Weekly Update – 27th November

Here is this week’s Cambridge Cycling Campaign activity round up.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

AGM this Tuesday (1st December): 

Join us at Friends Meeting House from 7.30 pm for our AGM. 
We will hear our guest speaker Michael Colville-Andersen from Copenhagenize before the official AGM business including elections for the new Board of Trustees. 

We will be accepting nominations until the start of the AGM. All positions are open, details of some positions have been provided at the end of this email. You can find out more here: www.camcycle.org.uk/agm2015

If you can help out on the night please get in touch. 

Seasonal Social:

Please respond to this email or in this thread: www.camcycle.cyclescape.org/threads/469

Details:
14th December, 7.30
The Grain and Hop Store, Regent Terrace
More information: http://www.camcycle.org.uk/blog/2015/11/13/seasonal-social-14th-december/

Volunteering:

We have a fun group of volunteers for the Mill Road Winter Fair and they would enjoy having some more people to join them. Sign up here:http://camcycle.cyclescape.org/threads/2067

Can you join our volunteers to help with tea and coffee at the start of the AGM? Please reply if you can help out. 

Other volunteer jobs are posted here: www.camcycle.cyclescape.org/threads/2053

UPCOMING PUBLIC MEETINGS

30th November: City Deal Call for Evidence
Our Chair, Robin Heydon, will be presenting on behalf of the Campaign. 
http://camcycle.cyclescape.org/threads/2155

CAMBRIDGE NEWS COLUMN

This week, Robin writes about the improvements to safety on Hills Road bridge after £500,000 upgrade. www.cambridge-news.co.uk/life-in-the-cycling-lane

NEWSLETTER

Planning for edition 124 of the Newsletter will start at a meeting before the Seasonal social on the 14th of December. If you wish to join the team please email ‘contact’ or respond in the newsletter production thread www.camcycle.cyclescape.org/threads/979

GET INVOLVED

Cyclescape is our discussion forum. Find out how to register and get started here:
www.camcycle.org.uk/membership/discussion.html

Ensembling is our system for drafting and reviewing documents such as consultation responses. Register here:
www.ensembling.com

WHAT'S BUGGING YOU?

Is there an issue that the campaign isn't covering, or that could be a higher priority? Tell us on Cyclescape, send an email to contact@camcycle.org.uk or follow the Campaign:
Twitter: @camcycle
Facebook: CambridgeCyclingCampaign

HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT JOINING THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES? 

Here are some details about some of the opportunities on the board. 

General Campaigner (three posts)

This post offers a flexible start in campaigning and is well suited for those who want to try our working with us. It would allow you to work within the committee and to focus on a single issue that is important for you or your neighbourhood. Any named position (above) which attracts no candidate will become a general campaigner post.

Recruitment Officer

To be a forceful and credible influence on planners, politicians and the local media, we need to sign up as many members as we can. Recent recruitment activities have included production and distribution of membership publicity cards, appearance at outdoor events, and mailshots to lapsed members.

There is also work to be done on group or family memberships, liaising with schools, colleges and employers.

Web Officer

The first ten years of the Campaign saw us leading the pack when it came to our web presence. Our website now has thousands of pages and a wealth of material. But the web has moved on. This post will suit a talented and forward-looking member who can lead the implementation of a new online strategy for the Campaign. Our improved online presence would reflect the large amount of activity we undertake and present a positive image of cycling.

Newsletter Editor

The Newsletter Editor is responsible for ensuring the Campaign’s high-quality newsletter appears on time every two months, assisted by the Newsletter Team who help with copy-editing, proof-reading and suggesting new articles. The bulk of the work is in the three weeks between the copy deadline and when the newsletter goes to the printers. The editor orchestrates the whole process, reminding people of deadlines, collating suggestions for articles, ensuring all is done in time to print. There is scope for influencing the content and look of the newsletter.

Treasurer

The Treasurer manages our finances. For the Campaign the job includes balancing bank statements at the end of each month, processing and paying incoming invoices and expense claims throughout the year, and raising invoices to newsletter advertisers after each issue and occasionally to other organisations. This typically takes 2-3 evenings a month, and requires interaction with the Membership Secretary, as subscriptions are the source of most of our regular income.

The Treasurer also prepares the annual accounts and presents them at the AGM, which typically takes a weekend of work between the end of September and the AGM. There are additional tasks which arise from the Campaign's charitable status, such as liasing with HMRC to reclaim Gift Aid, completing a tax return, looking after the Trustee's reserves policy and contributing a financial statement to the Trustee's annual report to the Charity Commission.

We realise that the role of Treasurer can be a big one, so we are working to introduce an accounts assistant and/or to outsource or automate some of the tasks.

Membership Secretary

The Membership Secretary is responsible for maintaining the membership database (system and content), sending out renewal reminders and new membership information, responding to membership enquiries, and compiling membership statistics. This also involves quite a lot of financial processing: paying in cheques, reconciling standing order payments and so on. Also helping to run mailing lists. Typically two main bursts of effort each month: sending reminders/automatic renewals and processing responses.

We recently introduced a new membership database application which has significantly improved the processes involved in managing and communicating with our members, and there are more improvements to follow. The Membership Secretary can continue to work with our developer to implement the new features we need. 

Vice-chair

This will be a pro-active person who ensures that we get things done and on time.

The holder of this post will:

Keep an eye out for things that we should be working on, manage incoming enquiries, keep track of deadlines and ensure we respond to things in time, make sure that our strategic goals are prioritised, reach out to new constituencies and build alliances, ensure that subgroups work effectively, seek to increase involvement of members in our campaigning, and maintain the non-party-political status of the Campaign. The Vice-chair will also prepare the annual report, which is part of our Charity reporting requirements.

Chair

The Chair acts as the ‘figurehead’ of the Campaign. Their role is to drive forward our strategy, both in terms of campaigning and our structures.

Working with the rest of the Committee, the Chair will make sure that the Campaign puts forward the best possible approach for improving cycling in Cambridge and ensure that we have the organisational capability to deliver this. The Chair leads our policy development and ensures that the Campaign actively supports all kinds of cyclists – experienced and inexperienced, committed and casual, old and young. The Chair also interacts with decision-makers and the media.Weekly Update – 20th November