Just to say that this is an interesting issue. I'm convener of a local group in Glasgow, Go Bike, which campaigns, meets with the council, police and other campaigning groups in a Cycling Forum, and also has just started to have a cycling organisations only meeting (COG - Cycling Organisations Glasgow) so that the various groups can talk about policy and tactics amongst ourselves. The bike rides organised by Go Bike are organised by an interested committee member who goes ahead and does them himself. There's another committee member who organises a holiday ride, in conjunction with another group.
We've started to discuss this a little in a small way but I'd say the general feeling is that these things are great, if there are people to do it who want to. The big problem that I'm coming to is that personnel are limited. I think any group faces similar issues. You have a core of active people, and they need to be careful not to be submerged. In the case of my own experience with Go Bike, we've had to back off from some cycle 'fun days' organised e.g. by councils or other cycle groups because otherwise we'd be swamped. I have to be a little ruthless and decide that I have to concentrate on the political side.
I think what you'll find with our group though, you'll find in microcosm everywhere. It really depends on the active core and how stretched they are or what their interests are. As Kant says, 'Benevolence is limited'. Otherwise, one might face groups that are active in lots of different spheres... til their members burn out. There are economic underpinnings (in terms of free time - the 'bowling alone' phenomenon) local determinants (a core emerges which works well and has good expertise - e.g. Spokes in Edinburgh). Anyway, my tuppence worth. You'll find the answer very much in the lived and economic realities of the groups.
alan munro
On 31 Oct 2012, at 12:21, Mike Cavenett wrote:
> London Cycling Campaign borough groups organise hundreds of free leisure
> rides for members and friends all year round - very much organised by
> locals for locals
>
> These rides are typically organised by a separate committee from those
> that run local campaigns and lobby borough councils - although naturally
> there's crossover in personnel
>
> I have no idea how this activity fits into a definition of a cycling club
>
> Cheers
>
> Mike
>
>
>
>> ok feel free to use wiki, doesn't seem to be whole lot between the
>> definitions really. maybe we should use the one in Organising Around
>> Enthusiasms instead.
>>
>> CTC comments - bit of jump there, I wasn't attacking the CTC which you
>> seemed to imply. And yes I have been out on CTC rides. Perhaps I should
>> have clarified it better, but thought it was obvious. CTC I see as more of
>> national organisation , admittedly with very local and social activities,
>> I don't want to study them. I am interested in the types of clubs I
>> listed ie what might be called local cycling clubs.
>>
>>
>> Graham Berridge
>> National Teaching Fellow 2010
>> Programme Leader Events Management
>> Senior Lecturer
>> University of West London
>> uwl.ac.uk
>>
>> 'Education that works'
>>
>> T: 02085795000
>> E: [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Cycling and Society Research Group discussion list
>> [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of burton richard
>> [[log in to unmask]]
>> Sent: 31 October 2012 11:15
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Cycling club membership
>>
>> I think that your definition of a club is extremely narrow, but I'm not
>> sure why you think CTC doesn't fulfil even your own narrow definition as
>> it's members meet regularly for social events. Perhaps your viewpoint
>> might be slightly skewed? Have you ever been out for a ride with CTC?
>>
>> I much prefer the wikipedia definition "A club is an association of two or
>> more people united by a common interest or goal. A service
>> club<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_club>, for example, exists for
>> voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and
>> sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so
>> forth."
>>
>> On 31 October 2012 10:51, Graham Berridge
>> <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>> Thanks to everyone for comments so far.
>>
>> For some clarification, I hope.
>> I agree a club doesn't need to meet the needs of whole community, just its
>> members.
>> So the essence of the enquiry was what, if any, research exists on
>> cycling clubs and their members' needs. This could of course link to
>> motivations for joining and what they expected to get out of being a
>> member. Similar studies exist for say Health and Sports ( Gym) clubs and
>> there is material on various other voluntary organisations, but we
>> couldn't immediately find anything specific on cycling clubs, other than
>> via some of the personal accounts/stories already mentioned.
>>
>> I was thinking of a club along the lines of this:
>> An organization composed of people who voluntarily meet on a regular basis
>> for a mutual purpose other than educational, religious, charitable, or
>> financial pursuits. A club is any kind of group that has members who meet
>> for a social, literary, or political purpose, such as health clubs,
>> country clubs, book clubs, and women's associations
>>
>> So rightly or wrongly I don't see the CTC in this light. From a London
>> perspective then the types of cycling clubs would be such as CC Hackney,
>> London Phoenix, Kingston Wheelers, Addiscombe etc etc.
>>
>> Regards Graham
>>
>>
>> Graham Berridge
>> National Teaching Fellow 2010
>> Programme Leader Events Management
>> Senior Lecturer
>> University of West London
>> uwl.ac.uk<http://uwl.ac.uk>
>>
>> 'Education that works'
>>
>> T: 02085795000
>> E: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Cycling and Society Research Group discussion list
>> [[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>]
>> On Behalf Of John Meudell
>> [[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>]
>> Sent: 31 October 2012 10:23
>> To:
>> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Re: Cycling club membership
>>
>> Sorry, but I don’t understand why a club needs to meet the needs of the
>> whole community. A club is an association of like-minded individuals in
>> pursuit of a common endeavour….
>>
>> There’s clearly a need for some definition of club in this
>> correspondence…..if not the focus of the research itself.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> John Meudell
>>
>>
>>
>> From: Cycling and Society Research Group discussion list
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>]
>> On Behalf Of burton richard
>> Sent: 31 October 2012 07:56
>> To:
>> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Re: Cycling club membership
>>
>> Not sure I'd describe them as meeting the needs of the entire community.
>> From their website, they seem to be almost totally dedicated to
>> competitive cycling: no family rides, no beginners rides.
>> On 30 October 2012 19:47, Richard Lewis
>> <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]><mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>>
>> wrote:
>> Mirela,
>>
>> If anyone can tell you the answer to this, the organisers of Cycling
>> Club Hackney can. Have a look at their website to see how they meet the
>> needs of the entire community.
>>
>> cyclingclubhackney.co.uk/<http://cyclingclubhackney.co.uk/><http://cyclingclubhackney.co.uk/>
>>
>> Regards
>> Richard.
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 2012-10-30 at 14:28 +0000, Mirela Oliver, Research Assistant
>> wrote:
>>> Does anyone know of any research into cycling club membership needs and/
>>> or member's requirements when joining a cycling clu?
>>>
>>> Mirela Oliver, Research Assistant on behalf of Graham Berridge, School
>>> of Hospitality and Tourism, University of West London.
>>
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