To all friends and members of Northampton Motorcyclists Club- 18/10/16

Dear Members,

Thank you for supporting our events so well this year, our entry numbers have been excellent. One thing that’s not been so good though is the current level of help the club receives to put on these race meetings.

This is not a resignation letter just yet, but it could easily be if more help is not found soon. We urgently need 4 or 5 new and enthusiastic committee members to come to our meetings once a month on a Weds night for a beer and a chat, and to help us run the club.

We also need at least ten people to come to all our working parties on a Saturday to help put up the track. If ten people or more turn up to the working party we can get it done in a couple of hours, and everyone can enjoy their weekend.

The current position is not sustainable. Last weekend there were 5 of us that turned up. Apart from myself the other four could only spare a couple of hours, though obviously I’m very grateful to them for sparing the time. What this meant was that I was left there to put most of the track up on my own, about 8 hours work. By the time I got home I was knackered and pissed off with a serious back ache. After a few hours back home to print off all the remaining paperwork and a brief sleep, I found myself back at the track setting up before 7am on Sunday. I do this because I love to race, not because I love to organise.  When the organising becomes too much and I’m too tired to enjoy the racing, then things have gone too far. I need a good showing on Saturday 29th October for the working party for our last meeting, or the track will not be going up.

It’s not just me that’s overloaded. Everyone that comes to committee meetings and helps us to run events, they all do a great job but there’s simply not enough of us. I’m not going to name and thank everyone here as they know who they are. I’m proud to be Chairman of a great club, and would like to continue in my job. I can’t however unless I get more help. As well as everything I have to do on a race weekend, some of you might like to know the other responsibilities that currently fall to me.

I run and update the website and the Facebook page. I write all the race reports, sort out the results and compile the championship points tables. I get these sent off to TMX and The Sporting Motorcyclist along with creating all the press adverts for both. I create the entry forms, apply for the permits, set up the online entries. I sort the Medical Crews and Catering for each event. I book tracks and liaise with land owners, visit the tracks regularly to check on conditions and assist the God Of Dirt in getting the right people in to prepare the tracks. I sort all the dates for the season and attend SMC meetings on the Club’s behalf. For each meeting I work with the secretary to manage the entries. I sort the race order, create, print and fold all the programmes. All this happens behind the scenes for every meeting. We do this for nothing more than the love of the sport.

This is why we need help, some new committee members with fresh ideas and enthusiasm are urgently required. Help with setting up the track is essential. We can’t and should not have to carry on with the way things are. I too have a full time job and luckily a very understanding family and running these events is currently taking up way too much time.

Please get in contact if you’d like to help out on the committee, and also let me know if you can attend the working party on Saturday 29th October. We’ve all got better things to do, but the track still needs to get built. Hopefully this message will get a positive response and I’ll be able to continue as your Chairman.

Kind regards

Fraser

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