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EDITORS RAMBLINGS
 Hello and happy New Year to you all!
Well - 2003 is going well so far. I'm about to be made redundant, my daughter's got pneumonia and my flat was burgled last week while my
daughter and I were sleeping. Well, you know what they say - "S**t happens!"
A man called Norman from Victim Support came around, and was rather disappointed to find
that we weren't behaving like good little victims. He said that we were lucky that there was
no violence, to which my daughter replied, "Only because we didn't bloody wake up". On a serious note, I asked why Victim Support had turned up automatically on the two occasions
when my flat has been broken into (when I wasn't traumatized at all) and yet I had not even received a phone call when my motorbike was stolen (on which occasion I was so
traumatized that a PC had to stay with me for three hours!)
Norman told me that vehicle theft was not considered by the police or themselves to be a
'personal' crime. To quote a line from the film 'The Life of Brian' . "How much more bloody personal can you get?"
We sent him back and asked him to see about liaising with the police, so that if there is an obviously very upset car or bike owner, the police suggest that Victim Support come around.
Having said that, I would like to point out that both the police and Victim Support were very helpful. In the case of Victim Support, it is staffed by Volunteers, so we must remember
that there is a limited amount of time and resources that they can spend. I guess that it is right that they have to prioritize crimes in order of seriousness.
Volunteers' time is something that MAG depends on greatly. With the exception of Henry Marks, Trevor Baird and the three administrative staff at MAG Central Office, everyone else
from the Chairperson downwards is a Volunteer. Even Henry and Trevor donate freely of their own personal time at weekends. I feel that it is important that this is pointed out, as there
are members out there who think that we get paid to do this job. We do this job because of a love of motorcycling and because of a love of personal
freedom.
So, a very BIG thank you to all the local Reps and officers, the Regional Reps and officers, the National Officers, the Directors and particularly to the Chair and the Vice-Chair for all the
hard work they did in 2002 and will no doubt continue to do in 2003.
Thank you also to Gary Barnes and Pete Walker for all the hard work in organizing MAG
events, and thanks to all the people who marshal at these events. MAG and bikers in general owe you a huge debt of gratitude.
Cheers, Liz Needham
Tel: : 0874 774 3559 E-mail: communications-officer@mag-uk.org
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