Chair’s Chatter

Hello Fellow LAMkins

I’m hoping this edition finds you well. If you were observant, you will have noticed that we have the upcoming AGM next week, all are welcome to attend, but only Full Members can vote but come along and see how it all works, remember this is your group and without you nothing will get done.  Anyway, you also may have noticed in Progress that I am not standing for re-election as Chair, but don’t worry I’m not going anywhere, I will still be around and will still be found manning the desk at Banstead and at various events.

After the recent Machine Control Day, I would like to thank all those that helped out on the day, without these volunteers MCD would not be able to take place, which brings me round to my ask: Iain and I have been running MCD for the last 8 years and we feel it’s time to hand the baton over to the next person.  We already have one volunteer, so we are looking for one more to take control, deliver the lectures and be the holder of “stuff”, blankets, pillows, cones and paperwork, not a too onerous task as MCD is only put on twice a year. This position doesn’t have to be held by a National Observer, it could be a Local Observer or even a member who is willing to learn.  If you are interested, please drop me a line, or even if you wish to find out more information before committing yourself, you know where to find me.

A couple of weeks ago we had the End of Summer ride, it really was the end of summer.  On the Saturday I had been outside in the garden in my t-shirt, I woke up on the Sunday morning and it was 3c, by the time I mounted the bike it had risen to 5c, I had donned my winter woolly socks and my heated jumper (can def recommend that!), and headed off to my start point at Flower Farm.  I was TEC for one of the groups and we left Flower Farm with 10 in our group and set off.  All I can say is, if anyone is not completely au fait with the drop off system, please please put your hand up; explaining the drop off takes minutes but gathering everyone up when the drop off system fails takes an awful lot longer.  I’m not sure what happened but our group got split up/got lost not once, not twice, but three times!  The last was a doozy, someone in the group turned at the marker who was waiting at the corner, as I turned at the marker, I saw that the turn was being marked by a Harley, which was interesting as we didn’t have a Harley in our group?!?!?! As you can imagine, it was a catalogue of disasters, and when we all finally regrouped and made it to our final destination, we finished with 11! No idea where the additional person came from, I hope he liked our final destination!?!?! Anyway, it was a good day out, good roads and a great destination, so thank you to the organisers, an event well planned.

As we move from the summer/autumn months into winter, we will endeavour to run as many events as possible, but we will be constrained by the weather. If the overnight temperature drops below 5c, we may have to cancel the event. That will no doubt be disappointing for a lot of you, but we are after all a safety organisation and if the air temperature is below 5c, add the wind chill factors and it will bring the temperature down and feel even colder; cold weather is not conducive for learning and could even be dangerous, but please be assured that we will try and run as many events as possible. If we know that cold weather is coming, it is possible that we may be able to run a workshop instead of a group meeting, obviously arriving on 4 wheels instead of 2.

Well, I think it’s time to sign off. It’s been a pleasure serving you as your Chair but it’s time to hand over the baton to the next person and I wish them luck.

Please still say hello to me, as I said I’m not going anywhere!

Ride Safe

Jane x