HEADLINES FROM SEPTEMBER COMMITTEE MEETING
Annual General Meeting – Tuesday 3rd October 2023 @ 1930
Preparations are in place for the 2023 AGM at Winnington Park Rugby Club details above. All members are welcome to attend and are encouraged to do so if possible. The Committee are volunteers who have been elected to represent and act on the best interests of the club and the wishes of its members. In order to make sure we do the right things for you we need to hear your views and a collective forum will give us a consensus. The agenda will comprise of the Club Officers reports, notification of our affiliations, plans for club activities and promotions for the forthcoming year, election of officers and committee members and any proposals for the running of the club. We have had one proposal submitted to date to vote on and that is to standardise both weekend club runs (Saturday training ride and Sunday club ride) to a 0900 start all year round. If any other proposals are submitted I will notify all in advance of the meeting.
Communications Policy
We are grateful to Kev and Eleanor who taking the time to formulate a Communications Policy for the club. With may forms of communication available (eg web page. email , WhatsApp , Facebook) to members it can cause confusion and information that is not received by all. We will adopt a standardised approach to inform members how we will communicate and what channel will be used for the circumstance and share once the work has been completed,
WVCC Cyclo Cross event
A date for the diary for our Off Roaders. On Sunday 19th November 2023 we will be holding a Cyclo Cross event at the Cheshire Showground. Details will be communicated once all the plans are in place as well as request for volunteers to assist on the day for those not participating.
Resignations
The Committee would like to place on record its thanks and appreciation to Stephen Lucas (Committee member),Emily Martin (Kit Secretary) and Julian Perret (Club Runs Secretary) who have all performed their duties over a number of years to the benefit of the Club and its members but decided the time is right for them to step down. Accordingly the vacancies arising and nominations for successors will be discussed at the forthcoming AGM
Classes
We have had two external offers recently open to club members if their is sufficient interest. BC level 2 coaching certificate for Ride Leaders. The course is run over an approx 30 mile course covering scenarios, emergency procedures and working on providing challenge, support and vision to the riders. Leader positioning and some input on route planning. Please make representations to myself or Dave Fearon if you are interested. Yoga for cyclists. Training specialists in providing yoga 4 athletes and sports people with the aim of promoting improved performance through active recovery, improved range of motion and better alignment. As athletes we tend to focus our time on training our bodies but science shows that those who not only train but take care of their joints, fascia and alignment not only perform better but suffer from less injuries and have improved longevity. Classes will be held at the Grange School , Hartford if sufficient interest. Again please let me know if this is of interest to you and I can provide more details if we get the numbers.
Safety – Near Miss Reports
A valid question has recently been raised as to what is the purpose of New Miss Reports and what happens to them ? A Near Miss Report is basically an incident of either mechanical, behavioural or environmental factor that had the potential to cause injury. They are proactive measures which constitute a vital input in to our Risk Assessment (RA) for club rides. We all accept that are risks associated with riding a bike but the RA is designed to establish what risks are considered tolerable and what are considered unacceptable. This is determined in a matrix approach which considers the potential risks encountered on a ride assessing the impact (ie what is the likely outcome or injury that is reasonably foreseeable) and the likelihood ie the frequency the risk is likely to be encountered. Any risk that is identified as serious impact and highly likely is obviously unacceptable is either eliminated by design or has appropriate control measures put in place to either reduce the impact and/or reduce the likelihood. For example the risk of a serious head injury from falling off a bike is massively reduced by wearing a safety helmet. A Near Miss report therefore constitutes key information in the management of our RA to determine if we have captured all the risks and secondly is our assessment of the impact and frequency correct. If not we update the RA and put in control measures to reduce one or both. It’s important to understand that not every Near Miss will be acted on eg if it’s a single occurrence over the course of a year, but equally they are recorded as it is valuable management information to confirm we have assessed the likely frequency correctly. Please continue to support our proactive safety management in this way. Thanks in anticipation.