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Front Page
The MAG Annual Group Conference 2002
Annual Reports by National Officers to the
AGC 2002
Why Me?
Possible New NC Post - Network Communications Officer
Daytime Headlights
Vehicle Excise Duty - Where MAG Stands and Why
Henry Marks Gets MAG into Parliament!
Free European Bike
Events for MAG Members
How Your NC Really Works
MAG and the Motorcycle Industry Association
Communicating With Clubs
Running a Local MAG Branch
MAG Events
Previous Issues
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Running a Local MAG Branch
Wakefield & District MAG - the Story So Far
Since I last reported Wakefield has launched successfully. The initial attendance of 21 at the first meeting dropped back to around
a dozen for a few weeks and has recently been up to 16. Every meeting is run according to a pre-circulated agenda. Every new face attending for the first time is formally welcomed and nobody is ignored or left out.
Several new members have been signed up as a result.
Social Activities
The emphasis is on enjoyable activity but with regular reminders of why MAG exists so as to prevent it becoming too 'clubby'.
February 10th saw our first branch run, a 120 mile round trip to the Punch Bowl at Earby for Sunday lunch. Turnout was poor with only two other bikes showing. In future we will have a branch run every second
Sunday. I've devised some basic rules, which you might like to copy:
1. One month prior to the run every branch member at the meeting takes a raffle ticket.
Whoever's number comes up, it is their job to decide where the next month's run goes.
2. Nobody else knows where they are going until they show up at the White Hart in
Wakefield at 11am that Sunday morning.
3. You must arrive with a full tank of gas.
4. The run is limited to a 100-miles radius (maximum 200-miles round trip) and any
attraction to be visited cannot cost more than £10 to get in. This avoids the
embarrassment of some participants finding they can't afford to go at the last minute.
As
a consequence of this we now have runs fixed for Sunday 10th March and Sunday 7th April (brought forward a week due to AGC.) Doing it this way keeps some spontaneity. Too much planning makes life boring. Also the
'winner' of the raffle feels obliged to turn up and do their bit, so we encourage more member participation. Once the clocks move we'll be out riding together every last Wednesday evening in the month as well.
Finances & Accounting
Each week I raffle a bottle of wine, taking a bottle of each to give participants a choice of white or red. The choice helps to sell more tickets. At each meeting I also have
MAG's national bike raffle tickets available for sale. Some members have taken tickets and have done a brilliant job of selling them to colleagues at work. I also take copies of Mutchie's book to the meetings. From
the £7 cover price Ian gets £6 and the branch £1. As a result of all this I have been able to recoup the personal money I fronted up to do the launching mailshot in December last year.
Fundraising for MAG
nationally has so far taken the form of selling raffle tickets for the FZR. Special thanks here to MARK and DIANE ROUTLEDGE who hold the record for the most sold by far - about £50 to date. In aid of Yorkshire
regional funds we have recently sold some £64 worth of products. Regardless of the fact that we are a new branch with little money we are meeting all our financial commitments. £50 has been paid to the AGC Fare Pool.
We've also opened a bank account at the Halifax. Henry Marks is co-signatory with me as per the agreed 'best practice' rules. That way if anything happens to me, MAG can still access the funds. To log the
money in and out I run books as follows:
• Branch Loan Account - A record of the money loaned by me to start the branch and
repayments made to me as the money has come in.
• Regular Income & Expenditure - What is spent on weekly raffle prizes and other sundries,
what we take from the branch's own raffles and what we bank.
• National Raffle Monies - Like it says, money coming in that is owed direct to MAG UK for
the national raffle of the FZR. In here I also record what tickets have been passed out to
people to sell.
• Event Ticket Money - Money received from members for tickets, i.e. for the Po Boys
Coach Trip etc. Everyone handing over ticket money gets a formal receipt.
• Receipts - A box file of receipts for purchases made.
I
have a rule that any member can see any of the books or receipts at any time without notice and the meeting is told this every week.
Press & PR
We started brilliantly but to be honest I have
neglected it ever since owing to the pressure of my other MAG jobs. I particularly ballsed up the third weekend in February when I went out delivering StreetBiker. I delivered 1000 copies to 20 shops. I also posted
up flyers for the Welsh Show, Duk Dik Rally, MAG Grand Prix and Farmyard party in every single location. What I forgot to do was to take a new set of flyers for the branch meeting. Whilst going around the shops I
noticed that every single one of the flyers I posted up in December had been taken down bar one. I should have had a new supply with me to replace them but forgot.
I also have to do more with the local
newspaper. The Wakefield Express devotes 3 broadsheet pages to 'Society Reports', the bulk of which are dreadfully dull. If I cannot inject some biking excitement into those columns I need to be shot. (Some of you
probably think I do anyway…) Since I started to write this the journalist running this section has been in touch to say her editor wants to run a story and get a picture showing as many members as possible.
Political
Every meeting opens with a formal briefing on current MAG issues, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally where applicable. We have worked on VED by way of responding to the
consultation. Thanks to Member RAY THORPE we have identified every MP in our area, which we define as everywhere with a WF postcode. The next step will be to pair off Members with MPs to cover.
Action Points
Here are the points arising from this write-up then that might help you with your group:
1.Keep the spontaneity and keep the fun! Make sure your branch rides together regularly. It
builds the kind of camaraderie that welds our best branches together and keeps them alive
for years.
2.Follow the 'best practice' rules and have a MAG national officer or the Chief Executive as
co-signatory on your bankbooks. That way if anything happens to you the money is not
stuck in a dormant account.
3.Be sure to document all monies carefully and be open and accountable with your
members. If you owned a business and appointed a manager, and he would not let you
see the books, what would you think? MAG Members do own 'the business' and MAG's
officials manage it on their behalf. It is the members' money.
4.What do you do about ongoing PR? Get a meeting notice in every bike shop. Issue an
update on your activities to the local press at least once a month.
5.Don't do it all yourself. You will be surprised how many volunteers you get if you only ask.
Tip: ask for volunteers for specific tasks. It is much easier to get somebody to commit to
doing a bit of inputting or flyer posting in bike shops and pubs than it is to get them to
take on a permanent role.
6.Always welcome newcomers. This is the one thing that really lets MAG branches down
and I get complaints about unfriendly groups all the time.
7.Have national raffle tickets available art every meeting. Log who takes them away to sell
and make sure that the tickets and/or money find their way back to MAG Central
promptly.
8.Sell Mutchie's book to raise funds. It's a good read and your branch can earn £1 from
every copy sold. Get your regional Rep to bring a supply back from the NC meeting. (Tip -
signed copies sell best.)
9.Get into the habit of meeting your financial commitments promptly. It is a good discipline
and gives you something to work towards. Having fronted up £50 for the fare pool it is now
in my interest to get the branch raising funds. If it doesn't then I don't get repaid!
10.Keep a supply of recruiting leaflets at your meeting venue in a proper dispenser. The new
'Clare' leaflets are extremely effective. Recruit!
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