OK - I have some news......and you are hearing it here first .... XX EXCLUSIVE XX !! The Cheshire Branch of DOC has been without a Branch Chairman for around 12 months, following the previous Chairman's retirement, having done a great job for several years! The Branch has been languishing in the doldrums ever since with nothing at all happening, and I've been persuaded (read co-erced / threatened with an Ohlins fork leg) in to resurrecting the Branch - and after some deliberation have finally agreed to do it! - wish me luck!. I'd love the Branch to be an active and vibrant branch that everyone enjoys being a part of - after all - the Club is for its members and if you guys and girls don't like what the Club is doing then you won't participate. I hear so often of people moaning that the Club does nothing relevant that they are interested in, and they don't participate. I don't want to simply carry on the same old format of the old Branch - which is now a bit stale - there is no point - and if I had to, I'd rather not bother...... so there are going to be some wide sweeping changes being made, not least of which, will be a new name, and a new meeting place and new social venue - to be announced shortly. Also, gone will be the fascination with round cases, square cases, Pantahs and Scramblers (not that there is anything at all wrong with these... but I want the Branch to look forward, not get a crick in the neck from constantly looking backwards) and I want the Branch to be relevant and of interest to the current generation of Ducatista. This Branch wont be sitting around in a field surrounded by 1970s bikes, discussing electrical problems and oil leaks either - although if some club members dig that, then that's fine also!. I would really like to hear from anyone - not just within the Cheshire Branch area about what sort of things you'd like to see the Club/Branch doing. What sort of events would you be interested in or would you want to come to, and what would make you want to get involved - more rideouts / social evenings / technical events with Dealerships ? All suggestions and comments are gratefully received, and I am listening! All of the Branches are working hard at present to establish a working relationship with their local Dealership, and Cheshire, M Battalion and East Lancs are already very fortunate to have a great rapport with our local Dealership who is keen to support the activities of the club. I'd really like to make the new Cheshire Branch a shining example within the Owners Club of a modern forward thinking Branch, but I can only do this with your help and your input. If you prefer - please feel free to pm me rather than post on the forum....
Meet at a strip club/lap dancing venue. That will get the numbers up and stop the bevel and polishers association talking about erm bevels and polishing
Unfortunately I would love to be a committed member but I work away a lot so instead I will try and get to as many meets / ride outs as possible I would be happy if plenty of meets / ride puts take place and am able to get to some, just glad people are talking about and making these happen Thanks
Just thought I'd bump this as there appears to be a bit of a deafening silence - apart from 1 pm from a Branch Chairman elsewhere basically telling me not to bother!! Some of you must have an opinion on what the Owners Club should be doing and what you'd like it to do.... apart from meeting at a lap dancing club!
good luck Gav. I fear you will not be pleasing everyone in your endeavours. Start small tho. Regular coffee/cake meets? Not sure where Cheshire is, but I've met some people from there.
a fortnightly ride out? a charity event? (i know the egg run is already a biggie but what about something in the summer time) jump on board Guy Martins charity chuck money in pot give to Guy for his charity? http://www.guymartinbigbrew.org/ a bloody good cause
Ok - thank you for all the piss taking..... i guess I really should have expected that shouldn't i ?!! Here are some suggestions that have been made so far... 1. Don't bother 2. Tour of Maxton Suspension 3. Tour of Kais 4. Technical Evening at Dealership 5. Interbranch Mini Moto Night 6. Tour of Ducati UK Any of these float anyone's boat ?
i wasn't taking the piss erm very serious about the Guy Martin thing! but as for the list you put together am up for all of them ??????
It could be worse Gav! You could be trying to get some interest in the other Ducati club....... :wink:
Just to say I don't live in Cheshire (or anywhere near, Sussex!) but I would like ride outs that are not too biased against hubby having a Suzuki, friendly advice for new bikers and a meet once every one or two months, not too often because that intrudes on home life, just often enough that you really look forward to it.
I missed the technical evening held at Woods, Abergele, but heard only good things about it, so that gets a big "yes" from me. Basically, I'm up for lots of meets and rideouts. Although I live (and mostly ride) in North Wales, I'm on the 'border' with a CH7 postcode, so any meet-ups and rideouts in the area would be of interest to me.
I did not say not to bother What I said was unless you get a core of around half a dozen people committed to making your branch work its a lot of hard work I resurected the east mids branch last year, great during summer lots of people turned up but over winter it literaly died, end result is there is no longer an east mids branch because I was having to cancel events planned n April due to lack of numbers I also pointed out some of the areas I had problems with hoping that this advise would help you from falling into some of the pitfalls I fall into One problem you will have is that the DOC website forum is not open to non members and basically even for members it is problematic, result is very few use it so your main vehicle for communication will be using other methods of communication. In my pm I did wish you the best of luck I still wish you the best of luck and hope you succeed in getting your branch up and running
