What has the CTC ever done for us?

[TonyR]

After the debate about the loss of CJ and some grumpy comments on what the CTC does, this morning I got an email from the CTC telling me what they had done over the past year. I don't know about others but that looks an impressive list and so I'm very happy to continue supporting them with my £68 a year. YMMV. (Declaration: I have no connection with the CTC other than as a paying member)

Dear Tony,
So another year is nearly over and, as John Lennon famously sang, what have you done? Well, because of your support, CTC has achieved some amazing things this year and I would like to share with you just some of the highlights:

January CTC launches Play on Pedals in Glasgow, aiming to get 75,000 four-year-olds in the city riding a bike with funding from the Postcode Lottery.

February Over 12,000 people sign our Road Justice petition calling for the police to treat bad driving with the severity it deserves.

March We set up the Inclusive Cycling Network, in partnership with Cycling Projects. The network now includes over 40 centres, enabling thousands of people to take up cycling.

April The national Space for Cycling campaign is launched by CTC through the generous support of the Bicycle Association - nearly 700 councillors sign up.

May After years of pressure from CTC, the Department for Transport announces major reform of the rules governing sign design, enabling hundreds of better quality cycle facilities to be built.

June CTC organises a Road Justice debate on sentencing, with officials from the Sentencing Council, members of the legal profession and the judiciary, campaigners, road crash victims and their families in attendance.

July The country goes Tour de France crazy and CTC is in the thick of the action with an inclusive cycling session at the Grand Départ in Yorkshire and led rides to watch the race itself.

August An amazing £15,000 is raised for CTC's work by members who take part in an incredibly rainy RideLondon.

September Hundreds take part in Space for Cycling rides at party conferences; and over 3,000 CTC supporters write to the Treasury to ask for more #Funding4Cycling.

October We launch the Big Bike Revival, with sponsorship from the Department for Transport, and teach over 1,000 people how to fix their bikes.

November Nearly £60,000 is raised for cycling by the generous supporters who entered the CTC Grand Draw. CTC's call for Funding4Cycling clearly works as £214m for cycling over the next six years is announced.

December As part of a wider coalition, we campaign to see a Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy included in the Infrastructure Bill and we have a very positive meeting about changes to sentencing with Justice Secretary Mike Penning MP.

Of course, there have been many other highlights in 2014, including:

10,000+ events and rides organised by CTC groups;
120 new affiliate groups and three new CTC Member Groups welcomed aboard;
3,000 CTC members welcomed back into the fold; and
£4 million won on our members' behalf through CTC's legal advice line.

In 2015, we have lots more exciting things lined up such as:
The Big Bike Revival will reach 100,000 new cyclists;
Pushing for an investment in cycling of at least £10 per person per year;
Continued campaigning for Space for Cycling;
Support for our volunteers, 130 cycling groups and 400 local campaigners;
The revamp of Fill that Hole, our brilliant pothole reporting website; plus
Thousands of great rides, events and tours throughout the UK and abroad.

I will also be launching a great new plan that sets out our future direction: we aim to get more people cycling in 2015 than we have ever done before, and I want to promote CTC as a modern and inclusive organisation that supports everyone to enjoy the fabulous freedom and fun of cycling.

I'm glad you'll be along for the ride!

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best wishes

Paul Tuohy, Chief Executive, CTC the national cycling charity

[geocycle]

Yes an impressive list, I got that email as well. It would be interesting to compare the list of achievements with those of Sustrans and British Cycling then folk can judge what type of organisation they are a member of. This is another piece of evidence in the new direction the charity has taken. THe CTC I joined is dead, maybe the new CTC will find a niche in the congested space of the cycling charity landscape.

[PH]

Yes, still very much worth my 80p a week. Not perfect and there's things I'd like to see change, but still IMO a very worthwhile organisation.

120 new affiliate groups

I knew they were promoting this, it's still a lot more than I imagined, over two groups a week affiliating, I wonder how many affiliated members that brings in. As was pointed out by Gaz in another thread, the strategy is to encourage affiliated members to become full members, I don't think that's realistic on a large scale. For most the affiliated membership provides all they want at a considerably reduced cost.

The CTC I joined is dead, maybe the new CTC will find a niche in the congested space of the cycling charity landscape.

I think there's two separate things, the National organisation and the local member groups, the NO has certainly seen some changes, the MGs have maybe not yet seen enough but are certainly far from dead. Still doing what they've done for decades and IMO still very much with a part to play in this countries cycling. I'm heartened to see NO putting more resource into the local groups.

[mjr]

It would be impressive if it was really all CTC but they're airbrushing most of its partners out of the campaigns, such as Cycle Nation and various local groups that have spent loads of effort on space4cycling...

I could pick more holes but it's all too upsetting. Merry Christmas to CTC too

[Psamathe]

I got one of those e-mails and on reading it felt it somewhat "the hand is faster than the eye" type of messages.

Listing achievements seems to include several "launched ...". I could launch a campaign to save the Dodo. It would be singularly useless. Launching a campaign is not "achieving anything". Getting a result from a campaign is what matters. If the CTC can't appreciate that ...

Ian

[PH]

I got one of those e-mails and on reading it felt it somewhat "the hand is faster than the eye" type of messages.

Listing achievements seems to include several "launched ...". I could launch a campaign to save the Dodo. It would be singularly useless. Launching a campaign is not "achieving anything". Getting a result from a campaign is what matters. If the CTC can't appreciate that ...

Ian

Launched could also mean that the project is ongoing, getting as far as launch is often a massive achievement in it's own right.

January CTC launches Play on Pedals in Glasgow, aiming to get 75,000 four-year-olds in the city riding a bike with funding from the Postcode Lottery.

Take the first one as an example, just have a look
http://playonpedals.wordpress.com/about-2/

How could even the most cynical of cynics say nothing has been achieved?

[Psamathe]

How could even the most cynical of cynics say nothing has been achieved?

I was not saying "NOTHING" has been achieved. I was saying that there seemed quite a few items in their list that were not "achievements" - hence the "smoke and mirrors". If something specifically has been achieved I would expect things along the line of "we did <x> aiming for <y> and now <z> is happening e.g. every week". Instead, the actual result is not identified. As I indicated, I could launch a campaign to save the Dodo, aiming to save at least 50% of the dodo population (... and I omit that I've achieved ... nothing).

If the CTC have an achievement then they are daft to rely on people doing a Google search to find out how their actions actually turned-out.

Maybe all that they have done has it all the other cycling organisations to shame, but if they have things to boast about then maybe they should tell us what they have actually accomplished with what they've bee doing (but with no "Information Officer" ....).

Ian

[PH]

Sorry, but you don't seem to grasp what an achievement launching some of this stuff is. Partners have been found, funding has been obtained, objectives have been detailed, training and resources have been put in place, promotion and publicity has been distributed and probably loads of other stuff that hasn't occurred to me. Launch doesn't mean saying you're going to do something, it means setting it in motion, that's it's definition. A successful launch is an achievement, ask NASA

[Psamathe]

Sorry, but you don't seem to grasp what an achievement launching some of this stuff is. Partners have been found, funding has been obtained, objectives have been detailed, training and resources have been put in place, promotion and publicity has been distributed and probably loads of other stuff that hasn't occurred to me. Launch doesn't mean saying you're going to do something, it means setting it in motion, that's it's definition. A successful launch is an achievement, ask NASA :wink:

You may not agree with my thoughts on the e-mail but you started making out I have said things I had not said. Sorry but I had to put that straight.

(And the degree of achievement in "launching" something varies greatly. And when you "launch" a campaign, if the aims are flawed or the targets unrealistic, etc., etc. then all your effort is wasted. So the only way to really assess the work done is by achievements rather than by plans and intent.

Ian

[PH]

you started making out I have said things I had not said. Sorry but I had to put that straight.
Ian

I don't think I did

Launching a campaign is not "achieving anything".

I was not saying "NOTHING" has been achieved.

[Psamathe]

you started making out I have said things I had not said. Sorry but I had to put that straight.
Ian

I don't think I did

Launching a campaign is not "achieving anything".

I was not saying "NOTHING" has been achieved.

If you look at what I actually said (including the bits you have conveniently cut out !!):

I got one of those e-mails and on reading it felt it somewhat "the hand is faster than the eye" type of messages.

Listing achievements seems to include several "launched ...". I could launch a campaign to save the Dodo. It would be singularly useless. Launching a campaign is not "achieving anything". Getting a result from a campaign is what matters. If the CTC can't appreciate that ...

Ian

You can see I was talking about those parts of the e-mail that refered to things they had launched (not the use of "several" in what I said). There were other bits in the e-mail that were other achievements. Yet you stated:

I got one of those e-mails and on reading it felt it somewhat "the hand is faster than the eye" type of messages.

Listing achievements seems to include several "launched ...". I could launch a campaign to save the Dodo. It would be singularly useless. Launching a campaign is not "achieving anything". Getting a result from a campaign is what matters. If the CTC can't appreciate that ...

Ian

Launched could also mean that the project is ongoing, getting as far as launch is often a massive achievement in it's own right.

January CTC launches Play on Pedals in Glasgow, aiming to get 75,000 four-year-olds in the city riding a bike with funding from the Postcode Lottery.

Take the first one as an example, just have a look
http://playonpedals.wordpress.com/about-2/

How could even the most cynical of cynics say nothing has been achieved?

Which (being a stand alone paragraph) suggests that I (the cynic) is saying "nothing has been achieved".

(This is getting ridiculous. I refer to some items in an e-mail and others then try to discredit the point by broadening my comment so in it;s distorted exaggeration, it would be clearly wrong. I will happily debate but do not accept my points being mis-represented.

Ian

[PH]

So debate it.
Which of the several (Actually three) things the CTC have launched in 2014 (Been involved with launching might have been more honest) are you saying is not achieving anything?

[PaulB]

[i][i]January CTC launches Play on Pedals in Glasgow, aiming to get 75,000 four-year-olds in the city riding a bike with funding from the Postcode Lottery.

February Over 12,000 people sign our Road Justice petition calling for the police to treat bad driving with the severity it deserves.

March We set up the Inclusive Cycling Network, in partnership with Cycling Projects. The network now includes over 40 centres, enabling thousands of people to take up cycling.

April The national Space for Cycling campaign is launched by CTC through the generous support of the Bicycle Association - nearly 700 councillors sign up.


June CTC organises a Road Justice debate on sentencing, with officials from the Sentencing Council, members of the legal profession and the judiciary, campaigners, road crash victims and their families in attendance.


December As part of a wider coalition, we campaign to see a Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy included in the Infrastructure Bill and we have a very positive meeting about changes to sentencing with Justice Secretary Mike Penning MP.

I agree that launching an idea is not an achievement. Yes, getting people around a table to discuss things takes some skill and I don't criticise CTC for any of the actions listed above. However have they achieved what they set out to do?

Have 75,000 four year olds in Glasgow taken to cycling? 12,000 people may have signed a petition but has it changed anything? Setting up 45 centres to enable thousands of people to take up cycling is all well and fine but have thousands of people taken up cycling as a result? The National Space For Cycling Campaign attracted 700 councillors (which is very good) but what affect has it had? The Road Justice Debate (a fine initiative) brought people together but what has been the outcome? A positive meeting with the Justice Secretary must have taken some organising but just how positive was it?

There are many good points in the list that CTC has sent out but, I must agree, there is a fair bit of smoke and mirrors involved. I've launched a plan to decorate our spare bedroom. I've bought the paint and wallpaper. Until I actually get up the ladders and do the job it will not be an achievement. Launching ideas are all well and fine but it's what those ideas eventually achieve that matters.

[millimole]

I read that list rather negatively.
I see it as about getting lots of people on bikes (yes, a very good thing) but there seems to be very little about supporting those already on bikes, and those of us who don't - for whatever reason - ride with a local group.
It can be argued that the campaigning is about supporting the-already-cycling, but it seems timid, almost as if the organisation doesn't want to rock too many boats.
CTC seems much more about getting new bums on saddles these days, I'm afraid that is something that BC (with its Sky Rides, and Breeze network) seem to do so much better.
What about the rest of us?

[gaz]

... I'm very happy to continue supporting them with my £68 a year.

+1.