We had a very productive meeting on Saturday (19th March) and are making good progress on several fronts. Many thanks to Cycle Heaven on Hospital Fields Road, York, for hosting us again.
The key points are:
– Campsite bookings are coming in well, but earlybird prices end just a week today (midnight on Sunday the 27th March). So if you haven’t already booked, please do so now to get reduced prices: http://yorkrally.org/campsite
– We have a new advisor, Mike Barnard, from the York Community Volunteering Service, who is helping us in the process of becoming a charity (CIO) and he is excellent. The process is now moving forward swiftly, with a provisional completion date of 1st October 2016. This conversion will both limit committee members’ personal liability and make it easier to attract funding, but we will retain our independence as an organisation. Essentially, the current plan is that committee members are being asked to become trustees, and Friends of York Rally will be asked to become ‘members’ of the charity (we will be writing with more details in due course).
The next stage of this process is to call a Special General Meeting (of our current Rally organisation) and this posting is formal notice that this SGM will take place at 10 AM on Saturday the 23rd April 2016, in the upstairs room at Cycle Heaven, Hospital Fields Road, York. As with all of our meetings, all are welcome. Mike Barnard will attend and direct proceedings as we pass some technical motions to proceed with the CIO conversion.
– Our next ‘normal’ planning meeting will be on the 21st May 2016, at 10AM in the same venue. All are welcome!
And in other news:
– Entries are now open for the Grasstrack Meeting on the Saturday of the Rally. Full details and links to online entry are on: http://yorkrally.org/grasstrack-racing/
– Could you design a 2016 badge – fast? Our treasurer Rachel has put together a provisional sketch:
but we’d love to see any other ideas! The badge company will turn sketches into final artwork, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. Please send your designs by the end of March to info@yorkrally.org and we’ll choose the best to be produced in good time for the Rally! Note we still have some spare 2015 badges which you can order at: http://yorkrally.org/york-rally-merchandise/
– Are you aware of the Coxwold Cyclists Service? Like the Rally, it is a traditional cycling event with a long heritage. One of only two remaining Cyclists’ Church Services in the UK, it reaches a milestone on Sunday 8th May 2016, with 300+ cyclists, including the Bishop of Selby, expected in the North Yorkshire village of Coxwold for the 90th annual Service of Remembrance. Coxwold is a picturesque village around 20 miles north of York, and participants ride to the service from miles around. Refreshments, in the form of a home made food mountain and gallons of tea, are on sale at the Village Hall from 11 AM, and after the service, which begins at 1:30 PM. The (volunteer) Coxwold organisers have very kindly offered to display some York Rally info and leaflets to visitors in the Village Hall, and we would encourage any Rally participants who can to support this historic event on its 90th anniversary, either by attending or just helping to spread the word. There’s an excellent write-up of last year’s event here: http://balancingontwowheels.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/coxwold-cyclists-church-service.html
With our best wishes for happy cycling,
The York Rally Committee
info@yorkrally.org
