CHAIRMAN’S CHUNK...

On behalf of the Trustees and

It was pointed out to me recently that, as we approach the 32nd anniversary of the NABD, I have now spent half of my life as the NABD Chairman. Now there’s a sobering thought!

When I was asked to take on the Chairman’s post in 1992, I replied “I can give it a year, to help get everything running smoothly, but then I have other things to do…” As it transpires, many of those “other things” are still on my ‘to do’ list!

I think it fair to say that the NABD well-and-truly took over my life, as it has with a number of other stalwart people that it has come to heavily rely upon.

I will freely admit that had anybody suggested 30+ years ago that I would spend half of my life as an unpaid volunteer for a registered charity, I would have thought them to be completely mad but now I wonder in which of us that madness truly resided.

I will not deny that being actively involved in the

NABD on a daily basis takes its toll, both physically and psychologically, but there is also a great joy to be had in being part of something that really changes people’s lives for the better.

Still, it is what it is and the job is not done yet, so perhaps I still have a few years in me and I hope the same can be said of the other members of the National Committee, some of whom have been in-post for more than 20-years themselves (insanity obviously loves company) and all of whom are completely dedicated to the aims of the NABD.

Sad Losses:

Since the last issue of Open House was published, we have been notified of the deaths of two ex-NABD-Committee members.

Dave Silburn and Adrian ‘Lemmy’ Straughan were both staunchly dedicated to the NABD and both had served long tenures as National Committee members and Trustees of this great charity in previous years.

I have written more detailed eulogies elsewhere in this issue but I felt it only fitting that they were included in the ‘Chairman’s Chunk’ if only to offer the accolade that, they were of the best of us, and as such, they will always be remembered with pride and affection!

New Arrival:

On a happier note, the National Committee recently welcomed Tracey Tynan, who has taken on the post of Membership Secretary, which in turn has freed-up Mark Mayo (previously Membership Secretary) to take on the Club Affiliations Coordinator role, which in turn has freed-up more time for Vic Hawkes (previously Club Affiliations Coordinator) to dedicate to his role as Open House Magazine Editor.

In addition to being a keen volunteer with organisational skills, Tracey is also the partner of our esteemed Webmaster, Simon Freedman. The fact that they live under the same roof has obvious, and immediately apparent, advantages where the on-line membership system is concerned.

We welcomed Tracey with open arms, and a large backlog of work to get stuck into. True to form, she immediately dived in and has got things up and running in impressively short order.

NABD Services - Firing on All Cylinders Once Again:

After the unavoidable hiatus throughout 2020 and the extreme uncertainty of 2021 the core services of the NABD, such as the Adaptation Grant Scheme and the Learner Loaner Scheme began to get back on track in early 2022. For the past sixmonths or so, both of these services and several others have been fully operational once again though, as expected, the level of general donations to the NABD has been slow to recover after the pandemic and they are still a long way short of the pre-pandemic level.

Despite the significantly lower amount of donations coming in we have managed to keep-up with demand on both the Adaptation Grants and the Learner Loaners.

Roughley’s Bike Show:

This Stockport-based one-day show has been an unwavering supporter of the NABD for many years and, despite having their own hiatus during the pandemic, the 2022 show exceeded all expectation and became their most successful show to date!

The proceeds of this show are split between a number of charities and non-profit organisations and the NABD was a recipient of a very welcome and much-needed £2,000.00 donation from their 2022 show.

Such was the success of the 2022 show that, in addition to the donations made to their regular charities, they also donated £2,000.00 to the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) and a very welcome £800.00 to The Hulse Towers Hedgehog Refuge (a registered charity), which is a hospital for sick and injured hedgehogs run by myself and my lovely wife Mandy.

On behalf of the NABD, and The Hulse Towers Hedgehog Refuge, I offer our heartfelt thanks and our unmitigated admiration to the small but extremely dedicated crew who organise and run Roughley’s Bike Show!

Bravo, one and all!

The 30th Anniversary and ‘Last-Ever’ You’ve Been Nabbed Rally…

May 5th-7th 2023 at The Royal Cheshire Showground

Just to clarify the situation about the 2023 event being the last ever You’ve Been Nabbed Rally.

We will be replacing this iconic rally with new events that will be just as wonderful though probably somewhat smaller and hopefully easier to manage and populate.

The You’ve Been Nabbed rally was originally designed to cater for 3,000 people but numbers have been dropping steadily since 2015 to below 2,000.

Sadly, many bikers (particularly those with disabilities) are now getting to the stage-of-life where camping is just not pleasurable (or in many cases even practical or possible) and we have been struggling to get enough people attending to justify the huge amount of time and expense involved in putting-on such a large-scale event.

This issue has been affecting other events in exactly the same way so it is not a problem that

Open House Issue 102 7 is particular the this NABD event, though we probably feel it more keenly due to the larger proportion of people with disabilities who have traditionally attended our events.

Also, the You’ve Been Nabbed rally requires more than 120 volunteer marshals working in shifts over the weekend and many of our regular volunteers are people with disabilities. Over recent years, as volunteers have got older and/or their disabilities got worse, it has become quite a struggle to find enough people who are willing or able to do this essential work.

When you add into that mix the fact that at least ten of our regular long-standing stalwart marshals have died over the past five years, you can probably understand the difficulties we face.

After the 30th Anniversary rally next May, we will be planning some new events that will hopefully offer camping and alternate accommodations for those who now find camping unfeasible and where the number of necessary volunteer marshals is significantly reduced.

We may well continue to run events where camping is the main form f accommodation but where fewer people need attend to put the event into profit. After all, in addition to being very high-quality social events, NABD rallies are also an important facet of our overall fundraising strategy.

We remain committed to maintaining the level of quality in our events that the You’ve Been Nabbed rally has always provided and, of course, the work of the National Association for Bikers with a Disability will continue as it has for the past 32 years.

We are hoping that the 2023 event, being the 30th Anniversary rally as well as the last ever You’ve Been Nabbed rally, will see an upsurge in attendance so that this iconic event can end on a high, as it truly deserves to.

Advance tickets are available at £35.00 each via https://nabd.co.uk/shop3/6-rally-tickets (or by phone on 0161 749 7050 when the NABD office reopens on January 3rd 2023)

On behalf of the Trustees of the NABD and all of those stout-hearted folk who have been involved in making this rally such an iconic event over the years, I would like to thank everybody who has attended in the past and those who will come along next May to help us celebrate 30-years of this very special event!

See poster and further information about the rally elsewhere in this issue of Open House.

Volunteer Marshals Wanted:

If you feel able to donate a minimum of 4-hours per day (Friday, Saturday & Sunday) at the 30th You’ve Been Nabbed rally to help marshal the event, please contact Tina via rallysec@thenabd.org.uk for further information.

NB. We also ask that, those volunteers who can, turn-up on the Thursday to help with the site setup.

Volunteer marshals are well looked-after at the event, with two free meal each day and free tea/ coffee and soft drinks throughout the event.

We also have a Marshal’s-Only Party on the Sunday evening after the litter-picking etc. where marshals can get together and sooth their aching muscles with copious amounts of free booze, free food and the camaraderie of other equally heroic folk. (And this year the Monday is a Bank Holiday, so hopefully more people can stay for the party).

Rick

NABD Chairman Open