncan on the television recently. We paid tribute to the team for their sensitive and expert handling of difficult subject matters and gave them our support for their developing strategy. This and other contributions from the Senior Management Team gave us confidence that they are continuing to build the capability in the organisation to deliver an ambitious agenda and we all feel that we ‘punch far above our weight’.

We also saw in connection with campaigns, media and lobbying a very impressive consideration of the small and big P in all their work and relationship building recognising that politicians, stakeholders and partners are all crucial to our aims.

We had an exciting report from the CEO Paul Touhy. The quality of the work, the impact and evaluation is really starting to come through. You can hear about the specifics through our on-line communications CycleClips and the new website has to be mentioned as part of our more than impressive approach to communications. 

This board meeting above any I have attended was focussed on people cycling together and increasing those opportunities. We talked about events, holidays and the rich and valued traditions in the regions. We have commissioned further work on this and how we can support this in future years.

In the meeting we have reports from the sub-committee’s and an opportunity to ask questions. It is clear that by and large we are really seeing the benefits of the new governance processes however also a timely reminder that we should keep them under constant review. We have just run our second election under the new rules and will soon be hearing the results. We have had some comments and suggestions from members about our processes and as Chair of Nominations Committee I assured the board that we will consider these as well as comments from the board before we run the next election. We must always aim to learn and improve and I am sure there are things we can do differently or better next year.

It is member group AGM time now and I will be joining a couple of my local meetings, although my role is no longer as councillor I like to maintain my relationships and links as best I can as I feel our groups are a really important part of our heritage. I hope the autumn and winter are kind to us and we can all get plenty of rides in over the next few months.

Womens Festival of Cycling

Throughout July, Cycling UK is delivering the Women’s Festival of Cycling. The festival is celebrating female cyclists and is about providing more opportunities for women to ride. The festival will see a wide range of female-friendly rides and events delivered across the country supported by Cycling UK.

We’re asking Member Groups, community groups and individuals to put on women’s rides throughout July in order to help as many women as possible enjoy the enormous benefits of cycling. Registering a ride is easy and you do not have to be a member of Cycling UK, part of a group OR an existing ride leader to get involved.  

100 Women in Cycling

We also want to recognise the many inspirational women who are already doing so much for women’s cycling through the100 Women in Cycling campaign. The idea is to celebrate and say thank you for the contribution that so many women have made to the cycling world.  Whether it is by working hard to make cycling more open to all, delivering opportunities to ride as part of a Member Group or achieving results on the campaign front, we want to ensure that achievements are recognised.  

  

We’re also holding an event on Monday 10 July from 5.30pm until 8pm in Birmingham to which all nominated women will be invited to attend. I will be hosting the event and there will be talks from Aleysha McGowan and Emily Chappelle.

To nominate someone for our 100 Women in Cycling list, send a short summary of who they are and why you think they should be included to Julie.Rand@cyclinguk.org

Jaki Lowe

Vice President

photos from Meriden 2017

Meriden Memorial for Cyclists

Today I attended the Meriden Cycling Memorial service. It was a beautiful day and a most beautiful and poignant service. I felt honoured to be there and cherishing the memories of cyclists involvement in conflict. It was also a time to remember a personal loss last year with the passing of my father. This year we had a heartrending reading from a survivor of the Falklands War. He shared his tragic story and his story of bravery and how since his return cycling has been core to his mental health and wellbeing.

There was however a notable absence of a wreath from Cycling UK and I wanted to set out my disappointment that this was the case. In the end it turned out to be a very genuine mix up but I was hugely disappointed so wanted to explain. In previous years  the wreath was ordered locally and national office invoiced.You will be aware that Dave Hearn has very graciously picked up the organisation role - last year at short notice and hereon after the death of the long standing organiser. It is a very significant role organising this event and it didn't transpire until late yesterday that this had been the arrangement and that therefore we would be without a wreath.

This is not to pass blame because actually I feel strongly that there is a really important role for national office in supporting this event. I will be putting discussing the options for support at the next board so please feel free to contact me if you have ideas of your own.

Next years event is in my diary already and I assure you there will be a wreath at this event as I will make sure of it. Indeed I have decided I will stay for the weekend and pick up some cycle routes I travelled many years ago.

It looks like the weather is turning for the better which is good news for Beaumanor so have a great time there or wherever you are cycling next weekend.

Jaki

Vice-Chair Cycling UK