MINUTES FROM COMMITTEE MEETING OF NORTH COTSWOLD CYCLING CLUB: 7PM ON THE 15TH
SEPTEMBER 2025 REVOLUTION CAFÉ, STOW ON THE WOLD
Attendees: Jeremy Griffiths, Henry Eve, James Barlow, Rachel Davies, Marcus Hearle, Simon Taylor,
Laura Baskeyfield, Andrew Bray, Martin Lewis (Ride Captain), Paul Flint, James Garstin, Daniel Bell
Apologies: Simon Jones, Will Biggart, Simon Richards
Chairman – Jeremy Griffiths (JG)
JG commented it was great to see membership numbers continue to grow and the club moving in a positive direction despite the closure of Cotswold Cycles. Unfortunately the picnic ride did not go ahead due to several factors, JG apologised for this as due to the time of year it was unlikely to happen now.
JG also expressed his thanks to Jake Waterhouse at Dekomte for offering the building / parking facilities as a base for club rides. This option had allowed the club to move forwards, with rides operating as normal and minimal change following this format. JG will continue to explore options for a café as an end destination, and will meet with Alex @ Bakery on the Marsh next week.
JG announced that he would be happy to step down as Chair at the next AGM if there was a volunteer that was elected into position. He noted that bringing in new people also bought in fresh ideas and a different perspective, which is positive for both the committee and the club.
Treasurer – Marcus Hearle (MH)
Clubs balance stands at £8,208. Funds are a little higher than usual as the club has spent less due to
not hosting the picnic ride or sponsoring a young rider this year. MH also stated that he was happy to stand down from the treasurers position on the basis at the upcoming AGM, provided someone volunteered and was elected into the role.
MH stated that his week’s gravel ride would be the last one of the year due to the shorter daylight hours.
Social Secretary – Paul Flint (PF)
PF provided an update on the British Cycling South Meeting held in July. NCCC presented on Women’s cycling alongside club representatives from Poole, Swindon and Cheltenham. PF offered to share the slides with anyone that was interested.
Representation of NCCC on social media channels is at an all time high. The recent post highlighting TY Cycles offers generated over 1.5K views and upwards of 68 interactions. Not all social media posts have been about club rides, PF stated that he had tried to promote the clubs inclusivity. This has resulted in interactions across all age groups and genders and with NCCC membership at an all time high of 227 members. PF had also been in touch with one of the NCCC members who had recently posted in the club’s WhatsApp with regards to promoting a charity and the reasons why she is raising money for them. PF will try and link them with British Cycling South to potentially promote this. The committee agreed that Paul has done a great job of social secretary and promoting the club.
With the upcoming AGM, PF wanted to agree on a date to ensure communications were sent out as early as possible. The committee agreed this would be held before the club ride on Sunday 23rd November. The committee agreed to actively push the AGM to ensure that all club members were aware it was taking place. In parallel, PF will put together a summary of all committee roles and vacant positions for distribution amongst club members to encourage them to consider taking up a committee role.
Ride Captain – (ML)
Club rides had been extremely well supported with lots of rides going out regularly throughout the summer. Recent “one-off” rides, such as the Tour of Britian and Isabelle’s Heritage ride had been popular and offered something different to the usual club rides. Current set-up at Dekomte was working well so far and despite the change of weather, still getting a good turnout. The “shed”which currently holds the first aid kit will be moved round to the front of the Dekomte building. ML noted that despite the large number of riders some of the groups were still struggling for ride leaders despite the ride leader training course.
LB will send a reminder to all those who went encouraging them to put their names on the ride on the spreadsheet.
Implementation of the mudguard rule was imminent! ML offered to speak to Tom and Rob at TY Cycles with regards to holding stock of the NCCC Mudguard extenders.
ML stated he was happy to stay on as Ride Captain at the next AGM.
Youth Secretary – James Garstin (JG)
Still lots to do with regards to getting Go-Ride up and running. JG apologised for not being able to give this as much time as originally anticipated and will see if other club members would like to step forwards ahead of the next AGM and the lead the charge. Now the Fire Service College is back open to public (i.e Parkrun) this could be an option for a location.
JG raised the issue of group discipline within the club rides, especially as the club had grown in size and the groups were larger. It was noted that as a club, we don’t often ride as tightly as we can / call
out etc. The committee agreed that the ride captain would brief riders at the start to encourage better discipline and each group would nominate a ride leader for the ride.
The ride leader would be responsible for mandating discipline within the group and ensuring the advertised pace and group remained together.
Secretary – Laura Baskeyfield (LB)
Given the closure of Cotswold Cycles the club would need to find a new location for the C250K series continue. LB indicated the preference would be to remain in Moreton as the format for the routes had been established and the location was central for a lot of riders. Will look to see how the discussions with Bakery on the Marsh go before making any decisions.LB indicated she was happy to stand down from the secretary role at the next AGM should someone wish to stand. However, would like to stay on the committee from a women’s ride perspective.
Race Secretary – Henry Eve (HE)
HE wanted to organise a trip to Wales before the winter season kicked in. Date to be agreed, but likely October / November timeframe. MH offered to support him on this.
General Committee
Simon Taylor (ST)
This years longer rides and been successful with the decent weather that we have had. Overall the format had worked well and Simon had proposed running them again next year starting one month earlier. This would allow more day light as we got closer to the end of the year and would fit in 6 rides over the course of the year.
James Barlow (JB)
JB agreed with the points that JG had made with regards to ride discipline and was in agreement that a designated ride leader should take responsibility to instil etiquette within the group. JB also suggested that we should encourage all riders to take a turn at the front, which MH agreed should be best practice. There was a long discussion on both points, but JG noted that this should all fall under the ride leader to manage the group effectively.
JB commented that this years chain gang and paceline rides had been good and well attended. JB proposed a winter training ride to be held on a Tuesday in replacement of the paceline. Route is still TBD, but possibly from Shipston on Stour as the roads were a little better. Given that most riders would likely drive to the start, the location of the winter training ride didn’t seem to matter.
JB also commented on future club trips (i.e Mallorca) , JG said this could happen but someone would need to take the lead on organising.
AOB
1. There was an inaccuracy reported in the last meeting minutes (07/07/2025). Ian had made contact with the club with regards to long standing committee members, but it was reported that there was no proposal to change anything. This is incorrect, and the proposal to limit terms in any one role to 3-4 years had been put forward.
The committee agreed with the upcoming AGM and likelihood of new committee members this proposal would be discussed in future meetings. JG stated that limiting the term of committee roles is difficult as people need to be prepared to step up and put themselves forward and historically this hadn’t happened.
2. It had been noted by a club member that the speeds for the two Saturday café rides had changed from 15-16mph and 16-18mph to 14-16mph and 16-18mph. This had been discussed between committee members and changed to align with speeds across other group rides within the club. It had been suggested that we run three groups on the café ride to align with Sunday group 2,3 and 4 rides due to the popularity and number of riders turning up.
The committee agreed that moving forwards that Saturday café rides won’t be amalgamated and two groups will be run due to difficulty in finding ride leaders for group 4 pace. The Saturday café ride will consist of two groups; group A (group 2 speed, 16-18mph) and group
B (group 3 speed, 14-16mph). If there are riders turning up and potentially struggling outside of the advertised speeds, the designated ride leader of the group (or committee member) will offer guidance and steer that member to the most appropriate club ride to match their ability.
Next Meeting = 7pm Monday 3rd November @ Revolution Café, Stow
AGM = 9am Sunday 23rd November @ Dekomte, Moreton in Marsh