Tag: new year ball

From the Saddle (Slipstream April 2014)

Posted on | by Andy Wedge

From-the-Saddle-574x480

Hi everyone.

First off, I’d like to thank all those who attended this year’s AGM, and for giving me the opportunity to remain as Chief Observer for another 12 months, which look to be as busy and challenging as ever. This will be my 5th year as Chief Observer and under current club rules, it will be my last. I hope to make it a good one.

Last year provided us with some interesting challenges as we got to grips with changes in the Observing qualifications through the introduction of the IMI (the Institute of Motor Industry) programme. The National Observer qualification is reasonably well established now and, to date, we have 13 Observers who have passed that test. Recently though, the IAM confirmed that the Local Observer programme has been suspended following an initial review of the process and feedback received. A further review is due to be completed by June 2014, so hopefully we will get another update after that. In the meantime, we will continue to validate new TVAM Observers along the same lines as before.

On the subject of new Observers, we held another successful induction day recently. This course has been completely revamped over the past year or so, with a new style, new content and better alignment with the National Observer programme. Jon Taylor and Amanda Smith also attended and I’d like to thank them for their assistance with some of the practical exercises, and their feedback at the end of the day. In order to emphasise the change in focus for this day, we have renamed it the Core Skills Day. I would encourage all Observers to get to know the latest Trainee Observer guidance and coaching information as soon as possible. TVAM has always tried to have the highest standards for its Observers and I think that recent changes have taken this to a new level. Particular thanks go to Iain James and Howie Pyett, who both spent countless hours putting the final touches to the material in the days leading up to the course.

IAM Price Increases!
The IAM have confirmed that from the 1st October this year, the Skills for Life package price will be increased from £139 to £149. Some of the reasons given for this are: the expenses paid to the Examiners are being increased (the first time in 15 years) and removal of qualification fees for things like the National Observer test. Additionally, the IAM membership fee is being increased by £1 for those that do not pay by direct debit. It will be interesting to see how the Skills for Life price increase affects take-up and we will be monitoring this closely.

Observer Weekend
This year’s Observer Weekend will again be held at the Metropole Hotel in Llandrindod Wells on the 7th and 8th June. All Observers and Trainee Observers are invited and places are filling up fast. This is a great opportunity to get to meet Observers from different local teams over a beer and enjoy riding with them on some great Welsh roads – all with guaranteed sunshine of course! If you haven’t booked your place yet, you can do so online via the web shop in the members’ area of the website.

Safe riding everyone.

Andy Wedge
Chief Observer

 

Andy Wedge

From the Saddle (Slipstream February 2014)

Posted on | by Andy Wedge

From-the-Saddle-574x480

Hi everyone. Where is the time going? Already we are into February and it only seems like yesterday that we were celebrating Christmas and the New Year.

TVAM is a great club, with lots of members covering a large geographical area, so one of the challenges is communication, and ensuring that everyone is aware of what’s going on and how to get involved. We have the website, forum and Yahoo groups, which really help, but sometimes finding out which teams are where and what other opportunities there are within TVAM is not as simple as it could be – until now! This weekend we are releasing the TVAM Passport.
The TVAM Passport lists details of all riding-related activities that are available for TVAM members. From initial Associate rides, through to taking the Advanced Test; social rides and the 7Ws; courses such as Look Lean Roll and BikeCraft; other training opportunities like the Enhanced Advanced, through to becoming an Observer. It’s all in there with space for you to keep your own personal record. Printed on high quality card and supplied with a neat plastic wallet, it’s designed to be easily stored in your tank bag so you can keep it with you. The TVAM Passport will be issued to all new TVAM members from this weekend, and is freely available to all existing members too – just see Steve or Alison on the Membership Desk.
TVAM’s Annual Ball, held on the 26th of January, was a great success, and raised around £1,000 in support of the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance. As I write this, we are still totting up the money but hope to have a total figure to announce at St Crispin’s.

We are planning for all Observers who are currently radio validated to be re-assessed under the new IAM guidelines. We have 60+ re-assessments to conduct, so this will not be an overnight task, but I would like to see significant progress on this before the end of year. In addition, we have a growing number of National Observers, so we will soon be in a position to start validating our own Observers under the new Local Observer framework. The Local Observer status and framework is still in pilot stage with the IAM, so we will see how it develops. Amanda Smith and Jon Taylor from the IAM attended an Observer evening in December to discuss the National and Local Observer programmes, and I will provide a summary of all the comments I received to the IAM shortly.

The IAM’s F1RST grade is gaining more recognition within TVAM, and we have a growing number of F1RST passes, which is fantastic news. In my last column I mentioned that I had emailed a list of all our members who had passed their test during the retrospective qualifying period to the IAM to see how many were eligible for F1RST membership. They confirmed one other, but sadly the IAM claim not to be able to find or read 25% (19 in total) of the test reports. I’ll be contacting those concerned to see if they have their own copy of their test report so we can check ourselves.

Thanks Amanda Coneley for all the time and effort she put into the Cross Check position over the previous year, and to Rick Watson for stepping forward and taking this on.

I have held the position of Chief Observer for 4 years now, and it continues to provide interesting, challenging and rewarding times. Subject to my re-election at the AGM in March, I look forward to continuing in this role and working with you all to ensure that TVAM continues to deliver the highest possible standards of coaching for our Associates.

Andy Wedge
Chief Observer

 

TVAM New Year Ball Auction and Raffle

Posted on | by Steve Dennis

held on Saturday 21st January 2012 at The Wellington, Stratfield Turgis

We would like to thank all those who donated prizes for the Auction and Raffle. Without your participation we would not have been able to raise £935 which goes to support the work of Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance. 

Auction

Hot Air Balloon Flight for Two
– up and away with balloonist Peter Dowlen

Silver Torque Bangle
– a unique item of jewellery, designed and made by Gary Peacock

Raffle Prizes donated by:

California Superbike School, Rapid Training, GS Motorcycle Tyres, Bahnstormer Motorcycles, Hughenden M40, Hein Gericke (Reading), Hein Gericke (Slough), Pro Bike (Newbury), Hatfields of Crowthorne, Berkshire Motorcycles, Bulldog Triumph, Reading Honda, Ultimate Ear, Norman Larkin (Ultraseal), Poppy Bowler, Helen Gardom, Nigel Taylor, Richard Tickner, Andy Wedge, Richard Clauson, Central Studios, Nesta Livesey, Geoff Norman, Steph Monger, Guy Lipscomb, Salli Griffith and Amanda Coneley.

Other miscellaneous gifts were brought on the night so a big thank you to those who donated them.