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DE LAUNE CYCLING CLUB

FOUNDED 1889

Sponsored by EVANS CYCLES (UK) Ltd. & SPECIALIZED CYCLES

 August 2002
No. 841 -73rd Year

www.delaunecc.org

THE DE LAUNE TEAM SEEN HERE ON THE LEFT
 FINISHED SECOND IN THE RED BULL 24-HOUR EVENT.
Details inside.

THE PRESIDENTS REPORTS

We have just got back from France, it was hell but we made it, Brian Saxton, Tich Shambrook, Gordon Gibbens and I made our annual trip across the channel to watch 'la Tour de France'

It is the same format each year. Good food, good wine, good company and of course watching the best cycle race in the world. To be a success in life you have got to set yourself higher targets each year and this year we did.

Last years target was to watch the stages of the Tour from a bar sitting with a cold beer in one hand and French bread and cheese in the other - perfect!

This year we set a higher target. A bar, cold beer, French bread and cheese and a TV set so we could dash into the bar when they went past to watch the rest of the race!

Our first stop was at Bazas. This was the start of stage 10. We watched the riders signing on and then made a dash down the road to our Mecca, the bar, ordered the beers and sandwiches and sat back. I can remember someone saying 'this is the life'.

We could hear the crowds shouting and could see the helicopters overhead it then went all quiet guess what? we were on the wrong road and the riders went the other way !

It was good to see John and Marian Dods at the start. As it was such a nice area they had decided to hire a caravan for the week at Bazas. It was good to see John up on his feet again as he had spent the best part of last month in a French hospital with what he called 'a permanent headache' John has lost a few pounds and looks the better for it.

We made our way down to the Pyrenees and stopped at Lourdes. This would give us access to two of the hilly stages, so we thought. It would seem that the French police close the roads on a whim when the Tour is around. Twice we had to park the car (what no bikes I hear you say) and walk miles to see the race.

It is all worth it as the atmosphere is electric. The first hour you have got the cavalcade going through giving away all sorts of things like hats, bonk bags, coffee, sweets and vests, followed by the riders. On two of the stages we saw Laurent Jalabert up at the front in breakaway groups. The crowds just love the guy.

We stopped at the Ibis hotel in the center of Carcassonne to see the 13th stage from Lavelanet to Beziers and guess what? The race came past our hotel in the center of town so it was outside of the hotel with beer in hand, of course.

When I said good food and wine, we found the reds a little tangy in that part of France so we decided to spend more than a Euro per bottle. We had good and bad food. At one restaurant Stax ordered steak for both of us, well done. When it came I thought it was a large slice of beetroot! The next day we did not go far from a toilet, I can tell you.

On our way back to the UK we stopped at a place called Rocamadour this is in the Dordogne. The area is noted for its duck. I love duck and the other three were not that happy with the set meals, which contained a lot of duck. You had a duck salad starter, followed by a nice duck soup, followed by sliced duck on a bed of beans and you finished off with a duck trifle. What more could you ask for! I had to tell Brian Saxton (he does moan) that it was better than the beetroot steak he had ordered the other night.

That is all for now. I hope to send Mark a few snaps for our next issue, if I get them back from the developers.

Kav

The Red Bull 24hr Mountain Mayhem 2002 James Lyons

The most popular endurance mountain bike race on the UK calendar without a doubt, the 5th Annual Red Bull race returned to Sandwell Valley Park, Birmingham on the weekend of 22nd-23rd June. It's always held on the weekend closest to the summer solstice and once again the weather played ball…coolish and slightly overcast on the Saturday but with gorgeous sunshine on the Sunday. De Laune had two teams this year, imaginatively named 'A' and 'B' consisting of James' Lett and Lyon, Ross Fryer and Steve Price in the A team and Andrew King, Cliff Steele, Simon Pamplin and Malcolm Fawcett in the B team. Doing a sterling job in the helping stakes were Carol, Tig and Bill. Ross, Malcolm and Cliff arrived in the van on Friday; I'd been there since Thursday so we had our campsite in good order fairly quickly. The rest of the teams showed up on Saturday morning.

The race starts at 2pm on Saturday and goes right through until 2pm on Sunday. The format is fairly simple…there must be a team member out on the course at all times and each team member must ride at least 2 laps. Apart from that the planning is up to you. The suburbs of Birmingham aren't renowned for their mountains but the course designers had set out a 10 mile lap consisting of bumpy grass climbs and descents, a little bit of tarmac and a lot of single track. The course also managed to contain a surprising amount of climbing…the altimeter on my cycle computer recorded 700ft (200m) per lap.

The race starts with a LeMans style run to the bikes…anyone who has ever seen 400 mountain bikers sprinting half a mile to where their bike is held by a team member will understand the "Mayhem" part of the title. Steve Price was volunteered to run for our team and put in a great start, getting out onto the course well up with the leaders. He came through in just over 45 minutes and handed over to me. Lap times throughout the race were very consistent between all the team members, all of the A team averaging about 44 minutes per 10-mile lap, although James Lett turned in a blisteringly quick sub-41 minute lap early on. Up until nightfall everything was going well, in fact De Laune A was in the lead for most of that time. The dark hours however are what can make and break the race for many. There's not many incentives to climb out of a warm sleeping bag at 2am and thrash round a course that you've already ridden so many times you can almost do it blindfold. Steve and I took the "early" shift from 10pm ish through till about 1.30am when James Lett and Ross took over riding duties. Riding at night brings a whole new meaning to mountain biking. You're riding through a tunnel of light, there's no peripheral vision, no scenery to look at and everything feels twice as fast. Unfortunately things weren't actually twice as fast with the result that we lost the lead to Team Pedal-On sometime in the small hours.

A lot of mountain bikers adopt the "If I can't see it, it can't hurt me" approach to night riding, sadly trees and rocks are just as hard at night as they are at any other time and I witnessed a couple of very funny incidences where riders in front of me rode through bushes they didn't know were there. I didn't have any of these problems…I had a phenomenally bright 40W head-torch which, from a distance looked like a small alien spacecraft moving along about 5 foot from the ground. James Lett borrowed it for a lap and couldn't believe how much faster he went…riders would move out of the way without you even asking!

Dawn arrived and I was woken up from sleep by a mixture of the dawn chorus and riders changing gear 2 yards from my tent as they rode past. There was a battle royal going on for first place now, with Team Pedal On edging ahead, then being pulled back, and then edging ahead again. Meanwhile, 3rd place was being keenly contested as well with both the Army CC and Arctic RC chasing hard. Lap times now were faster as riders put in more of an effort as the end drew near. I came through into the arena 5 minutes before the bell and James Lett went out for the final lap. The team that had been chasing us so hard failed to make the 2pm cut-off, which put them a lap down on us. Out of the 188 Sport Men teams only 2 had done 33 laps; Team Pedal-On in 1st place and De Laune A in 2nd place, less than 8 minutes behind after 24 hours of racing. Two hours later, the team was stood on the podium. An amazing achievement and an amazing feeling as well. Team B managed to get a very creditable 24th place in spite of Cliff trying to demolish his bike and Malcolm taking his own sweet time to get to the handover area!

None of this would have been possible without the help and support from Tig, who kept track of two teams for 24 hours and organised all the riders to be in the right place at the right time, Carol who cooked up some fantastic food and kept the campsite in order and Bill who cleaned and lubed all the bikes after every lap ready for their next thrashing.

The Kona 100 MTB Endurance Race

Formerly known as the Schwinn 100, this event has now become one of the must-do endurance races of the year. Held every year in Builth Wells, mid-Wales, it's a single-loop 100km (60 mile) race around the valleys and hills surrounding this little village. Having done the event last year I knew roughly what to expect and I was joined once again by Cliff who had obviously forgotten his comments last year of "Never again". Ross had sensibly decided that he had family commitments that weekend and was unable to make it.

The event was huge; there were an estimated 1700 riders, most doing the full 100K, some on a "fun" 50K loop. By 9am on Sunday morning the start line was packed out as far as the eye could see, in a line about 15 riders wide and several hundred deep. At 10am, the pace car honked it's horn and the race was on…a 6K neutralised roll-out through the village began this scenic jaunt in the woods. The atmosphere was amazing; shopkeepers and residents turned out in force along the streets to cheer everyone along, spirits were high and a few people got a little too into the race too early on by setting off at a storming pace. A few tarmac hills gradually sorted the riders into some sort of order before the first bit of off road, a climb up onto the moor. At this point the weather appeared to be typical Welsh summer…grey and damp. I'd suffered last year in these conditions and wasn't looking forward to repeating the experience. However after an hour or so, the sun began putting in brief appearances until the clouds finally cleared away towards the last third of the race.

I reached the first feed station but didn't bother stopping. The downhill off the moor beckoned and it was a cracker; fast, rocky and with some big rolling drop-offs that earned many a rider a good couple of feet of air. The trail continued undulating for a while, never really flat, always either up or down. The second feed station was at the top of a long fireroad drag, one of those climbs that you think will be over round the next bend but never is. I stopped briefly then set off into the forestry part of the course. This slowed things down considerably as the going got muddy and technical. I hate riding in ruts at the best of times, mainly due to my inability to stay upright for more than 30 seconds at a time - here the course was not only very rutted but also very slippery and I ended up riding with a foot out to act as a stabiliser for a while. I also appeared to have become a meals-on-wheels special for the army of midges that swarmed beneath the trees.

The half-way point of the course was at the bottom of a valley. It had taken me 2hrs 40 min so far. The fantastic technical descent to the bottom of the valley was marred somewhat by the brutally steep granny ring climb out but once up on the moor again we joined some army road which made the going much easier. We descended on road for a while, knobbly tires whirring loudly as they skittered round the bends and I hit 45mph. The third feed station loomed and again I stopped for a while for a banana then set off onto the climb round a large quarry. This went on for ages and the course map became a bit of a blur in my head…fireroad-singletrack-climb-descent all merged into one and I just concentrated on turning the pedals. We reached the army track across the moor, riding through puddles left in the Land Rover ruts. Some of these puddles were only an inch deep, others could have floated a boat. It was difficult to tell which category the puddle fell into until you were knee deep in it thinking, "Hmm, I wish I'd walked round that".

Some more fireroad cruising then we hit the main road and turned off onto the final off road section. Coming so near the end of the race, this was a killer; five miles of climbing on bumpy grass, gears grinding after the constant soaking in Welsh mud. The miles dragged on. 55. 55.1. 55.2. It seemed never ending but then came the last bit of descending on smooth grass with dips, hollows, jumps and berms. I threw caution (and sanity) to the wind and hurtled down it far too fast for safety, getting air off the whoops and sliding the bike through the corners. A final bit of woodland single track, a stream crossing (just to make sure that we were totally wet) and then the welcome words of "1km to finish". I raced another rider the final few hundred yards to the finish, the two of us bunny-hopping ruts and skidding round the corners. I came across the line after 5.39.17 in the saddle, one of the toughest events I've done, but also one of the most enjoyable. I was 52nd out of about 400 in the Open Men category. The weather, for the most part, was good, the competitiveness was also great, and with all riders having stories to tell of their own personal little battles. Cliff rolled across the finish line in 6.40.01, 112th in the Master Men category out of almost 500. There were still riders coming in after over 10 hours, a marathon by anyone's standards.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm working…."
(if you heard it, you'll know what I mean!)

All quiet on the western front! Yes it's July and the only racing would appear to be on the box. There will be a Special General Meeting of the South East Road Race League on the 28th July to finalise the resignations of Vic and Bill after their long and greatly appreciated service, and to hopefully nominate replacements. All news will be reported in the next DLN. Ho-hum, that's it. Back to the box.

Eurosport I expect you all know the standings so I'll have a quick run through the side shows. Poor Moreau. He does like tarmac doesn't he! And only one showing of his panting dog impression as he came in after losing several years to Armstrong on the first day in the mountains. Ludo on the other hand has been giving it large all over the place and is well placed in the Gargoyle of the Year competition. Toilet humour time. Eurosport's transmission of one of the early stages started just as the whole peleton decided to take a leak around some poor roadside spectators, and then the heli-camera followed a Credit Agricole rider as he nipped into a vinyard and started to disrobe to answer nature's more moving call. I thought this was a family show! As for 'Duffers'. Well, what can you say. With Christy Anderson and Sean Kelly there for the actual analysis of the race (and very good they are too) he has been left to do what he does best. You name it, he's eaten and drunk it, or, will be eating and drinking it later. Ten minutes just on the crunchy effect of his toffee lattice compared to the succulent strawberries that went with it. Genius. I have been led to believe that ITV2 are covering the race. No competition. The scenery in both the Pyrennes and the Alps has been stunning. Once again crowds have thronged to the roadside and been most vociferous in their support. I cannot thank the Eurosport production team enough for bringing this spectacle into our living rooms. Sit back and enjoy the show. The result might be a forgone conclusion but it's the getting there that counts. Race Diary It would seem Duffers is keeping you all too entertained elsewhere, probably the larder. I hope to be hearing more from you all next month and who knows, I might even get to write one myself.

Avec travail d'equipe

Ben

O.M.A.NEWS

Isle of Man week I read with great interest Dot's account of her trip with the De Laune to the Isle of Man. This reminded me of a rather funny story from the same trip.

The Isle of Man was, probably still is, famous for fresh smoked kippers. I lived with my Grandma in Herne Hill back in those days, she loved fresh smoked kippers, and the shop selling the kippers in Douglas ran an express mail postal service across to England. I treated dear Grandma to a "surprise" pack of the fresh kippers and mailed them to her back at Regent Road, Herne Hill.

Unknown to me Grandma had decided to take a few days holiday while I was in the Isle of Man. When I got back home I asked Grandma how she liked her little "surprise" "Oh" she said it was you! Apparently the postman had not been able to find anyone home when he delivered the package so pushed it through the letterbox. There happened to be a heat wave on at the time so when grandma got back home a few days later she did have a big "surprise" I will leave the rest to your imagination.

 Does Dot remember Howstrake Holiday Camp and how they would not serve breakfast after 9 AM? All the De Laune mob were late that first morning, we were told by the head waiter in no uncertain manner that we would not be served if late again. For the rest of the week we all used to get to the restaurant at exactly 8-59am, the headwaiter was not amused. The headwaiter always wore a very striking mauve dinner jacket; I seem to remember that it "disappeared" during that week. Was it Ken Knapman that was wearing it on the boat back to Liverpool?

May I offer my best congratulations to Brian Dacey and Peter Jenn on their incredible performance in the Vets Track Championships, wish I could have been at the Hill to see them. Sounds like the De Laune made a clean sweep of everything, fantastic performance. Always enjoy keeping up with cycling in the DLN.

John Darroch

RETIREMENT IN PHUKET:

These days I am often asked by friends and acquaintances; usually much younger than I, what it is like to be retired and living in Phuket, Thailand. Paradise as it is known locally. These folk always ask me what do, now that I am retired. Well in short I don't do anything. That's what retirement is all about. If you're obsessed by the need to be doing something all the time, you might as well keep on working.

You can then consider yourself a slave to the Puritan work ethic, which holds that a person's worth is measured solely by the work he does, and that the minute he stops working, he becomes a useless drone who deserves to be kicked off this planet.

Let me tell you that as a retiree, you're not supposed to do a blessed thing. You're just supposed to sit there soaking up the sun, bestirring yourself occasionally to brush away any flies that may have gathered to feed upon you. I realize that this lofty concept will bewilder many, so let me describe the program of systematic indolence that I have carefully and meticulously crafted - a program I follow rigorously and recommend most enthusiastically as the ideal retirement plan.

I arise just before 9 am, in fact just in time to catch Larry King Live on CNN. I am a big fan of Larry's, except when interviewing Tammy Faye Bakker, or any of the legions of psychic fruitcakes that claim to communicate instantaneously with the dead, or superannuated celebrities waxing eloquent about their medical problems. (The worst was Larry Hagman, of Dallas fame, who started off my day on just the right foot by relating the exciting details of his liver transplant.) After Larry King, I brush my teeth and drag a comb through my hair, yes I still have some then I go back to bed for my morning nap. At noon I go out to get the newspaper and a quick bite of lunch. I then return to my bed for my early afternoon nap. Mid-afternoon, I get up, take a leisurely shower then sit down on the sofa and turn on the TV to see if any earth-shattering news has broken whilst I was slumbering. If not, I go back up to bed for my late afternoon nap.

Around 7 or 8 pm, I bestir myself and watch TV. If there's nothing worth watching, I go back to bed for my evening nap. I find that an occasional evening nap is necessary to maintain the fine cutting edge of my proficiency as a world-class napper. Between my naps Jead will often bring me a cup of Ovaltine, I find that this allows me an even better nap. Around 8 or 9 PM, I go out for supper and a health-enhancing glass of red wine. Then, to reward myself for being such a productive member of society, not to mention a major role model for thousands of aspiring retirees, I go to bed around 11 PM.

Critics will carp that I spend all my time napping. Yes! Napping is even better than doing nothing, at which I am an expert. It renews my aging cells and stores energy to be used wisely for useful activities such as more napping.

Major cultural heroes of our time, like Snoopy and Garfield, spend all their time napping, and look how mellow and well adjusted they are. They are also beloved by millions of fans. And there is a theological consideration: if God didn't want us to take naps, he wouldn't have made us get old and given us eye lids.

Yes I fully admit that my program will be found wanting by those restless and misguided souls who perpetually lust for something to do. But they need to realign their brain cells and get themselves adjusted to a more relaxing life. If they really need something to do, they should design a giant running wheel, like the ones in hamsters' cages - and run on it, just like a hamster.

Oh well Jead has just given me a nice hot cup of Ovaltine, my eyelids are heavy, it's time for another nap.

John.

John I always thought you were the "Action Man" type, you could have stayed at home in California and spent the day in bed, just think of the money you would have saved. Ed.

Hi guys, Tuesday 16th July 2002.

I have an internet guy in Virginia that I have been corresponding with for about a year now. We met because I am building a scale model galleon, I am building a scale model of "San Felipe" a Spanish Man o war and he the "Wasa" a Dutch Man o war.

It is a small world for I mentioned to him I was watching Le Tour de France each day on ESPN. His son in law is Tyler Hamilton who used to be with the US Postal Service team and is now in another team. Tyler has his own website, great reading I thoroughly recommend a look. You get a daily look at the Tour and an insight of what goes on behind the scenes.

www.tylerhamilton.com Enjoy the Tour,

John D.

THE PRESIDENT'S NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS johnkav@blueyonder.co.uk

Hi there,
My name is Ray BOSTOCK (also known as Fred for some reason )and was browsing the net and came across your site. I used to be a member in late 60's / early 70's in the days of Reg Barnett. Happy days racing at Crystal palace, norman park and time trialing at Badgers mount Its nice to see a decent racing top rather than the old light blue white and brown hoops, also seeing that you have branched out into other cycling fields Well I am 48 now and back on my bike ( mountain type )and cycling to work after several knee ops. I see that you have an event on 04/08/02 at Herne Hill what time does this start?

Well keep up the good work and I will regularly visit the site

The minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 20^th June 2002 at the De Laune Memorial Clubroom, 93 Choumert Road, Peckham. 12 members present. A Lester in the chair.

A Lester started the meeting at 8.30 p.m. and he thanked the attendees for making the effort to be there.

Apologies for absence were received from :- John O’Brien, Quil Forbes, Mike Peel

1.       The minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 14^th June 2001 were accepted as a true record, proposed by J Peckham, seconded by A Rowe.

2.       Election of Officers for 2002 (Committee positions)

a)      President. J Kavanagh was re-elected , proposed by A. Rowe, seconded by J Peckham.

b)      Vice-Presidents - A How, G Wood, L Pyne, J Darroch, G Birch, D Fuller, W Wright and K Chown. Proposed A Rowe, seconded J Peckham

c)      Chairman – A Lester, proposed A Rowe, seconded by J. Peckham.  .

d)      General Secretary – P. Harris, proposed J Peckham, seconded A Rowe.

e)      Assistant Secretary - Y Gregory, proposed J Peckham, seconded A Rowe.

f)        Treasurer – J. Lett, , proposed J Peckham, seconded J White.

g)      Social Secretary – This position was left unfilled.

h)      De Laune News Editor - M and J Ballamy, proposed J Peckham, seconded J White.

i)        Press Secretary – This position was left unfilled.

j)        Youth Development Officer - W. Wright, proposed J Peckham, seconded A Rowe

k)      Canteen Manager - This position was left unfilled.

l)        Property Steward – F Rudd, proposed J Peckham, seconded A Rowe

m)    Old Members’ Association Secretary - D Fuller, proposed Brian Saxton, seconded A Rowe.

n)      Clubroom Maintenance Co-ordinator – W. Wright, proposed J Peckham, seconded A Rowe.

o)      Club Clothing Secretary – J. Peckham, proposed J Lett, seconded J White.

p)      Club Captain – C Steele, proposed A Rowe, seconded J White.

q)      Club Vice-Captain – M Goodes, proposed A Rowe, seconded J White.

r)       Road Race Secretary – B. Neville, proposed A Rowe, seconded J White.

s)       Triathlon Secretary – This position was left unfilled.

t)        Time Trial Secretary – A Rowe, proposed W Wright, seconded J White.

u)      Track Secretary – J White, proposed J Peckham, seconded J Lett.

v)      Off-road Secretary – R Fryer, proposed J Lett, seconded J Peckham.

w)    Five Club Committee Ordinary Members –S Carter-Smith. (This leaves four further positions unfilled).

3.       Officials for 2001 (non-Committee positions)

a)      General Trustees - P Harris, W Miles, W Wright, M Peel, M Rice, D Fuller and M Ballamy, S Carter–Smith, J O’Brien. This was agreed.

b)      Timekeepers - R Savery, M Rice, W Wright, J Ballamy, M Peel and J Briggs are all prepared to continue. A Lester was added to the list.

c)      Handicappers - M Rice, M Peel, M Adams, J Briggs, M Goodes and J O’Brien are all prepared to continue.

d)      Handbook Editor - M Peel is prepared to continue.

e)      Club Archivist - B Saxton is prepared to continue.

f)        Silverdale How Committee - B Saxton, K Chown, W Wright and F Rudd are all prepared to continue.

g)      BAR Co-ordinator - W Wright is prepared to continue.

h)      South East League Road Race Representative – B Neville is prepared to continue.

4.       J Lett presented the accounts.  There had been an unresolved difference in the accounts of £280, which had come to light during the preparation of the annual accounts, but had stemmed from the handover from S Carter-Smith to J Lett.  There had been insufficient time for the past and present treasurers to resolve this.  The treasurer was confident that this could be soon dealt with.  The untimely death of Charlie Curthoys, one of the auditors, meant that the audit was not complete.  J Lett proposed that the adoption of the accounts should be carried forward until the next general meeting.   This Adoption of the Accounts for 2000. Proposed by J. Peckham, seconded by A. Rowe. W Wright proposed a vote of thanks to S Carter-Smith for his hard work in preparing the accounts.

5.       Appointment of two Club Auditors for the 2001 Accounts –S. Carter-Smith is prepared to continue.

6.       Open Promotions for 2001

a)     Time Trials

Fred Peachey Memorial 25 mile TT –M Admas.

b)      Road Races

South East League RR – B Neville

c)      Circuit Races

Crystal Palace League meeting - M Peel

d)      Off-Road

MTB Eastway League event - W Wright

e)      Cyclo-Cross

An Open Cyclo-Cross Event - W Wright

7.       Affiliations for 2001

All the affiliations were renewed en bloc:

a)      British Cycling

b)      Cyclists’ Touring Club

c)      Eastern Counties Cycling Association

d)      Eastway Supporters’ League

e)      British Schools’ Cycling Association

f)        Herne Hill Supporters League

g)      Kent Cycling Association

h)      Road Records Association

i)        Road Time Trials Council

j)        Southern Counties Cycling Union

k)      South East Road Racing League

l)        Women’s Cycle Racing Association

8.       Winter Activities for 2001/2002

a)      Freewheel Contest - T Deeley

b)      Christmas Club Run – organiser to be appointed by the committee

9.         It was proposed by A Lester, seconded by W Wright, that Rule 7 be changed as follows: In the fourth sentence, after the words ‘Road Race Secretary’, the words ‘Track Secretary’ should be inserted.  There were no dissenting arguments.  The motion was carried unanimously.

10      J White had previously been elected to the position of track secretary.

11.       It was proposed by A Lester, seconded by W Wright that Rule 7 should be changed as follows: In the fourth sentence, after the words ‘Vice-Captain’, the words ‘Membership Secretary’ should be inserted.  There were no dissenting arguments.  The motion was carried unanimously.

12.       C Steele was elected Membership Secretary, proposed J Peckham, seconded A Rowe

13.       It was proposed by A Lester, seconded by W Wright that Rule 7 should be changed as follows: In the fourth sentence, after the words ‘Vice-Captain’, the words ‘Sponsorship Secretary’ should be inserted.  There were no dissenting arguments.  The motion was carried unanimously.

14        C Steele was elected Sponsorship Secretary, proposed J Peckham, seconded A Rowe

15.       It was proposed by A Lester, seconded by W Wright that Rule 7 should be changed as follows: In the fourth sentence, that the words ‘Junior Secretary’, the words ‘Youth Development Officer’ should be inserted.  There were no dissenting arguments.  The motion was carried unanimously.

16.       It was proposed by A Lester, seconded by W Wright that Rule 7 should be changed as follows, The words ’Road Race Secretary’, ‘Time Trial Secretary’, ‘Off-Road Secretary’ and ‘Track Secretary’ should be changed to ‘Road Race Manager’ ‘Time Trial Manager’, Off-Road Manager’ and ‘Track Manager’ There were no dissenting arguments.  The motion was carried unanimously.

12.       Any Other Business

J Peckham asked what was happening about the future of the Clubroom.  The Secretary gave a brief report to the meeting outlining the work the committee had done concerning the relocation of the club.  Firstly, it was the view of the majority of the committee and active club members that it would be in the Club’s best interests to use Herne Hill Stadium as the base for the Club’s activities.  Secondly, a change was taking place regarding the operation of Herne Hill.  London Borough of Southwark were planning to withdraw as leaseholders and operators of the facility, to be replaced in about 18 months by a ‘not for profit’ Cycling Led Leisure Trust.  The Herne Hill Steering Committee were handling matters leading towards the formation of the Trust.  There were plans for a significant redevelopment of the facility.  This would present opportunities for partnership in the Cycling Led Leisure Trust and for the Club to invest in the development for the benefit of its members.

It was proposed by J Peckham, seconded by J White that the committee simultaneously seek offers for the purchase of the Clubroom and negotiate with the Herne Hill Steering Committee in order to bring specific proposals, for the disposal of the Clubroom to a Special general Meeting.  This was agreed unanimously.

The meeting closed at 10.13 pm with a vote of thanks to the Chairman.

PRODUCED by MARK & JASON BALLAMY
DISTRIBUTED BY BRIAN SAXTON

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