Clifton CC

The observant ones amongst you will have noticed the absence of advertising about the annual Dinner and Prizegiving so far.

After last year's event there was some discussion at the AGM about the event and some of the problems getting members along. A suggestion was put forward to the Committee for a changed format, much simpler and in a Hall rather than a Hotel and no meal or speaker. It was agreed to try the new format for 2014 and accept the offer of organising it.

Unfortunately, organisation for this revised event doesn't appear to have ever got off the ground.

The purpose of this post is to open this up for discussion on what members want to do about this event for 2014 (2013 awards). Options suggested so far include;

1. Cancel the event for this year and just arrange delivery of medals and trophies to winners. One of the problems we have each year is a large degree of apathy for the event so maybe this would be the members' choice.

2. Go back to the usual format, but on a later date. The event we normally run takes quite a bit of organising and we certainly wouldn't be able to put it together and sell enough tickets in time for January so it would likely be a Spring event.

3. Go for a simple prize giving event to hand out the medals etc.

Whichever option we opt for the main obstacle we have at the moment is lack of volunteer to organise it at present so suggestions should bear this in mind.

Again, I stress, this thread is aimed at giving everyone a chance of suggestions on how to solve the problem this year. I don't want 4 pages of arguments about the pro and cons of past events or a witch hunt on how we've reached December without anything organised. I can fill you in on that privately if you wish.

Hi Paul,

I would be happy to organise an event for June 2014. Something on a Saturday starting at around 6:30, family friendly. We could get the roller racing in which was a huge hit at mine and Simons wedding. We could do a BBQ, get people to bring food contributions and give out prizes?

I know its late in the year to get a trophy, I don't know how that affects peoples opinion. I guess it just depends who would be up for coming - the last social event I organised was mostly attended by mountain bikers with just a few of the roadies coming. The venue I'm thinking of holds approx. 100 people and is in the centre of town (I'd need to check we could have it).

H

Have always enjoyed this in past and have made attending a priority. Feel those who put efforts in on the bike deserve appropriate recognition by club members so in some senses feel duty to attend. Hence don't think just distributing certificates/trophies is fair to winners.

Appreciate does take considerable efforts to organise but personally would go for option 2 in Paul's list.

Think Hannah's suggestion potentially viable but ? would need to be April/May at latest to remain relevant to 2013 events and may be more popular amongst MTB section than roadies. Not seeking to be negative but ? this is a good solution to a different problem.

?? send questionnaire out to all members to canvas views re existing format e.g. Do you attend, if so why, if not why, is price an issue? etc

These are my preliminary thoughts only and happy to contribute constructively to thread as it progresses (N.B. forum members not totally representative of wider membership -hence questionnaire suggestion).

?? Questionnaire could be mailed with Cliftonite if not too late?

I'd be happy to go with April.
There was call within the committee to do something family friendly and as Andy J pointed out at the OGM, the Go Ride section of our club is massive and I thought it would be nice to be inclusive.

I liked the Marriott, getting dressed up and have a nice meal but I wasn't fond of the bar bill for a round of drinks.

Sounds like excellent plan to be inclusive re younger members but not easy to integrate this with prize-giving for older members. This could be boring for Go-Ride participants.

Is there space for a more formal event, perhaps without speaker (although Ned Boulting superb) appropriate to traditional club membership, but also the informal summer BBQ event more tailored to younger and Go Ride riders.

No reason why should be either/or - can do both. Large diverse membership so could aim to cater for spectrum not minority. I would likely enjoy and attend both.

Duplicate post deleted

I enjoyed the previous annual awards dinner. I would prefer the awards night to be earlier in the year, February or March before the next season really starts. My idea would be to have an informal pub type night at somewhere like the Cottage at Haxby or Wigginton Squash club, which have function rooms with bar and have awards with just a few drinks. Just my opinions.

Dave

That's apity to hear, I enjoy the club dinners, they were a great chance to see people out of Lycra and hear what everyone else had been doing for the previous year. (I also enjoyed Hannah's social too.) I think Dave C's suggestion for a lower key event in the early spring is probably best as if we leave it too long, we won't remember what '2013' actually was.

I think we should go for a family friendly event in April either Haxby / Wiggington Squash club or City Centre venue to present trophies / awards to those who have achieved in 2013. I also think that the Go-riders will enjoy the presentations as long as we recognise their achievements too.
That said this does need an organising committee to put this event on in April

Thanks all those that offered comments and ideas. And thank you Hannah for volunteering.

Frankly I'm astonished that in a Club with nearly 400 members, over 700 people have read this thread now but only 5 are interested enough in the Awards event to offer ideas or comments and only 1 volunteer. But it does explain why we have so much trouble each year getting people to attend.

In the absence of any other offers to organise, I think we should accept Hannah's offer of an April event. I know Kevin is already well on with organising the trophies and awards so thanks as usual to him.

I can help organise as much as I can, but spend most of my time with my bike in the back of the car and out of York. I've run two pretty successful fundraising events at York Sports Club, Clifton Park on Shipton Road. Most of us will have cycled past it on the way out of town on a Saturday ride. There is parking there and excellent facilities for locking up cycles

http://yorksportsclub.co.uk/

They have a good sized modern function room upstairs with a bar. A balcony looks out onto the playing fields to the rear. Bar prices are not too bad and they also have a kitchen so food can be prepared. For my last fundraiser I had pie, peas and mash catered for by the good people at Love to Eat

http://lovetoeat.co.uk/

If any of this helps please get in touch with me. I'm not sure if the PM system is working as I've sent a couple myself but received no replies........ I'm hoping to be out on Saturday at Exhibition Square 10am.

Sorry for the late comments. I've been to the past few dinners and the numbers attending were impressive. Perhaps background 'bullying' had to go on to achieve the numbers. The late spring family inclusive drinks and meal is an excellent idea, but perhaps not for the prize giving. This is essential for any club, and receiving the medals and cups in the post would be awful.
For me, once the prize giving is over, the band starts up and conversation dies. People wander into other rooms or home to avoid the noise. The idea of a dinner is to enjoy a meal and drinks with friends we often don't see out of lycra. A meal, prize giving and then circulating around the venue with drink in hand is what's needed. Very few were dancing last year, so I think I'm not alone here.
Many don't like the cost, and without a speaker and band, the cost would be greatly reduced and the event far easier to organise. Even I could do it. Perhaps those not wanting a 'do' could say what puts them off.

Agree with thrust of Trevor's comments. Fact is that 70 odd members voted with their feet and cash last year. Not sure that there were as many votes in favour of scrapping the traditional prize-giving. Seems a shame that an event with such a long tradition has been discarded, apparently without members being appraised.
Having said this, this discussion board is a lonely place to hang out these days. The lively debates of a couple of years ago are long gone. Perhaps there is something to be said for a smaller but friendly club instead of a club with hundreds of members who have no common bonds and widely varying agendas?

[quote="Having said this, this discussion board is a lonely place to hang out these days. The lively debates of a couple of years ago are long gone.[/quote]
Ive said this before and ill say it for the last time, the reason the Forum is a lonely place is that people have moved on to a faster pace of social media such as Facebook etc, and really feel the club is missing a trick here. If you check out any of the more active clubs in the area, they all have active pages with lively and constant up to date info and discussion, even the club junior section has one, check out clubs like Selby, Malton, Seacroft, PH Mas on Facebook,just to quote a few. I am quite willing to set up a and run a Facebook page if people would like to give it a go !!
I dont think the Dinner/ prize giving was ever cancelled and not going to be run, but a combination of events allowed it to creep under the horizon as such.
Melly

Just to clarify a few points of procedure.
1. There is a formal process where all members have their say on how the Club's run and to discuss events like the prize giving. It's called the AGM and is held annually.
2. The Club is just that. It is a Club run by the members for the members. Dave, you are one of those members and are always welcome to assist in the running of the Club.
3. For those that have made comments on here and elsewhere asking why the Committee didn't do something sooner. Each year, at the AGM, the members discuss this event, decide on format/venue and a volunteer or two step forward to organise. All of which is voted on. The organiser is usually not on the Committee. Throughout the year organisation comprises booking the venue (normally done straight away when a Hotel is used), during the Summer the organiser normally contacts the Committee to start discussing and sourcing a speaker and in the Autumn activity kicks off to get the details and menu choices in the Cliftonite. The format voted for at the AGM this year was a trimmed down event in a small hall, no speaker and no meal. We therefore had no reason to suspect anything was not going as planned until Darren started making enquiries about putting details of the event in the Cliftonite.
4. These pages are not the best place to air such discussions I think as they're currently open to the Public so don't reflect well on us when debates get heated. I also think there's a tendancy for some to contribute heavily to the discussion board as a substitute for actually contributing to the club. The quietest people in the Club are often those putting the most back in (how often do you see Kevin on these pages?).
5. And finally the event hasn't been discarded. If you read the previous posts another volunteer has stepped forward to organise an event.