British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

dodbinmule
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British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by dodbinmule »

British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

I see that as of November 2016 BC has 129,000 members with 27,000 racing licence

The majority of members have gold and silver membership.

I also note that they have 100,000 registered users on their Letsride. https://www.letsride.co.uk/ site.

I am pleased to see that BC publish:
• full minutes of their National Council which is their AGM (their minutes put CTC minutes to shame)
• minutes of their board meetings.
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about ... tes-0?c=EN
I wished all cycling organisation were so open and transparent.
I know that BC has had their problems, but in their minutes, it talks of being open and transparent and show humility. If only others would exhibit those qualities.
I also note how they are galvanizing their membership to volunteer and to embracing the encouragement of non-competitive cycling.
Except for their helmets policy I would join this successful cycling organisation.
millimole
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by millimole »

dodbinmule wrote:British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Except for their helmets policy I would join this successful cycling organisation.

Indeed - I suspect that there may be a significant number (like you and me) who would jump ship quite willingly if only they had the same enlightened approach as CTC


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mjr
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by mjr »

Right. Can you find me an ordinary British Cycling member (holding no elected post and never has) who has tried to participate in its democracy and thinks it works?

Membership numbers aren't everything, are they? Who cares if an organisation has a million members if it loses its way?
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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Lance Dopestrong
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by Lance Dopestrong »

BC don't do concessionary rates for carers. Cycling UK do, so here I am. Don't much care why Antone else joins one or the other.
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mjr
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by mjr »

BC's president claims 136'000 members in July 2017 at https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about ... meetings-0
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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steady eddy
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by steady eddy »

All is not what it seems at BC - the members are revolting in sufficiently large numbers to block proposed governance changes, which might stop a massive injection of funding. They say that the organisation is not democratic and doesn't listen to its members.( see recent report on the Guardian web site) Does this sound familiar? I was a "fan" member of BC for 12 months to get discounted tickets to the velodrome, but beyond that I am not sure it offered me anything. I did not renew.
I have made my protest against large organisations by joining "The Clarion" they will get my Audax points from now on.
thirdcrank
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by thirdcrank »

Plenty of other sports whose governing bodies are circling and covetously eyeing the money that goes into cycling. If the BCF's £££ is drastically cut, it's hard to see much of it going to Cycling UK. Ultimately, it's all about Olympic medals and the BCF has delivered the goods. (And as a side-effect, IMO, got more people cycling than all the other cycling bodies put together. The fact that they may be on mudguardless road bikes :shock: with their luggage in rucksacs :shock: is a separate matter :lol: )
bertgrower
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by bertgrower »

steady eddy wrote:All is not what it seems at BC - the members are revolting in sufficiently large numbers to block proposed governance changes, which might stop a massive injection of funding. They say that the organisation is not democratic and doesn't listen to its members.( see recent report on the Guardian web site) Does this sound familiar? I was a "fan" member of BC for 12 months to get discounted tickets to the velodrome, but beyond that I am not sure it offered me anything. I did not renew.
I have made my protest against large organisations by joining "The Clarion" they will get my Audax points from now on.


I think you may find this interesting.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about ... port-Q-A-0
Last edited by bertgrower on 20 Jul 2017, 7:28pm, edited 1 time in total.
Psamathe
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by Psamathe »

bertgrower wrote:
steady eddy wrote:All is not what it seems at BC - the members are revolting in sufficiently large numbers to block proposed governance changes, which might stop a massive injection of funding. They say that the organisation is not democratic and doesn't listen to its members.( see recent report on the Guardian web site) Does this sound familiar? I was a "fan" member of BC for 12 months to get discounted tickets to the velodrome, but beyond that I am not sure it offered me anything. I did not renew.
I have made my protest against large organisations by joining "The Clarion" they will get my Audax points from now on.


I think you may find this interesting.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about ... rt-Q-A-054

That link just gives a 404 Page Not Found error.

Ian
bertgrower
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by bertgrower »

Psamathe wrote:
bertgrower wrote:
steady eddy wrote:All is not what it seems at BC - the members are revolting in sufficiently large numbers to block proposed governance changes, which might stop a massive injection of funding. They say that the organisation is not democratic and doesn't listen to its members.( see recent report on the Guardian web site) Does this sound familiar? I was a "fan" member of BC for 12 months to get discounted tickets to the velodrome, but beyond that I am not sure it offered me anything. I did not renew.
I have made my protest against large organisations by joining "The Clarion" they will get my Audax points from now on.


I think you may find this interesting.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about ... rt-Q-A-054

That link just gives a 404 Page Not Found error.

Ian


https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about ... port-Q-A-0
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Si
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by Si »

Yeah, there's much misunderstanding about the egm. The reorg they are trying to get through is not specific to BC....many sports are having to go through similar in order to continue with their funding via SE. I've just heard about a governing body of another sport rejecting the change (possibly because of the voters being mislead as to the reasons), and now they find them selves about 9 million quid poorer. Of course, it's worth a lot more to BC.
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mjr
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by mjr »

£43m for BC if I remember correctly. I don't remember over how many years - maybe the four-year Olympic cycle.

BC hasn't yet filed its statement of "persons of significant control" because "The company has not yet completed taking reasonable steps to find out if there is anyone who is a registrable person or a registrable relevant legal entity in relation to the company". That's interesting because the ability to change the constitution or influence the views of the board are both ways of exercising significant control without owning shares or similar.

Arguably, if this vote goes through despite enough membership mandate meetings being against it, Sport England may be judged to be controlling BC.

Another interesting thing in their Companies House paperwork is that about 25% of BC's annual income is from SE and grants altogether make up 55% of their income - membership only 10%. I've often been told it's a mistake to let any one client be more than 20% of one's income because it can become an unhealthy relationship and unreasonable demands often follow...

I don't envy those who can vote at BC. It seems like they're being forced to make a choice between two pretty awful options: the current dysfunctional system but with less money, or the current money but with a system with some improvements but more unelected/unaccountable (so-called "independent") directors and less accountability to members.
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bertgrower
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by bertgrower »

mjr wrote:£43m for BC if I remember correctly. I don't remember over how many years - maybe the four-year Olympic cycle.

BC hasn't yet filed its statement of "persons of significant control" because "The company has not yet completed taking reasonable steps to find out if there is anyone who is a registrable person or a registrable relevant legal entity in relation to the company". That's interesting because the ability to change the constitution or influence the views of the board are both ways of exercising significant control without owning shares or similar.

Arguably, if this vote goes through despite enough membership mandate meetings being against it, Sport England may be judged to be controlling BC.

Another interesting thing in their Companies House paperwork is that about 25% of BC's annual income is from SE and grants altogether make up 55% of their income - membership only 10%. I've often been told it's a mistake to let any one client be more than 20% of one's income because it can become an unhealthy relationship and unreasonable demands often follow...

I don't envy those who can vote at BC. It seems like they're being forced to make a choice between two pretty awful options: the current dysfunctional system but with less money, or the current money but with a system with some improvements but more unelected/unaccountable (so-called "independent") directors and less accountability to members.



Does this process of possible change in goverance lead to a de factor transformation into a kind charity hybred?
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Si
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by Si »

Nope, because they are not.a charity....should the vote get passed they will continue to recieve funding fromSE just as they have in the past. It does change how the organisation is governed. The general idea is that all sport's governing bodies need to change to be more inclusive if they want to continue to get funding via SE (lottery). It's pretty much coincidence that BC have recently had high profile issues with sexism. But, it is also true that the majority of BC members tend towards white and middle class ...much like CUK.

AISI, one of the major issues has been the requirement to have an 'outsider' who has little cycle sport experience in a position to weald a fair bit of influence, and the possibility of a slight reduction of regional control. Thus, just like recent changes with CUK there has been some heated discussion.

Another issue is that of how much funding goes to the elite programmes as opposed to grass roots. HSBC have recently bunged a load of money into BC with one of their provisos being that a greater percentage goes to grass roots. This is already showing rewards - the project that i coordinate has around 75% BME and 75% female participation. Its also noticable that if you look at the maps of where people who do traditional BC rides live and where people who do our rides live, there is not much overlap - trsd BC from middle class parts of the city, our people much more likely to be from deprived areas with lots of social problems and ill health. My point being thst if this move to inclusivity helps similar things to happen elsewhere then im all for it. It has also helped CUK indirectly....if you follow all of their social media you may have noticed stuff about the 11 new CCs in brum (soon to be 20)....BC's contribution to brum cycling has played a major part in getting these clubs going.


Notes: apologies for state of typing....crap kb.
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Si
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Re: British Cycling progress in membership – Can CTC learn anything?

Post by Si »

Over 90% for, and nor even the chance of winning a jacket ;-)
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