THE
CHAIRMAN’S CHUNK...
I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anybody to know that 2020 was an extremely tough year for the NABD. Though I think that all of the trustees believed that the NABD would survive the pandemic in one form or another, none of us could be certain what condition the Association would be in at the end of it all. By late April 2020, after having to cancel the NABD’s biggest annual fundraising event (The You’ve Been Nabbed Rally) for the first time in 29-years; we could see that all of the other events that support the NABD would also be cancelled in 2020 so the NABD National Committee decided that there was no other viable option but to suspend 80% of its regular activities (basically, where possible, all of the things that cost money to run) and to furlough one of our two paid staff members. As even the smaller random donations from individuals quickly dwindled, the National Committee also had to take the heart-rending decision to suspend the NABD Adaptation Grants 6 Open House Issue 98
system, which makes financial grants to people with disabilities who need motorcycles, trikes or sidecar outfits adapting to suit their needs. The adaptation grants have always been at the core of the NABD’s services and the unavoidable suspension of this service was a very hard pill to swallow. In October 2020, with all indicators suggesting that the effects of the pandemic would continue for much longer than had initially been predicted, the equally difficult decision was taken to offer Redundancy to Jane Singleton, who had been furloughed since June. Jane, fully understanding the position the NABD was in, accepted the redundancy gracefully; taking with her our heartfelt thanks for her years of dedicated service. Throughout the year we continued to offer advice on adaptations and sort-out licensing and insurance problems for people but most other NABD activities remained on-hold until such time as Covid-19 restrictions become a thing of the
