All members of the club wish to offer their sincere condolences to Beryl at this time, following the death of her mother.
Annual subscriptions to the club are now due. The cost is £20. The date for renewal is March 1. Please forward payment to D. Jones at 22 Turks Road, Radcliffe, M26 4PU before March 7. Telephone: 0161 723 5902.
There will be a collection at The Rock, Bury, in April or May. Peter is waiting for clarification from the council. More details as they become available. There will be a collection at Tesco, Bury, on Friday September 6 and Saturday September 7 between 10 am and 4 pm. (PS from Peter: No booking holidays on these dates!)
We extend a warm welcome to three new pilots: Andrew Ascroft, Phil Johnson and Shaun Davidson. Phil and Shaun have been out already and Andrew will be out next Sunday. A further warm welcome to two new rear riders who will be joining us in March: Helen Brown and Sharon Cox.
Our sincere thanks are due to David H for organising our annual dinner on Friday February 8 at the Waterloo. It was much enjoyed by all. We are also grateful to Peter Roscoe, our press secretary, for giving of his time to present certificates and for doing so in a very informed and lively manner.
Have you ever thought how much effort goes into planning our weekly rides?
Let's assume 21 front riders, of which 9 are available at any one time. & 9 rear riders. This alone gives us over 90,000 permutations. If we now consider that not all the riders Front or Rear are out every week then we have to build into the system these variables. Our 90,000 now shoots up to over 6 figures. Add to this any of the 12 or so rides that we frequently use and you can begin to appreciate the complexity of the programming. For a sighted person this is enough of a headache. However when you are using a pin board, as our programmer does, then, maybe just maybe, you can begin to understand just how hard it really is.
I can just hear you saying, "Where is this lunatic leading us." Be patient and all will be revealed.
Subsequently we all receive our ride lists which, if we read them properly tells us who we are riding with, on what dates, and "WHERE WE ARE DUE TO GO".
We think that's it for another month. Is it? Well it usually is. Recently however it has been a case of NO IT ISN'T! When we have turned up on Sunday it has been a case of we're not going there we'll change the ride. Unfortunately, I too have been guilty of this, although usually with mitigating circumstances. Sometimes due to weather conditions there is a logical or safety reason for change and I accept this. However just recently there has been a direct shift to change for change's sake.
What this then does is split the Club into groups. Some who want to ride to one place and others who want ride elsewhere. If we can agree on a compromise and EVERYONE is in favour of the change, no problem. What has happened recently is that the Club has been split into various groups who are all intent in doing their own thing. The result has been two or more separate rides.
This now poses a problem of what time it will be when we return to base. It is totally unfair to ask those who open & close the Garage to hang on whilst those who went on the longer ride finally return. We are also faced with a problem of communication. If the ride is changed for any reason then we MUST make sure that those people who are not riding, but are supplying transport, or opening up the garage for us are kept informed as to our ETA.
My reason for writing this article, believe it or not, isn't to have a "POP" at anyone but to get us to focus again on the real reason why we ride. We are after all the BURY TANDEM CLUB for the VISUALLY HANDICAPPED
Club: association, affiliation, alliance, union, fraternity. All of the above definitions have a common bond, TOGETHERNESS. Perhaps it is time to refocus our attentions on why we all work so hard to ensure that our CLUB remains so.
Peter Carr.
Jacques Puyoou of Bordes, Pyrenees-Atlantiques, France has built a tandem of 14.1 inch wheel diameter which has been ridden by himself and Madame Puyoou.