KDCS AGM – The Tap, Kendal 7pm - 27th January 2026

 

KDCS AGM – The Tap, Kendal 7pm -  27th January 2026

Attendees: Anne Brookes, David Wills, Martin Slader, Will Beck, Tim Goffe, Jim Carson, Andy Gillham, Clare Gillham, Richard Evans, Alan Green, Phil Morgan, Bill Jackson, Simon Rose, Mike Hayward, Jan Goodey, Brian Woodward, Brian Cox, Neil Hazlehurst, Sue Hazlehurst, Sarah Harrison, Liz Otway, Caroline Neall, Rod Luhrs, Catherine McConnell, Pete Wade, Ian Jones, Phil Haddon, Lesley Houfe, Romola Stringer, Steve Warner, Kath Hunt, Paul Crooke.

Apologies: Catriona Webster, Angela and Tony Brand- Barker.

 

1. Chair's report (Anne):

    • Introduction
  • Anne opened the meeting at just after 7pm and outlined the agenda for the meeting.
    • Approval of Minutes
  • The minutes of the last meeting were approved. Proposed by Will Beck and seconded by Jan Goodey.
    • Membership of KDCS 
  • Anne had sent out emails to all those on the membership list who had not been active for a while to see if they wished to remain as members. Some replied and some did not, leaving the total number of members as 143.
    • Committee membership
  • Anne appealed for more members to come onto the committee. There are positions available for a membership secretary, social secretary and Website co-ordinator. Jim Carson has kindly stepped forward to take on the website co-ordinator after February 2026.
    • KDCS Blog revamp
  • The Blog will be revamped with some new ideas from Jim.

2. Financial Summary (Martin) - 

    • Approval of accounts
  • Martin had produced accounts for comparison with the last 7 years. In 2019 donations were received for £525, in 2025 £875 was received in donations. The money is used to finance our affiliation to Cycling UK (£88), and to pay for the domain name kdcs.org.uk (£23.88 for 2 years). This is due for renewal on 14/2/2027 – with a company called FASTHOSTS.
  • The signatures were changed on the Skipton account to Anne Brookes, Martin Slader and Neil Hazlehurst.
  • The Accounts were approved. Proposed by Jim Carson and seconded by Alan Green.

 

3. Ride reports

    • Road rides (Anne)
  • Anne summarised the road rides for the year. There were 29 rides during the year with 13 different ride guiders.
  • There was a brief discussion about having road rides during the week for those that can’t make weekends. Anne reminded everyone that there is an option for anyone to lead a ride mid-week using the ADHOC email list. This is a list of people that have agreed to share their email addresses and can contact each other at short notice to arrange a ride.
  • Bill Jackson raised a point that it would be good if there was a ride that everyone could attend (Road and MTB riders) Have set rides that are on each week. There was a discussion about how the KCC (Kendal Cycle Club) have directional rides. Simon made the point that the KDCS is a different type of club to the KCC, and is more laid back. There is a role for the occasional long-distance ride/challenge if someone wants to organise it.
    • MTB rides (Will)
  • Will gave a summary of the MTB group. He now has 90 members on his email list, an increase of 15. There were 50 rides throughout the year with a good mix of ride guides. 29 rides in the Lakes, 21 in the Dales.
  • There had been some ‘AWAY TRIPS’ during the year including the Isle of Man trip, Clennell Hall and Rosedale.
  • There was a brief discussion on whether it was possible to split the ride into two so that more people could attend in two groups. Also, the possibility of downloading MTB routes from the website.
    • Easy Tuesdays (Dave)
  • Dave gave an account of the Easy Tuesday rides. For 2025 there was a new format due to the demand for some new routes. A small group from Easy Tuesdays – (Sarah, Carol, Jayne, Neil, Martin, Geoff and Lynne) came up with some new rides and suggestions. Sarah created a spreadsheet summarising all the details, which was then uploaded onto the website calendar. These could be used going forward if desired. Routes included a new route through Craggy Woods and Neil created some new routes from Gilpin Bridge. The rides were well attended (10 – 20 members) and designed so that there is no leader. The details are posted on the website.
  • As a spin off from Easy Tuesday were the Easier Tuesdays for the winter nights. These were a chance to socialise on Tuesday night without a bike. They are held the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month in a chosen pub. These have been very popular with between 10-20 members attending each time.

4. Away Trips (Brian & Tim)

  • Away trips are usually planned at the beginning of the year with a meeting in Wilfs café and ideas are put forward. This year 23 have signed up for Phil Morgans Isle of Man trip in April/May 2026.
  • Brian Woodward is organising a trip to Clennell Hall/Coquette Dale in July 2026 and has a good number signed up already.
  • There is a trip planned for the Rosedale area by Martin Samman – date to be confirmed.
  • Dave Wills is planning to organise a trip to Hardraw probably in September, details to be confirmed.

5. Committee Proposals for discussion

    • Ride 'Guides', Insurance and Affiliation with Cycling UK
  • Anne introduced the topic by reporting that the Committee has several times discussed the issue of using the term ‘ride leaders’ and whether anyone ‘leading’ a ride carries responsibility if anything goes wrong or is covered by the club insurance.  Based on the experience of Kendal Cycle Club, Will has explained that KCC do not use the term for road rides, preferring ‘ride guide’ instead, so that there is no implied responsibility.  Ride leaders in KCC undergo training in order to ‘lead’ MTB rides for novices and must carry out a number of compliance checks.  The KDCS Committee wants the club to adopt the same practice and move away from the use of the term ride leaders because we do not want to require training and ensure compliance.  This proposal was put forward for discussion.
  • Anne stated that we are affiliated to Cycling UK but we are not sure if we meet the requirements for insurance cover on a ride. This may be causing a reluctance for people to come forward to lead a ride in case there is an incident.
  • In the discussion, people questioned the exact terms of the insurance and requested clarity on this.  There were also comments made that KDCS is not the sort of club to go down the road of strict requirements on riders and ride organisers.
  • Phil Morgan (KDCS MTB rider who also Chairs the Garstang CC) offered help on this and explained that GCC are going through the same discussion.  They are in the process of preparing documents with the result of their investigations. 
  • It was suggested that each member should have personal responsibility and sign up for their own insurance through Cycling UK.  Some clubs require this.
  • A suggestion was made that we should have an annual membership and a tick box confirming everyone is aware that they are riding at their own risk.
  • No vote was taken on these issues.  More work is needed on this subject and will be discussed at a future committee meeting with the help of Phil and the GCC documents.
    • Change of Email account 
  • Anne is going to change the email account that we use for KDCSRIDES as it is no longer workable to have more than one person accessing the Hotmail account due to increased security settings.

 

6. Social events - request for organisers

  • There was an appeal to members to step forward to take on the social event organisation. Dave Wills announced that he is stepping down from this role so that others can have the opportunity to come up with some new ideas. Currently the socials occur through Easier Tuesdays, all KDCS rides, AWAY TRIPS and the Christmas party.

 7. AOB

  • Romola brought to our attention that she has a large amount of historical paperwork relating to the KDCS, dating back to 1992. It was suggested that we could visit Sprint Mill to have a look at it and decide what we want to do with it. Romola will provide us with some dates for this.
  • Steve raised an issue with how to police inappropriate comments on the Facebook sites. As it is a closed group it would be up to the admins to remove it. New guidelines will be issued advising that all posts should be cycling related.
  • Dave Wills reminded us that the Café of the Year Award will need to be presented to the White Hare Café again, and will need a new Certificate. A ride to present it will be scheduled shortly.
  • Phil Morgan and Caroline Neall offered to help on the committee    
  • The meeting finished at about 8:30pm.

·        The next committee meeting will be in March 2026 - date to be decided.

 

 

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