I’d like to open my piece this month by saying a big thank you to a member who realistically could be referred to as a legend of TVAM. Dafydd ‘Daf’ Phillips joined TVAM in 1997 and after passing his IAM test he went on to become an Observer and then a Senior Observer. Between November 1999 and March 2011, Daf coached 68 TVAM members to a level where they were able to pass their IAM test and gain full membership. Many of those are still members of TVAM today and have also gone on to become Observer’s themselves.
Daf was the founder of our training weekend 7Ws and it all started with him taking his Associates to ride the roads of his home country of Wales. As we know, this trip continues to run twice a year, with a focus on Associate development. Daf stepped away from observing in 2011, however stayed a member of the Club until last month. Now, well into to his 80’s, Daf has announced his final retirement from motorcycling and we thank him for his many years of volunteering with our Club.
Talking of volunteering, we are still in need of members assistance on a St. Crispin’s morning with transporting everything from the storage unit to St. Crispin’s and then to return it after the meeting. The Club has well over 1100 members and despite our best efforts, we still struggle to get people to assist with this task. If we can get a dozen volunteers then it just means you have to do this just once a year. That’s one month where instead of riding your bike, you can assist a large number to ride theirs.
Unfortunately, this is not going to change and we must resolve this issue for the benefit of everyone. Please contact Nick Edgley – greenteam@tvam.org, if you would be happy to be added to a list to assist. Any Full Member or Observer can do this; we would love to keep our Associates riding. A huge thank you to the few that have signed up to do this so far.
Kevin mentioned last month that TVAM are delivering Be a Better Biker workshops in Berkshire this year. This is aimed at riders who have not done any advanced training and we introduce them to concepts that will improve their competence and safety, and perhaps act as a feeder into the IAM RoadSmart course.
If you know anyone that you think would be interested in one of these sessions, please point them in the direction of the TVAM public Facebook page or email Kevin on chair@tvam.org for further details. Future dates are 25th May and 22nd June at Theale Fire Station.
Finally, the Observer Weekend this year is Friday 5th to Sunday 7th July inclusive. This is an opportunity for the Observer corps to engage in an informative and fun weekend, where the focus will be on peer review riding. There will be a focused riding session in groups of three and the opportunity to ride socially on some of the finest roads in the UK. Rumour has it, they might even have sorted out the speed limit issue that has received so much publicity recently.
The cost of the weekend is £114.50 per person for a shared room and £149.00 for single occupancy. The rate includes dinner, bed and breakfast for two nights (Friday and Saturday). Non-Observer partners are welcome at the full rates of £190.00 for a shared room and £240 for single occupancy, per person, for the weekend. See the Calendar on Groups.io in order to book your place for this excellent weekend.
That’s about it from me, other than to say I will not be with you at St Crispin’s this month.
Have fun, stay safe and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in June.
Barrie Smith
TVAM Chief Observer
