NORTH
WEST MOTORCYCLE ACTION GROUP AGM
PETRE
ARMS
LANGHO
; BLACKBURN
28/02/2016
01. Welcome
Tony Cox (Coxy) welcomed everyone to
the meeting.
02. Election
of AGM Chair
Bill Green was elected unanimously.
03. Apologies
Elaine – Salford Treasurer
04. Minutes
of previous AGM
Minutes were accepted (with one minor
name change alteration) as a true record of the previous AGM (2015).
05. Reps
report
Manchester – Jimmy Torrance
Jimmy has been working closely with
Blayz on the general issues in the Greater Manchester (GM) area. Unfortunately
(as in the majority of GM) the councillors and powers that be are just not
interested in any type of consultation.
The group have taken on some new
younger members and Jimmy commented that it was encouraging to see younger and
lady riders passing their bike tests.
Salford - Blayz
Members signed this year – 7;
Renewals – 2; Clubs renewed – 2.
Salford MAG attended the following
events – Taliesin Brotherhood bike show in Warrington ; Bike show in Widnes ;
HA Manchester American car show with MAG stand ; Mid Life Crisis MCC bike show
; Supported NW MAG stand at Event City ; November auto jumble in aid of Poppy
appeal at Rixton ; supported MAG stand at Bulldog Bash.
Blayz (and secretary) attended the
Consultations on Trafford Waters, a new urban development opposite the Trafford
Centre. It was pointed out that there were no parking facilities for Powered
Two Wheelers (PTW). They were assured that they would be incorporated into the
design.
Attended the Manchester CCCIP
workshop where the vision for the city centre expansion has been revealed. The
second workshop has been postponed but Salford MAG will attend when it is held.
As a direct result of the demo held
in 2014, a series of meetings have been held with the most influential person
in the Transport For Greater Manchester (TFGM), Roger Jones. These have been
held Blayz and Leon Mannings and Councillor Jones is now 100% in favour of
allowing PTWs in bus lanes. It now just remains to convince the other 7
councillors! Unfortunately, our views on Armadillos have been completely
ignored and they are being more widely installed. This, even after they were
informed that, down south, an accident has been directly attributed to them.
Letters have been sent to all GM MPs
and councillors that sit on the TFGM. We have received a copy of the Pathways
to Progress document.
A number of fundraisers were held to
provide funds for our first rally at Barton Airport. However, as this now is
not going ahead, £460 has been handed over to MAG Central.
Blackpool – Dave Smart (Smartie)
The 18th Blackpool MAG
rally was held at a new venue – Fleetwood Rugby Club. The site is a
considerable improvement over the last one. It was an outstanding success,
turning a previous year’s loss into a healthy profit. The only slight ‘fly in the
ointment’ was the restricted use of the site on the Friday night due to a
previously booked event. This will not happen this year!
There was also a HellFire
Halloween/Bonfire rock night which was its usual success. Deathwish the band
had the place rocking!
Once again, the bike show in Stanley
Park was a big success in every area. It was the best year ever for number of
bikes through the gate. Unfortunately, the weather let us down at the 11th
hour. The day started off hot and sunny but mid-afternoon, the heavens opened
and drove the majority of the people away.
Red Rose – Bill Green
Red Rose MAG have moved venues from
the Charles Napier pub (due to its closure) to the Petre Arms. This has been a
massive improvement and the staff of the Petre couldn’t be more welcoming.
There has also been a considerable
increase in members (mainly A59ers) which has had a very positive effect.
The 13th Fred Hill Run was
organised and it was the best weather ever. Cold but dry and sunny.
The first rock night was held on in
February at the Judge Walmsley Hotel in Billington. This was a resounding
success and £200 was raised for MAG.
Morecambe - Kev
MAG and Morecambe and District (MAD)
MCC are much intertwined. Two new members signed up this year.
A charity event was held to raise
money for the Blood Bikes.
There is a family fun day being
organised at Lancaster Brewery buy MAG/MAD on the 26th July. There
will be bands, attractions and a bike show so any support would be greatly
appreciated.
Kev is also attempting to gauge how
much interest there would be in Electric 80s rock night.
Liverpool – Alec
Liverpool MAG was formed in the last
12 months and is still a fledgling group.
The biggest problem in Liverpool is
the complete lack of designated PTW parking spaces. Representations have been
made to the council and they have promised to explore the issue.
A bit of good news. There is to be a
new bridge built over the Mersey River. It will be a toll but there are no
plans to charge PTWs. This also applies to the current bridge and the Mersey
tunnel.
The issue of PTWs in bus lanes is
also being pursued.
Nick Sanders is hosting a bike
treasure hunt event. The bonus for MAG is that as part of the hunt, one of the
clues will mean a mandatory visit to the MAG stand.
Nick Sanders will also be leading the
Great Brain Ride charity ride on 30th July from Liverpool to Great
Chester Lakes.
Wirral
No report
Macclesfield
No report
NW Report – Coxy
I went along to support
this event which was held to raise money for MAG.
It is the third time we
have arranged this course which lasts for three years. Brilliant course, would
highly recommend it
I was asked to chair this
meeting. Very well attended, good meeting
28-29th March: - Manchester Event
City Motorcycle Show
This
show goes from strength to strength. Supported once again by a loyal gang of
MAG volunteers
It was decided that the Shameless
sign that has been doing the rounds would be raffled off at the NABD rally with
profits being split 50/50 between MAG & NABD.
Once again we took the
MAG stand to this event
Once again, NW MAG
donated a trophy for this event held at Grappenhall School, Warrington.
I attended the meeting
along with other NW local group reps.
Following on from a
discussion held at the NABD rally last month, it was decided to re-launch Red
Rose MAG as it was felt that the group was not going anywhere at its current
location. It was a good turnout with many new faces making an appearance and
promise of plenty of future activity.
I attended the meeting
along with other NW local group reps. Gave reports on MAG activities and future
events. Good turnout.
Very successful and £3k
sent down to Central on the back of it.
I went down with a few of
the local reps to support the launch of Liverpool MAG. I had approached Alec
Hughes a while ago at one of the NW Alliance meetings about starting this group
and after some deliberation he agreed and the group has been formed. An
enthusiastic bunch turned out on the night and hope that the numbers will
increase as MAG needs representation within this city.
The launch of
Macclesfield MAG was very well attended by local bike groups and other MAG
groups. Paul “Winch” Winchester has taken up the mantle in running this group
and it seems that he has plenty of support from across the Border into East
Midlands and Peak and District MAG.
I attended the meeting
and gave reports on MAG activities and future events. Good turnout.
Took MAG National Stand
to the Bulldog Bash as MAP were unable to support this year. Was made to feel
very welcome, had a prime spot in the Custom Bike Show Big Top. Only picked up
a handful of memberships but took a substantial amount in donations.
Ran the NW MAG stand at
this event as well as helping run the rally
Took the NW MAG stand to
this event with support from Blackpool and Salford MAG. Good attendance and
hoping to get the Taliesin to affiliate to MAG as many are already full members
and very supportive.
.Could not attend as had
other personnel commitments but reported good turnout and hopefully monies
raised.
I attended the meeting
along with other NW local group reps.
Great to be back in the
valley at the Farmyard site. Really chilled out weekend apart from the
“poppers” incident. Well done to all involved.
Once again NW MAG were
tasked with organising the Road Marshalling of this annual event which is in
its 13th year. The run took 117 bikes 115 miles from Preesall to
Brougham Hall Penrith over some of the most beautiful countryside. Very
stressful yet enjoyable day. We had help from Blood bikes this year which does
help when you have bikes with “blues and twos”.
Kev Hyde, the Morecambe
MAG rep took the MAG stand to this event and I went to assist. Good Rally and
lots of positive feedback.
MAG were invited to
attend this event via the Salford group so took the stand down and ran it with
Steve Blay.
I got back in time from
Rixton to help out with the running of this event. Went very well and made a
good profit for the fighting fund.
I attended this meeting
as observer. Steve Blay returned as local rep and political officer, David
(Floyd) Stevens as Chairman, Elaine Blay as Treasurer/Secretary.
It was an excellent
turnout. The main discussion was around clash of events and clubs having to
work together and respect long standing dates in the calendar. Website based
calendar now in use and is being kept up to date.
I went along to support
this event. It was great to see the level of support from local MCCs and MCs.
Very successful night with money being raised for MAG funds.
I arranged a meeting with
the sales manager of Blackpool Honda to discuss the franchise giving away free
MAG memberships with bike sales and training courses. All seemed to be going
well until I mentioned that MAG would be requiring £16 to cover the maintenance
of the membership. I get the feeling that he thought that it would be costing
them nothing?
It was a very good
attendance. Signed up the Gypsy Divas MCC on the night which was a bonus!
Fantastic weather, good turnout and
inspiring speech at Blackburn Cathedral by Bill
Red Rose
MAG hosted their re-launch Rock night which is big success
Other points:
Last year saw the launch
of Liverpool & Macclesfield Groups plus the re-launch of Red Rose MAG. The
NW now has more local groups than any other region.
The NW donated £2000 to
Central funds which cleared the NW account out and I then closed it down as we
were getting a terrible service from RBS. The NW can manage without an account
for now as the main money earner, Blackpool MAG, has its own account and any
donations from the rally will be sent directly from there. I will manage the NW
accounts on a cash basis for now unless instructed otherwise?
Blackpool MAG rally went
well this year donating £3k to Central funds and the Bike Show which is classed
as a NW event was also run exclusively by members of Blackpool MAG and this was
also a great success.
Stu from Wirral MAG is
trying to organise a Rock Night to help publicise the group’s presence and
raise some funds.
I am still very busy
trying to coordinate modifications to the new web-site and upgrade of our IT
systems as well as supporting other events.
Salford MAG now have a dedicated contact at Salford Council who is
to be the Motorcycle Liaison between Salford MAG and the other Traffic &
Road services. Leon Mannings attended a meeting alongside Steve Blay from
Salford MAG during the afternoon of the 25th November with key transport policy
influencer Cllr Roger Jones. Jones is prepared to go on record saying that he
supports the idea of motorbike access to all bus lanes in Greater Manchester.
More details will be available in Dr Leon Mannings report to the NC.
The
planned Salford MAG Rally will not go ahead this year due to building work on
the site. Pete Walker kindly visited the site a few weeks ago and has given a
glowing report of the site.
Liverpool MAG are
planning a joint weekend event next year along with “Bikers for Neurology” on
the last weekend of July 2016. I will be helping out wherever possible with
stalls, t-shirts patches etc.
Macclesfield MAG are
looking at setting up their own web-site and so I have been trying to assist
where possible.
John
Wilson, member of Morecambe MAG has contacting me in relation to opening up the
bus lane between Lancaster & Morecambe which we are looking into.
I
am keeping the MAG UK and NW MAG sites updated as much as possible but I am
also caretaker of the NW Alliance website and Facebook sites and it is
difficult keeping everything up-to-date.
The NW donated £2000 to
Central funds which cleared the NW account out and I then closed it down as we
were getting a terrible service from RBS. The NW can manage without an account
for now as the main money earner, Blackpool MAG, has its own account and any
donations from the rally will be sent directly from there. I will manage the NW
accounts on a cash basis for now unless instructed otherwise?
06. Treasurers
report – Coxy (temporary)
Details of the current financial
position were attached to the AGM agenda.
07. Election
of NW regional officers.
Regional Rep – Coxy : Unopposed.
Secretary – Smartie : Unopposed.
Treasurer – Bill : Unopposed.
Political Officer – Bill : Unopposed.
Affiliated Clubs Officer – Blayz : Unopposed.
Address from Oliver (Director MAG)
Oliver thanked Red Rose MAG for their
hospitality.
This year there are a number of
‘anniversary’ events so it would be a bonus if as many people could attend as
possible – Into the Valley (price still frozen); Yorkshire Pudding; Farmyard Party;
Stormin’ The Castle.
08. Future
events
02/03
April - Manchester Event City Bike show
09
April - MAG UK AGC, Barnsley Rugby Club
06-08
May - NABD Rally
24-26
June - Blackpool MAG High ChapaRally
03
July - NW MAG Bike Show, Blackpool
11-14
Aug - Bulldog Bash (30th); MAG
stand
Booking
fee waived if ordered before end of March.
05
Nov - Blackpool Hellfire Bonfire Party
09. AOB
EU
referendum.
There
will be a referendum on 23/06 regarding the staying in or not of the UK in the
EU. MAG has no official stance on this issue as the organisation is apolitical.
However, Brussels are trying to integrate UK bikers with the rules of the rest
of Europe. If we leave where do we stand with FEMA? We will still need them and
a lot of work has gone on recently to get FEMA back on board with MAG.
Bikes
in bus lanes and armadillos.
Blayz has been liaising with Huddersfield MAG
as they have had a lot of success in this area. Basically, armadillos steal
valuable road space (1.5m) as well as introducing a physical hazard to ALL road
users. A government backed firm (Sustrans) get a payback for every armadillo
lane introduced so the fight, as always, comes down to money. The money is
allocated at the beginning of the financial year and if not spent, it is taken
back. Quite an incentive for the firm! The main way we can influence the
decision is by a definite correlation between the armadillos and accidents. One
has already been reported from down south. If anybody hears of any incidents
please report them.
Putting
PTWs in bus lanes definitely reduces accidents as there is less ‘contact’ with
other road users.
There
is no mileage in organising another demo in the Manchester area as the council
(as previously mentioned) just will not listen and local press seem
uninterested. Only politics will make any inroads. Things may change when the
council is devolved as they will be in charge of bigger budgets. Congestion
charges are being considered although there are no plans to bring in ‘no
emission’ zones at present.
NW
Motorcycle Alliance
The
meetings are held at various venues in the last week of each month. The
Alliance is going from strength to strength and MAG have a very strong
presence. Anybody interested in attending, have a word with your local rep.
10. Miscellaneous
Points/comments
raised in no particular time or importance order.
The
Warrington Wheels event will be held on the 27th May. This is an
event aimed at younger riders. A vote was taken to allocate £20 of NW MAG funds
towards the trophy which is also sponsored by the NWMA. The vote was positively
accepted unanimously. Bob asked if somebody could present the trophy and any volunteers
on the day would be greatly appreciated.
11. Meeting
closed
Bill
closed the meeting at 14.05