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This NEWS article was published on the CTC Heart of England website on 1 August 2015

CTC - HoE . . . a new beginning

At a Special Committee Meeting on Monday 18 May 2015 the following motion was voted upon and passed unanimously:

"That the CTC Heart of England Member Group committee recommends that CTC Heart of England Member Group becomes Heart of England Cycling Club, to be a CTC affiliated Club"

The primary reasons for the proposal are:

1     To enable recruitment of new members from the broader cycling community and to develop a sustainable and vibrant cycling club

2     To reduce the cost of membership

The proposed change is expected to have minimal material effect on the current format of groups or runs within the existing groups of regular riders and the May Audax rides will continue.

More detail on the reasoning:

During the past two and half years we have marketed ourselves to the local 1,100 CTC members extensively. We have had only limited success, recruiting just a handful of new regulars; not enough to cover those who shall inevitably leave us shortly due to their advancing years. The response to the last two broadcast emails we sent to local CTC members, resulted in no new riders attending our Introductory Rides.

We can only conclude that interest from other local CTC Members has now dried up and that we have exhausted that route. From an already low base, the regular ride numbers will inevitably now start to drop further. Meanwhile, the average age of our group riders & volunteers continues to rise.

The Committee feels that, in order to survive as a club in the longer term, we need to have a  re-brand and re-focus of the group. We need to make it easier for people to join, do some new activities and market ourselves to the wider cycling community.

It is hoped that the existing fifty or so regular riders will see little change and continue to attend rides and help support the new club. It is also hoped, that the lower cost option of the CTC Affiliated Membership rate, will appeal to the existing riders and the wider group of riders that we should be trying to attract.

A formal notice of EGM has appeared in the CTC Cycle magazine.