New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warwick

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Si
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by Si »

as for age limitations within the CTC: nothing new.....Tri-Vets for instance :wink:
Bill Reynolds
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by Bill Reynolds »

Hello Rob, Sorry I made the mistake of calling the new club a 'local sction'...a regretful choice of words. I am no longer a member of the CTC as I left after the charity debate result and also a long term promise to myself that when the disabled subscription arose above £25 it was time to leave...so I did so. I will see how the new club pans out as there are no rides planned for my area so it looks like I will continue to be a lone member....no worries.
Karen Sutton
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by Karen Sutton »

I'm late to this discussion but would like to say something regarding under 18 riders or lack of them.

In my experience a club will not be "signing their own death warrant" by excluding minors. That has been said about groups for years, but more in relation to lack of young riders replacing the older ones. The cycling group local to me has had no young riders for years but the numbers riding have been steady/increasing. Many new members are between 35 and 55 years of age and ride with the group for a long time. Unfortunatey cycle touring is no longer popular with young people so allowing them to ride with a club is not going to swell the numbers.

With new people joining our local group at regular intervals they compensate for the inevitable leavers. Plus the fact that new riders don't have to join CTC means it will be a more attractive proposition for some to join an affiliated club.

As already mentioned CTC has no jurisdiction over an independent club affiliated to them.
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robgul
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by robgul »

Karen Sutton wrote:I'm late to this discussion but would like to say something regarding under 18 riders or lack of them.

In my experience a club will not be "signing their own death warrant" by excluding minors. That has been said about groups for years, but more in relation to lack of young riders replacing the older ones. The cycling group local to me has had no young riders for years but the numbers riding have been steady/increasing. Many new members are between 35 and 55 years of age and ride with the group for a long time. Unfortunatey cycle touring is no longer popular with young people so allowing them to ride with a club is not going to swell the numbers.

With new people joining our local group at regular intervals they compensate for the inevitable leavers. Plus the fact that new riders don't have to join CTC means it will be a more attractive proposition for some to join an affiliated club.

As already mentioned CTC has no jurisdiction over an independent club affiliated to them.


Spot on! - membership of HoECC has increased substantially since the figures posted earlier in this thread.

Early days but it seems that many of those CTC HoE members "regulars" that joined HoECC will lapse their CTC membership at renewal. Even at the (recently increased) old codger rate that most of us qualify for it's a waste of money.

The one copy of Cycle magazine that the club secretary gets is bit dog-eared by the time it's been passed round and everyone has read it :lol:

Rob
E2E http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk
HoECC http://www.heartofenglandcyclingclub.org.uk
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Si
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

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Karen Sutton wrote:
In my experience a club will not be "signing their own death warrant" by excluding minors.


I think that you have omitted to address the point fully. The landscape for new cyclists is rapidly changing. In the past the CTC MG was pretty high on the list for those new to cycling and not keen on racing. Now there are a lot more options. I've no doubt that the HoECC will grow quite rapidly for a year or three, and then less rapidly for a while after...but after that its target audience may be happily ensconced with British Cycling (with new schemes like Ride Active coming on line) or the new look Cycling UK Community Groups.

Don't get me wrong though - I don't wish ill on HoECC- I hope things go really well for you and I'm sure that you'll have many happy members out enjoying cycling with you.
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robgul
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by robgul »

Si wrote:
Karen Sutton wrote:
In my experience a club will not be "signing their own death warrant" by excluding minors.


I think that you have omitted to address the point fully. The landscape for new cyclists is rapidly changing. In the past the CTC MG was pretty high on the list for those new to cycling and not keen on racing. Now there are a lot more options. I've no doubt that the HoECC will grow quite rapidly for a year or three, and then less rapidly for a while after...but after that its target audience may be happily ensconced with British Cycling (with new schemes like Ride Active coming on line) or the new look Cycling UK Community Groups.

Don't get me wrong though - I don't wish ill on HoECC- I hope things go really well for you and I'm sure that you'll have many happy members out enjoying cycling with you.


The "value for money" or "cost" of CTC membership is without doubt an issue you don't touch upon ... to quote (again) "Forty-five quid to ride my bike!!" - in these increasingly straitened times cost does matter.

The HoECC membership of a nominal £1 (for this year at least, it's unlikely to change, it really just creates a membership contract) does benefit from some events that we run ... the proceeds of which fund the club (that's not much more than the web-hosting cost and the CTC Affiliation fee each year and a modest subsidy for members' Christmas lunch) - the balance of our income we give to cycling related charities (they have included Cyclists Fighting Cancer - and the Air Ambulance Service, which has unfortunately been called out for two of our members in the past year)

Members MUST provide TP insurance - and there are options for that, or most people have it as part of a household policy .. or they can join CTC as affiliate or full members. There is of course also the £10 insurance product that LCC acts as a broker introducer)

I would suggest that many cyclists really aren't convinced about (or, dare I say interested in) CTC's "campaigning" .. which is a significant cost that comes from the membership fees - and that brings into question whether they want to pay for it. Unfortunately CTC isn't all that visible in terms of results of campaigning - yes it may have achieved changes etc BUT they aren't visible to most riders ... in contrast to Sustrans which has thousands of blue signs around the country (and muddy tracks and barriers :( ) and thus has visibility.

.. and a slight downside to the growth in numbers, especially on the main Wednesday ride, is the ability of the pubs we use for lunch stops to handle the size of group for food and drink within a reasonable time!!

Rob
E2E http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk
HoECC http://www.heartofenglandcyclingclub.org.uk
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Karen Sutton
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by Karen Sutton »

So I am just getting back into cycling after a break. I'm not going to rejoin CTC. I'm joining an affiliated club. This one:

http://www.sccc.co.uk
Karen Sutton
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by Karen Sutton »

Si, tell me about these UKCycling community groups you mention please.
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Si
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by Si »

robgul wrote:
The "value for money" or "cost" of CTC membership is without doubt an issue you don't touch upon ... to quote (again) "Forty-five quid to ride my bike!!" - in these increasingly straitened times cost does matter.



I don't touch upon it here as it is not relevant to the particular topic that I was talking about - I have touched upon it in much greater details elsewhere.
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Si
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by Si »

Karen Sutton wrote:So I am just getting back into cycling after a break. I'm not going to rejoin CTC. I'm joining an affiliated club. This one:

http://www.sccc.co.uk


Well that one seems to allow children so I don't see an issue. From my brief glimpse (hideously slow website wouldn't let me see much) it looks like a nice community group, the like of which I believe may well end up the mainstay of club cycling (non-racing) in the future.
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Si
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

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Karen Sutton wrote:Si, tell me about these UKCycling community groups you mention please.


I would like to but I'm probably not allowed (in fact I'm probably not meant to know about them). And there are people who could tell you much more accurately than me. However, for a vague example look at the BNBCC link at the bottom of this post (an affiliated CTC group).
AndyK
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by AndyK »

Si wrote:
Karen Sutton wrote:Si, tell me about these UKCycling community groups you mention please.


I would like to but I'm probably not allowed (in fact I'm probably not meant to know about them). And there are people who could tell you much more accurately than me. However, for a vague example look at the BNBCC link at the bottom of this post (an affiliated CTC group).


I'd assumed the Community Cycling Club thing was in limbo while they re-thought it. The social enterprise I work for was invited to become one last year, but then things went quiet and the offer was eventually withdrawn.

This page on the CTC website has a downloadable brochure that explains it all.... well, perhaps "explains" is too strong a word. :(
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gaz
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by gaz »

Thanks for that link.

Jobs being advertised by CTC for Cycling Development Officers for Community Groups: http://www.ctc.org.uk/about-ctc/vacancies
High on a cocktail of flossy teacakes and marmalade
Karen Sutton
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by Karen Sutton »

Si wrote:
Karen Sutton wrote:So I am just getting back into cycling after a break. I'm not going to rejoin CTC. I'm joining an affiliated club. This one:

http://www.sccc.co.uk


Well that one seems to allow children so I don't see an issue. From my brief glimpse (hideously slow website wouldn't let me see much) it looks like a nice community group, the like of which I believe may well end up the mainstay of club cycling (non-racing) in the future.


I've looked at the community group you mention Si and I agree that it may be the way forward for non-racing groups.

I have been trying to find out if the group I'm riding with next weekend are still affiliated to The CTC. It seems that they are now affiliated to British Cycling instead. I will ask why on Sunday.
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Re: New cycling club for S Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warw

Post by robgul »

We've had lots of enquiries at Heart of England Cycling Club and our incoming mailbox at Touring Cyclist Club is overflowing today with "angry" "disgusted" "complete shock" "a disgrace" messages about the CTC rebrand now that Cycle mag has hit the doormats ... this message is typical (from a current CTC member):

We have been cycle touring for many years and have watched the CTC hi-jacked over recent years. The rebranding announced today was a complete shock and not something I support. Looking for a more focussed club, not a charity, dedicated to touring.


... watch this space .... and the link below

Rob
E2E http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk
HoECC http://www.heartofenglandcyclingclub.org.uk
Cytech accredited mechanic . . . and woodworker
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