BMF AGM - Mallory Park - 7th October 2006

[Sadie]

For those who are interested, I am standing for the position of Chairman of the BMF at the forthcoming AGM on 7th October at Mallory Park.

I have come to this decision for several reasons, but the main reason was the visit by Don Lewis the Director of Administration, to the office several weeks ago to announce that three posts and thus members of staff were to be made redundant. This was without any consultation with the staff as to how other money saving measures could be achieved, and indeed also seems to have been carried out without regard to the proper procedures to be undertaken in the event of redundancies.

Myself and John Chatterton-Ross, who is standing for the position of Director of Finance, have looked at the figures going forward for a two year period and, aside from being unethical, these redundancies will not bring about the desired financial effect. We have looked at other ways of reducing costs and we believe that we can turn the financial situation around within a two year period.

Steve Brown, who is standing as Affiliate Member Services Director, has many ideas for improving communication with the clubs, and has already got strong links to many of them, due to his long standing involvement with the BMF.

We are standing as a team because we need to get sufficient members onto the BMF Management Team to influence future decisions and to return the BMF decision making procedures back to the democratic process it used to be. We would ask that if you vote for one of us, you vote for all of us, but in any case we would like to you come to the AGM to have your say in order that we can get a true view of the membership of the BMF.

We would also like to note that no Motions for AGM will be published in the Motorcycle Rider that is published in advance of the the AGM. This has serious implications for clubs who will not be able to discuss how they wish to vote in advance, and the reason for the non-publication is not clear, but has to be put down to incompetence by the Director of Administration at the very least.

I am attaching CVs etc about myself, Steve and John. Please feel free to forward this message to anyone you think might be interested and do not hesitate to contact us should you have anything you would like to discuss.

Liz Needham

John Chatterton-Ross

Steve Brown
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With experience comes age.

[bazza]

Item 1. Combine with MAG and present a unified front for lobbying Westminster and Brussels for all UK bikers.
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"That's it. You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college."
'98 Ducati 750SS, '08 Suzuki GSX650F ©2004-2014, Bazza's Harmless Banter

[Sadie]

Hi Bazza.

Thanks for your reply.

The issue of uniting the BMF and MAG is one that has often raised its head, and it is one that needs to be taken seriously.

I used to be of that opinion, and now I'm not so sure. In many areas being united would be a distinct advantage, but on many occasions I have found that having two lobbying organisations is just as advantageous, particularly, believe it or not, when it comes to political lobbying.

In the majority of areas in the country you will find that the reps of both organisations work very closely together to achieve the aims and objectives of both organisations by operating a sort of "good cop bad cop" scenario. Myself (when I was a MAG rep) and Trevor Magner (BMF) have done this very successful for many years in Hertfordshire. In fact, we have continued to maintain to Herts County Council that I attend meetings on behalf of MAG (I'm still a member) in order that we can have two people attending meetings.

I remain to be convinced that it would be the solution to all our lobbying problems, and in any case I do believe that until the BMF sorts out its internal problems it would be an unfair course of action for either organisation.

HTH.

Liz
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With experience comes age.