Go-Ride SubCommittee meeting 22 July 2008

Present: John Percy, Paul Richardson, Nigel Shurben, Andrew Small, Danuta Tinn.

Summary of current status:

• Coaching training OK, but hard to gain practical experience due to low participation.
• Danuta asked for more information about her duties. PR offered to lend level 2 coaching notes as they included some information, AS ditto with 'Sport for all' notes.
• Business cards (with club's contact details and activities) to pass out to parents/kids would be useful.
• John Percy saw his role as background, as club would take some development before able to host some more advanced activities, e.g. town centre crit.

2008 activities report:

• Track has gone extremely well, with members enjoying the new challenge. It will need more marshals if it is to grow. The points trophy was hard to fit in alongside the sprint. AS said that it used to be spread out over the whole season (Slough Track League days) and we should try to plan that in to next year's season.
  Track will be good for promotional work, but late on a weekday is not a great time for younger members -Saturday afternoons may be better but we need to budget for that (don't want to book & find it's empty!). We should also look into a grass 'speedway' track in Braywick park as this may be a cheaper option and also minimise travel for our catchment area (Mdh, Slough).
  As an example, Palmer Park is totally full - partly because used as crèche on Sat AM. We need to take care to avoid this.
• MTB suffered from low club member support. Some contact but no long term take-up (except one who's not interested in joining and AS suggested he be directed to a non-competitive club like South Bucks CTC section).
• AS reported very high membership churn (from 07-08 21 left, 25 renewed, 14 new). This negates our outreach efforts if we do not actively encourage renewals. Introducing direct debit may be one way, but membership sec needs to be positive in Nov/Dec, and we need to stop lapsed members from competing under our name.
  Despite efforts, the majority of our membership remains vet men and we need to freshen our outreach work:
  • Focus on youth development
  • Create a mission statement
  • Actively involve dna cycles
  • Run full-page feature in Mdh Advertiser
    • Charity event to reduce cost?
    • Need tame journalist
    • Photos
    • Track league lends itself to publicity (more atmosphere).
    • Other tags: Bike handling, road craft, carbon footprint, race progression.
    • Must link to our other activities.
  • Olympic themed events (only 22 days away - short notice). Brainstormed some ideas:
    • AS: Braywick Park grass track.
    • DT: Westacotte Way business park crit.
    • JP: Non competition things like town centre stands, high-profile. AS suggested (given short timescales for getting permission) a roller (Chris Stocks may have info on how to obtain) or spinning competition using Magnet's facilities.
  • Want more details on Slough's cycling initiatives. AS to ask Clare Robinson for details. Need earlier notification of council health promotions, e.g. Sportsbug, Burnham Upper's health day.
    Also want feedback from RBWM surveys that disappear into black 'we are listening to you' holes. AS to ask Emma Fitzgerald.
  • Funding: possibly a Mars scheme. Will be easier once we attain ClubMark status (big 2009 goal!).
  • Approaching schools via teachers in Club (Dave Tallis now in Dedworth). See if we can get cycle race as part of school sports day.
  • Bikeability - BC are asking for trainers (to write course material) so this and Go-Ride are closely connected. Would be good to have Bikeability trainers in Club to improve community links, but we don't want to get bogged down in endless beginners' training schemes. Must include competition element in all activities - we are a competition driven club, not cyclists' action group - and remember to spot talent for progression into club. If done in schools, we must seed a school club with a teacher 'cycling champion' and visit regularly to measure progress, and not become a crèche!
  • Need to consider storage, e.g. at Braywick for grasstrack bikes.
  • Harriet Owen (note, but no details - anyone recall?)

Four activity levels

Mission statement