'Refreshing the brand' . . . . . .

[Psamathe]

...
Indeed, insurance isn't 'enough'

The first criticism has to be head office IMO, understaffed, laid off anyone with real technical or off road expertise, impossible to get an answer from, letters from major consultations unanswered (I know of two cases locally in recent months) waste of time, and reliant on volunteers to deliver anything, who they treat like <i>[inappropriate word removed]</i>.

I recently had the pleasure of dealing with the British association fof shooting and conservation, a revelation - insurance, dedicated legal team that you can phone up to get advice on Licencing, and will back you up by fighting your corner in court, 70k members paying £72 a year, 100 plus employees, specialist advisors up and down the country, local events and training sessions, truly effective lobbying at government level, effective press team. Etc etc.

People will happily pay if they think their money is making a real difference

I would agree. I would happily pay if I felt the organisation was effective, behaving in a responsible (and responsive) manner. Trouble is that it is not improving but moving in the wrong direction, deliberately making things worse and alienating the membership (thanks primarily to this new CEO). Hence my thoughts that BC is having to take over their corner of "the market". My money is going to go to either BC or Sustrans (still deciding).

Ian

[mjr]

My money is going to go to either BC or Sustrans (still deciding).

Helmet compulsion, or acceptance of barriers that prevent use by laden cargo/touring bikes? Not much of a choice, is it?

[Psamathe]

My money is going to go to either BC or Sustrans (still deciding).

Helmet compulsion, or acceptance of barriers that prevent use by laden cargo/touring bikes? Not much of a choice, is it? :-(

No, but to my mind, better and more effective than the CTC. I've never yet come across an organisation so unresponsive. I even raised complained to Save The Children when they awarded Tony Blair an award and, expecting no response, I got a decent response that was written in response to my e-mail, addressing the points I raised, etc.; whereas CTC just don't acknowledge or respond to e-mails.

Ian

[langsett]

I hope that with comments about the direction & governance of CTC, the item in cycle shorts on P12 , about council elections will not have been missed and that some of you may consider putting your names forward for this voluntary role?
As has been mentioned, all too often the posts are not contested, so with all the interest in CTC matters and views of the way it could/should be managed , and with the important matters of governance & identity coming soon I am sure there will be much to get involved with as well as representing our membership

[mjr]

My money is going to go to either BC or Sustrans (still deciding).

Helmet compulsion, or acceptance of barriers that prevent use by laden cargo/touring bikes? Not much of a choice, is it?

No, but to my mind, better and more effective than the CTC. I've never yet come across an organisation so unresponsive.

Oh try talking to BC about their helmet rules or Sustrans about problems with their routes and they'll often go unresponsive in my experience (every time with BC, about 50-50 with Sustrans).

I hope that with comments about the direction & governance of CTC, the item in cycle shorts on P12 , about council elections will not have been missed and that some of you may consider putting your names forward for this voluntary role?

What does it say and what do we have to do? If people (re)join CTC this week, can they still take part?

[gaz]

Information on seeking election to Council can be found here: http://www.ctc.org.uk/about-ctc/ctc-nat ... et-elected

There appears to be a current vacancy for North East region, a number of posts will be up for election in time to start in January 2016.

[mjr]

Information on seeking election to Council can be found here: http://www.ctc.org.uk/about-ctc/ctc-nat ... et-elected

There appears to be a current vacancy for North East region, a number of posts will be up for election in time to start in January 2016.

Where are you seeing that? The linked page has a nomination form for 9 vacancies to start January 2015 (huh?) including North East. The Vacancies link seems to be about jobs. CTC's democracy seems to be rather confusing.

[gaz]

Where are you seeing that?

I seem to have made a right mess of reading the dates.

The linked page has a nomination form for 9 vacancies to start January 2015 (huh?) including North East. The Vacancies link seems to be about jobs. CTC's democracy seems to be rather confusing.

The linked page is a form that had to be submitted by 15 August 2014, so may not reflect the current vacancies on Council after all .

It's another dodgy page on the CTC website, although my current favourite is here, which includes this statement:

Cyclists' Touring Club, is registered as a charity in Scotland no SC042541, the application for registration in England and Wales is awaiting a decision.

I did point it out a few weeks ago using an on-site feedback form but I guess accuracy is not a priority .

Edit: They've fixed it now, but you can still see the join .

[Cyril Haearn]

Clarkson for president, he rides a bike too!

I love cycling, I drive a car too occasionally, he is maybe the other way round (car first?) but he would help CTC to get so much more publicity. That would butter tons of parsnips.

How many people know Clarkson? How many know the CTC, this great club of ours?

[langsett]

[quote="Cyril Haearn"]Clarkson for president, he rides a bike too!

I love cycling, I drive a car too occasionally, he is maybe the other way round (car first?) but he would help CTC to get so much more publicity. That would butter tons of parsnips.

How many people know Clarkson? How many know the CTC, this great club of ours?[/quote]

Check the date this was circulated?

[gaz]

Latest from Council April 2015

7.2.2
Matt Mallinder gave an update on the re-brand project. Campfire had been selected from a shortlist of three. Matt reported that the inception meeting would happen shortly and a timetable for the project developed. He gave assurances that the project would not be rushed with a proposed brand likely in the autumn and roll our ready for spring 2016. Barry Flood was concerned that the re-brand would be delivered as a ‘fait accompli’ to council. Matt Mallinder reported that whilst this was a staff led process, councillors would be involved as part of the stakeholder engagement/research process and that the project plan included key milestones/checkpoints whereby everyone would be aware of the decisions made before the next step would be embarked upon. Jim Brown requested the project brief.
Action point 2: Rebrand Project plan, project brief and timetable to be brought to June 17th Operations committee

I would guess that "Campfire" is the working title for the project rather than the actual brand title. Whether this is for reasons of commercial sensitivity or plain old mushroom treatment awaits to be seen, after all "National Cycling Association" was registered back in January 2014.

[thirdcrank]

... Barry Flood was concerned that the re-brand would be delivered as a ‘fait accompli’ to council. Matt Mallinder reported that whilst this was a staff led process, councillors would be involved as part of the stakeholder engagement/research process and that the project plan included key milestones/checkpoints whereby everyone would be aware of the decisions made before the next step would be embarked upon. ... (my emphasis)

The bit I've underlined sounds like a series of faits accomplis rather than just one. I was under the impression that councillors - or at least some of them - were to become the trustees of the charity. While trustees cannot be answerable to the membership in the same way that the club's councillors were, the charity's staff must surely be answerable to the trustees, for the trustees to be able to discharge the duties imposed on them by the law.

[nez]

Ah yes. Consultation. Sounds democratic but it's not. Anyone surprised?

[langsett]

Campfire is the name of the consultancy engaged for the task

[gaz]

Odd, the rebrand consultants were previously reported by Council as being Forster Communications. Have CTC engaged another set of consultants?