It’s been a busy couple of months, starting with the AGM in January at St. Crispin’s. Thank you everyone who either attended in person or handed the Committee your proxy vote and thank you all for your commitment in supporting the Committee.

The Training Team have been busy producing new media for our Core Skills Day (CSD). This day is spent with our prospective Trainee Observers (pTObs) taking them through the process of working with an Associate in order to become a TOb. It’s a day that has been carefully put together, over many years, and helps us to develop new Observers for TVAM and prepare them for their IAM RoadSmart National Observer assessment.

Previously, the CSD used power point images, stills and videos to highlight best practice, Observer positioning and a couple of short videos to enable the pTObs to have a go at Observing and then debriefing the Associate on what they viewed. Four members of the team, aided by Chris Darwen (TVAM Treasurer) and his camera equipment, spent hours filming to capture new footage for the presentation. A huge thank you to Iain James, Nina Bosley-Gray, Will Brooks and Chris Darwen for their work on the day, plus the hours Chris and Iain spent taking the video footage and creating the images for the CSD.

Once our TObs have completed their training, they become a Trainee National Observer and are then put forward for their National Observer Assessment. The IAM carry out reassessments of all Observers every five years and TVAM carry out a mid-term health check around the two-and-a-half-year point. This is just a check to ensure that the Observer is still up to date with their coaching and to offer any support that they may need. If your National Observer Reassessment is coming up, and you wish to have a further health check before meeting your IAM assessor, please contact the training team at trainingteam@tvam.org and we will arrange for a session with you.

Shortly after the AGM, I received my notification that my Five-year reassessment was due and that an IAM assessor would be in touch to arrange a suitable date. A couple of days later I received an email from Pat Coneley to arrange the assessment and to clearly set out the parameters for the session. This was my second reassessment since becoming a National Observer, the first being carried out by Shaun Cronin in 2021, and my first with Pat.

Now I know that some Observers can get a little anxious and focus on ’what do I need to demonstrate’ to the assessor. I decided to flip that and ask myself, ‘what can I learn from this experience?’ If an assessment is worth doing, then it’s worth doing well and to the best of my ability.

Pat’s email clearly set out an element of riding that he required guidance on and the attached Candidate Guidance Document gave timings that were expected for the briefing, riding and debriefing parts of the session. This all enabled me to put together a session plan for myself. One of the biggest changes since my last reassessment was the amount of actual riding time required. This is only 20mins, so my route needed to cover Pat’s requirements and include a suitable
stopping point for the mid-session debrief.

My brief was to cover elements associated with rural riding and given that I live out in the countryside, gave me the opportunity to cover a mix of open, flowing country roads as well as the smaller, tighter connecting roads. I chose to start at Lasham Gliding Club, as they have a café offering all of the facilities that an Associate may want before and after a ride. It’s also large enough that there are quiet spaces to have a discussion before and after the riding elements.
I planned my route, recced it a couple of times both prior and on the day, to ensure that it met the brief and that there were no road closures. I had also had a health check prior to Christmas and therefore felt ready for actual assessment.

When the day itself arrived, I didn’t feel particularly nervous as I knew I had put in the effort to prepare. Pat arrived in good time and from the minute he got off the bike, put me at my ease. Over a coffee, Pat again just went through the basic details of what he wanted and then we set about the task of delivering the
lesson plan that I had put together. Pat was extremely complimentary about my session, my route and even the tractor that I had arranged for authenticity! Having completed the session, we sat and had another drink and a bite to eat and generally chatted about everything motorcycling. The next morning, my
report arrived from Pat which detailed the session perfectly.

So what did I learn from this experience? There is no substitute for planning. I knew my route and what I needed to brief and debrief in advance of the day. Put the Associate at their ease; we all do this for enjoyment and it’s vital that we create an enjoyable atmosphere, as it’ll bring the best out of both parties. Be open to learning from the Assessor. Watching and listening to Pat, I saw how he made me feel at ease and obtained everything he needed just through conversation.

These assessments form an important role in ensuring that IAM RoadSmart Observers are of the highest standard. The details of the reassessment get put onto your training record and show due diligence on the part of both the IAM and TVAM.

Observers, when you agree your date for reassessment please send me an email at chiefobserver@tvam.org and also let me know when you have completed the assessment, as the IAM do not inform TVAM directly.

Whatever you’re planning over the next couple of months, ride safe and have fun.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chief Observer

I’d like to start my piece this month by wishing you all a Happy New Year and I do hope that you had a merry and peaceful Christmas to conclude 2025.

The Committee and other volunteer members have been working hard putting together the Annual Report which has since been published on groups.io to all members. I do hope that you have been able to find time to take a look and see how well the Club has done over the past year.

A couple of events concluded the year. The Reading Toy Run was once again well attended by members of TVAM, with many of you giving up your time to marshal the run and carry out the all-important road closures. Thank you to all those that took part to help the run of over 1100 bikers to get the presents to the Barnardo’s children.

Our monthly meeting in December saw 108 bikes at St Crispin’s on 21st December. This is a great number considering it was so close to the big day and thank you those that attended.

As we head into January and February, we’re often faced with some of the poorer weather conditions in which to ride our bikes. These winter months can be particularly tricky due to the lower temperatures that we traditionally see. Riding in lower temperatures or wet conditions is not something that we should shy away from. After all, we live in England and can find ourselves riding in rain at any time of the year. Key to a good riding performance is smoothness and therefore we need to ensure that our concentration is not taken away from that and onto feeling cold or wet.

The first thing that we need to do is to ensure that our equipment and motorcycle are well maintained and ready for use. Remember that POWDDERSSS acronym your Observer kept banging on about. Our daily checks on the motorcycle are the most important of all and, whether you use that acronym, another one or can just walk your way around the bike to ensure that everything is functioning as it should, it’s vital that we carry these out with diligence. The final ‘S’, for Self, is key at this time of the year and should include a check on whether you’re dressed appropriately for the conditions.

My advice is to layer up and it’s not unusual for me to wear up to five or six layers on my upper body on cold days and add the waterproofs as an additional layer for the wet. I’d rather be a little warm and take something off than have concentration taken away because I’m feeling the cold. Carrying a set of glove inserts can also be a good way of keeping your hands warm if you’ve misjudged the lowering temperature, particularly if you ride early morning or late evening. Heated grips keep your palms warm, but the back of the hand can still be exposed.

Don’t shy away from these types of weather conditions. Our Observer Corps now take their Aardvark’s with Rapid Training throughout the winter months each year and feedback is that they still very much enjoy the day and the challenge.

Our Observer Health Checks will continue in 2026. These are simply a check on an Observers coaching skills and are carried out around the mid-term of their 5-year revalidations with IAM RoadSmart. These are a requirement of coaching with TVAM and it’s an opportunity to make sure that your skills remain current. Please do embrace your session with one of our assessors and get a date booked up as soon as possible once contacted. The Health Check process was dropped for a couple of years, to enable our Local Observers to move up to National Observers, and is now being pushed again.

I am pleased to say that I had a successful Health Check, prior to Christmas, and I found the experience extremely rewarding.

Whatever you’re planning this New Year, ride safe and have fun.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chief Observer

Prior to St Crispin’s Sundays I always grab my copy of the latest edition of Slipstream and have another read through at the articles written by the various contributors. It struck me that the Sept/Oct edition had three articles that all touched on, or focused on, riding standards in one form or another.

The first article, Kevin’s ‘From The Chair’, focused on the perception of advanced riding and how our actions may be perceived by other riders and road users. The second, Charles Leigh Dugmore’s article, then looked specifically at overtaking and covered overtaking other road users, and also riders in the group. The third article was written by Robbie McIntosh and took a really good, reflective look at what it meant to him to be an ‘Advanced Rider’ and the benefit of
continuous training to keep his own standards high.

I felt that all three articles were well written and made me think about how important it is to continually move forward in our riding development. Robbie really highlights the benefits of the various opportunities TVAM offers to enable us to continually develop our skills.

I am a believer that if we remain open to learning, we really can learn something every time we ride. That may be what not to do, which can be the most powerful of lessons.

That mantra came in really useful today at St Crispin’s when I found myself in a room with a number of members reviewing a recent ride, to identify what was done well and what could have been done better. The thing that really stood out for me was how several very different riders, with different views, could sit in a room and have a good conversation about how we could consider small changes to make improvements. Why did it work? I believe, simply because we all
view ourselves as ‘Advanced’.

It could be argued, and I have heard it said by many people, that an Advanced Rider is someone who is “slightly better than the average rider”. Not a great slogan, in my honest opinion, and not one that will be appearing on any development posters anytime soon I imagine.

I’m sure that many of you will have heard your Observer say there is “no such thing as a perfect ride” and, having been lucky enough to have ridden with some of the finest and best trained riders this Country has to offer, they all say that same thing. However, I believe that it goes beyond our riding, in that being ‘Advanced’ gives us the edge to adequately assess our riding and seek out what we could do better. And it doesn’t stop when we get off the bike and start the analysis. It gives us the ability to conduct ourselves in a professional manner and consider other people’s thoughts, and discuss them to identify and resolve issues.

Things happen, and are said in the heat of the moment and I’m proud of the fact that because of what we do, the majority of us remain able to stay calm when discussing often very difficult subjects to find a way forward.

I’d like to just quickly cover the particularly awkward subject of anti-social behaviour. Revving of engines in built up areas/under bridges and the like.

Like many of you, I have witnessed this and have politely spoken to riders and asked them not to do it. I have to say that on each occasion, the response from the rider has been positive. As the largest motorcycle group in the Thames Valley, it’s probably not surprising that I occasionally get contacted by members of the public to alert me to anti-social behaviour. Of course, it’s difficult in those circumstances to be 100% certain that the offender is in fact a TVAM member or actually part of the ride that has been reported. That said, the perception of members of the public is something that we should seriously consider in our actions both on and off the bike, given the fact that we are a road safety charity.

I’d like to let you all have a few dates for your diaries for next year, that will give you opportunities to develop your riding:
▶ Spring 7Ws, our first of the year Associate training weekend – 10th – 12th April
▶ 3Rs, our Full Members training and social riding weekend – 5th – 7th June
▶ Observer Weekend, our Observer training weekend – 10th – 12th July
▶ Autumn 7Ws, our second of the year Associate training weekend – 4th – 6th September

Look out for messages on groups.io for expressions of interest or bookings nearer the time for these events.

Please don’t forget to support the Reading Toy Run, on 7th December this year, as a marshal and help Steve Harris (AKA Santa) to deliver all those
thousands of presents to the Barnardo’s children.

Finally, I hope that all those that are taking their Aardvarks this year have a great time, and don’t forget to think about what it is that you want to get out of your day’s riding with your Rapid Training coach.

Wishing all the very best for the festive period. Ride safe and have fun.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chief Observer

I’m writing this article having just returned from the Bournemouth and Wessex Advanced Motorcyclists (BWAM) Observer Weekend in Devon. It’s the fourth time that I have been invited, along with Kevin our Chair, plus a few members of our Training Team, to attend the weekend. This is an opportunity to meet with a neighbouring group and really get to know their Observer Corps and how they deliver their training. I was lucky enough to spend the Saturday riding with their Chief Observer and, during the breaks from riding, be able to discuss anything that we may do slightly differently in our own groups. It’s a great way to share ideas and good practice in developing our membership.

This year, the main focus of discussion were the eight forms of signals that we use when riding. The eight are – indicators, brake light, headlight, hazard lights, horn, bike position, arm and courtesy. We were asked to think about when should we use each type and what were the benefits of doing so? We were also asked to think about when it is illegal to use certain types of signals. Think about the different types. Did they come to you straight away? Do you practice them?

We also had a couple of short classroom sessions that looked at communication and rotation. A couple of key points that stood out to me were the best time to look at training to become an Observer and rotation of post holders within the group.

Taking the first point, whilst there is not a specific time that a Full Member should start Observer training, it could be considered that the best time might be immediately after passing their IAM RoadSmart Advanced Test. This is because they have just been through the training and have had the latest knowledge of what it takes to pass.

The second point, rotation, suggested that changes in leadership roles is a good way of ensuring that ideas are kept fresh and teams within the group keep moving forward. TVAM have a rule that officers of the committee change every 5 years. We see that most team leaders change around 3-4 years and this keeps the team running well with new ideas.

All in all, a fantastic weekend and I was glad to have had the opportunity to attend.

he end of October marks the end of the TVAM financial year. The Committee, Social Team Leaders and various other volunteers are currently collating facts and figures and writing reports ready for the Annual Report to the Club membership. This is the start of probably the busiest period in the Club’s calendar for the Committee, as the Annual Report has to be prepared in November and sent out in December, ready for the AGM in January. The Club has had another good year and you’ll be able to read and hear about that in the next couple of months.

The AGM is an opportunity for change on the Committee. As mentioned above, an individual can only stay in the same ‘Officer’ post for a maximum of 5 consecutive years. After this, they are obliged to step down although they can stand for another Committee position if they wish. At the coming AGM Salli Griffith, our Slipstream Editor, Bjorg Arnadottir, our Treasurer, and Dave Simmons, our Membership Secretary, will all be standing down. I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank all three personally for their hard work over many years for TVAM and to say that it has been a pleasure working with you over my four years on the Committee.

For those at St Crispin’s in October, you will have seen that we had a visit from Santa Claus himself. We of course know him as Steve Harris, who is the Chief Marshal of the Reading Toy Run. Steve and his team do an outstanding job of organising the official road closure and all of the marshals to enable the Toy Run to go ahead. As he said, TVAM provide the vast majority of the huge number of marshals that are needed and he’s once again looking for our assistance. The event this year is on Sunday 1st December and, regardless of your membership status in TVAM, you can sign up to be a marshal for the day. Please email toyrun@tvam.org if you can offer your time on that day to ensure that the Toy Run can go ahead and get the toys to those children.

Finally, this time of year can really throw up some challenging riding conditions. I’d like to refer you to my Nov ’21 article in Slipstream ‘From the Chair’, where I talk about riding in the trickier conditions that Autumn and Winter throw at us. You can find this by looking in groups.io under the files section on All Members. There you will find all the electronic copies of Slipstream, if your hard copy has long been passed on. It’s always worth a read and a reminder of things we need to consider at this time of year.

All that is left for me to do in this piece is to wish you all a Merry Christmas in December. Have fun, ride safe and I look forward to seeing you all in 2025.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chief Observer

As Chief Observer, I get the pleasure of reading the Social Run Reports that are submitted for each social ride that the Club runs. This could be a run that is advertised in Slipstream or Groups.io and it could also be a ride from St. Crispin’s or within the various social teams that make up TVAM. I have to say that the vast majority of these rides are a great success, and riders gain a huge amount from them.

On occasion we get complaints, and these usually relate to the perceived riding standard being below that which another rider considers acceptable. It’s important at this point to remind everyone that there is no such thing as a perfect ride, and we all make mistakes. I have personally felt the need to apologise to another rider where I mis-timed an overtake or failed to see something and had to react late to it.

One of the biggest issues, and the cause of the majority of bad feeling, is a rider failing to acknowledge they may have done something that is considered below standard and the manner in which a discussion has taken place. None of us likes to be told that we have been seen making a poorly-timed overtake, or that we may have been carrying a little more speed than we perhaps should have in a given situation. It’s important, therefore, to have discussions in a non-confrontational manner, and quietly away from the main group. I would also suggest that our following position may also affect our view of a particular situation, and we must always consider that when having a discussion. I recommend that any discussion takes place with the run leader and/or the back marker present.

One of the best things about TVAM is the fact that our members generally police rides extremely well, and the vast majority of riders ride to IAM RoadSmart and TVAM standards. We must never forget that we owe a duty of care to our fellow riders, and all other road users, when we are on a social ride. Please be considerate and enjoy the ride that the run leader has worked hard to prepare for the enjoyment of everyone in the group.

This brings me nicely onto the information that we have available to all members to assist you in organising a ride. You can find the ‘IAM RoadSmart Group Organised Rides’ document in the files section in the ‘All Members’ area of Groups.io or at this link if reading the online version of Slipstream (https://tinyurl.com/bdf4u35e). You can also find the ‘TVAM Social Run Pack’ in the same location (https://tinyurl.com/2da6d3dr). We regularly run an excellent Run Leader/Back Marker course, and you can find the contact email under Club Contacts in the back of Slipstream.

We want to encourage all members to take part in social rides. They are a great way of developing your skills as an Associate and maintaining them as a Full
Member. Associates, please do speak to your Observer about a particular ride to decide if it’s the right one for you. Remember that we do not grade rides anymore, with the exception of Training Rides, and that is because we want run leaders to give people a little bit of information about rides and make them inclusive.

We encourage all run organisers to complete the Social Run Report at the end of a run and to be honest about anything that may not have quite gone to plan. We use this information to spot trends and to see if there is anything more we can do as a Club to improve our training. The link to the form can be found on the TVAM website under ‘Forms’ or in the Groups.io ‘All Members’ Wiki (https://www.tvam.org/forms). Please send a copy to your team leader for their information. An incident form can also be found in the same location. Incident forms remain confidential.

I’d just like to talk briefly about Observer status and the need for TVAM to maintain an accurate record of which Observers are ‘active’, ‘inactive’ or ‘retired’. To
understand the activity levels of Observers we will continue to regularly review them using the information recorded on the club database, and contact any Observers that have not recorded any observed rides within the previous 12-month period. No activity means that an Observer status will be changed to ‘inactive’ on the database and they will no longer be able to carry out observed rides for TVAM. If an Observer is inactive for a further year then they will be recorded as ‘retired’. There are pathways for Observers to return to active observing from inactive and retired status.

We fully appreciate that life often gets in the way of riding a motorcycle for fun and it may simply be that an Observer has been unable to get along to St. Crispin’s to deposit their run report forms. Please do make sure that you either get these to St. Crispin’s yourself or contact someone in your social team and ask if they can deposit them for you.

TVAM has an outstanding Observer corps, who do a huge amount of coaching in order to deliver our aims and objectives as a road safety charity. We very much appreciate the efforts that Observers make to ensure that TVAM remains an outstanding Club.

Whatever you’re doing this month, have fun and stay safe everyone.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chief Observer

It’s been a busy year so far with many training opportunities within the Club for all badge members. As I am sat here writing, I am glancing at MyRouteApp (other mapping software is available) where I am plotting a route to Llandrindod Wells, via Tintern Abbey, in order to attend the Observer weekend. Fingers crossed for good weather, as we have over 60 people on the weekend and the focus is on riding the outstanding roads in Wales. Hopefully one or two of my colleagues on the weekend will write a piece for next month’s Slipstream.

Yes, Observers train as well. In fact TVAM’s Observer Corps works incredibly hard at maintaining their skills, particularly focusing on increasing their personal riding ability. It’s the hard work and dedication of this particular group that not only makes TVAM a success, but IAM RoadSmart a success as well.

The Observer weekend is the third training weekend to head to Wales so far this year. In May our 7Ws weekend saw a mix of 40+ Associates, Observers and Full Members head off for our Associate training weekend. In June the 3Rs weekend took over 39 riders, a combination of Full members and Observers, on our Full Member training weekend. With the 60+ people we have going away on the Observer weekend, that’s over 140 members on training weekends in the first 3 months of the riding season. I must say a huge thank you to everyone that came along to one of the weekends to enhance their training.

Kevin mentioned in his ‘From the Chair’ piece last month that we had had a successful Be a Better Biker event in May. This was followed up on 22nd June with a second event that saw another 11 motorcyclists introduced to advanced motorcycling through the Be a Better Biker workshop at Theale Fire Station. I’d just like to extend my thanks to the 14 Observers who gave up their time to work with the candidates, over the two events, and give them a great experience of advanced riding. The feedback for both days has been fantastic and we have seen around 50% of the attendees come to TVAM and join in order to further develop their skills.

Additionally in June I had the pleasure of joining the RAMS group for their annual Training Run (T-Run). Each TVAM social team is asked to put together an annual T-Run for the benefit of Associates and Full Members. The RAMS do a ‘starburst’ for their two coaching runs which is followed by a social ride in the afternoon where riders can practice the skills that they have discussed in the morning. My first session involved riding with two Full Members, from Calcot to Andover. I have to say that the two riders (John and Jim) really embraced the morning session, and we were able to have an open three-way conversation about how all three of us rode. We stopped about halfway and discussed what we had seen and any little changes that we may wish to consider before swapping around for the second half of the ride. We were clearly having fun because we arrived at the Andover meeting point a little later than everyone else. Ben Graham skilfully swapped us all around and I was then paired up with an Associate for the next leg to a meeting point in Salisbury. My appointed Associate (Ernest) did a fabulous job. His general riding was lovely and smooth and his positioning was textbook. As we came through the middle of Salisbury, there was clearly plenty of filtering opportunity and when we stopped at the meeting point for lunch we had a really good conversation about when we may choose to filter and when we perhaps shouldn’t. I had to get away before the afternoon social ride, however, I understand that there was some excellent riding demonstrated by all participants. Well done RAMS and particularly Ben Graham for organising.

To All Associates and Full Members, keep an eye out in Slipstream and the groups.io calendar for other T-Runs and ask your own team when they plan to hold theirs and take part.

I’ve mentioned Slipstream a couple of times during this piece and the sharp-eyed among you will have seen the new Slipstream banner and desk at St. Crispin’s. Slipstream is our great magazine and the content is really best when it comes from our members. If you have been on a great course or trip or have something to say about motorcycling generally, then please speak to Salli Griffith or Jon Handley and they will help you with putting something together for the magazine.

Right, I’m off to pack and say a little prayer to the weather gods for this weekend in Wales.

Have fun and stay safe everyone.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chief Observer

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

This is my first “From the Saddle” article since being elected as Chief Observer by the membership at the AGM. I’d like to start by doing two things. Firstly, thanking you for your vote of confidence in me to serve this outstanding Club as your Chief Observer. Secondly, thanking Adrian Ellison for taking the reins as Chief Observer in 2023. Adrian’s workload in his day job meant that he didn’t have the capacity to continue the role as Chief Observer and we thank him for his efforts last year.

TVAM has had a succession of outstanding Chief Observers since the Club was formed. My passion for seeing excellent training delivered across the board will hopefully stand me in good stead to be mentioned in the same sentence as many of my predecessors. I hope that I can support and deliver on the membership’s expectations and do it in a light-hearted and fun manner. The late, great, Dave Jacobi was a true advocate of making TVAM a fun place to be. After all, we do this for pleasure above anything.

We have a great calendar already starting to take shape for 2024. Look Lean Roll is starting back at Benson in April and BikeCraft is also being delivered. These are both outstanding courses for Associates on their journey to passing their IAM RoadSmart test. They’re also great for Full Members who may have just purchased a new motorcycle and really want to get to grips with it. Castle Combe Skills Day is also in the web shop for Tuesday 21st May. This is a TVAM exclusive day, and our own TVAM Track Guides are available throughout the day to assist you in developing your skills in cornering, acceleration and braking on a fantastic surface without anyone coming the other way.

Our two premier training weekends, 7Ws and 3Rs are heading to Wales in May and June respectively. 7Ws, focuses on Associates, and 3Rs, focuses on Full Members, and are great weekends to combine training and socialising over three full days on the best roads Wales has to offer.

On 20th February, many of you will have seen an email from IAM RoadSmart about course price increases from 1st April ’24. The Advance Rider Course (ARC) will rise to £215 from £175 and various other courses are also rising in price significantly. If you know anyone that is considering the Advanced Rider Course, then get them to join TVAM before the end of March to benefit from the current rate. How the IAM choose to price their products is beyond the control of TVAM, however it’s hugely disappointing that we had no prior knowledge of this increase coming in. Some members have taken to groups.io to share their
thoughts on the situation and the Committee are actively considering an appropriate and measured response to the IAM.

TVAM Observers are renowned throughout IAM RoadSmart as some of the finest Observers within the IAM. It is down to a combination of our training regime, and willingness of our Observers to continually push themselves to be the very best that they can be, that ensures we maintain the highest possible standards. We demand a huge amount from all of our Observers and not one of them is paid a penny for their services. It’s therefore been difficult to read on the Observer group that Observers are struggling to get reasonable rates of insurance for carrying out their voluntary role within TVAM and IAMRS. “Don’t we get discount from the IAM’s preferred insurance provider?” I hear you all cry. Well, apparently not everyone gets a great deal. I have read experiences where insurance has doubled, or an Observer’s company have pulled away from insuring Observers whilst carrying out their duties for TVAM and IAM. This leaves the Observer trying to find alternative cover, often at greatly inflated prices.

My greatest concern is ensuring that our Observers are adequately insuring themselves. If you are insured through Cornmarket Insurance or Surety, the IAM’s
preferred insurance broker, as long as you have informed them that you are an IAM Observer then it is noted on your insurance and you should be covered for observing whilst riding your motorcycle. If you are with an alternative insurance provider, it is important that you explain this when purchasing a policy and it may be prudent to look at the IAM dashboard and download their ‘bike observer insurance letter’ document and share this with your insurance company. Please see Tom Peck’s post of 27th February on the Observer section of groups.io for a direct link to the document. Please check your insurance and ensure that you are adequately insured for Observing.

That’s about it from me, other than to say I am happy to come out to meet with you in your social teams and happy to discuss my role as Chief Observer if you would like to invite me along. Kevin, our Chair, is also very happy to come along and chat to you all.

Have fun, stay safe and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on a training course or out on the road socially.

Barrie Smith
TVAM Chief Observer