A few weeks ago we reported about the proposed rebrand of CTC to Cycling UK. As you will no doubt be aware, the rebrand has now gone through, but not without comment.
Former CTC Council member, Philip Benstead submitted a petition, signed by many of our members, asking that the re-brand was put to a full membership vote.
The latest issue of Cycling should have arrived through your letterbox in the past few days, and includes a voting form (on the back of the address insert) in which all members can now vote to either accept the re-brand, or ask for it to be reverted back to CTC.
We would like to ask our members to read this, along with the associated articles on pages 7 - 10, and vote on this important issue.
Just to confirm our committe's message from the initial announcement:
"Specifically for Burnley and Pendle CTC members, we will not be changing our name or identity. We will continue to be known as Burnley and Pendle CTC, and will retain our current club clothing designs."
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On 19th september 2015, the CTC launched a series of Ride Leader Workshops, to be held around the country over the following months.. We were lucky enough to secure a couple fo places on the first of these workshops, held in at the Palatine Sports Centre, in Blackpool
This was a chance for both new and experience ride leaders to discuss various topics that add up to a successful ride, and ride leader, and was attended by approximately 20 cyclists from the CTC and affiliated clubs.
Topics included
- Examining what makes an enjoyable ride and a good Ride Leader
- Understanding what information ride participants need ahead of the ride
- Examining how to plan a good group ride
- Introduction to CTC's current Policies and Procedures in relation to leading rides
- Understanding how to lead a group ride
- Providing an opportunity for knowledge-sharing and networking for existing and future Ride Leaders
- Examining further training and development opportunities
- Providing an opportunity to go on a group ride with other participants down the seafront to Lytham
Burnley and Pendle members, Jim Duerden and Mark Clegg are pictured above along with their certificates of attendance.
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At last nights committe meeting, Burnley and Pendle CTC discussed news of a possible rebranding of the CTC to Cycling UK, which is believed willl be announced in April. This news has recently been circulating on various cycling related sites on the interent, and is causing concern to our members.
The general feeling amongst our committee is that this is being pushed through without proper consultation, casts aside the strong heritage of the club, and does not reflect the views of the membership.
Former CTC Council member, Philip Benstead is leading a petition to have the rebranding put to a full membership vote. Please find below copy of Philip's e-Mail to member groups, and David Cox (CTC Council Chair)'s response. If members would like to sign Philip's petition, please see a member of the committee on the next club run, or attached here. (You will need your membership number).
Specifically for Burnley and Pendle CTC members, our committee is of the opinion that, in the event of the rebrand being accepted, we will not be changing our name or identity. We will continue to be known as Burnley and Pendle CTC, and will retain our current club clothing designs.
The Committee.
Letter from Philip Benstead to member groups...
Dear Secretary/Member
If sent to you in error, please forward to the correct person.
CHANGE OF THE BRANDING NAME OF THE “CTC” to “CYCLING UK”
DEMAND FOR A POLL OF THE WHOLE CLUB
You and your CTC members may have become aware that at the Cyclists’ Touring Club (CTC) Council meeting on 23rd January 2016 agreed on a vote of 10 to 5 to replace the existing “Cyclists` Touring Club or CTC” and associated logo(s) and heritage marks with “CYCLING UK” or another branding name and logo(s). https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/1/UK00003150027
We are petitioning the CTC to demand a poll of the whole club so CTC members will have the opportunity to indorse or overturn the motion.
It is our opinion the entire decision-making process was flawed and any dissent was either ignored or shouted down. A similar technique was used regarding the governance issue, but more of that a little in the future. We need 200 valued CTC members signing, but I want many more to avoid any being discounted and to show the strength of feeling.
It has been drawn to our attention that there are already similarly named cycling-related internet sites
https://www.facebook.com/ucyclingk/?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/CyclingUKNews
http://cycleuk.bike/
Please could you circulate this petition to fully paid up CTC members.
Please ensure that their name/number is legible and that they must also sign it in black or blue ink/biro.
Please note that we have the support of some councillors.
We are seeking the poll details to be in the April/May edition of “Cycle”; so time is short.
Please return the completed sheets in an A4 size envelope to me ASAP at
Philip Benstead CTC Brand Petition,
19 Greencoat Mansions, Greencoat Row, Westminster, London, SW1P 1PG.
Please ensure the correct first class postage is used, you need to use the Large Letter rate of 100g = 95p, 250g = £1.26, 500g = £1.68, 750g = £2.42.
NB Data Protection Act, your email address was obtained from a public available source on the internet.
Many thanks for your help,
Philip Benstead
BRAND PETITION COORDINATOR AND POST-BOX
Letter from David Cox, Chair CTC Council to member groups in response to Philip Benstead's communication...
Dear John,
It has been brought to my attention that CTC member and former Councillor Philip Benstead has approached local group Secretaries and other members asking for support for a poll of the whole membership about the decision to rebrand. It is up to members whether they wish to seek a poll – the charity’s articles of association provide for a poll where 200 members wish to challenge a resolution of Council. However, the last time we conducted a poll of the whole club, the cost of the process was approximately £14,000. In terms of what this means to our charity, that is enough to employ a staff member for over 5 months to offer full time support to Member Groups. Before you commit the charity to that expense, I would like to ensure you have a bit more background information.
What is proposed?
The document I have seen refers to the proposed re-branding in rather confused terms. As set out in our earlier statement here, from our Chief Executive, Paul Tuohy, “Our charity will still legally be registered as the Cyclists’ Touring Club with its charity and company registrations unchanged. The Cyclists’ Touring Club is not being disbanded. In fact, part of the need for this change is because we hope the new brand will enhance our touring offering. The new name (as I’m sure many of you will now have seen) is ‘Cycling UK’ and the brand ‘we are Cycling UK’ will be adopted as a ‘trading name’ of the charity. We are very proud of our heritage and history, and we know that a new name and brand will really help to make our charity even more attractive to many more people.”
By the nature of this information being leaked, our full rebranding has not yet been presented (only the new name and a new logo). While these both form an integral part of our new brand, they will both be used in conjunction with images and editorial in a way that conveys much more than any logo might in isolation. In fact the success of any brand is about how an organisation ‘lives and breathes’ its values through the work that it does.
What does this mean for Member Groups?
CTC Member Groups will not need to change their names, their jerseys or other aspects of their branding unless they want to. Most Member Groups have a clear identity and touring orientation that is well recognised by local club cyclists and they will be free to maintain that identity. It will continue to be possible to obtain classic kit and winged wheel badges – and we plan to develop further items drawing on the charity’s rich heritage.
Was the decision endorsed by Council?
Yes. The Council meeting on 23 January resolved to accept the new name and design proposed by the professional team working to reflect the ‘brand essence’ approved by Council at an earlier meeting.
The decision came at the end of an impressively thorough process. While some Council members were initially cautious of the jargon that can surround exercises like this, there was a near-unanimous acknowledgement that the team working with us understood CTC with all its complex heritage and exciting future – and had captured our collective desire to share the joy of cycling.
Only one Council member voted against the proposed rebrand, with 15 voting in favour.
Have steps been taken to protect the new brand?
Yes. We have conducted a robust risk-assessment, protected the new logo as a registered trade mark and taken other steps on the advice of our legal and other advisers.
What does this mean for the winged wheel?
There will be many charities who will be jealous of our rich history and such iconic assets like our winged wheel, and rightly so. We will continue to promote our heritage as a very important part of our wider brand, which will include continuing to use the winged wheel.
Who is Philip Benstead?
Philip Benstead is a long-standing CTC member, volunteer and former Council member. He left Council with effect from 1 January this year, after a contested election in the South East region.
We are particularly disappointed that Philip has chosen to take this action because:
- At the CTC Council meeting in January 2014 Philip seconded the motion to go ahead with the work on the rebranding, specifically to: ‘Agree in principle to a trading name change … ‘;
- As a former member of CTC Council Philip should understand that members of Council are obliged to accept collective responsibility, and that responsibility continues to apply in relation to decisions made while he was a trustee;
- Despite the fact that he was until the end of last year a Council member, Philip chose not to raise his concerns about the decision with Council or with the National Office team.
What next?
We will be officially launching our new name and brand in April, through Cycle magazine, our online communications channels and via the media. We will also be back in touch with you before then to provide you with new resources and guidance so that you can maximise this opportunity to raise the profile of [the charity and] your group locally, to help to attract new members and to gain local media interest.
If you have any questions, please contact the communications team on 01483 238 315.
David Cox
Chair, CTC Council
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Details have now been finalised for the Walney to Wear coast to coast trip in May. A summary of the itinerary can be found below.
The route starts at Walney Island, Barrow in Furness and traverses northeastwards to Wear, Sunderland, a distance of approximately 152 miles. The route takes in the southern Lake District, Orton Fells, Eden Valley and the North Pennines offering outstanding scenery along with some steep and long climbs. The highest point of the route is 1,732ft at Tan Hill, the highest pub in Britain.
Thursday 12 May - coach + bike pickup in Barrowford at 6pm, travel to Barrow in Furness (approx. 2 hrs). Accommodation in twin room. Bed and breakfast.
Friday 13 May - ride to Shap, approx. 65-70 miles. Stay at Shap. Accommodation in twin room. Bed, breakfast and evening meal.
Saturday 14 May - ride to Bishop Auckland, approx. 65 miles. Stay at Bishop Auckland. Accommodation in twin room. Bed and breakfast.
Sunday 15 May - ride to Wear (Sunderland), approx. 25-30 miles. Coach + bike pickup at Wear 2pm, travel back to Barrowford.
The current cost is £220 but this may change slightly depending on numbers (based on 12 riders but there is the potential to expand this to 14 if needed).
You will need to carry your own gear for the trip as there are no luggage transfers. You will also need to provide your own meals other than those provided above, although we normally try and book the evening meals in advance so that we know there will be a hot meal at the end of the day. We have normally made use of local cafes etc. on previous trips for lunch and brew stops.
Looking at the terrain, the ride will be quite challenging especially with luggage and you should be confident of being able to complete the daily distance. There are details of the route on the sustrans website.
If you wish to discuss the trip, please contact Matt Hargreaves on 07730988043. A £60 deposit is required to secure a place with the remainder being due by Friday April 15 2016.
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The date for our next Slide Show has now been confirmed, and will take place at The Inn on the Wharf, Burnley at 7:30pm, Monday 14th March.
Ian Lowcock will be presenting the "Loves ot my life", which was previously shown to Blackburn & District CTC before Christmas, and was very well received. It should be a good evening.
£5 including pie & pea supper. Please contact Ian Lowcock Tel 812842 to book your supper.
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If anybody is still interested in the long weekend trip to the Isle of Man from 7th - 11th April 2016, please contact Jim Duerden as soon as possible.
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Below are some of the reports submitted at our Annual General Meeting in November.
Secretary's Report
Burnley and Pendle CTC, Member Group.
Report to Annual General Meeting 4th November 2015.
Mr. Chairman, fellow members.
The club has had quite a successful year. The number of members listed for our member group has remained steady at just over 200, however the numbers attending our Short Sunday rides has continued to build, with a strong core and regularly getting 10 and more on rides.
While the Short Sunday rides have been successful and have run each week, there has been a reduced interest in Long rides and so we have tended to put on more Medium or Medium Plus rides. We also included several car assisted rides enabling members to explore further afield including Morecambe, York Rally & The Wirral Way. We had a ride to watch the inaugural Tour of Yorkshire stage race in May. Our Extra Short invitation rides, to encourage new riders, were run once a mouth throughout the year, on Saturday mornings, with several new riders, with 19 ttending one of the rides. We did not attend the Blackpool ‘Ride the Lights’ event in August this year. The Tuesday Evening rides followed by the social have continued throughout the year. The Saturday morning rides led by Bob Jackson and Matt Hargreaves, in conjunction with Barnoldswick Clarion, continue to attract 15 or more riders most weeks. Harry Taylor & David Tinker have liaised with Wheel Easy Cycling Club in Harrogate & Blackburn CTC, and have hosted a couple of invitational/joint rides. Harry Taylor has been dealing with our new rider enquiries and has put considerable effort into publicizing the club distributing leaflets and posters around numerous shops, sports centres, libraries and other public buildings. We even had a TV appearance on Channel 4 News with Krishnan Guru-Murthy in April.
We were again involved with the Pendle Bikefest, which included a number of guided rides before and after the Tour of Britain finish in Colne on Monday 7th September. On the back of the Tour of Britain media coverage Harry was able to get another good article in the local press. We supplied 6 marshals for the Colne Grand Prix circuit race, attracting a £120 contribution to club funds and had a stall to distribute leaflets. We did not run a Charity fundraising event this year.
Jim Duerden organised an April weekend, to Hesket Newmarket and a July weekend to Hawes which was met by the Sunday car assisted ride. Matt Hargreaves organised an extremely successful 3 day coast to coast trip on The Way of the Roses route from Morecambe to Bridlington enjoyed by 14 riders in May. Unfortunately Harry Taylor’s September weekend to Dumfries did not go ahead this time due to lack of numbers.
The week-long National CTC Birthday Rides, held at Newton Rigg Agricultural College, Penrith, in August, were attended by 7 of our current members among the nearly 350 fellow cyclists. We again met ex—members and friends from previous years in an enjoyable & sociable week. With a good variety of rides, and entertainment each evening including a quiz night, music, magician, talks, films and a barn dance.
Last year’s Christmas meal was again held at The Copy Nook, Bolton by Bowland. In March we held a quiz Night @ Boyce’s Barrel bar, Colne, hosted by Harry Taylor & Jim Duerden, with pie & pea supper, where we were joined by members from other local cycling clubs.
Mark Clegg joined the committee in July and has done a lot of work with the club web site, setting us up with a new host, and updating the content. The club members are also keeping in contact
and posting photo’s etc using Facebook and google groups. We are taking details for another bulk order of our club clothing toward the end of the year. The kit remained a useful publicity tool, prompting many conversations with other cyclists. Could anyone wishing to attend our slide evening on Monday 16th November 7:30pm upstairs @ The Inn on the Wharf, Burnley, £5 including pie &pea supper, please book their place with me so that we can confirm numbers for catering. In closing I’d like to thank all members of the club & committee for their support during the year.
John Ramsden (Secretary)
Webmaster's Report
Back in June, I was asked to take a look at the club's website.
Those who have visited the site would know that it hadn't seen any significant updates for some time, mainly due to the loss of our hosting provider, who had become uncontactable.
The initial course of action was to re-establish contact with the hosting provider, in order to obtain access to the site, and failing that start again from scratch, which would have meant a new site with new e-mail addresses, far from ideal.
After just over a month, we regained control of the site, so work started on a redesign, and bringing the content up to date. However, we were also informed that we needed to find a new provider, as the original host was unable to continue offering the service.
At the beginning of September we signed with a new provider, who, although slightly more expensive, was willing to bill us on an annual basis, rather than via direct debit like the mainstream providers seem to prefer. An agreement preferable for a small organisation such as ours.
We completed the transfer to the new provider over the next week, transferring both our website, and email accounts. Apart from one small hiccup with the email service, we're now fully up and running, and back full control of our internet presence.
The site is now regularly updated with Ride Reports, Tour reports, News Items, and Social Events. If you haven't visited for a while, maybe it's time to have another look…
http://www.burnleyandpendlectc.co.uk
As a summary of how our site gets used, below are the number of page views for the most popular pages over the last couple of months.
| Page | Views |
|---|---|
| Welcome... | 1412 |
| Our Rides | 216 |
| Contacts | 182 |
| Social Events | 146 |
| Campaigning | 146 |
| CTC Club Clothing | 143 |
| Tours | 140 |
| Join CTC | 132 |
| 10-Pin Bowling - 22 October 2015 | 129 |
| Colne Grand Prix 2013 | 122 |
Downloaded runs lists…
| Rides 2015_04-06 | 298 |
| Rides 2015_07-09 | 262 |
| Rides 2015_10-12 | 189 |
Other areas of interest…
CTC
Our group page on CTC's website was updated at the end of October, and provides a brief overview of the group, along with links back to our website. This allows anybody searching HQ's site for a local group to find out more about us.
http://www.ctc.org.uk/local-groups/burnley-pendle
Google Groups
We have a group mailing list on google groups, allowing members to mailshot the rest of the group easily. This is used mainly for advertising the weekend rides, and sharing photos taken whilst out as a group.
If you're not currently on the list, and would like to be added, please let me know
We also have a very active Facebook group. Much more informal than the website and mailing list, you'll generally find photos from our rides here shortly after a club run, along with an “entertaining” discussion from those on the ride.
Search Facebook for “Burnley and Pendle CTC”
Mark Clegg
Webmaster
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