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 48^th 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.

The Club is in the Daily Mail Online:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/escape/article-8581903/Tandem-cycling-never-popular-saddle-head-wilds-Yorkshire-Dales.html#socialLinks

The TC website group along with our Journals editor have been busy modernising the style of the TC website. We hope you like the new style !  There is on-going work to improve this style and to improve the websites functionality. To login please use the "User/Login" top menu item of the "User" quick link icon at the top of the webpage. Some of the webpage content still needs editing, GPS files need adding and we need additional articles and content for the website, so we are looking for TC member volunteers to help out. If you can spare a bit of time to help the club, please contact us at: internetgroup@tandem-club.org.uk

The Department for Transport seek views on changes to the Highway Code to improve road safety, and so as a club we will make a submission on behalf of tandemists. If you wish to contribute to the Club’s response, which is set out in the latest TCJ, please send your comments to Eifion Francis and Jonathan Flower. Details below.

There are 3 main changes proposed:

1. Introducing a hierarchy of road users - those who can do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility
2. Clarifying rules for pedestrian priority
3. Guidance on safe passing distances and speeds when overtaking cyclists and priority at junction

1. Tandem riders need to exercise greater prudence and responsibility than ordinary bicycles.
2. Special mention should be made for tandems and other ‘non-standard’ forms of cycles, which may be longer, wider or less manoeuvrable than a conventional single bicycle. 
3. It should be made clear that people who cycle, especially on tandems and adapted cycles, may have impaired sight, hearing or mobility.
4. The proposals about cycle crossings could be strengthened.
5. The proposals advise cyclists to: “ ...leav(e) enough room (a door’s width or 0.5m) to avoid being hit if a door opens unexpectedly ..."  We think 0.5m is not enough when passing parked vehicles especially on a tandem which is less manoeuvrable
6. ‘bicycle’ should be replaced by the more inclusive ‘cycle’ which embraces trikes, hand cycles and other variants  
7. Clubs such as the Tandem Club could help promote and disseminate these changes.

Comments to be included in the Tandem Club response must be received by 20 October.  Please send comments to: eifandjill@aol.com or jonathan.flower@uwe.ac.uk

My wife and I, Have a Tandem called the White Rabbit. It is named after a loving bunny we have called Jester. Jester is a 18 Month old, Continental Giant, Red eyed White rabbit. He was born on the 01 April, Hence the name Jester. For charity Jester has had a Children's book published. Entitled Jester's 1st Christmas. it is available from Amazon. All money raised from the sale of the book will go to Charity. The book can be obtained from amazon at the following link. https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjY4qPfzsHtAhVK1O0KHcT1AvIYABAHGgJkZw&ae=2&sig=AOD64_0Xh1ug_rslEgf_sKQaXKtEXx5Lrw&ctype=70&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjyx5nfzsHtAhWUThUIHaNqDAIQ-pECegUIAhDHAg&adurl=

If it's raining outside and you'd like something to do then why not add a few icons to the Tandem Club ride map. I've added over 1000 and the map is looking pretty good for the South West. Anything from teashops to Farm Parks to Ancient Monuments that can be visited for free. There really is nothing like this anywhere else and if every member did just 10 that map would look prety impressive and would be a fabulous thing. Go on you know you want to, brew a cup of tea, grab a mince pie and look at https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=placeList. Just Shift/left click on the place, add a description and away you go. Any question, I'm about at Neil@Tandem-club.org.uk

Note you can no longer login to the website using the generic Journal month based logins. This has been done for security reasons. You now need to have an individual user login on the website based on your email address. This can be setup using this link: https://tandem-club.org.uk/user?cmd=register

20 Feb Latest advice from Cycling UK about cycling restrictions during Covid

https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/coronavirus-qa-cycling-guidance

Over the past 4 months I have added National trust/English Heritage/Cadw and Scottish Trust properties to the Tandem Club Rides map. This is stage 1 for me because i will now be looking to add rides to flesh it out. There are over 3000 places marked now. I've said before that it's unique, and it is. So if you have a favorite ride that others will enjoy please upload it or get in touch.

I have added the West Country Saturday ride to the Rides part of the site. Within this I have added a description and 4 pictures as well as adding markers along the way. What I am trying to do is grade these 1-5. The idea is to be able to find great routes without being swamped by routes which are difficult to follow/understand. As this one doesn't have a PDF routesheet, I've designated it a grade 4 as it was a lovely route (Thanks Peter and Jenny) and has nearly everything else. This is what i'll be doing in the future. https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=310

My Wife, Lyn and I have recently taken up tandem cycling in Wiltshire and are keen to know if anyone else around our area is interested in North Wiltshire routes. We would love to get more involved in the Tandem club and meet like minded members.

Anthony, Lyn welcome to the club. If you are in the Swindon SN postcode area you are in the West of England Group. This is an active group covering BR, BS and SN postcode areas incl Wiltshire. Hope to see you on a ride soon.

In case you get a letter - Club is having a final push to get everyone onto the correct subscription rates. £15 pa for 1 year; £60 for 5 years for a Full Member + 1 Joint Member.

Please check you are paying the correct amount as wrong payments cause extra work. 

Thanks

Peter Weeks, Chair 

The Tandem Club began in Charlbury (Oxon) on 9 Oct 1971. Jonathan and Tessa Cox invite all TC Members on a 50km (for 50 years) ride on 9 Oct 2021. Start and end in Charlbury; moderate amount of climbing with a few sharp hills.

Options for food in Witney and Eynsham.

Further details, including parking, to be confirmed dependent upon numbers. Please RSVP / PM Jonathan Cox   jcoxuk-nlc@yahoo.co.uk    to join the ride.
Link to route:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/37080406 

Thanks to all who have paid the right amount for your annual or your 5-year subscription for Club membership.

Rates for a Full Member plus 1 Joint Member (+ children under 18 at home) are £15 pa or £60 for 5 years.

Please pay the correct amount as the Club will only accept correct payments from 1 Sept 2021. Thanks.

The local papers in Witney have picked up that we are coming to Charlbury on 9 October for the 50th birthday ride:

https://www.witneygazette.co.uk/news/19553338.50th-birthday-group-ride-charlbury-home-tandem-club/

For more info What's On: https://tandem-club.org.uk/whatsOn?cmd=view&id=3308 and the event page at: https://tandem-club.org.uk/events/tcb2021/index.html