|
For most people spring is a happy time as the last remnants of winter slowly lose their hold and the promise of the summer to come turns our minds to thoughts of events. For me the joy of spring is somewhat tarnished by the fact that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. With the You’ve been Nabbed rally to organise, Open House to produce, and more meetings to attend than I care to think about, spring to me is a bit of a meat grinder. Consequently my master plan of getting Open House finished a month early has once again failed miserably. However it looks as if it will be printed, packed and posted by the end of April so with a bit of luck I will just have time to make sure everything is ready for You’ve been nabbed 12A (I hope).
Pretty in Pink:
Right hands up all those who spotted the deliberate mistake in the last issue of Open House. (What do you mean ‘which one’?). I refer of course to the fact that we completely forgot to enclose a book of tickets for the ‘Pretty in Pink’ draw. Hopefully there should be a book of tickets enclosed with this issue, and it is your final chance to buy them. The Draw is to take place at You’ve Been Nabbed 12A, at Astle Park in Cheshire on Saturday May 15th. So get the stubs filled out and posted off to the office (with a cheque) now or you will miss your chance to win the fully refurbished, re-sprayed, re-chromed, ‘Beach Bastard’ trike.
You’ve Been Nabbed 12A:
With the rally just a few weeks away the advance ticket sales are looking very healthy. The return of the NABD rally to Cheshire seems to be causing quite a stir and we are looking forward to an excellent event. Don’t panic if you haven’t got advance tickets, it’s a big site and we won’t turn you away at the gate.
NABD AGM 2004:
The annual general meeting or this year is set for Saturday June 26th. We have a new venue for the meeting and the evening party courtesy of Dalton Army Barracks, and Beemer of the Timelords. Full details are on page 11 of this issue.
Green Lanes:
I’m sure any of you are aware of the proposals put forward by Alun Michael, the Rural Affairs Minister, to ban motorised vehicles from public rights of way and green lanes. This has very obvious implications for people with disabilities and the NABD has been campaigning strongly against these proposals, as have MAG and BMF. We need all members and affiliates to support our campaign by writing to their MP’s. I know this can be a bit daunting for some so I have made it easy for you. See the article and specimen letter on page 19 of this issue. Then pick up your pen (or keyboard) and get stuck in. If we all stick together we can win this one, to quote the motto of the old Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (AUEW) ‘solidarity is strength’.
Insurance:
Another issue which affects all of us is that of bike/trike and/or car insurance. I don’t think anybody would disagree that the UK insurance industry has been riding roughshod over motorists ever since the day that motor insurance became mandatory. But they seem to have forgotten the old adage that ‘you can push people just so far’. NABD are teaming up with MAG to spearhead a campaign aimed at forcing the government to regulate the motor insurance industry. Neil Liversidge of MAG explains the reasoning behind this campaign on page 10 of this issue, and there is additional information on page 27.
We expect things to move quite rapidly on this campaign so I will give further details in the next issue, but in the meantime you should keep an eye on the NABD and MAG web sites.
Blue Badge Holder:
In the autumn issue of Open House last year I announced that the DfT had agreed to fund our project to get a special blue badge holder designed and manufactured for bikes and trikes. The project was undertaken by Salford University School of Art and Design. I even went to the extent of putting out a general press release on the subject. However, that seems to be as far as it went. Despite assurances from Salford University that the project would start in October 2003 with a view to completion in January 2004. Nothing has happened since my last meeting with them in September. Both I and the people at the DfT have tried to contact the people concerned at Salford on numerous occasions and we have had no response. To say I am disappointed would be a vast understatement. I have now asked the people at the DfT if they will make the funding available to an NABD member who has spent the last year on a design project of his own, which has shown great promise. I will let you know the outcome in the next issue of Open House magazine.
Motability:
I have recently supplied the people at Motability with a lot of information they had requested which will help them to set up the new scheme to include bikes and trikes. It is a fairly slow process but I’m sure it will prove to be worth the wait. The people at Motability are far too canny to give me any firm idea when the scheme will be ready to launch at present, but when they do I will let you all know via the web site and Open House (see page 18).
Merchandise:
We have a few new additions to the NABD merchandise range. The NABD T-shirts are now available for the first time in XXL. NABD Jackets are now available in small. We have also got a new ladies V-neck, T-shirt featuring a new Celtic style NABD logo (unfortunately I don’t yet have a photo for Open House). For more merchandise details see page 29 and/or the online shop. (NABD Bandanna’s are now back in stock at £3.00 each, but I’ve no photo for them yet either). We will be adding other new items throughout the year.
Community Fund Survey:
As you know our wonderful Office Administrator, Shirley Hauxwell is the only paid employee of the NABD. Her position is funded by a grant from the National lottery ‘Community Fund’. Part of the criteria for that grant is that I have to make an annual report to the Community Fund about how the grant is benefiting the work of the NABD. For this I need some feedback from yourselves.
Initially I planned to include a questionnaire with this issue of Open House for members to fill in and return. But being mindful of the costs involved we have come up with what we hope will prove to be a simpler way of getting the required feedback. If you look on page 21 you will find a few basic questions. You can submit answers by telephone, or post, or via a nifty little form that Jim Meredith has set up on the NABD web site. Your Co-operation will be much appreciated and it will help ensure that the funding remains in place.
NABD Stalls at Events:
I would like to thank those of you who have responded to my plea for people with adapted machines to display them at events where there will be an NABD information/advice stall. Of course we need more people to do the same. Recently we have made great efforts to up-grade the overall presentation of the stalls. The Rep’s in the South East of England (Kent, London etc) have a stall set-up, which is virtually identical to the national stall. We have recently put together another for use in the South West of England, and we will very shortly have yet another for use in Scotland. This is an on-going project and we eventually hope to have similar stalls based in Ireland, and NE England. What really makes the difference though is to have adapted machines on display with these stalls at bike and/or disability events wherever they may be. I have included details of all of the events we currently have booked on page 20.
If you have an adapted machine and would like to display it at any of these events contact the office, and we can get things organised.
Learner Loaners:
As a result of the TV documentary about the NABD shown on Men & Motors late last year (copies of which are available from the NABD office on VHS and DVD) we have had 3 125cc bikes donated to our small fleet of ‘learner loaner machines. These have now been adapted to suit various disabilities and are ready to go into use. Unfortunately our transport co-ordinator Del Walker has had a mishap with some of his paperwork and cannot now give us the details of people who are waiting for the use of these bikes. If you have applied recently for the loan of an adapted bike for taking your training and test, or would like to apply for one, please contact the office as soon as possible.
End of the Financial Year:
It’s always good to end on a high note, particularly when the thing you are ending is the financial year. The NABD financial year ends on the 1st of April, and you may remember how ecstatic we were last April when our turnover breached £100,000.00 for the first time in the history of the NABD (Just over £102,000.00 to be more precise). I checked with our esteemed treasurer John Byrne today to see how we had done this year and although it will be a while before the full audited accounts are done he assured me that in the financial year 2003-2004 the NABD gross turnover had exceeded a staggering £140,000.00
This tremendous growth in turnover reflects the overall improvement in all aspects of the NABD, which have been apparent over the past twelve months. We have made more adaption grants than ever before, once again the amount given in grants exceeds the total received in donations. The NABD is reaching more people than ever before, and our profile has never been higher. The challenge now, of course, is to do even better over the next twelve months.
Well, that’s it from me for the moment, I hope to see you all at You’ve Been Nabbed 12A.
|
