No! But we did experience a huge change amongst those engaged in running the club. I appreciate the very word ‘committee’ can immediately generate a switching-off of interest but this is important; somehow the club needs steering and things need to get done. Without the Committee the club would cease to function so please take a moment to reflect on the following few paragraphs. We’ve ‘lost’ some highly valued and long-standing committee members from key positions over the last year (although fortunately most of them don’t seem to have gone too far away). And we’ve had to manage that loss.
Who Stood Down?
Mark Owen stood down as Chairman.
Ian Lancefield stepped down as Secretary - although he remains an active and a very successful Observer.
Janice Lancefield stepped down as PA to the Secretary as well as Editor of Out in Front, a role she had managed for 26 years. That left a big gap to address.
Kevin Nichols stepped down as Interim Treasurer, and this coming year will step down from his role co-ordinating EKAM’s presence at Motorcycle Shows, both important roles.
Leigh Gubb retired from the duties of Membership Secretary
Sarah Farbrace stepped down as Social Secretary (although, without a replacement, she then spent much of the year making sure social activities continued to run as normal).
Club Members will recognise the Committee, which normally numbers around 15 people, lost a wealth of knowledge and experience over a very short period of time. Fortunately others stepped forward, or carried on semi-officially, to make sure the club activities continued.
Who Stepped Forward?
Tariq Hussain, then Vice Chairman, stepped up to fill the Chairman’s position.
The role of Club Secretary was taken up by Adrian Atkins.
In the absence of volunteers to pick up the position of Editor of Out in Front magazine its publication was suspended. To fill the void e-NEWS@EKAM was introduced. Barry Ricks picked up editorial duties for the new electronic ‘publication’.
Julian Cobb assumed the role of Honorary Treasurer.
And Membership Secretary duties were taken up by Leigh’s understudy, Phil Hart.
Fortunately other standing members remained: Philip West as Observer Co-ordinator and Webmaster, Iain Moss as Chief Observer, Steve Wynne as Ride Co-ordinator, Richard Pearce as Advertising Secretary, Lisa Alfsdotter taking the lead with Communications and not forgetting John Barry.
So What Now?
This year we have two important vacancies to fill, that of Social Secretary, and Shows Organiser. Members do step in to fill gaps when things are critical but we really could use two members to take charge of those two roles. In fact more volunteers to help smooth the running of the club generally would be very welcome and could really enhance the organising of the activities we already enjoy.
If you can spare some time and you enjoy motorcycling, please don’t be shy. Just have a quiet chat with an existing committee member and explore where your input might just fit in.