August presented a little bit of everything as far as the weather was concerned! There were some unsettled periods but also some nice sunny warm weather to allow some great riding too. It was a busy month in terms of activity associated with training, and in many other ways.
There were 15 Associate training sessions with attendances on Saturday mornings varying throughout the month, which is always a popular period for holidays. We welcomed Graham as a new member and we wish him all the best with his future training.
August also saw two of the ARNY Tutors successfully qualify as Advanced Tutors. First off the blocks was John Neaves, who has subsequently achieved a RoSPA Gold pass in a car - is there nothing John can’t do!? This was followed by Dave Thompson also being signed off as an Advanced Tutor. Many congratulations to both in achieving this standard and becoming even greater assets to the Group.
There were plenty of posts, and reports, from ARNY members out and about with the all-conquering John Neaves providing some lovely shots of his trip to Ireland (one seen above) and Andy Esmond posting some great pictures of his, what looked like somewhat sunnier, latest exploits in Spain. Others posted and reported about adventures in the Lakes, Northumberland, France and even Triumph in West Yorkshire.
The social ride at the end of the month involved a select few with a couple not quite making it due to bike issues which were thankfully safely negotiated! The trip was nicely summed by the man of the month John Neaves as; new roads and places, oil rigs, and industrial, rural and avian landscapes! After passing the impressive yards full of oil rigs being decommissioned at the end of life, the ride finished at the Saltholme RSPB bird sanctuary in the heart of industrial Teesside. A social ride which was a bit different for lots of reasons, but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.
There was an ARNY committee meeting during the month which was conducted on Zoom, as has been the case for the last period for obvious reasons, although there was a commitment to try and have a face to face meeting next time. The usual subjects were covered at the meeting with a specific focus on new member recruitment. One point that was noted is that we currently have quite a lot of members who have been training in the past but have not been able to make it for some time. Whilst we realise we have all been through difficult times, we are all keen to make sure that we are providing training that is accessible for all and is meeting Associate’s needs. To that end, the Mentors (each associate has an Advanced Tutor nominated as a Mentor) are going to try and contact their respective groups to get some feedback as to if there is anything we can do to help those still wishing to progress with their training.
There was also a discussion at the Committee meeting about communications, partly as a result of a discussion and some ideas that had been shared on Watsapp. In the short term it was decided that we will ensure that we get all of our communications on to all of our current platforms, Facebook, the website (arny.org.uk), Instagram and Watsapp, on the basis that all members seem to be present on at least one of these platforms. We will continue to review how effective we are being in getting information out to members. Any feedback on this, or any other matter, is always very welcome. Please feel free to talk to any of the Tutors or send a message to Marketing@arny.org.uk
As we approach the back end of the summer riding season many have more trips planned so be sure to keep us all updated of your adventures.
Until next time….