TOMCC NEE BranchGM 2025 Minutes
Benwell Hill CC
25th January 2025 11:00
List of attendees; (28)
Mark Lamb; Graeme Haswell; Dave Tate; Iain Inglis, Clive Bell;
Ali Lamb; Colin Nicholson; Valerie Nicholson; Rob Ayre; Mark Loftus;
Ian Anderson; Sharon Anderson; John Teah; John Knott; Geoff Mayne;
Chris Pearson; Stu McCarthy; Vic Stevenson; Carol Stevenson;
Jim West; Mal Guest; Frank Bell; Fiona Johnson; Richard Johnson;
James Lynch; Tim Hulley; Steve Ibbitson; Keith Amiss;
Mark Lamb (ML) opens the meeting and explains the agenda.
There continues to be a shortage of members coming forward to arrange either rides or events. He explains why the Club Branch venue had been changed.
He then presented a review of the year month by month picking out the highlights.( presentation can be found on the web page. There are 79 people currently on the WhatsApp group and this continues to be the first line of communication.
Then followed reports from committee members.
Membership. 191 members in total, 46 new members in 2024, 20 of them being female. There had been an unfortunate incident between 2 member and after the committee followed the Club rules it resulted in one of the members being excluded from the Club. Feedback was sought from rides as some of our ride co-ordinaters were not available.
Treasurers Report (can be found on the web page)
The bank account that is currently being used will soon be subject to charges, so, it was agreed to seek an alternative provider and avoid charges.
Webmaster (report available on the web page)
One item discussed was the ability to communicate with members via group email.
The online membership survey had not received many replies (25) Ali Lamb went through the results however due to the low response the results were deemed to be inaccurate.
Sunday and Thursday rides were popular, social events less so. Summer camp was popular however summer tour less so.
2025 events calendar was presented;
Suggested was a social event early March
Attendance at the Scottish M/C show
13th April National Club AGM in Rotheram
Call for members to come forward to facilitate Cafe riders and Brass Monkey rides.
Race the waves in Bridlington 12-15 June
Last Sunday rides and mid month rides April to September.
There were a lot of entery’s in the calendar that has a not “to be confirmed” beside them and this is probably for the committee to firm up.
Mark described the Club rules also there are some 20 pages that are a Club handbook. Branches are encouraged to do some local and national activity which was discussed as not many members are in favour of doing any national activity.
The Branch structure was shared and an election of Branch officials followed.
All roles went through a process of being proposed and seconded in the room before confirming the position.
Returned were;
Branch Chair Mark Lamb
Vice Chair Vic Stevenson
Membership Vic Stevenson
Treasurer Graham Haswell
General Secretary Clive Bell
Web Master Iain Inglis
Rides Ian Anderson; Mark Loftus; Dave Tate; Clive Bell; John Teah;
Jeff Mayne; Neil Elders; (Not in attendance Graham Henderson; Dave Harding)
Social Events Ali Lamb Carol Stevenson
Mark Lamb makes closing comments and reminds everyone to come forward if they can contribute in any way. He thanks everyone fore attending and looks forward to the coming season.
Mark Lamb
Clive Bell
Notes from AGM 2024
January 16th 2024
Triumph Owners’ Motorcycle Club
North East England Branch Annual General Meeting
Benwell Hill Cricket Club, West Road, Newcastle upon Tyne
In attendance:
Chairman: Mark Lamb
Memberships Secretary: Dave Tate
Events / Ride Coordinator: Ged Tellwright
Acting Treasurer: Graeme Haswell
Brass Monkey lead: Clive Bell
Retired and Workshy founder Mark Loftus
Ride leaders/ tailers Dave Harding, Bernie McLaughlin, Graeme Henderson
Tracy Tordai, George Carnegie, Rob Ayre, Stu McCarthy +1, Steve Ibbetson, Cat Tellwright, David Webb, Linda Webb, Andrew Richards, Colin Banks (94 mile round trip!), Billy Hunter, Brian Thompson, Mal Guest, Vic Stevenson, Jim West
26 in total
Intro and Welcome: Mark Lamb thanked everyone for attending on a grim January evening. All seemed quite impressed with the new venue.
Review of 2023 – Mark presented a month by month summary of some of the highlights of the previous year taken mainly from the Whatsapp group posts. Hopefully this can be transferred to the website www.tomcc-ne.uk for reference.
Despite the dubious weather for most of the year a very large amount of activity had taken place helped enormously by involvement from an increasing number of members. Special thanks to Ged for organising several activities including the Café Amblers, Dapper Social, Curry night and Old Peculier weekend. Mark Loftus for founding the Thursday riders aka Retired and Workshy who have enjoyed many visits to fine scenery and Castles
Then followed committee member statements from:
Memberships Secretary Dave Tate summarised the coming and goings in the last year with a net rise of 20 members to current 181 including associates. Those not renewing tending to have sold their Triumphs or moved away. – full account is contained within the presentation.
Treasurers report delivered by Graeme Haswell who although not the current official Treasurer has been carrying out the role for around 6 years. £3008.26 in the account. Major expenditure of a branded gazebo and contributions to Dapper Social and summer camp for Lou Ross band at both events. Stock of some items of branch merchandise is running low. Dave Tate reported that there have not been many requests for embroidered clothing from Elite Embroidery. The quality of this clothing is very good and reasonably priced.
Elections to positions:
Position | Proposed | Second | Status |
Chairman | Mark Lamb | G Haswell, D Tate | Position filled |
Membership Sec | Dave Tate | D Harding, G Henderson, G Haswell | Position filled |
Treasurer | Graeme Haswell | M Lamb, Jim West, D Tate | Position filled |
General Secretary | None | None | Position vacant – email to be sent to all members |
Lead Ride / Events Coordinator | Ged Tellwright | G Henderson, Vic Stevenson | Position filled |
Webmaster | Iain Inglis | M Lamb, G Tellwright, G Haswell | Position filled |
Brass Monkey Lead and branch advisor | Clive Bell | M Lamb, M Loftus, D Harding | Position filled |
Retired and Workshy lead | Mark Loftus | D Harding, G Henderson, M Lamb | Position filled |
Ride / Event support | Graeme Henderson, Bernie McLoughlin, Dave Harding, Neil Elders (TBC), Geoff Mayne also volunteered at the meeting | C Bell, D tate, M Lamb | Positions filled (always room for more) |
Merchandise | Discussion supported this as a position if anyone interested | Suggested that Iain Inglis maybe interested | Position vacant – email to be sent to all members if Iain not interested. D Tate still ok to oversee clothing from Elite Embroidery |
Occasional organisers | Eg Christmas – Babs? | TBC – email Babs | |
Ladies – lead contact | Raised as a discussion point – |
The most pressing issues are to have a General Secretary in post who can scan various posts and articles and do monthly write ups of activity and take and publish notes from meetings. Will need to work closely with webmaster and others listed above. Also finalising authorisations for the bank account as there still remain issues.
2024
Ged Tellwright took us through the items on the calendar for 2024 ( posted on website) advise members to print off and stick it up somewhere prominent at home.
Of note – Beer and Curry night Feb 23rd anyone wanting to go must contact Ged asap in order to get table bookings sorted. Similarly for the Old Peculier weekend at Masham in July.
Heads up for volunteers and support from the branch for the Dapper Social / DGR in May for selling raffle tickets, admission, staffing our stall and car parking Master Debonair confirmed support. Ged meeting Triumph next few days to start firming up details. Mark Lamb mentioned that branch gazebo would be going to Owners Club 75th at Shelsley Walsh the same weekend.
The proposed trip to Ireland in June needs details sorting asap. 7th June proposed set off date. Dave and Neil to gather further information and distribute it. Stu McCarthy / partner mentioned that Killarney is particularly expensive
AOB – None
Closing comments:
Thanks to all members who have helped out in 2023. We couldn’t deliver a programme of activities to suit wide ranging taste without your support. It is a team effort. Here’s looking to 2024 for more adventure and good times
North East England – Committee and lead members November 26th 2023. Bruce Gardens
In attendance: M Lamb, D Tate, C Bell, G Haswell, G Henderson, M Loftus
Apologies: Ged, Neil, Iain, Keith, Dave Harding
Agenda …
Membership Continues to grow steadily
Committee and Organisation
– capacity and fitness for purpose – looking back at 2023 and forward to 2024 calendar.
2023 was busiest yet with new activities added. 2024 to be more so with addition of summer tour in June
With the annual general meeting coming up, Roles and responsibilities were discussed – below is a reminder of the structure of our branch:
Mandatory positions:
- Chairman, Ensure compliance with club rules, lead direction of branch through liaison with TOMCC and committee. Organise AGM and regular meetings
- Memberships, keep track of incoming and outgoing members. Provide welcome and support re timing of meetings, signposting to website and other coms. Involved in marketing of branch
- Treasurer. Working with committee to ensure compliance with financial regs, monitoring account incomings , outgoings and balances. Ensure account is secure yet accessible for ease of transactions.
Essential supporting positions:
- General Secretary: Support to mandatory roles, part of executive committee. Account signatory. Liaison with Triumph. Take and publish notes of meetings and articles for Nacelle, website and social media involving working closely with Webmaster.
- Webmaster – member of executive committee. Responsible for managing website content and the posting of approved articles on various platforms – work closely with General Secretary and other committee members.
- Events co-ordination – in agreement with Committee, putting the calendar together and ensuring each event has resource to enable it to happen effectively without too much onus on an individual. Ref to Geds proposal.
- Ride coordination linked to events – making sure that each ride is effectively planned, communicated, led and tailed with safety a prime consideration
- Other – eg Tours and major events – whole committee participation. Marketing ? Badges,flags, cups etc do we want a dedicated position?
- Everyone involved in organising any gatherings is responsible for health and safety issues. The club must be contacted with regard to insurance for any rallies / one off events ( via chairman)
AGM – Venue, Date, Time / Tuesday January 16th 7pm, Jubilee – AV to be tested prior to meeting – M Lamb
Nominations for any of the above positions before Christmas to Memberships Secretary, Dave Tate. This includes confirmation from existing members of committee that they are willing to continue.
A vacancy now exists for the position of General Secretary. This role could potentially be amalgamated with the webmaster role into a new position of Branch communications. Interest in either is welcomed.
Progress was made to enable authorities and signatories on the branch bank account. Mandate to be circulated by original account members, ML,GH,CB and DT to return to Lloyds in order to secure transactions. This will be in place until position of Treasurer for 2024 is confirmed at AGM
Discussion also took place in relation to main events:
Proposed event calendar for 2024 requires some tweaks to meeting dates before publishing
DGR / DAPPER SOCIAL – this will remain on the calendar as an event that we will support via willing volunteers from membership and a charitable donation. It was confirmed that insurance for the DGR is an individuals responsibility and that for the Dapper Social / after ride gathering was responsibility of the organisers apart from anything required for our branch display /gazebo.
TOMCC 75th Anniversary SHELSLEY WALSH- same date as DGR 18th / 19th May. All branches of TOMCC encouraged to attend. Mark Lamb and James Lynch going – 0ther members asked to confirm – free camping on site tickets £35 pp to be confirmed asap
MASHAM July 13th /14th any one else wishing to go should confirm with Ged Tellwright
SUMMER TOUR – Southern IRELAND D Tate to get proposal from self guided tour contact in Ireland – mid June 2024 and circulate options
SUMMER CAMP – August bank hol weekend – Clennell Hall – room booking deposits needed now – contact Dee at Clennell Hall direct 07434867939
Any changes to event details or timing must be communicated to Events co-ordinator, ride co-ordinator, webmaster who should also then inform other committee members.
Concerns were raised about the Jubilee as our meeting venue: Availability of the room and loose surface of the car park being among the issues. Members requested to suggest alternatives which have good access, room for up to 30 people to meet, fringes of conurbation within 5 miles of Newcastle. Benwell Hill Cricket Ground, The station at Killingworth, other clubs venues such as rugby or football grounds. Should serve food and drinks and have access to AV equipment as well as reasonably secure parking for motorcycles. All suggestions will be checked out by committee – please let Chairman, Mark Lamb know your thoughts – markdlamb81@gmail.com