NW Report April - May 2015

10th April:- Board meeting Bridgewater Rugby Club

Attended the Board Meeting Bridgewater, Somerset minutes available at www.mag-uk.org

11th April:- MAG AGC held at  Bridgewater Rugby Club

Attended the AGC at Bridgewater Somerset, minutes available at www.mag-uk.org

29th April:- North West Alliance Meeting at Millennium BC Clubhouse Leyland

I attended the meeting along with other NW local group reps. Gave reports on MAG activities and future events. 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.

3rd May Assassins MCC Bike Show, Station Inn, Ashton-Under-Lyne.

            I took the MAG stand down to this show. It was a good turnout and plenty of interest in the MAG stand and products. Picked up a couple of members and distributed loads of information

4th May:  Salford Demo Ride to TfGM Chairman’s house.-.

            This demo was organised by Salford MAG in order to highlight the issues we are having in Salford and Greater Manchester. The Chair of Transport for Greater Manchester has refused to meet us to discuss and so we decided to go round and see him at his house. He did try to escape off in his car when he saw us arriving but we did manage to stop him at the end of his drive and hand him some information including the press release which had been sent to the local media. All in all a very worthwhile exercise.

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

Once again we took the MAG stand to this event. Had a good result with a dozen or so new and renewed members and made a few quid selling second hand bike gear that had been donated.

22nd May: - 5th Warrington Wheels Youth Motorcycle Competition

Once again, NW MAG donated a trophy for this event held at Grappenhall School, Warrington. The competition is run by Bob Towler of the National Youth Bike Team, and the winner from this competition goes on to exhibit at the National Youth Bike Competition in Lincolnshire June 2015.   

27th May: - North West Alliance meeting at Avernus MCC clubhouse, Chorley

I attended the meeting along with other NW local group reps. Gave reports on MAG activities and future events. Manchester MAG rep Jimmy Torence announced his ideas for the 3Ms ride next year, details below.

Other news from around the region

It is exciting times in the North West as we have two new groups starting up. Liverpool MAG plan to have there first meeting on Monday 29th June and Macclesfield MAG plan to have their first meeting on Tuesday 14th July. In addition to this, following discussions that took place at the NABD Rally, we are breathing new life into Red Rose MAG with a re-launch at a new venue on Wednesday 17th June.

Salford MAG are continuing to pressurise TfGM and trying to open negotiations along with moral support from the BMF.

Blackpool MAG are busy getting ready for the annual rally, the 18th year we have put this event on, always on the same weekend but for the second year running the National Chopper Club have decided to put on a rival event 8 miles down the road so we will have to see how that affects the numbers this year as last year was a disaster in money terms, hence the reason for changing from a marquee rally back to a clubhouse rally at a different venue.

Manchester MAG Rep, Jimmy Torrance, is arranging a trip out next year, the 3Ms ride, Manchester to Minsk to Moscow. It has gained interest from others in MAG and may be labelled as a MAG event, July 2016. Jimmy also has plans to arrange a form of treasure hunt for under 25’s the treasure at the end being a MAG membership.

I am still very busy trying to sort out the mess we have found ourselves in with the new website and I am trying to get myself up-to-speed with the format it has been constructed in. The NW donated £2000 to Central funds last month which has cleared the NW account out and I have 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 it’s 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.

 

Best Regards,

Tony Cox, NW Regional Rep.