Motorcycle Action Group
North-West Region AGM
Sir Charles Napier Public House,
27th November 2011
Attendees:
|
Tony Cox (NW Rep) |
JR Lynn Gavaghan |
Ken Graves |
Apologies:
Meeting Commenced
1.40pm
Tony opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and thanking
them for their attendance. Bill Green
accepted the offer to act as chair, with Paul Turner (MAG
Apologies have been received from a number of people,
notably Wirral Representative Gordon Wheatcroft
Regional Rep’s Report
(Tony Cox)
Tony reported that this has been a heavy year. He has attended every National Committee
meeting and board meeting (whilst he served as a director) from which he stood
down in April. He has attended all
monthly Ride Safe Back Safe (RSBS) meetings, which have been highly productive,
getting relevant organisations round the table and discussing issues in an
arena which enables MAG issues to get aired at an influential level at the
initial stages. Membership
of the RSBS meetings include Lancashire Police, Lancashire County
Council,
Monthly
Activities in 2011
February
Wirral and Chester MAG launched at the Crown in
7th Annual Fred Hill Run, setting off from the Charles Napier,
April
MAG
Wirral Egg run.
Wirral and Chester MAG attended with the MAG stand.
May
NABD Rally, Leyland Eagles Rally, both attended with the
stall which recruited new members and raised funds through product sales.
June
Blackpool MAG Rally raised about £2000. This is a good steady rally raising funds
annually. This year a few new things
were tried including the bus.
Bike Fest in Morecambe run by Morecambe and District MCC (an affiliated club)
attended with stand.
July
Bike Safe
Stop Discrimination March in
August
Delivered a cheque to Vine House in
MAD MCC charity run for Donna’s Dreamhouse. Provided marshalling
support.
September
Storming the Castle. Ran MAG stall. Recruited members, sold merchandise. Was a busy couple of
days.
Sept 25th Demo Run. Tony gave
an interview before and after the Demo to Biker FM (available to download from
NW MAG website). Police reported being
amazed at the turnout, and that they felt it had run smoothly considering the
numbers involved. There is a real
possibility of future demo’s (pending EU information). Following the demo there was a run to the
North Manchester Alliance Bike Show. The
NMA should cover all north west clubs and is intended to get us all talking to
stop conflicts, arrange events (avoid clashes).
They meet monthly at various locations.
Jesters Rally.
MAG stall, Money was raised for Blackpool MAG through Marquee hire.
October
Hercules Run. MAG provided marshalling, an opportunity to
promote MAG, support a good cause.... and it’s fun.
Marquee hire. Raised some more funds
Afghan Heroes Run Blackpool. Provided marshalling. The run was poorly attended due to the bad
weather and the Monday night timeslot.
There is a possibility of a run next year to coincide with the Blackpool
Rally.
17th October it was MAG’s sad honour to provide marshalling support
for the funeral of late MAG member Andy Topping who lost his fight with
cancer. His passing is a great loss.
25th October North Manchester
Ride Safe Back Safe meeting. Chief inspector Debbie Howard reported a 40%
increase in motorcycle deaths in the region.
As such they are targeting three groups: young riders/drivers; old
riders/drivers; and motorcyclists. We
are the only group to get hit by all three.
Tony responded that concentration of drivers needs looking at and that
you can’t just focus on the victims.
Issues such as mobile phone use should be targeted. The police couldn’t provide details of their figures, and
Tony has asked for the statistics used.
Tony reported that some people help out at the events, but it is always the
same people and has asked for volunteers for future events in the New Year.
Accounts Summary
A lot of transactions have been done in cash due to
signatory problems on the account.
The balance is lower than the beginning of the year due to buying of stock
merchandise, whereas last year merchandise had been sold and stock was low.
£500 was spent on MA jackets (yielding £200 profit, which is high for
merchandise). It was hoped the NW funds
could be utilised to purchase a new NW stall, but there is not enough to
directly fund this.
Outlays have been for the stock which is held, and mailouts
(£40 Wirral and
It was also hoped that NW funds could be used to reimburse for the equipment
previously mentioned, but this is not currently possible.
Northwest account balance is currently £154.
Election of Northwest
Regional Officers
Posts available were Rep, Political Officer, Secretary and
Treasurer.
Tony Cox was proposed and seconded for Regional Rep,
voted in unopposed by majority
Bill Green agreed to stand as Political Officer, voted in by majority
Phil McGladdery, Regional Secretary, voted in
by majority
Gillian Beautyman, Regional Treasurer, voted in
by majority
Address from Paul
Turner, Chairman MAG
Paul reported that it was good to come to a proactive
region. It makes life easier at the MAG
stand at shows etc if people have encountered MAG at other events, which sows
the seed in them leading to further interest and membership. The fundraising in the region is great, but
also the support for charities which raises the profile of MAG and gives a
vital inroad into people respecting our views and opinions.
National MAG issues. We are experiencing an economic downturn but
membership numbers are about the same, despite recruiting new members. The demo on the 25th of September
recruited new members, as has the Bike show at the NEC which recruited 30 new
members over the weekend Paul manned the stand, which shows we are doing
something right. We need to look at
retention of members. A comment was made
that we need to sort out direct debit membership renewals (a long standing
issue). Paul reported that direct debit
will be up and running in January.
Initially this will be annual renewals, but when the database is ready a
quarterly option will be available. The
timescale for this will be announced at the next national committee meeting.
Speaking about the award Tony received in April, Paul stated
that this represents the hard work of the region. The
Paul thanked the AGM for the invite to attend the AGM, and
reported that he will be standing down as Chair in April at the next AGC after
three years in office. As such the
Chairman’s position is up for election, as are positions of directors of the
board of MAG
Suggestions for
promoting MAG in the northwest and the formation of local groups
2 local groups have been formed in the period. Wirral and
A group in the
It was discussed that we need to keep onto local councils
regarding their transport plans (including parking). Tony (Cox) reported that at Preston Train
station it costs the same to park a bike as it does to park a car. Danny Tunnicliff
stated that the car park was privately owned and therefore Local Authorities
had little to do with setting the charges.
The club affiliation scheme was discussed and it was stated
that MAG makes very little money from the scheme but it keeps the message going
out to supporters. The scheme has the
benefit that for the first year of full membership the scheme provides a 20 % discount.
Current issues
A lot of interest at present due to the threats from the EU.
It was reported that there is currently a “hidden threat” from “E10”. This proposal will raise the amount of
ethanol in fuel which apparently will be highly detrimental for older
engines. It was suggested that this may
be an indirect way of getting bikes off the road. This issue is to be monitored.
The G-Mex show is back on but it poorly advertised.
March show is on near the Trafford Centre
Anything for the NW Regional Site – Send it through to NW Rep
Reports are up on site
Leyland Eagles invited MAG to attend
next years rally with the MAG stall.
NABD date is not confirmed but MAG stall is invited
Brickies Rally invitation for MAG stall but this clashes with the G-Mex show
The Legion Rally at
Options regarding a new stall were discussed. It was generally agreed it will be a good
investment. The proposed new stall will
be large to transport so will need a van or trailer. This is not a problem.
It was reported that as of January, power sockets on towbars of cars, bikes and trikes
will be tested as part of the MOT.
AOB
Next year in November there will be elections for Police
Commissioners throughout the
The North Manchester Alliance will be meeting this Tuesday 8
pm at the White Lion Bury.
Karen Lawrinson reported that she
works for a pro-bike MP, and can forward parliamentary questions, which MAG can
suggest. She needs to know what sort of
reply is required. Questions need to be
properly formatted, but she is willing to support this. The MP is formerly a member of the shadow
transport commission but stood down to join the justice commission.
Tony can email questions across. Previously she has asked for evidence on
effectiveness of day glo, and whether insurance
claims will see none wearing as contributory negligence. Also she has forwarded questions regarding
the Get a Grip campaign.
The 25 Sept Demo was discussed. The events referred to as the Charnock Richard Drag Race were clarified, as two bike
riding to catch up to the main body of the protest. The events were well supported, but some set
off points complained as no briefing.
This was due to the organiser breaking down on the way to the set off point.
The problems at the M55 set off were discussed, with the police agreement of
55mph not being met by the riders who rode considerably slower. The police however, despite initial feedback
on the day, were pleased with the way the demo’s went and have already
mentioned future demo’s.
The next demo will possibly be coordinated regional set offs
with one run in the northwest, or with more disruption depending on the threat
from
A discussion was held on electoral information available to
politicians who can check if constituents are active voters (and therefore
whether they are worth responding to).
The Chair of the meeting closed the meeting by thanking Tony
for all his hard work over the year.
2012 NW AGM TBC