The April club ride to Wray Castle and the May ride in the Fylde and Bowland areas have been cancelled following the latest advice from the UK Government and Cycling UK. We hope to fit these rides in later this year. Thanks for your understanding, Stephen Webb LA Group RO.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the National rally 2020 in Corsham has been cancelled. We are hoping to delay this to next year, and are awaiting written confirmation that this is possible from the Rugby Club. Please bear with us: as soon as we know what is happening next year I will send an email to everyone who has booked onto the rally, and let you know your options. Many thanks,
It is with regret due to COVID 19 we have taken the decision to suspend the monthly gathering until further notice. Hope we can meet up again before too long.
I am pleased to confirm that the national rally in Corsham has been postponed to 2021. This will be the 50th anniversary of the Tandem Club and a big festival of all things tandem. I've sent an email to each lead booker today, and there will be another over the next few days. Cathy
To all Cumbria and Lancashire (LA) Group couples, when you are out and about on your solo 'Boris' exercise rides, don't forget to send me a photo and a description of where it was taken for Regional Round Up section of the club journal. Email stephen.webb001@gmail.com
Sadly this year's International rally has been cancelled due to uncertainties caused by COVID-19. Full refunds will be made to all those who booked on the rally. The refunds will be processed starting 27th April. An email has been sent from Bob and Mary with a little more detail. Further information is available from: tci2020@tandem-club.org.uk.
On page 4 of the April/May Tandem Club Journal (Vol. 288) there is a notice regarding the increase of the subscription rate. Please remember to change your Standing Order before your next renewal date. The club is unable to do this for you.
If you are unable to do this via on-line banking and need a paper form please contact the treasurer.
Tony Prichard (Joint Treasurer)
Just a reminder to everyone in the LA Group, our rides are still suspended until further notice. Please continue to send me your photos from your lockdown rides. Thanks for all the photos I've received so far. Email stephen.webb001@gmail.com
Just a reminder to everyone in the LA Group, our rides are still suspended until further notice. Please continue to send me your photos from your lockdown rides. Thanks for all the photos I've received so far. Email stephen.webb001@gmail.com
The second Taunton group quiz was very well supported. Nick and Rachel hosted the Zoom event and 14 tandems took part. There were seven rounds of (very hard) questions but the most popular was Malcolm and Grace’s Generation Game. Twenty topical items were briefly shown including hand sanitizer, toilet roll, flour, pasta and as a nod to the past, a cuddly toy! We then had 45 seconds to write down all the items with the Generation Game theme tune playing in the background.
It was good to see everyone again and another evening is planned with a slight change of format.
A third quiz was organised by Nick and Rachel for the Taunton group. Ten couples attended and questions ranged from trees to gin and ‘seconds’ (highest, longest etc).
Malcolm suggested a bingo game next time and to get us into the spirit, Grace’s questions were based on the bingo nicknames that callers have traditionally used: half a crown in pre-decimal currency was two & six - 26! The pre-decimal currency also featured in Ian and Lisa’s questions so perhaps some of us are ‘of a certain age’.
A new feature this evening was newsround and we learned that John and Judy had been out and about; their questions were based on their rides. Tim and Mary’s tandem is still locked down in France, Mark and Liz are still hoping to work in the Shetlands and many of us were looking forward to meeting up with family (socially distanced of course!) Several members have birthdays in May. We usually celebrate with them on a Tandem Club Rally but not this year. Many happy returns went to Grace, Katherine, Rachel, Ian and Len.
Round 4 of the now regular two weekly Zoom virtual quiz night for the Taunton Group saw 14 couples arrive and a move away from the regular quiz format. Organised by Malcolm & Grace it was eyes down for our first Bingo night, all the Bingo cards were emailed out in advance and we played two exciting games. From the outset it was clear we had some hardened Bingo regulars keen to show their expertise, others however were completely new to the game and took some while to grasp the concept with questions like “what do we do with the blank squares”…………. All this was put to one side once the games got underway with everyone remaining very focused and surprisingly quiet as they all concentrated on crossing their numbers off.
Two games proceeded with a line then a full house in each game and a coffee break in between. Winners were Gill & Nick in the first game and Karl & Ian in the second. Huge cash prizes were awarded (chocolate 10 pence pieces) which unsurprisingly are still awaiting to be claimed.
Everyone is now waiting with anticipation to see what the next quiz night brings as James and Liz promise to conjure up something a little different.
Barry Wilson wished to stand down at the AGM so the Committee considered how to deal with this in the absence of an AGM. The outcome was that Peter Weeks, Club Publicity Officer, was willing to stand as Tandem Club Chairman. On 26 April 2020 the Secretary contacted the Committee and Regional Officers to conduct an election.
Nomination of Peter Weeks as Tandem Club Chairman
- Proposed by Pauline Fox, Club Secretary
- Seconded by Eifion Francis, a former Club Chairman and who, with his partner Jill, is a Regional Officer and oversees the Club’s Talking Journal service.
- 49 individuals (TC Committee members and Regional Officers) invited to vote in lieu of the AGM
- 2 abstentions, the current Chairman, Barry Wilson and one Ordinary Member, Janet Wilson.
- 29 votes received, all were in favour of Peter Weeks being the Chairman of the Tandem Club.
- No other votes, objections or comments received.
Peter Weeks was therefore elected as Tandem Club Chairman with effect from 1 May 2020. This will be subject to formal discussion and election by members at the next Annual General Meeting.
Our congratulations and thanks go to Peter as he takes up the role of Chairman. He has also, fortunately, agreed to continue as the Club’s Publicity Officer for the time being.
The 48th Annual General Meeting of the Tandem Club was scheduled to take place on Saturday 11 April 2020 at the Easter rally. The Agenda was published in the Tandem Club Journal (vol 288). We said in the TCJ (vol 289) that the 2020 AGM was postponed indefinitely, but of course we don’t know if and when we will be able to hold an AGM in 2020. It may be that we cannot meet together until 2021. In these exceptional circumstances the business usually transacted at the AGM has had to be done elsewhere:
- Club Accounts – the accounts for the year ended 31 October 2019 were published in the April/May Tandem Club Journal (vol 289). The Treasurer has received no comments or queries from members on the accounts.
- Membership fees - As stated in the April/May Tandem Club Journal (vol 289) the annual subscription has been raised from £10 per year to £15 per year.
- Election of Officers – Club Officers are elected at the AGM. Committee members and ex-offico officers have been assumed to continue in role unless they have indicated otherwise. Barry Wilson has served as Chairman since 2015 and has been on the committee since 2011. He had indicated a wish to stand down. Further information about this is given below. Janet Wilson has been on the committee since 2011 and has stood down as an Ordinary Member. If anyone is interested in joining the committee as an ordinary member please contact the Secretary. Our thanks go to Barry and Janet for serving the Club diligently over this period.
Just a reminder to everyone in the LA Group, our July ride will not be going ahead but I don't think it will be long before we can get together for LA Group rides again. Please continue to send me your photos from your lockdown rides. Thanks for all the photos I've received so far. Email stephen.webb001@gmail.com
This was our last zoom Taunton group party and it was my turn to choose the theme.
So, I chose a game where we had to remove our adult hats and put on our kids hats. It was a scavenger hunt. Just incase you didn’t know scavenger hunt is a kids game, where you have to find a said item
. . First item to be found was a wine glass or a beer glass. So, as you can imagine there was a very quick response to this request!
I think two of the funniest requests were, a. some cyclists bum cream and b. a pair of the wife’s knickers placed on the chaps head! (I did have a winner for this but wouldn’t want to embarrass him especially as I heard he kept them on for 24hrs.)
It’s been a fun way for us all to stay in touch.
But, I’m thinking, that by now, we are, all of us ZOOMED out.
Liz & James Goodwin
The TandemClub server has had a major update to its Linux OS and systems. Please contact us if you see or have any problems with the system. webgroup@tandem-club.org.uk.
On July 26th 4 tandem crews had a 32 mile pootle through some Worcestershire lanes, lunch was taken at The Galton Arms in Himbleton.
19th July – socially distanced group tandem ride!
This was our first group ride since the beginning of the New Year and with some restrictions lifted we decided to try out something new.
We would need to socially distance, only 6 people in a group, this meant putting cyclists into pods and sending them off at intervals – no catching up and chatting! A maximum of 12 tandem places were offered for our trial ride.
Maps were issued and leaders for each pod were sure they knew the route which took riders through nature reserves and moors on the Somerset levels.
It was a beautiful day and the reserves and moors looked their summer best. Some riders were pleased with the flat ride, there were wildlife photo opportunities and time to walk the bumpy bits and share news.
The pods worked well, thanks to our guides Malcolm, Isaac and Alex.
We used the Avalon Marshes Centre as our base where we could park, use the facilities and enjoy the café which was well set up with a one way system and tables spread out in the open air to accommodate our social distancing.
Though our group has been in contact on Zoom doing quizzes and Bingo it was refreshing to catch up in person finding out how we spent our time in lock down and speculate on the future. We had 9 tandems and three solos and welcomed new members Nic and Jane.
We enjoyed showing off our corner of Somerset – ‘the north levels’ recently featured on the One Show. There was plenty of information on the area available from the Avalon Marshes representative which may encourage some of us back for a spot of bird watching. In the mean time we were treated to a bee swarm at the information point!
As a trial ride the pods worked well, looking to the future we will need to brush up on our map reading skills as we set the pattern for further meetings.
Rex and Hannah Whitcombe