Author Topic: Requesting help from CTC members (Read 2580 times)

Philip Benstead · « **on:** 08 December, 2015, 06:32:28 pm »

Requesting help from CTC members

Very few members of the CTC either view or contribute to this or other forums.

As the result there is no way to gauge the support for the current direction of the CTC.

It is not possible for CTC trustees to communicate directly with their constituents.

I was wondering if other members would be interested in forwarding emails to other CTC members concerning the direction of the CTC.

The aim is to gauge the support within the CTC and if possible for them to send their comment to an email address.

Adam · « **Reply #1 on:** 08 December, 2015, 07:17:58 pm »

How do you know out of anyone posting here, who is or isn't a CTC member?

If anyone did have concerns or issues, then surely the CTC Forum would be the logical place to hunt for CTC members and canvass their views?

mattc · « **Reply #2 on:** 08 December, 2015, 07:23:38 pm »

Rather like the official Audax forum, lots of members don't bother to read it. A general cycling forum is what a lot of people want.

eck · « **Reply #3 on:** 08 December, 2015, 08:54:50 pm »

What about this one? http://forum.ctc.org.uk/ $:-\$

Philip Benstead · « **Reply #4 on:** 08 December, 2015, 10:11:28 pm »

Quote from: eck on 08 December, 2015, 08:54:50 pm

What about this one? http://forum.ctc.org.uk/ $:-\$

If you look it already on there and also cyclechat and the where the ctc should be going facebook

mhP · « **Reply #5 on:** 08 December, 2015, 10:20:11 pm »

I'm a CTC member purely for insurance purposes. RE the direction of the CTC I've not been inclined to find out what the hooha is and tend not to spend much time on their forum.

Veloman · « **Reply #6 on:** 08 December, 2015, 10:55:53 pm »

Quote from: mhP on 08 December, 2015, 10:20:11 pm

I'm a CTC member purely for insurance purposes. RE the direction of the CTC I've not been inclined to find out what the hooha is and tend not to spend much time on their forum.

I think this sums up many CTC members and they are not interested in the politics etc in just the same way that the majority of BC or AUK members don't give a flying whatever just as long as the activities they wish to be provided are provided. It seems that some wish to rally against decisions/strategy and will use a forum to that end and Philip's post is all about that aim.

DDCyclist · « **Reply #7 on:** 09 December, 2015, 08:17:18 am »

Does the CTC ever contact its members? Of course it does. Then it has a membership list, can and should poll its members.

This forum won't know who is, or isn't, a CTC member.

Surely it's up to the CTC to write to (or email) their membership and poll them for their opinions and support/suggestions?

I wonder if we're not getting a complete story here? Or is the CTC not a democratic organisation? Or has it already made a democratic decision and that is now being challenged?

Dibdib · « **Reply #8 on:** 09 December, 2015, 08:33:45 am »

To be honest, not only did I not care about all the (in my opinion, ridiculous) internal CTC squabbling but it was an active factor in me not renewing. And the number of threads about it here is becoming somewhat frustrating too.

TimC · « **Reply #9 on:** 09 December, 2015, 09:42:29 am »

I'm afraid the politicking is putting me off renewing again. And I'm afraid Philip's convoluted English puts me off discovering what the fuss is about.

cycleman · « **Reply #10 on:** 09 December, 2015, 12:29:45 pm »

I stopped being a member of the CTC when it became obvious that they were no longer a club for touring cyclists and found sportive s and MTB s more interesting .now their is not even a technical officer to review touring related products etc . insurance can be got elsewhere to . such a shame 😢

Guy · « **Reply #11 on:** 09 December, 2015, 01:00:27 pm »

I didn't renew after the club became a charity. I was particularly disgusted with the Council's refusal to publish full accounts, with the Council's refusal to say exactly what the CTC Trust was doing with the money it was "borrowing" from the Club, their lies about the repayments the Trust was making to the Club, and with Kevin Mayne's insistance that becoming a charity was the best thing to do while refusing to spell out what actual benefits such a move would bring to the members, answering all questions with a variant of "Don't worry. Council knows best."

I keep a keen interest in the goings-on in the CTC and nothing I have seen since this time has induced me to even consider re-joining.

Bairn Again · « **Reply #12 on:** 09 December, 2015, 03:09:21 pm »

I stopped being a CTC member in 2009 when I started doing a bit of racing and realised that a BC membership would give me the insurance that had been the only reason I hadnt cancelled CTC membership sooner.

Nothing to do with machinations of CTC - just that I hadnt done a CTC ride the at least the previous 5 years, probably nearer 10. I also found the magazine really dreary (and made me appreciate Arrivee).

cake monster · « **Reply #13 on:** 09 December, 2015, 06:40:16 pm »

Quote from: Guy on 09 December, 2015, 01:00:27 pm

I didn't renew after the club became a charity. I was particularly disgusted with the Council's refusal to publish full accounts, with the Council's refusal to say exactly what the CTC Trust was doing with the money it was "borrowing" from the Club, their lies about the repayments the Trust was making to the Club, and with Kevin Mayne's insistance that becoming a charity was the best thing to do while refusing to spell out what actual benefits such a move would bring to the members, answering all questions with a variant of "Don't worry. Council knows best."

I keep a keen interest in the goings-on in the CTC and nothing I have seen since this time has induced me to even consider re-joining.

^this.

So CTC is now desperate to hear from members to gauge support for the current directon of the CTC,
after chosing to ignore any voices that originally questioned the direction they chose. Oh the irony.

And if they can't even gauge the interests of its own members, either by email circulars or other means, it
does'nt exactly inspire confidence they can tie their own shoe laces, never mind campaign on behalf of cyclists.

CTC just comes across as a bickering organisation with more backroom internal politics going on that active campaigning.

Do not want.

mattc · « **Reply #14 on:** 09 December, 2015, 06:58:37 pm »

These criticisms are all valid, but the truth is that CTC is STILL the best (and almost only!) UK cycling organisation.
I get a weekly email bigging up all the stuff they do - and that's before you look at the local member group stuff (which arguably has been much eroded from where it was).

Talk to Mr Benstead and the other members who oppose the current changes; have your say; make CTC what YOU want.

Want convincing? Steve's a member! And they are defending his rights! www.ctc.org.uk/blog/duncandollimore/super-steve-stopped-cycling-road

Asterix, the former Gaul. · « **Reply #15 on:** 09 December, 2015, 08:05:56 pm »

Quote from: mhP on 08 December, 2015, 10:20:11 pm

I'm a CTC member purely for insurance purposes. RE the direction of the CTC I've not been inclined to find out what the hooha is and tend not to spend much time on their forum.

Ditto, unfortunately.

I just feel CTC is 20th century. Could be totally unfair..

Jurek · « **Reply #16 on:** 09 December, 2015, 08:23:37 pm »

Reluctant CTC membership continues with me.
Totally for the insurance / legal cover and that I am registered with them as a ride leader.
Recently stopped my membership of the LCC - although that may've been more relevant to me given where I live - I decided it wasn't.
The organs published by both organisations are terminally dull IMO, but having had a partner actively involved in a cycling publication I can kind of understand the cyclic re-surrgance of articles....
All style and little content in the case of LCC - Save for the occasional article by Tom Bogdanowicz.
I'm curious to know in what way either organisation aspire to attracting new members.

Philip Benstead · « **Reply #17 on:** 09 December, 2015, 08:49:21 pm »

Quote from: DDCyclist on 09 December, 2015, 08:17:18 am

Does the CTC ever contact its members? Of course it does. Then it has a membership list, can and should poll its members.

This forum won't know who is, or isn't, a CTC member.

Surely it's up to the CTC to write to (or email) their membership and poll them for their opinions and support/suggestions?

I wonder if we're not getting a complete story here? Or is the CTC not a democratic organisation? Or has it already made a democratic decision and that is now being challenged?

Recently three (not me may I say) CTC Trustees have tried but their copy was considered to be too divisive so was stop by the chair.
The chair comments stated that the trustee need to adhere to collective decision making.
This not unusual the CTC he has always held all the lever of communication.
I did not even try to send a message I knew this would happen.
The chair did say the council need to find ways to permit different view to be expressive to the membership within their legal duties as a charity.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #18 on:** 09 December, 2015, 09:11:40 pm »

I didn't renew after the charity episode. I thought it was handled very badly and the vote went through on apathy, not on any real support for charity conversion. More than that, the actual services of the CTC that I used, such as local rides, derived no benefit from the (fairly high) membership fee and I thought that if anything the CTC should have been spending more of the fee income on members, not less. The cost of the third party insurance, I understand, is peanuts since it is vanishingly rare for a cyclist to kill or maim another road user and that's where the risk of huge damages lies, not in fixing the dent in the back of someone's Bentley.

CrazyEnglishTriathlete · « **Reply #19 on:** 09 December, 2015, 09:36:53 pm »

LIke several above, I am a CTC member for the insurance offering, which turned out to be very valuable when I damaged a car. Their rides don't appeal as I'm usually at the sharp end of Audax events and don't have the time for their more exotic tours.

My policy is to abstain where I don't have an active interest in an organisations affairs (it's the same for the two professional organisations that I am part of) is that I don't get involved unless they head in a direction I am strongly opposed to on moral grounds. (which I did once when one of the professional organisations was trying to avoid proper government regulation and inspection)

I've found the debates around CTC to be confusing and opinionated in areas where I don't have strong opinion - hence keeping quiet.

Author Topic: Requesting help from CTC members (Read 2580 times)

Bairn Again