Hello to you all. It has been a very busy period indeed, mainly I have to say off the bike supporting the cause of being on the bike - either with my work with Cycling UK or with the ECF.
The main
focus of council business since my last update has been on rebranding, the
governance review and preparing for and supporting the AGM.
Governance Review
As some
of you will be aware, as well as attending all the council meetings I have been
heavily involved for 18 months as a member of the small group looking at how we
improve how we lead a successful Cycling UK for current and future members. The
changes we are progressing focus on having a smaller more robust and better equipped
Trustee board to set the strategy, make sure the organization is well run and
hold to account the executive for delivery of the strategy. We consulted with
council extensively and the members on the group all have considerable
experience at board level outside of Cycling UK so were able to bring a good
level of expertise and challenge to this to ensure that what we arrived at
benefits our organization, our members and all that we serve. I feel very proud
of this work and we are now set to the next phase which is about
implementation.
What does
this mean for you? You wont have a regional representative on council but you will
be much better served and supported by the membership team. We will look also
at how we create better links between work in National Office and the many
experts and interested parties we have out in our groups and communities.
Whilst I serve on Council I will continue to come along to the East Midlands
meeting, which is something I enjoy rather than simply attending because I am
your councilor. I feel very connected to people who attend not least to my
colleagues in Leicestershire where riding and belonging to the CTC began.
Local News
I was
very sorry to hear of the loss of Phil Allen. I already mentioned my
affiliation with Leicestershire. Although I didn’t cycle for very long with the
group it was Phil that took me under his wing in my 20’s and during that period
I made the jump from being a commuter cyclist to a touring cyclist and I recall
doing my first 100 mile ride (not with Phil) over to and in the Peak District
and being more than a little elated, if not giddy, after the event. I pay my
greatest respects to John and the family and a personal tribute to Phil for his
encouragement and friendliness.
I yearn
for those days again when I had much more time to get out and enjoy the things
I love . . . and as I approach in 2017 my 50th year I am making
changes that allow me to spend more time on my two wheels and walking in the
countryside.
I receive
copies of Cycle Chat from our Leicestershire
member groups and Cyclonda from our
Notts group. I am aware that these publications take a lot of effort to keep
going and resources from your budgets. I am also aware that this is something
you discuss periodically in your meetings. So what do I think? Well I could
never be described as a techno-phobe nor a luddite as I have more technical kit
in the house than I care to list. I am a lover and user of social media (but
not Facebook) and I have personally led the introduction of social media usage
in large organisations. However. . . I really love receiving these
publications. I cherish them arriving, I read everything that is written in
them, reread them and always feel a bit sad discarding them periodically. I
just feel it connects me to you in a way that the electronic methods cant. I
can tuck it in my handbag, I make notes in them, fold them, read them in the
bath . . and so it goes on. It is very different to how I connect with emails
that come through which I tend to scan and discard as soon as I can. But I am
as guilty as the next for not contributing to the content and I know the
editors often rely on a relatively small number of people to keep the content
going. So on balance on all of that I have to say I think they have a valued
role for too many people to move away from them. So note to self and to others
that can, how do we help support keep these cherished publications going?
Beaumanor Rally has just taken place which is an
annual event for people far and wide. The location is simply wonderful for all
kinds of cyclists however despite commendable efforts of the new organizing
committee the attendance was low. It is a great event but at this years level
of attendance it becomes unsustainable. I ask you to get involved and come along
next year (as I intend to) and to enlist your buddies far and wide to come
along too. If we don’t I fear we may lose this much loved annual opportunity
for cycling and companionship in and beyond the East Midlands.
New Branding
First I
start with ‘why change’. We undertook some extensive research which included
reaching out to members and other cyclists who may not be members. This took place over 3 different reviews over
recent years. The overriding evidence was that unless people were in the CTC
they did not know that we existed or had a very narrow perception of who we are
what we do. Certainly most didn’t think that we had anything to offer them. In
order to sustain and grow we need to continue to be the chosen organisation for
our valued members but also appeal to others who cycle, would cycle or support
cycling. We have more or less flatlined our membership at a time when BC has
grown significantly and we have not prospered from the boom in people cycling
over recent years.
In
choosing the name and the branding with it, it was important that this was
vibrant and meaningful and gave an immediate sense of the pleasure of this
wonderful thing we all do for different reasons. There was an extensive piece
of work in testing out names and comparisons etc and just like some of you have
identified to me directly, we had many varied personal opinions and preferences
but in the end Council was almost unanimous (with only one not voting for the
name) in agreeing the recommendations in full.
If I were
to say Cycling UK has gone down a storm it could be read in a number of ways.
Predominantly it has had overwhelming support and positive reactions and from
all kinds of members, communities and stakeholders. For some I know you may
feel it is a storm of a more troubled kind and although I don’t share your
fears I do share your passion and fondness for what we are and how we have got
here. From the beginning I fought for
retaining the CTC branding for local groups where you feel you would like to retain
it. That in the end was agreed and I am very proud of this. I think for some
that continued identity is important. For others you may decide that moving to
the new brand is an opportunity to develop your group further or simply just
want to have this new vibrant image. Whatever you decide it will be right for
you and I am just delighted that you have that choice.
Brand
guidelines have been issued to all our groups and this I have to say was very
impressive indeed. All marketing materials including event collateral, branded
merchandise, clothing, advertising and any membership benefits related comms
have redesigned bringing in line with new brand, plus distribution – this
including materials required for promoting Cycling UK to new prospects, plus
materials required by staff/development, volunteers, trainers and member
groups/affiliate groups. Member groups have been supplied with new materials –
some already used Cycling UK materials at events/have events imminently
featuring the new brand.
AGM
It was
good to see a number of my members from the region at the AGM, it had a lively
start with some very good debate. You will be able to see the results of the
motions on the main website so I wont repeat that here.
Website
A great
deal of work has gone into not just rebranding the website but also in making
the navigation, content and usage match our new strategy. I had a really good
look around this week and felt it was much improved.
Competition’s
The 2016
Tourist Competition is now underway and has a large number of events registered
so far and results have started to come in. We have made some changes this year
to the competition to try and facilitate a far easy process for result
collection and processing. The key change is that all participants must
register once to enter the competition, allowing us to capture the unique
identifier which then will enable us to process results at a much faster speed.
The relationship between Cycling UK, participants and organisers is being
strengthened this year by a more robust communications plan, which we are able
to deploy due to correct data being captured earlier on. We expect that this will
increase participation in events and support from organisers. Another new web
function to compliment the competition is an interactive map of this year’s
events.
The
Touring Competition is being reviewed with a working group including Jim Brown,
and regular winner Lowri Evans has been invited. A new proposal for 2017 will
be a developed by mid summer.
The 2016
Tri-Vets is shaping up to be a very exciting challenge series, with 19 groups
registering events. We have had over 465 registrations through the Cycling UK
web site and great feedback from the organisers. The Tri-Vets certificates for
this year have had a slight redesign to incorporate the new brand, whilst
holding on to the wing wheeled history. Badges and date stamps have been
ordered accordingly.
Bike Week
Bike Week
2016 is nearly upon as: 11th – 19th June
2016, with the MP bike ride on 8th June. The 2016 theme is ‘Cycle to
Work’. Our partners: NSPCC as charity partner (bringing PR support, celebrity
endorsement, local fundraising network including corporates), Daily Telegraph
as Mainstream media and Immediate Media (Bike Radar, Cycling Plus etc.) as
Cycling media partner (bring online content, prizes, data acquisition),
Cyclescheme (for penetration into businesses) and Love to Ride (personal
challenge website to log miles etc).
2016 will
see us working with Love to Ride to incorporate their challenge platform into
our activity. Individuals taking part in the ‘Bike Week National Challenge’
will be able to log their miles and compete to win prizes.
Our
partnership with the NSPCC will allow us to reach out to their corporate
networks, public databases to encourage registration, participation and
donations.
Close
I fear I
may now be writing too much and boring the poor reader, so I sign off for now
and will be back again when I can to update. In the meantime enjoy the outdoors
on foot or on wheels and the companionship of being part of Cycling UK.
Jaki Lowe
