This year started on a sad note for the Phoenix with the news that our treasurer, Les Johnson, had suffered a stroke in the weeks before the last AGM. Les was due to have an operation on his knee in early November last year - he was looking forward to it because he hoped that the repair to the knee would allow him to ride his beloved bicycles again. Before his operation Les got the Phoenix accounts done and audited and passed his annual report to me. He left everything in order which made life a lot easier for Doreen when she took over from him after last year's AGM. We knew at the meeting that Les was in a bad way, yet we hoped that Doreen would only be caretaker of the Treasurer's job and that, in time, Les would make a good recovery and return as Treasurer. However it was not to be. As most of you know, Les lost his battle to recover in April of this year.
We have been familiar in recent years, with saying our final goodbyes to members from the early years of the Phoenix, but in truth although we have been sad to learn of their deaths, they have been either ex-members, or people who have moved away and only kept in touch tenuously and most of us cannot say we miss them. Les on the other hand was a constant, if infrequent, presence and I am sure that I speak for most of the committee when I say that his cheerful grin has been missed over the last few months.
In another respect the Phoenix has had an amazing year, with five new members joining this year. The internet is proving to be a useful recruiting tool and I believe that we could benefit by setting up a Kingston Phoenix Road Club web site to tell the world about ourselves. I have a few ideas for something simple and have made a start, but with as with so many things I find that I do not have enough time to do all that I would like to. The beauty of the internet is that it is a cross between a library and a public noticeboard.
Our increase in membership has unfortunately been more than balanced by others drifting away as the other demands of life take over and not only do they no longer have time for racing, they have little time for the social side of the club either. Fortunately though, we have Frank Cubis. His efforts in running our evening time trials mean that we are attracting members of other clubs to ride private time trials in our events, particularly the evening 10's; sometimes in addition to their own club events, sometimes even instead of. This is one of the things that keeps us going as a small club, as the revenue from these rides is almost entirely profit for the club.
This year we have started a policy of "day membership" for unattached riders to "come and try it" in our evening 10's. For a small charge in addition to the event entry fee, any novice or unattached rider becomes a Phoenix member for the duration of the event. Currently we have not framed specific rules regarding this: it comes under section 15 "Matters not provided for in these rules shall be left to the discretion of the committee". It is not intended as a class of membership, merely as an appetiser to attract anyone who thinks that they would like a go at Time Trialling and would apply to not more than two or three rides before a full recruitment drive would take place! Hopefully it will lead to new members for the Phoenix long term and it makes sure that "unknown" riders are actually covered as members of a club for the duration of the race. It also hints to people that this time trialling lark, although cheap, does actually cost money.
We should by now have a new watch for our timekeeper, as Frank has found the old one proving to be unreliable during the year and it would be a disaster to have to declare an event null and void due to a faulty watch. The old watch has been going not far short of twenty years and we decided that it is probably the club's most important asset. So we agreed to buy one of the fancy new models with a printout of the results - this should also stop the querying of Frank's maths when we look at our times in the car park after.
Oh, and talking of car parks: the local district committee have asked that we stop using the Rathlin Road car park in Crawley for events where the headquarters has not been hired - basically that means club events. They have promised to update us on possible alternatives but as yet I don't know what they are. This is in the interests of public relations with the locals, so that the headquarters and car park can continue to be used for open events.
Finally we are planning a small reshuffle of the committee at the AGM. Jake has been doing some road racing this year and has been volunteered to be the Road Race Secretary for next year. As Mick does not have the time to attend committee meetings that leaves us with a vacant space for an extra body on the committee - no particular job, just attend meetings every 6-8 weeks. Any takers from amongst our newer members - your views on how you perceived the club when you first joined could be useful to us in helping to recruit other new members.
Finally I would like to remind everybody of two things:
- Subs £15 for adult, first claim members. Money to Pete or myself.
- Phoenix Dinner 2000. 26th February 2000. Hotel Antoinette, Kingston again. Tickets from Jake.
All the best for a happy, healthy and speedy New Year.
Lisa Colombo: November 1999
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