NW Report August-Sept 07

 

11-12 August:- MAG Board Meeting & NC Meeting

            Attended both Board & NC Meetings at Rugby.

 

15th August, Local Reps meeting at Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Blackpool.

            I organised the usual post NC local reps meeting, and this time it was the turn of Blackpool MAG to host the get together. It seems like we have lost the Liverpool & West Lancs group. I haven’t given up on this completely yet, and I am still trying to persuade one of the former members to take over running of the group.

 

22nd August Charity Night Lancashire Air Ambulance, Glasson Dock, Lancaster

            I attended this event which had a guest appearance by John McGuiness. Managed to get to speak to him about joining MAG. He seemed to know little about what we do, and so I left him with some information and also a membership form. I explained to him that if he where to join because he agreed and supported our policies, this would greatly improve my chances of picking up new members at the TT festival. He seems a genuine enough chap and said that he would take the literature away and have a think about it. Fingers crossed!!!

 

29th August RideSafe BackSafe event at Knott End

            I took the MAG van down to this event at Knott End, Fleetwood, and ran the stall with the help of members from Blackpool MAG. Signed up a couple of new members, and gave away loads of old editions of the Road. The event was well supported but one contentious point of the evening was the decision by the local police division to be out in force with their radar guns, issuing fixed penalties to any speeding bikers on their way to/from the event. Considering that this event is organised by Lancashire Police, the heavy handed approach of the local division did not go down at all well. Once again I found myself questioning whether I wanted to be involved with the RSBS initiative as a MAG representative. More to follow……

 

31st October-2nd September- WozWolf Rally

I attended rally as a normal punter, but managed to distribute loads of flyers for up and coming events in the NW. Came across some dodgy bearded character that had this strange split personality. One minute he was telling my girlfriend that he was MAG’s Clubs officer, and then in the next breath he was introducing himself as MAG’s Vice Chair. Strange person???

 

4th September RideSafe BackSafe meeting at Police HQ, Hutton, Preston.

I attended this regular monthly meeting of the forum. A charity night is being arranged with a guest appearance of John McGuiness planned, to raise funds for the NW Air Ambulance. There was also a report on the significant reduction in fatality figures again this year across the region. I have received some magnetic “Think Bike” signs for the MAG van FOC from the RSBS group, which are quite effective.

When it got to the part of the meeting when we discussed the recent event held at Knott End, I informed the forum that many bikers had approached me that night annoyed at the police activities on the roads leading to the event. This turned into a very heated discussion, as one of the police officers at the meeting was on duty that night, and he tried to defend their actions. As it turns out, a lot of questions have been asked at a very high level within the division, and it has been agreed that any police activity on the nights when these events are being held will be very low keyed. This decision may have come too late for a number of the bike dealers who have already withdrawn their support from the RSBS initiative.

 

21st-23rd September Jesters Rally, Whittingham, Preston

Helped organise and run this rally being a longstanding member of the club, which is MAG affiliated. Used the MAG van as the control point for the rally, and the club members were quite happy with me supplying a couple of hundred old editions of the Road to put into the goody bags of the rally goers. Seemed to be very well accepted and during the clear up on the Sunday, I did not see one discarded issue. Maybe a thought for other MAG/MAG affiliated rallies?

 

22nd-23rd September Motorcycle Extravaganza, Haydock Park

I could not help out at this due to previously mentioned rally commitments. Bill Green, local Rep for Red Rose MAG, took on the responsibility of running the MAG stall. Reports back indicate that it was a fairly quite event, with only a handful of memberships being taken. Lots of literature distributed and a lot of interest shown with MAG and the re-launch. The organisers of this event also run the G-MEX show in Manchester, so it is important that we support this event in order that we get an invite to run the MAG stall FOC at G-MEX. This has not been confirmed yet, and we need to contact the organisers again in November to see what the situation is.

 

 

Will not be able to make the Board or NC meeting this weekend  but Mike Card will be representing the NW. Off to Mobile Chaos Rally (MAG affiliated) at Silverdale and will be taking up some old copies of “The Road” to distribute at the gate, as long as I don’t have to sacrifice too much beer space!!

 

All for now,

Cheers,

Tony