Just a sec It is now almost exactly a year since the Board took the unprecedented step of suspending all AUK activities. I do not think any of us expected then that we would be taking the same decision again at the start of 2021. As the nations of the UK announce their plans to release lockdown, it is looking increasingly likely that we will be able to resume our own activities sooner rather than later and I am sure that day cannot come soon enough for our members. For my part, I will spend a significant amount of time over the coming days and weeks scrutinising the guidance and legislation coming from the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations in order that I can advise the Board in its decision-making. We are fortunate that we have already gone through the hoops for the formal return to organised outdoor sport in every part of the UK so we will be in step with other national governing bodies as we move forward. We have taken a slightly different position on permanent events which we are not treating as organised sport; meaning we can be slightly more flexible but also that we are on our own when it comes to interpreting the guidance. Even the very largest funded NGBs have struggled at times to keep up with changes so please bear with us as we try to resume as quickly as the guidance allows.
GRAEME PROVAN, General secretary, Audax UK Spare a thought too for our organisers as they try to plan ahead in uncertain times. I am sure they will do their best to put on your favourite events wherever possible but they will need your patience and forbearance as they do so.
delegates to ensure that organisers are supported in their planning and decisionmaking. Meanwhile Permanent Events AGM Secretary, John Ward, is preparing himself The formal notice of our AGM is set out for the Herculean task of manually below. This year’s AGM will be different opening permanent events as they from recent years and the meeting itself become available to ride. will be at least partly virtual. Further John reported that, despite the details will follow as soon as we know lockdowns, there had been circa 6000 the most likely format. permanent validations during the latest You will see there are a number of season compared to 6600 the previous director elections taking place. I am season. hopeful that most of our outgoing Membership Secretary, Caroline Fenton, executive directors can be persuaded to also reported that she had been pleased serve another term but there are two with the membership renewal process on vacancies for non-executive directors the new website. and it would be heartening to see AUK’s IT Manager, Kevin Lake, joined contested elections for these posts. the meeting to report on progress with the IT Refresh Project. He and his team BOARD MEETING had largely been concentrating on Our latest board meeting took place on improvements to Phase II before the 13th of January. proceeding with the planning for Phase We discussed the ongoing suspension III. They were looking at implementing the Stripe payment system as a of AUK events in some detail with a replacement for Paypal on a gradual basis. particular focus on the practicalities of resuming events as the lockdowns were As usual, you can find the minutes of eased across the country. Our Calendar the meeting and copies of the directors’ Events Secretary, Ian Hennessey, is reports in the official section of the already working hard with his regional website.
Arrivée151Spring2021
IMPORTANT NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS
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Arrivée magazine is very happy to receive submissions from readers. In fact, your contributions represent almost the entire content. Arrivée is written by members, for members and about members. We do, however, reserve the right to edit, amend or abridge submitted copy. By submitting copy, contributors are understood to consent to this policy. Contributors should also accept that the editor retains responsibility for headlines, design and lay-out. All submitted copy must contain the writer’s name – nicknames or aliases are not acceptable – and membership number, together with an email address. While we will always strive to present your copy to your satisfaction, in common with all other publishers, our duty is primarily to our readers, and we maintain the right to make adjustments where necessary. We will always endeavour to publish your story but it might be in a later issue as we are currently limited to 64 pages.
ISSUE 152 – SUMMER 2021 EDITION
Send your stories to gedlennox@me.com There is no copy deadline for stories as most will be published, but not necessarily immediately unless they are time-imperative. COPY DEADLINE FOR ADVERTISERS: 26 April 2021 ● Send your text in any word-processor format and your pictures as separate files (i.e. not embedded in the document). ● Images must be as big as possible, anything below 1Mb jpeg is not usable ● It is essential that your photographs are captioned, preferably in a separate document, cross referenced to your pictures. ● Include your full contact details – including your AUK number – we cannot publish your story otherwise ● Package the content into a single compressed zip archive. ● If it is too large (i.e. more than 10Mb) please use WeTransfer, MailBigFile or a cloud-based platform like Dropbox etc. ● Please do not use the old Mediafire gateway as it is no longer functional.
