metJuly06

NOTES OF HFCYCLISTS MEETING
Tuesday 4 July 2006 , 7.15pm for 7.30pm in the Info Centre

PRESENT:
John Griffiths, Julie Askins, Andy Ellard, Gwen Cook, Jonathan Gurney, Mihaly Notting Biggs.

APOLOGIES:
Kath Cochrane, Brian Assiter, Mo Morgan, Zuzana Simcova, Alan Rowden, Susie Gretz

WEST LONDON GREEN FESTIVAL

John had thought that it was a lovely event, and many people there had expressed that opinion. There were many more stalls than the previous year. However he was a little disappointed that more people had not come along. Some indications suggest that there were less people there than last year, ie photos of people watching Des Kay perform, tally of people visiting the LBHF transport stand. Friends of the Earth had asked people to sign cards to be sent to their MP, and this showed that nearly half came from Fulham, the rest highly distributed.

Gwen commented that she thought the instructions on the day for people that had come to help were not very good. I have to agree with that. Also the control of the hfcyclists stand needed better planning.

It is a large undertaking to organise, and there is not being enough people with adequate time for planning in the weeks leading up to it. Or the way we are organised. Basically we are trying to put on something comparable to other Green events, with a fraction of the resources or people.

Gwen did not like Parsons Green as a venue, and suggested Shepherds Bush Green as being a more mixed area. Others suggested Ravenscourt park, or back to being by the river in Furnival Gardens. There are a lot of things to consider in choosing a place, one being that funding has come in part from Chelsea football club, and there is a requirement that the event should be in one of the nearby wards. That is the reason for choosing Parsons Green for the last 2 years.

Perhaps after Shepherds Bush Green has been redesigned it will be a more pleasant place to have a festival.

Things to be considered if we do it again are:

1 whether to do it again, and if so whether to do it next year
2 whether to set up a separate group to organise it, ie not through hfcyclists. It may bring some kudos to hfcyclists, and many of the people involved had come through hfcyclists.

Julie indicated she would like to be involved with a future event.

If you think you would want to be involved in a future event please reply to this email to let me know.

REVIEW OF WHAT HFCYCISTS SHOULD BE DOING, WAY AHEAD.

John pointed out that much of what we do is trying to assist / influence the Council in how it deals with cycling.

We have organised rides and apart from ones during the Hammersmith and Fulham festival , where there is more publicity, not very many people come.

Jonathan suggested a survey as to what kind of ride people would want.
So please reply saying what type of ride you might be interested in. We may try and organise something to fit.

a] ride suitable for families with picnic, to somewhere like Richmond park
b] longer ride, maybe 30miles or more, perhaps along canals.
c] ride to a special event, museum, street party, music event, etc.
d] ride going to a very distant pub.
e] train assisted ride, possibly overnight.

Gwen thought activities would bring people in.

Mihaly would like to learn some maintenance things, like how to adjust gears, brakes.

John thought our present level of publicity very low. These days we are not giving out leaflets about the group, nor do we have posters about the group in bike shops, community centres etc. Anyone keen to redesign stuff and/or help get it out, you are very welcome. By attracting new people we are more likely to flourish.

We once gave out newsletters. Jonathan said he would DTP one if someone else wrote it, and Julie said she would help deliver it.

EXPENSES
John had expenses of £7.47 for tonight's refreshments

DATE FOR NEXT MEETING
We decided to take a break in August. So the next meeting will be Tuesday 5th September, 7.30 in the Info centre. [If you want to be involved in rides, publicity etc before then, please use the group or contact me to get in touch]

John Griffiths [chair / co-ordinator]
020 7371 1290 / 07789 095 748
john@truefeelings.com
OUR WEBSITE www.hfcyclists.org.uk