North West Region Annual General Meeting

Motorcycle Action Group

Blackpool Rugby Club, Bispham,

Saturday, 5th December 09.

Attendees:

Tony Cox (NW Rep), Alison Cox (NW Secretary), Bill Green (Red Rose MAG/NW Political Officer), Steve Wykes (MAG Scotland Rep)-Observing, Kev Webster, Gillian, Danny and Paul ( Blackpool MAG), Jenny Willan & Azure Jones (Morecambe & District area), Don Glover (Liverpool Area)

Apologies:

Jason Webb (Blackpool Area Rep)

Meeting Commenced – 5:30pm

Tony opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and inviting Steve Wykes to act as chair. Everyone was supplied with a copy of last year’s AGM minutes and asked if they had any comments. The minutes were accepted as a true account of the meeting.

Regional Rep’s Report – (Tony Cox)

13^th December 2008 Blackpool MAG Christmas Party – Blackpool RUFC

Following on from the NW AGM, Blackpool MAG members hosted a very successful Christmas party. Profits from the event amounted to £300 for MAG and a further £125 was raised for the stroke unit of Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

9^th-11^th January 2009 National Motorcycle Show - G-MEX Manchester

Manchester Central (formerly the G-Mex Centre) was once again the setting for the National Motorcycle Show. Over the weekend the NW MAG Stand took numerous new and renewed memberships. Plenty of interest on the stand, helped by the presence of Grobo’s custom Ducati and a visit by TT legend John McGuiness, who is seriously considering supporting the cause and becoming a MAG member.

21^st January 2009 Blackpool MAG AGM – Blackpool

Tony was asked to chair the AGM, which saw Jay Web voted in as the new local rep, and Wendy Arrandale voted in as Blackpool MAG treasurer and Alison Ayrey was voted in as Blackpool MAG Secretary. Daz Busby will continue to be Webmaster, doing an excellent job of maintaining the web site.

8^th February 2009 The 5^th NW Fred Hill Run - Blackburn Cathedral

There was an excellent turn out for the 5^th Fred Hill Run, considering the adverse weather conditions. The ride to Blackburn Cathedral was led by Bishop Michael who also conducted a remembrance ceremony along with Red Rose local rep and NW political Officer, Bill Green. After the service we rode back to the Charles Napier Public House for hot soup and buffet before dashing home to avoid the impending snowstorms.

14th February: - Blackpool MAG Valentines Massacre, Blackpool RUFC

Helped organise and run Blackpool MAG’s Valentines Massacre Rock night. This was a trial event to see how the new clubhouse and bar facilities would cope with a large crowd of thirsty bikers. It highlighted a few issues that we will have to address before the main rally later in the year. The night was a great success however raising over £100 for MAG.

7th March: - First Bike on the scene course, Thornton-in-Cleveleys, Fylde

Tony organised this course with the assistance of members of Blackpool MAG through a friend of mine who is a trained instructor, and MAG member. He has developed this course and is one of seven approved courses to be recognised by the HSE. Everyone attending the course thought it was excellent and a future one is being planned.

19th April: - RideSafe Rendezvous, South Promenade, Blackpool

RideSafe Rendezvous on Blackpool’s South Promenade. Over 6,000 motorcyclists and scooterists attended this dedicated, free one-day show. The event is supported by the Highway Agency, Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety and Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership. Plenty of interest at the stall picking up a few new members from the Blackpool Area who have since started to attend the local group meetings and get involved with the groups activities.

1^st -3^rd May: - Leyland Eagles Rally, Churchtown, Lancs.

NW Mag was asked to take the stall to this small local rally. It was a very successful weekend with over a dozen memberships taken and very enjoyable atmosphere.

7-10th May: - NABD Rally, Astle Park, Cheshire

Once again NW MAG were asked to run the MAG stall at the 18^th “You’ve been NABD Rally” We always pick up plenty of new & renewed memberships at this rally and this year was no exception. I have noticed, however, some very hostile reactions from some of the traders towards MAG, but believe this is due to issues with MAP not MAG. Will discuss at next NC I attend.

26th May: - Re-Launch of Manchester MAG

Tony and a number of members from the North of the region went down to give our support at the re-launch of Manchester Mag. Very busy night and very promising for the first meeting. Quite a few new members signed up on the night and plenty of volunteers willing to help Jacqui get the group up and running. They have since had there second meeting with eleven members in attendance.

6-12^th June: - IOM TT Races

Took the stall across to the TTs again, and although the number of members taken was disappointing, the general feedback for from bikers about MAG was good. Ran the stall at three events;

7^th June:- Streetfighter Challenge, Ramsey

9^th June:- Ramsey Sprint, Ramsey

11^th June:- TT Motorcycle Show, Laxey.

Managed to distribute a vast amount of Road magazines and MAG leaflets whilst we were there, as well as some DVDs we were given from the Highways Agency, Great Roads, Great Rides 2. In general, went very well.

25^th-28^th June: - Blackpool MAG’s Fearless Fifth Fun n Frolics on the Fylde

It was another great success. The site’s club house capacity had been drastically reduced from last year and so we had to buy a couple of gala tents to house the rally goers, but on the plus side, the site fees were a lot less. We raised £2k for MAG, £500 for local charities and still have enough in the coffers to kick-start next years rally. All feedback was very positive and we are planning a couple more events at that site later this year, a Halloween party on Saturday October 31^st, and the NW AGM and Christmas Party on Saturday 5^th December, all welcome!

8^th July, RSBS Bikers Night Knott End

Tony was asked to take the MAG van down to this event, which was organised, by the local constabulary. It was an enjoyable evening with live music and BBQ. Picked up 4 new members, to boot!

12^th July: - Blackpool Bike Show, Stanley Park, Blackpool

This is the second year we have run this event. Basically we get full access to the park for Bikes & Trikes as long as we can provide marshals. There is live entertainment provided and local MAG members run the Bike Show. All profits go to the North West Air Ambulance, and this year we raised £50 after paying for the trophies. We picked up another 6 new members and two renewals, distributed loads of literature and Road magazines. The event has zero cost to us and is good PR for MAG and biking in general.

12^th July: - Heaton Park Bike Show, Manchester

This is a new event organised by the same company who run the Manchester G-Mex show. I had managed to negotiate a free pitch at this event, but unfortunately then realised that it clashed with the Blackpool Bike Show so the new Manchester Rep, Jax, volunteered to look after this one with help from the rest of the Manchester MAG group. The feedback I got was that this was a very successful event, and we picked up 4 new members. This show should now be an annual event, which the NW will continue to support.

23rd^th August:- Morecambe & District (MAD) MCC Bike Show

NW MAG was invited to take the stall to this event, which was the first one for this newly affiliated club. It was a good opportunity to get the message across to many who knew little about MAG and picked up plenty of new members as a consequence.

31^st August;- MT Heads Bike Show

Another opportunity to show support for this affiliated club who are very pro-MAG. It was a bit quite on the day but we were thanked for our attendance and plenty of literature distributed.

1^st-7^th September:- Stormin’ The Castle Custom Bike Show

Tony took a week off work to help with the build up and marshalling of this event. It was a great week and weekend of the rally. General feeling was that it went well and plenty of happy campers leaving on the Sunday morning seemed to endorse this.

18^th-20^th September;- Jesters MCC “Cum N Dribble” Rally

Tony was working this rally but still found time to run a bit of a MAG stall from the side of the van and picked up a few members, had interest from a local side patch organisation who are thinking of affiliating to MAG, and distributed plenty of magazines.

4^th October Hercules Run Pilling to Glawthorpe Hall, Padiam

The Hercules Run is an annual charity run which consists of a 100-mile+ tour of Lancashire’s Hill Country via some of the most stunning scenery in the county. The event has been running since 2002 and attracts 150+ riders and pillions.

Over recent years the South Lakes Advanced Motorcyclists (SLAM) have been responsible for marshalling this event, but there has been a lot of disagreements between SLAM and the event organisers as to how the event should be run, so the decision was made to look for another organisation to help with the event. That is where I was approached as NW MAG Rep, and I agreed take responsibility for the marshalling of this historic event.

The run was a great success, and the organisers have been full of praise for the professional way the MAG marshals organised the run. It’s been a win-win situation as we have picked up many new members through association with the run, including the organisers, and it also proved to be a great way of getting the MAG affiliated groups around the region to work together. As well as support from the local MAG groups we also owe great thanks to Morecambe & District MCC, Mobile Chaos MCC and Jesters MCC who all turned out to help with this event and fly the MAG flag. At the last count £3000 has been raised for the Blackpool Victoria Hospital Breast Cancer Unit charity and a lot of good PR has been raised for MAG in the region.

21^st October Presentation of cheque to North West Air Ambulance

At the summer rally of Blackpool MAG we held a raffle for the NWAA and also the profits from the Stanley Park Bike Show in Blackpool were put towards this worthy cause, which resulted in a cheque being presented to the NWAA by members of MAG.

25^th October MAG Scotland AGM

Tony was asked to attend the MAG Scotland AGM as Observer and had a very enjoyable weekend. The AGM on the Sunday afternoon was well attended and there was plenty of lively debate

31^st October Blackpool Area MAG Halloween Party

This was the first year we had attempted a Halloween Party and it was very successful, raising over £200 for MAG.

29^th November RSBS Toy Run, Preston-Blackpool

NW MAG was asked to help Marshal this Toy Run organised by The RSBS team. Many thanks to all the NW members who got involved. The run was very successful with 100+ bikes turning out on a very wet & windy day. Plenty of good PR for MAG again and we have been congratulated by the police and council for our assistance.

Other Information

Board & NC Meeting, Rugby/RideSafe BackSafe Meetings/Marques and lights

Wirral & Chester/Blackpool MAG/Manchester MAG/Liverpool Mail shot/Products/ RAV/NW Stall repairs

After this hefty report we agreed that Tony deserved thanks for his hard work.

Regional Accounts report.

As in previous years, the regional accounts carried very few entries; these were mainly connected to the Blackpool MAG rally and the regional AGM. Tony has again, also kept costs down by carefully using private printing facilities rather than a commercial copy shop. It was noted again that the proceeds from the Blackpool rally go straight to Central office instead of being paid into the regional account first, an arrangement, which works well since the NW region has no need for a large balance.

Election of Regional Officers

There have been few changes since last year’s AGM;

Wendy Arrandale stood down (due to work commitments) as Regional Treasurer, (however Alison Cox stepped in temporarily.)

Alison Cox stood down temporarily(for personal reasons) as Regional Secretary and Treasurer.

At present, we have the following Regional Officers:

Tony Cox, Regional Rep

Bill Green, Political Officer / Regional Secretary,

Jenny Willan, Regional Secretary,

Daz Busby, Webmaster.

Any Other Business -

There remains a need for more local groups, so that members can keep MAG central informed about issues in the NW region. It was suggested that an e-mail newsletter could be set up, inviting local members to organise their own meetings rather than waiting for instructions from the Regional Rep.

Azure Jones from Morecambe & District Area is looking at trying to start a Local MAG Meet in Morecambe area, once she has a bit more info on being a rep.

It was enquired if local businesses could help to increase interest in MAG, possibly by offering free membership with new bike purchases or just by putting up meeting posters.(This has been approached in the past and failed, however, times change, and surely can’t hurt to try again.) There was also a bit of discussion about social networking sites such as Facebook, etc, where owners’ clubs have their own dedicated pages. Could NW MAG set up our own page on these sites and target riders with a mixture of social events and political activism? We could also send requests to members of owners’ clubs asking for help with marshalling MAG events, or offering to take the MAG NW stall to their rallies.

Meeting ended approx 7:30pm to make way for the Blackpool MAG’s Xmas party.