Well another month has flown by and here I am writing to you all again, I can say all as I have it on good authority that there is more than one reader!
Last month saw us hosting one of our biggest events of the year the Tamar Trial, with an entry of 60 it was all systems “go”, our new start venue at Tresmeer Village Hall seemed to go down well with many of the competitors and marshals taking advantage of the £6.00 all you can eat breakfast, much to the relief of the hall volunteers, some of whom turned up at 5.00 am to get the cooking under way, the Hall is now £300.00 better off so thanks to all.
The route covered approximately 75 miles with a good variety of sections to try and catch out the unwary but David Haizelden was on the ball (unlike his trailer) and only dropped 3 points all day to take the overall win in the car classes. Andrew Kearns took the solo motorcycle class and Alan Wear won the class for the motorcycle combinations. The event finished well within daylight which has always been a concern of the organising committee, so all good. Special thanks to Adrian Booth for lending me his Land Rover for the opening vehicle.
The ACTC are looking to restructure and are looking to meet with members of the trialling community to listen and hear what they have to contribute to this vital and ongoing process.
It has been suggested that if our club and its members would like to arrange a venue then they will arrange a mutually agreeable date and time to have an informal discussion and exchange of ideas, hopefully this can happen.
Anyone wanting to contact ACTC should do so by speaking to, or emailing Carl Talbot (Chairman), Pete Hart (Vice Chairman) or Bill Bennett (Secretary).
Forthcoming Events
The Ron Beer Sporting trial is on the 27th of December at Harrowbarrow. Regs for this are on the website and you can even do an online entry, no more putting forms and a cheque in the post, but if you are volunteering to marshal you will need to “ring” Mike Wevill 01566 784451 ( I’ll get his email address one day).
Spry Sporting Trial on the 27th of January 2019 at Trevilla Farm, Marshgate.
February 28th 2019 we are having a special meeting open to all club members to ascertain the future direction of the LNCMC, your support is needed. Chairman Warin Kelly has written a special piece on this, venue to be decided upon.
In my last newsletter I mentioned I was off to do the MCC Edinburgh trial safe in the knowledge that the Dellow was declared fit, what a mistake !! Son-in-law Matt and myself.set off at 1.00am from Darley Dale for the run down to Tamworth Services arriving at around 2.25 and was duly scrutineered and signed on. We left at 3.30 am as per our time and travelled about fifty yards when the gearbox jammed up, after a failed attempt to fix it, it was back in to the services for another cup of hot chocolate and at 4.00am call the recovery service. After much procrastinating on their part and waiting for them to find a driver (you know how hard it is finding a lorry driver in the Midlands) a vehicle finally turned up at 8.30 and we were loaded and on our way back to Darley Dale. So after breakfast it was off to watch competitors at Excelsior and what might have been, hey ho motorsport teaches you to be philosophic.
Don’t forget that if you would like to contribute to this epistle it would be most welcome.
J.T.
And now a word from our chairman regarding the future of the club;
In our committee meetings over the last year or so one concern has kept coming up, namely falling entries and the increasing difficulty of finding marshals and people to take on the key roles in events with their increasing bureaucratic demands.
That’s more than one concern you may say, but it comes down to one thing, what is the future of our grass roots sport? This is relevant to other clubs as well as ourselves and raises many questions.
Entries are falling in all our events. Championship Classic Trials, BTRDA Trials formula events, ASWMC production car trials (no championship contender entered our round this year), and our closed to Club events (with the exception of the Launceston) get a very poor entry. Are we running events that present competitors want? What do the up and coming generation want? Is the expense of a competitive vehicle, entry costs etc getting too high for our competitors? Or is it just a blip at the moment?
Often we seem to clash with other clubs events. Not always the same type of event but nevertheless a clash divides the pool of competitors and marshals. Are we trying to run too many events? Do we need to make more effort to coordinate the whole calendar?
Is Sunday the best day for events? What about evening events in the summer? (As used to happen). Shorter more intensive events?
Marshalls generally are getting older, and less mobile. Where is the next generation? Actually not the next generation who are probably already in their 50s, but the following generation with all their enthusiasm of youth.
The same question can be asked about committee members and event organizers.
Are there too many Clubs? or should we work together more to run group or inter club events?
Have our events had their day? What sort of events do people want? Is there a generational split?
We cater for both bikes and cars. Is there a difference between what each would like?
With so many other things going on in our lives is our sport needed any longer? Is it right to continue in these days of global warming?
In order to discuss such questions and look to our future we have decided to hold an open meeting on Thursday 28th February next year. It is clear that other clubs are experiencing similar problems so we will be extending an invitation to all the local clubs as well as ACTC and will welcome anyone with imaginative ideas for our sport. People we have spoken to so far have responded positively and we hope this meeting will be the start of wider discussion. The venue will be advised in due course.
If you have any comments on this matter please feel free to post them on our club face book page.
Or send them to John Turner at billjan299@gmail.com who will be happy to include them in our newsletter.
If you will be coming to the meeting please ring me Warin Kelly on 01822 870393, or Pat Gomm on 01566 784348, so that we can get an idea of numbers and select a suitable venue.