Hello everyone
Goodness me – it is hard to remember a more weather affected start to a year. It has seemed like endless cycles of rain, floods, gales and ice for weeks on end – resulting in cycles not being used as much as we would like! I have to say that it is raining again as I write this, but we have seen a few signs of Spring in recent days so we live in hope. A few things to bring to your attention:
SPRING AND SUMMER RIDES PROGRAMME
Thanks to some great work by a team led by Katherine, our Rides Secretary, we are almost ready to upload the full rides programme from April through to September this year. Look out for this in the next few days and mark your calendars with your rides of choice. We have a full programme of rides on the weekends, Thursday mornings and Tuesday evenings as well as a great collection of special rides coming up. The Tuesday evening schedule starts straight after Easter on 2nd April.
RIDE LEADER NEWS
Such a comprehensive programme is only made possible by having a dedicated set of enough ride leaders. Katherine has been busy training some new leaders and we are looking forward to seeing them in action alongside the existing team soon. A reminder to all existing and new leaders that we have our pre-season ride leaders’ meeting set for 7.30 on Thursday evening, 14th March. The venue is East Challow Village Hall. Please RSVP to the email you have received from Jo Little to confirm attendance.
AGM DATE – EVENING OF WEDNESDAY 8th MAY
An advance date for your diaries. Our club year runs from April to March and our AGM this year will be held on the evening of Wednesday 8th May to look back on the 2023-24 club year. The venue will be Grove Rugby Club and we are planning the usual fish and chip supper. The bar will be open! More details to follow.
COMMITTEE NEWS
One of the tasks of the AGM is to elect the committee to run the club for the year to come. I am pleased to say that most of the existing committee members have expressed a willingness to stand again, but we always welcome new members so please let me know if you would be interested in joining the committee. We are particularly looking for some help with communications and publicity.
One final point in this area – having been the Chair of the club for 14 years, I have informed the committee that I intend to stand down from that role at the end of the coming year (in April 2025). Having been retired from work now for 18 months, there are a number of organisations and projects which I am getting involved in, and I feel the time is right for some fresh thinking and fresh leadership in the club. 14 years is a long stint! The club is in excellent shape and I hope to continue as a ride leader.
Hopefully see you on a (dry) ride soon!
Best regards
John
