Chair’s chatter

Friends, Romans, LAMkins

Firstly, I just want to thank you all for giving me this opportunity to continue guiding LAM in the direction it is going in. The previous Chair did a fantastic job and I have big shoes to fill. Whilst I haven’t had to do anything too taxing yet (give me a chance, it hasn’t even been two weeks yet!) I can already see the hard work other members of the Committee do, and without them LAM would not be in the great shape that it is in.

As Chair, I have no burning desire to radically change things, I think LAM is in a very good position and we do what we do very well. If things need tweaking along the way, we will tweak. The Training Team has worked very hard over the last year or so to continue to deliver training within safe guidelines, keeping both Associates and Observers safe. Now that we are back to group meetings with the inception of the shop together with Tracker ,they are managing group meetings like never before. It is more the norm now to have a 1-2-1 OR as opposed to an Observer taking out 2 Associates at a time. It does mean that we need Observers more than ever, so you can appreciate this is why you may not always be able to book a group meeting OR - it all depends on Observer availability.

There has been lots of chatter recently about the funds that LAM hold. Whilst this is true, please bear in mind that we do have financial obligations throughout the year, 24 Group Meetings, venue hires for other activities, First Aid courses, Machine Control days etc. We are exploring options to invest this money wisely. Please don’t forget we are a Registered Charity and therefore have certain charitable commissions constraints, plus we don’t want to fall foul of the IAM or the tax man!

Some of you are probably wondering ‘who is this woman?’. Well, I’ve been a member of LAM for what feels like forever (more about that in a later edition early next year when I celebrate a milestone with LAM). I am passionate about motorcycles and have ridden one pretty consistently since my 16th birthday when I got my first bike. A lot of people have asked me how did Mr H get me on a bike? Simple answer, he didn’t, I already rode one and had in fact already passed my advanced test and was a member of LAM before I even met him.
Motorcycling is very important to me. In fact on our first date I asked him if he had a bike, trust me, if the answer had been ‘no’ I seriously doubt he would have got a second date! Luckily for me he said ‘yes’, and then immediately it went through my head ‘Oh God, it had better be bigger than mine because I’m not waiting round for you’. He stumped me, he had more cc but I had more bhp, but obviously I decided he was worth a second date. I love being a member of LAM, where else can I talk about bikes and nobody tells me to shut up, or gives me that blank look because they’re not interested, lost or bored?

Our previous Chair very kindly promised to award a GoPro to the first Associate to pass their test after our Wales training weekend. Our first Associate to pass was Pawel Kozlowski, who not only passed but achieved a F1rst. Very well done! Not only that, but Pawel also won ‘Associate of the Year’ for his willingness to learn and his commitment to practising. He joined LAM in April and passed six months later. That's pretty amazing! 

My last week has been a challenge. Much like learning the Advanced, the system has been quite useful to me. We brought a puppy home and as you can imagine, he is not house trained yet so he leaves me “presents” all over the floor. This is where the information stage comes in. What can I see, what can’t I see and what can I reasonably expect to happen, can I see any obstructions (or presents) and what can I hear? System, following him around or listening out for when I can no longer hear his patter of feet, why has he stopped, anticipating his movements, Smoothness, can I negotiate the kitchen without having to suddenly stop because there is an obstruction on the floor and Speed, don’t walk too fast as either a puppy will run under your feet or you might just run into something you don’t want to, and can I stop in the distance I can safely see to be clear? Unfortunately Mr H has already stepped in something warm and squidgy. He needs to revisit Roadcraft.

Hopefully some of you have already been able to take up the offer of Mercury Custom Plugs who attended Banstead last week and will also attend Tatsfield next week to have the opportunity of having some custom ear plugs made at a LAM discount. We have had some great feedback from Mercury who said we were a friendly bunch who made them feel very welcome and were very well organised, so thank you everyone involved.

I think that’s enough wittering for my first Chatter, if anyone has any questions or suggestions, my “door” is always open.

Stay safe and stay warm.

Jane