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I must apologise for this issue of Open House being somewhat later than planned. The last few months have been so hectic that I have had no choice but to put the magazine on hold while other things have taken priority.
New NABD office:
One of the main reasons for the delay in producing Open House is that on my return from the BSH Faro Run I had a letter from the landlords of our office premises which gave us three months notice to vacate the premises. As I have mentioned in previous issues of Open House our office is a wooden building, which used to be part of a prison camp for Italian prisoners of war. The land owners have now decided that it is time to redevelop the site, leaving us with just three months to find new premises and move out. As you can imagine this has meant a lot of running about for yours truly as I searched for a suitable place that will suit our needs and doesn’t cost the earth.
The good news is that I eventually found suitable premises on the outskirts of Trafford Park industrial estate in Greater Manchester, which is only about seven miles from our present location. The new place is a little more expensive than the old one but this was to be expected, as there aren’t to many prisoner of war camps left in the region. However the rent is rock bottom in comparison with any other premises available at the time and I did manage to negotiate a rent-free period of three months to ease the burden of the inevitable costs attached to moving in and making the place suitable for the NABD.
The address of the new office is on page 2 and page 28; we will have a redirect arrangement for post to the old address so don’t worry if you have sent something recently. The new office telephone number is 0870 759 0603. Keep an eye on the NABD web site www.nabd.org.uk for further updates.
August Bank Holiday Weekend:
This is one of the busiest weekends of the year for NABD publicity/advice stalls. We had Chris Crocker Devon Rep) and his team on a stall at the South West Motorcycle Show at Exeter. Chris had once again organised a very impressive display of adapted machines and the stall raised a phenomenal amount of money. Rose Fitton (events Co-ordinator) and her daughter Lil ran the Helmet Park, which raised over £500.00 for NABD funds.
Meanwhile Juley Simmonds (Secretary) and Gary Tompkins (Kent Rep) and Ken May (London Rep) had a team working an NABD stall at the GWOCGB Treffen at Ardingly in Sussex. They also managed to mount a good display of adapted machines, which included a couple of Goldwings, which left the GWOCGB members suitably impressed. (See Gary Tompkins rep’s report on page 12).
Also that weekend, Bob Sutton (South Wales Rep) had a team working an NABD stall at the Anglesey Bike Show, which also impressed people immensely. In addition John Byrne (Treasurer), Gaz McCabe (Grtr Manchester Rep), and Shirley Hauxwell (Office Administrator) were working an NABD stall at the Stockport Bike Show, which had chosen NABD to be one of it’s beneficiaries this year (see page 25 for further details).
The problem is that there are so many events on that weekend that we just didn’t have enough people (or stalls for that matter) to cover all that we had been invited too. So apologies to those events we could not attend but I’m sure you understand.
Autumn Nabd’ness:
The NABD autumn rally at Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire was a great success. Once again the venue proved it’s worth as, though we had a fair bit of rain this year, there was hardly any mud to be seen. The event itself was an absolute cracker with over 600 people enjoying themselves as if it were going out of fashion. (See page 15 for the report and pages 16, 17, and the front cover for the photos).
Welcome new NABD Rep's:
Following on from the recruitment project started by Gaz McCabe earlier in the year, Garry Seddon (Rep’s Liaison) has added eight new rep’s and two new assistant rep’s to our ranks. These are Dave Smith (Derbyshire & Peaks), Chris Jones (Merseyside), Martin Fowler (Isle of Man, assisted by Linda Fowler), Dave Payne (East Sussex [St Leonards-On-Sea], assisted by Chris Dale), Bob Cowan (Cheshire), Barry Gray (Lincolnshire), Stuart Gregory (West Yorkshire), and Mike Bridger (East Sussex [Hove]). All of these fine folk are most welcome. (Rep’s contact details on page 28, though the list is not yet fully up to date).
Adrian Hine:
It was with great sadness that we heard of the recent death of Adrian Hine. Many of you will remember Adrian from his adaption article in issue 41 of Open House. Adrian was a lovely bloke who had become active within the NABD, even appearing on TV with us, trying to help other disabled people to enjoy the freedom of biking. The world of biking is a poorer place for the loss of a man so full of life, our hearts go out to his family and friends.
The International Bike Show at the NEC:
As many of you are already aware the NABD does not have a budget for paying for stall space at events. We rely on the good will of event organisers to allow us space free of charge as we are there as a service to the people attending the event. Over recent years it has been a bit ‘hit-and-miss’ as to whether we got free stall space at the NEC show (we have only managed four out of the past eight years). Unfortunately this seems to be a reflection of the attitude the motorcycle industry has toward the NABD. Though the NABD is accepted by many authorities as the world leader in it’s field, the industry tends to do it’s best to ignore our existence (a strange attitude considering that the NABD has been instrumental in helping thousands of people to ride motorcycles and trikes). Once again this year we were unable to get free stall space at the show, though the MAG stand and the BSH/Streetfighters stand agreed to display NABD information for us. I am now in negotiations to solve this problem once and for all, and I hope to have some good news to report in the next issue.
Motability:
The project to include bikes and trikes on the Motability scheme is still proceeding in the right direction. I must apologise for being somewhat over optimistic as to how long it would take for the scheme to be up and running, but we are in regular contact with the directors of Motability and will keep you appraised of developments via the NABD web site.
You’ve Been Nabbed 14:
The NABD national rally has been set for 13th - 15th of May 2005. The venue will be Astle Park near the Jodrell Bank radio telescopes in Cheshire, following the great success of the event at that venue this year. Full details will be released with the next Open House early next year, but suffice to say ‘put it in your diaries now, it’s going to be a belter!’
Annual Report:
The annual report of the NABD will be complete by the end of December. This report includes an overview of the association from the AGM 2003 to the AGM 2004, plus a list of all adaption grants for that period, the financial policy of the NABD, an abridged version of the constitution of the NABD (pertaining to trustees), and the audited accounts for the financial year April 2003 - April 2004. Copies of this report are sent to the Charities Commission and various other interested parties. A copy of the overview will be put on the NABD web site (the full constitution is already on there), but if you would like a copy of the full report send a cheque for £10.00 (to cover production and postage) to the NABD office and we will send you one.
Project Pyramid:
In the last issue of Open House I said further details of the NABD time capsule project would be covered in this issue. Unfortunately due to the necessity of finding new office premises this project had to be put on hold. Hopefully I will be able to give full details in the next issue.
Open House at 50:
The mathematicians amongst you will already have figured out that as this is issue 49 of the Open House magazine, the next issue will be our 50th. This is something of a milestone for the NABD (and a real nightmare for my poor typing finger). I remember all too well when the first black and white A5 Open House came out. It was little more than a six-page newsletter and none of us knew if the NABD would last more than a year.
Well, the Open House and the NABD have evolved beyond all recognition over the intervening fourteen years. I was proud to be a member of the NABD in those early days, and that pride has also grown beyond all expectations. From those humble beginnings we have grown to become the recognised world leader in motorcycling for disabled people. Thousands of disabled people are now enjoying the freedom and independence of motorcycling because of the NABD, and the association is bigger and better than ever. It makes me wonder how much more we will have to be proud of when we get to Open House issue 100........
Right, that’s me lot. I’ll refrain from wishing you all a merry Christmas because I don’t get involved in all that commercial nonsense, but I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best for 2005.
Now I’m off to stare at my bald parrot until he blushes (well I presume it’s a he, though to be honest there’s nothing to base that judgement on as parrots don’t have bits that....... OK too much information, I know). Be lucky, ride free.
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