President’s Message – September 2018
Treasurer Rob, CPS Officer Richard, Club Captain Sam and myself, represented your Club at the 2018 Association of Motoring Clubs Inc. (AOMC) Management Seminar held on Saturday 11th August.
The Seminar’s theme this year was “Managing Your Club Now & Setting Future Directions”
5 Speakers gave presentations on a variety of Club Management subjects including – Governance issues, How to identify and attract people who will truly add value to your committee, Agenda management, Mergers with other Clubs, Club motivation, Enlisting local support & sponsorship, Use of social media, Insurance issues and Estate Planning.
The strong message for me was the catch phrase from the first speaker – that as a committee we need to look at “what are the top 2–4 issues that we as a Club have to get right in the next 2-3 years”. I believe the number one issue our Club & committee needs to address, is how to attract new younger members to join our Club to ensure our passion and our Club continues on for many decades to come.
I believe the definition of Classic as defined in our constitution (“Classic motorcycle” means a motorcycle more than 25 years old and determined by the Committee to be club eligible”) will help to ensure that our Club will survive into the distant future. We probably won’t attract new younger members who own or have a desire to own, old British clunkers (don’t worry I’m not knocking them, I own a couple) but younger members who today are just as passionate about 80’s and early 90’s iconic machines from the era that they grew up in and may have lusted after during their early foray into motorcycling (When I was 16 and owned my first machine, a BSA C11, all I wanted was a big 500 single) We must accept that this new generation of classic enthusiasts, who were bitten by the bug (just as we were) and have a desire to own and ride a next generation classic from their youthful days, are encouraged and welcomed to join our Club to continue our legacy. I see it as no different from our enthusiasm for the much older machines that were representative of our early days of motorcycling. I hope you get my drift?
Thankfully our Club had the foresight to define “Classic” as they did, which by my way of thinking will give our Club some hope for longevity.
Sadly, Club member Peter Baird passed away on 31 July. Peter was a life long motorcyclist and joined our Club later in life and enjoyed attending Club Meetings – see the Vale for Peter in this Sprocket.
Get your classic ready for the Ride & Ruffit Rally in October – see you there.
Ian Snadden
President CMCCV