Chairs report for AGM 2023

I would like to present to you all my report on CTC Edinburgh, Lothians and Borders since our previous AGM which was held on 21st April 2022.

But firstly- to summarise -this year has been fantastic!  Our membership continues to grow, we have a significant number of new regular riders, lots of folk helping out and some great new initiatives.

In my view, a great year for the club and therefore a lot of folk to thank!

Our group rides.

Our raison d’etre is to encourage cycling and we do this by providing a variety of rides, some long, some short, some fast, some slow, some hilly, some flat but above all by being friendly and welcoming. So, thanks go to all of you who come along and make it your business to chat to the new riders, and especially to all the ride leaders who introduce new members to the group at the start of a ride.

Our ride leaders are always first on the list of thank yous as we would not have a club without them. We would not have had these wonderful cold, windy and wet winter rides where you feel so good when you get home.  Or the long days out in summer where you admire the view while you enjoy your picnic lunch and look forward to the coffee and cake you’ll be having in another 20 miles.

Without our ride leaders we would not find a new café or community hub or a muddy short cut through the woods or a newly created urban cycle path. Some of us, me included, would never have been able to ride distances that we do, without the encouragement of the group. It’s been good for our physical and mental health and apparently, we will live longer if we keep cycling into our later years. Many of us know role models of former members who cycle into their 80’s and in one particular case into his 90’s.

So, thank you to our ride leaders for keeping us alive!!!  Now- to encourage and help the ride leaders I also have to make special mention and thanks to our mentors who give of their experience and time to be reassuring, encouraging and offering advice on leading, routes, weather and keeping an eye out on a first ride.

Our Rides Convenors.

And so, to harness all this talent and create a cohesive programme we have to give thanks to our wonderful ride convenors.

Cathy Riley, Rhona Emerson and Alastair Sim I am sure you agree, do a fantastic job of cajoling established ride leaders, recruiting new leaders and putting together a superb programme for us all to enjoy and I look forward to hearing from them later in the meeting.

Winter halls organiser.

No one who has been on a Wednesday winter ride, can fail to appreciate the immaculate organisation that Clare McDonald has achieved providing a cosy hall for our lunch stop. She has found new places with some excellent facilities which always adds another layer of interest and enjoyment to the ride. Members may not be aware, but the ride leaders are given everything they need to know about the hall, contact details and payment details. Clare also keeps tabs on all the £1 coins that we collect.  Clare has been amazing, and I was delighted that she was awarded the Edward Zoller Prize for services to the club at our Xmas lunch.

Now, however, just before I leave the subject of our group rides, I would like to say a few words about Ride etiquette.

If members enjoy the rides that our leaders are good enough to provide for them, they can help in 2 significant ways:

Number 1- Read the email!!!  Having been good enough to recce a ride, the leader will then tell you all about the length, hills, terrain, lunch requirements, toilet and coffee stops.  That will allow you to decide whether it’s suitable for you, what tyres would be suitable, whether you need to bring a picnic, whether you will be able to keep up, or conversely might get cold because the pace is too leisurely. It’s dispiriting for a leader when it’s clear that someone is not enjoying the ride, because they hadn’t read the email and it’s causing difficulties for them and potential concern to the other riders.

Number 2- Read and comply with our riding guidelines. We all understand that riders new to the group need help and encouragement and advice about the guidelines from the more experienced riders.  However, it’s really not fair when leaders and back markers to have to ask regular riders to ride properly during the rides.  It’s not fair to make them feel uncomfortable having to tell their riding buddies, to create gaps, tighten the groups and signpost junctions. Its everyone’s responsibility to ride safely. And that leads me to…

Incidents. 

I am sorry to report that we have had to complete one incident form for cycling uk this year, not so long ago when Fiona took a tumble an ambulance was called. This just reminds us that there is no room for complacency where safety is concerned. There is no doubt this incident could have been so much worse if you had seen the state of Fiona’s helmet. The committee intends to review all incidents to see is any lessons can be learned or actions taken.

Borders Brakeaway -Review of 2022

I would like now to present the review of 2022 from Nigel Cliffe of our Borders Brakeaway subgroup.

Borders Brakeaway held seven rides during the months of British Summer Time.  They were a little shorter than previous years, between 30 and 50 miles in length.  Starting places were spread over the border region, from Kelso through to Peebles, with five different starting places.   We had riders from outside the area from Edinburgh and Morpeth joining us.   We’re hoping to do something similar this year and would welcome anyone who wants to come down and join us; we can adjust plans to fit with transport, be it cars or buses/trains.   Most rides have been arranged about a week in advance, when the weather forecast looks decent, rather than arranging rides a long way out and then cancelling.    Details of rides are shared on the Border’s Brakeaway email list.

Special Events

We had a memorial Ride for Brian Curtis 1st June where a large group of cyclists rode along Brians favourite road to Binning wood where he and his wife are buried. There we met with Hazel his daughter and other members of his family. We were very pleased to be joined on this ride by Andrew Abbess, Chair of Scottish National Advisory Committee and Suzanne Forup from Cycling UK

We had our annual away trip to Aberlour where again we were very lucky with the weather. We had 33 attendees, a record number at that time, and for the first time we were able to offer a variety of rides at all levels and distances. It was a super trip, and this new formula was very much appreciated. As a result, Clare McDonald and Rosanne Murphy took the bull by the horns and have researched our trip for this year and we look forward to hearing more about this later.

We had a hugely successful TRIVETS organised by Ben Bate with 38 participants cycling on a fabulous day, on a brilliant route. For those that may be unfamiliar, this is a 100 miles route held every 3 years for the over 50’s.  No shortage of eligible riders in our group! There was a definite buzz in the air, everyone completed the challenge without difficulty and had great fun along the way- well done and thank you Ben.

On a not so pleasant day, a stalwart group, led by Sandy Paterson did a car assisted ride starting from Innerleithen to the Albert Watson Hut at Polmood to celebrate its 75th Anniversary. We enjoyed tea and cakes at the hut and meeting Alan McQuiston and other members of the Borders Bothies Association who manage the hut. Sandy will say a few words about this hut later.  Those who came out will never forget the driving rain and galeforce headwind as we climbed up Tala!

We were also delighted to join Tayside and Fife and Kinross to help celebrate Fife and Kinross’s centenary year. We had two wonderful joint rides around the Tay and around the Forth and they were very pleased to see so many of our members turning out to support them.

We had the final 20-mile Sunday Soup and Mince pie ride on the 4th December on a very, very chilly day and were glad to get inside to enjoy warming soup at our house. I have decided not to do this event again as I worry about having to cancel the ride due to the weather and end up with gallons of soup and 40 mince pies to get through!!!  Maybe we can do a summer event sometime!

The Wednesday Potluck lunch xmas lunch was led by Ben this year at our traditional Dirleton Venue. The threat of a strong headwind reduced the numbers a little, but nevertheless, there was lots of delicious food and cakes on offer.

At this time last year, I put out a plea for a Xmas Lunch organiser and we were all cheering when Rosanne Murphy and Senga Bate offered to do this. As a result, we had the biggest Xmas Lunch ever with quizzes, raffle prizes and the usual excellent value for money from the Merchants Golf Club. So well done and thank you Rosanne and Senga.

Our trips away and social events are always great fun and often give us more time to chat and get to know one another. Organising something like this is a great service to the club and I will touch on this again later.

Training opportunities

The proceeds of the Xmas raffle are being set aside as a training budget.  We hope that we will continue to be able to offer members the opportunity to take part in training such as ride leader training, first aid courses and bike maintenance with potentially a partial subsidy. We have been hugely impressed by the work from Ian Miller who has been instrumental in getting this new initiative for our group going. Ian will be giving us an update shortly, but I want to say a big thank you on behalf of all of the members of our group who have already benefitted from his fantastic organisation.

Our WhatsApp group is a source of entertainment, information, bad jokes, photographs, appreciation for the ride leaders, and all sorts of other banter. Gordon Robertson who is an occasional contributor to this group frequently converts routes to Strava and posts them on this group.  But also, privately Gordon has been a source of technical support to many members, and I would like to acknowledge his help with this.   

 And just to mention that a few members have expressed their appreciation of the whatapp for keeping them feeling part of the group, when circumstances may mean that they are not able to physically join in our rides.

The committee.

Just so you know, I will go over who is on the committee, to remind you of the work that goes on behind the scenes. We are 9 members.  Apart from myself as Chair, Sandy Paterson is Secretary and I will say a few words about him shortly, Ben Bate is our Registration and membership officer and he keeps our ICE list updated as well as the website, Andrew Derrington as Treasurer as transformed how we manage our accounts and has got us onto online banking which makes things so much easier and quicker, Maryrose Brennan has completed Safeguarding training and keeps a look out for the welfare of our members, Alastair Sim represents Tuesday evening riders and is rides convener for Tuesday evenings leading many of them himself, Rhona Emerson is Wednesday Rides Convenor and updates rides on website, Ian Miller has established our training  and Bill Crook has now taken over the Administration of Groups.io and is a also a website manager.

So, as you can see, our group has had a fantastic committee over the last year with a multitude of different talents contributing. I would like to express my deep gratitude to all of them on your behalf for making the cycling group so successful, well organised and such fun! 

Now I am sorry to announce that Sandy is stepping down from the committee after over 5 years on the committee and over 3 years as Secretary.   Sandy has been a highly conscientious and utterly reliable Secretary and always has a thoughtful and considered opinion or comment to make. He has liaised with Cycling UK and completed our annual returns promptly and efficiently. Those on the committee are always immensely impressed with his succinct and articulate description in the minutes of what can be a lengthy discussion point.

He has been a huge support to me since he took over the role of Secretary and I can’t thank him enough and I would ask you all to show your appreciation for his immense service.

I would also like to express my thanks to Alison Johnston our auditor who will also step back from this role after this session.  

However, I am delighted to say that Grace Lyon who is a retired Tax Specialist has very kindly agreed to take over for next year.

At the beginning of this year, I put out a call for volunteers to come onto the committee in particular for the offices of Secretary and Deputy Chair. I am very, very pleased to say we have two “volunteers”.  Firstly, Colin Fischbacher has kindly volunteered to take over the role of Secretary and Derek Hyde has also stepped up to the plate as Deputy Chair. Thank you so much Colin and Derek for being willing to come aboard.  We will vote to formally admit them shortly, but may I say that without this continued input of new talent and ideas, we would not be in the comfortable position that we are currently but there is no room for complacency and there is always space for new volunteers. I was given some old copies of the CTC newsletter and I noted that in 1998 there were 14 committee members!

The Future

Some you may remember an email that came on the groups.io from Donald Urquhart the Secretary before Sandy to say that during a clear out he had come across this trophy that you see here. It is called the Melrose Shield and it was first presented to a member of CTC (Cyclists Touring Club) who had given service to the Lothians District Association- a precursor of our current Cycling UK member group.  This was first presented on the occasion of the 1980 Birthday Ride in Melrose.

You will see that it has been further presented in 1987, 1997 twice, and 2000 but for 23 years it has been out of circulation.

It’s a nice-looking trophy and it seems a pity not to use it. So, I found out a bit more about birthday rides as I had not come across them whilst I have been a member and I am grateful to Linda Hamilton for this info. They were generally a week -long event to celebrate the birthday of CTC which was on the 5th of August 1878 and the centenary was celebrated in 1978. Each district association took its turn. In 1980 the Lothians DA was involved again, and the birthday rides was arranged in Melrose. Another took place in 1987 at Haddington and so on. They were huge events 600-1200 folk, family events, booking up hostels, B and Bs, camping grounds and apparently fields and rugby pitches were offered as campsites.  Church and village halls were booked for lunch and coffee stops and the WRVS turned out in force to provide food, teas etc. They didn’t have ride leaders; everyone was simply issued with a route cards.

So, the committee discussed at length how to keep up the tradition of this trophy and we decided that it should be award to any member or members of the group who have given exceptional service in the organisation of a cycling related event.  A birthday ride as in the past is beyond our scope but we will have further away trips, Trivets, Car assisted rides, 5 ferries and other similar events. Unlike the Zoller and Fyfe trophies we agreed that members of the committee would be eligible for this trophy. Nominations would be made by the membership, and it would be presented at the Xmas lunch along with the other trophies. So do make your nomination when asked, for this award The Melrose Trophy as well as the Zoller and Fyfe awards.

And if anyone has any ideas for a cycling event, please do come forward discuss it with one of the committee.

Finally, I joined CTC in 2014 when I retired and joined the committee in 2015 and was elected Chair in 2016. I have served on the committee for 8 years and been Chair for 7. It is now the correct time for me to gradually bow out. Not immediately, as we have quite a few newer members on the committee, (apart from Ben!) and with a new secretary today, I think its right to let others find their feet before I step down completely. However, you can expect less communication from me and more from Derek over the next few months and I anticipate stepping down completely by the end of the summer. Derek will deputise for me thereafter until a new Chair is appointed at the AGM next year.  I am not going anywhere though, so I will still be on rides and will continue to lead rides.  However, this will be my last AGM as chair.

Membership of our group has been a great period of entertainment since I retired, and I highly recommend it.  I am sure your will all give both Derek and Colin your full support. We all know what an innovative route finder Derek is, but he is also a kind and patient leader, very calm and (I might just mention) quite authoritative. I would like to say thank you to him for agreeing to take over and wish him all the very best and I am sure the group will continue to innovate and flourish.