And Happy New Year to everyone.
Firstly, I’d like to remind everyone that our Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Sunday 16th January at 12.30pm. At the time of writing, we hope to hold the AGM as a face-to-face meeting at St. Crispin’s. We are continuing to evaluate the Covid-19 risks and guidelines and if conditions deem it appropriate then we will move this to an online meeting.
The ongoing monitoring of the guidelines and rules around Covid-19 will also be used to inform any restrictions we might place around our social and riding activities. I’m writing this on New Year’s Eve and there are currently no formal guidelines or rules in place in England that mean we need to restrict our activities – although this may have already changed by the time you’re reading this article. We do urge members to keep themselves safe and to take appropriate individual measures. We will keep everyone informed as to any restrictions that we, the government or IAM RoadSmart decide to implement, so please keep an eye out for any relevant messages on Groups.io.
One of our flagship training events, the 7Ws weekend, continues to evolve. Started many years ago under the leadership of Daf Phillips, we held the 40th 7Ws last September. Ness and Andy Boudier organised a very successful celebratory event, with a great mix of observed runs, social runs and social interaction – as well as raising a whopping £464 for the Air Ambulance (which receives no public funding) via contributions and a raffle. Due to family and business pressures, they have decided to step back from 7Ws and the organisation is now with the Training Team; we’d like to say a big “thank you” to Ness and Andy. Details of the 41st 7Ws, to be held on 8th-10th April 2022 and based in Llandrindod Wells (where else?) are now on the Groups.io calendar. Although some things have evolved, the core aims of 7Ws as a training weekend, aimed at Associates, and enjoying great riding on some fabulous Welsh roads, remain the same. See the calendar entry on Groups.io for more information or scan QR code to register your interest.
The local teams have been organising some fantastic runs in the lead-up to Christmas and over the New Year break. It’s great to see so many getting engaged
on these runs despite some less-than-ideal weather. The team leaders will be taking more steps to increase engagement and will also be taking the lead on driving TVAM involvement at local events. Please ensure you engage with your local team and get along to the team meetings and social runs. The local teams are really the heart of the club and so much of the social and riding activity is driven from the local team members.
Although we’ve had some unseasonably warm weather over New Year (the warmest on record), and the evenings are starting to get lighter, please do keep an eye out for cold snaps, icy patches and micro-climates. It’s sometimes better to delay going out for an hour or two than to risk encountering frost or ice. We have better weather to look forward to and I hope to see you on a ride soon.
Best wishes
Chris Brownlee
Chief Observer
