1Newcastle Advanced Motorists Spring 2017

Newcastle Advanced MotoristsA d v a n c i n g d r i v i n g s t a n d a r d s i n t h e N o r t h E a s t

Group Number: 4042 • Group Registered Charity Number: 1049083

Spring 2017

I think it would be prudent to look at driving from a different angle.

I have been hooked on driving since I was Five years old, being privileged to have grown with motoring for nearly seventy years. I have seen the growth of all types of transport.

In my teens when I started learning to drive I was lucky to be in Southend, when they had a private Borough with a very mechanised Police Force. The Officers were extremely proud of their driving standards, this took a lot of hard practice to achieve their apprenticeship. A Class 1, meant along with Hendon Police School, the highest road driving standard in the world.

Technology in vehicles was advanced considerably, unfortunately driving standards have not kept up. In 1961 British School of Motoring launched the High Performance Course, aimed at helping drivers to control vehicles “Safely” at the fast speeds now being achieved by cars.

The persons involved with instruction on these courses class Officers and top rally drivers. They had served their apprenticeships and with supers cars can now reach speeds in excess of 150mph.

The driving test on passing gives a License to start your apprenticeship skills, takes a lot of time and effort with “correct practice” to instil. Practice makes “Permanent” whatever you do.

It seems a lot of drivers nowadays rely on technology. Skills and observation avoids technology being required. Ships have Life Boats but do you want to use them! Planes have parachutes!!!

Skills and standards in some areas are not what they were. What skills do you need, would like for your picture. Two people fell walking in Cumbria, a storm blew in, one was struck by lightening, the other survived. They were five feet apart!!!Always happens to someone else!!. How close are they to you? Next chair/car.

Food for thought. Brian.

2. The Chair. 3. Welcome and Congratulations. 4. What’s On. 5-6. Statutory Notice. 7. Nominations. 8. AGM Agenda 9.-13. AGM Mins. 14. What’s in store for diesel drivers. 15-16. Great North Ambulance. 17. Spring 2017. 18. Subscriptions. 19. Who’s Who.

Contents.

2. Congratulations

On passing your Advanced Driving Test Associate. Observer.

Duncan Nichols John McCormick 1st

Michael Banks John McCormick Pass

Ron McCormick Peter Berry Pass Mark Lovell Peter McEwen 1st

Nigel Barlow Peter McEwen Pass Christine Marshall Brian Heaton Pass Paul Cain Ian Macneish Pass Greg Hawkins Dave Chapman Pass John Brorley Allan Blackbird 1st

Ian Garrow John McCormick 1st

Joseph Ready Adrian Taylor 1st

Stephen Allport John McCormick 1st

Derek Farrow John McCormick 1st

Welcome

To Newcastle Group Advanced Motorists.

Tom Wignal. Lee Woolsey. Derek Farrow. Terrance Hammond. David O’Brian. Graham Firth. Ian Gibson. Paul Smith. Paula Brook John Everitt Philippa Forsyth David Mathews Paul Braiden

3.

Whats On.

Group Meeting Dates for 2017. Royal British Legion.

Held on 3rd. Wednesday of each month 7.30pm — 9.30pm.

Meetings held in Upstairs Function Room.

Committee Meetings held in Office

( To the left as you enter the building).

Date. Place. Subject. Speaker. Jan. 18th. Wed. Function Room. In House Training. A.A.

Feb. 15th. “ “ “ Social Night.

Mar. 15th. “ Office. Pre-AGM Com. Meet.

Apr. 19th. “ Function Room Police Driving Instructor. Jim Muter.

May. 17th. “ “ “ Annual Group AGM Mick Kinghorn

Jun. 21st. “ Office. Committee Meeting

Jul. 16th. Sun. External Event. N/S’s Fish Quay. RNLI Classic. A.A.

Jul. 19th. Wed. Function Room Northumbria Blood Bikes.

Aug. 16th. “ “ “ Social Night.

Sept. 17th. Sun. External Event. W/Bay Links. Classic Cars. Malcolm

Henderson

Sept. 20th. Wed. Function Room Magistrates - what do they do. Dave Chapman

Oct. 18th. “ “ “ TBA

Nov. 15th . “ “ “ Social Night.

Dec. 13th. “ Office. Committee Meeting.

Peter Serhatlic

4.

Statutory Notice.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN: By order of the Group Committee that the Annual General Meeting of the Newcastle Group of Advanced Motorists, Group Number 4042 will be held: Commencing at 20.00 hours on Wednesday 17th May 2017 at Royal British Legion, 3 West Jesmond Avenue, Jesmond, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE. NE2 3EX

This is to enable the Trustees of the Group (Registered Charity No. 1049083) to present their Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31st March 2017 for approval by the Group Members and to conduct an election. Notice issued by Group Secretary: P McEwen 18th March 2017 Apologies for absence and items for inclusion under Any other Business (AOB) to be received with the Group Secretary by Monday 1st May 2017 at the following address: Please endorse envelopes “IAM‟ Mr P McEwen, Group Secretary, Newcastle Advanced Motorists, 26 Walton Avenue, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE29 9BS

peter.mcewen@iamnewcastle.org.uk

All Members, Associates and friends are invited to attend, but only fully paid up members of the Institute of Advanced Motorists and of the local Group may vote .

Officers: All Officers retire annually and may offer themselves for re-election. Chairman:- Brian Wood - retiring and not standing for re-election

Vice – Chairman :- position vacant Secretary:- Peter McEwen - retiring and standing for re- election. Treasurer:- Liz King - retiring and standing for election.

5. Committee Members:

Retiring and offering to stand for re-election : Les Little, David Chapman, Kevin Whitehead, David Noble. Co-opted and offering to stand for election: Richard Marshal, Bill Evans. Retiring and not standing for re-election: Andrew Allerton, Harry Flinn.

As notified, the AGM is being held on Wednesday 17th May 2017. Nominations are invited from Full Members to stand for the Committee. The Nominee must be willing to stand for the Committee and sign the Nomination Form. By signing the Nomination Form, the Nominee is affirming his/her ability and intentions, if elected, to attend Committee meetings regularly. Please note:- You may not stand for the Committee if the law debars you from being a Charity Trustee, those elected become Charity Trustees of the Group. Only fully paid up Members of the Institute of Advanced Motorists and of Newcastle Group may nominate Committee Members or be nominated as Committee Members. Nomination Forms should be returned and lodged with the Group Secretary at the address shown previously, by Monday 8th May 2016.

6.

Newcastle Group of Advanced Motorists - Group Number 4042

Nominations for Officer Positions:

Name of Nominee:

Position: Nominated by: Seconded by: Signature of Nominee:

Nominations for Committee:

Name of Nominee: Nominated by: Seconded by: Signature of Nominee:

Accounts Notice: The Group Accounts cannot be issued in this Newsletter as there is a legal requirement for the Group to send out the Statutory Notice calling the AGM. This notice is sent out before the end of the Group financial year end (March 31st) - and as such the Accounts are still “live”. They will be available at the AGM, for inspection and approval by those in attendance. Peter McEwen, Group Secretary 18th March 2017.

7.

Newcastle Group of Advanced Motorists:

2017 AGM 17th May 2017.

Agenda:

1. Apologies for Absence:

2. Minutes of the 2016 AGM:

3. Matters arising from those minutes:

4. Chairman’s report:

5. Secretary’s report:

6. Treasurer’s report:

7. Election of Officers:

8. Election of Committee:

9. Any other business:

10. Guest speakers: Peter Serhatlic & Mick Kinghorn (IAM Area Service Delivery Managers)

11. Closing remarks by Group Chairman

8.

Minutes of the 2016 AGM: held 18th May 2016 (For approval by Members 17th May 2017)

Dave Chapman (DC)–(Secretary for AGM) welcomed the group to the AGM.

Dave explained why he was addressing the meeting as our secretary (Peter McEwen) had tendered his apologies due to holiday commitments,

Apologies for absence: Peter McEwen

The Minutes of the 2015 AGM had been circulated to all members and were accepted unanimously, there were no matters arising.

Chairman’s “End of Year” report:

Brian was pleased to announce that everything within the group was now OK after and the accounts problems with signatories had been sorted and we now had access to our bank account. He thanked all our observers for their continued success, shown by the excellent results we as a group achieve. In the past year we had 13 First class passes, 12 standard passes and 3 failures. Unfortunately we had seen the demise of the Alnwick group, however their members, observers, associates at present in training will be amalgamated with our group Brian suggested we try to get more members involved in the social side of our group reminding those in attendance that we are a ‘members group . He thanked all committee members for their work throughout the year and thanked them in advance for the things they are going to do.

9. Secretary’s report.

DC advised that whilst all members had been circulated with Peters Report he read the contents to the meeting It has been an interesting year.Following the reshuffle at last year AGM, the New Officials and the Committee got down to doing their own jobs and things started to progress. There have been a few hiccups – but things are now running smoothly. In September the IAM introduced a Group Scorecard – all the data given showed we were above the Regional Average – except for one – which was the “Days to Test Ready” – it being 256 and way below Regional Average. Two reasons – we had a large increase in SfL Associates following the Gateshead Safety Day and we had a number of Associates who were not “performing” Les, Dave and Myself looked into this, tweaked a few processes and we are glad to report this May’s figure is 145 – well below the Regional Average. In December, Les Little announced that he would like to relinquish some of his “jobs”, so he handed over his role of Associate Allocator to Dave Chapman, whilst retaining the role of Associate Mentor. The changeover officially takes place tonight – thank you Les for your commitment to the group in the past. February saw the Spring Seminar – 2 members attended and learnt of the “changes” proposed – visible and operational. Visible – new logo, new name “IAM Roadsmart”, new web site etc. Operational – new membership categories ( to be confirmed), new observer qualifications, no more SfL – now Advanced Driver course, new Log Books for Observers, Associates and Examiners. Meeting held last week to set everything out. Perhaps someone could bring you up to date on that? It was announced that 40% of Associates do not go “to test” – so proposed that Groups could become accredited and be able to Certify Associates rather than “go to Test”. Certain criteria to be obtained before groups can be accredited. We are well on the way. We will keep you up to date. Earlier this year it was rumoured that the Alnwick/Northumberland Group was to close. This has now happened and we have offered all their members free membership of our group for the next year and 2 of their members have offered to stand for our committee. Their Funds will in due course be transferred to ourselves and the Associate Observations will continue or be transferred to our Observers. Welcome to Alnwick Members here this evening. So well done everyone, Committee, Observers and Members Let’s look forward to a good 16/17 Peter McEwen - group secretary

10.

Treasurer’s report

• A précis of the accounts was to hand, Liz explained the situation and as we have just got the accounts sorted the good news was that we have carried over a good balance on both the general fund and the social fund

• General Account £4364.22 • Social Account £1426.98 • Liz requested volunteers to be added to our signatory list for the Bank to

make certain we are not in the same position as previously experienced. D Chapman volunteered, Liz would get het mandate etc. sorted out The Membership was asked if there was any Questions.

Election of new officers and committee members

Nominations (where applicable) had been Received in accordance with the Statutory Notice Officials retiring and seeking re-election Chairman: Brian Wood Secretary: Peter McEwen Treasurer: Liz King

No other Nomination received for these posts and they were duly block elected by unanimous votes

Election of Committee – Retiring and not seeking re-election David Morrison, - He was thanked for his many years of service,, David commented that he would be still attending the external functions as well as meetings, Retiring and seeking re-election Andrew Allerton, Les Little, David Chapman & Harry Flynn

12. No other Nomination received for these posts and they were duly block elected by unanimous votes New Nominations for Committee David Noble: Proposed Les Little, Seconded Andrew Allerton Kevin Whitehead (Alnwick Member) : Proposed Peter McEwen, seconded Dave Chapman John Wild (Alnwick Member): Proposed Dave Chapman, Seconded Peter McEwen No other Nomination received for these posts and they were duly block elected by unanimous votes

AOB

Brain invited Les Little to receive a token of our appreciation for all the years of hard work he has done for the group and whilst he is standing down from allocation officer he is to take on the role of associate mentor. A framed certificate had been obtained from the IAM. Brian read the citation highlighting his path through the Newcastle Group

Meeting Closed

Date of next AGM 17th May 2017, 20.00hrs RBLC Jesmond.

13.

14.

Great North Air Ambulances.

15.

“ Newcastle upon Tyne Advanced Motorists assist in this teamwork. Several of our members are

members of Northumbria Blood Bikes and drive the “Blood on Board” cars which delivers the cool

boxes. In addition our Observers observe members of Northumbria Blood Bikes to obtain their

Advanced Driver Qualifications. For more info., contact our Secretary Peter McEwen”.

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SKID CAR TRAINING

We are now looking to take names for those interested in attending a skid car training event to be held at

Felton Airfield .

To take advantage of the special subsidised rate you must be a current member of the group, if you are not,

you can still join the group but the cost will be higher.

The cost per individual is normally £75, but to our paid-up group members we are subsidising this so it will

only cost you £30.00

There will be 2 sessions per day, the morning one finishing with refreshments and the afternoon session starting after

refreshments

The dates are not fixed yet but will be at weekends, in the summer months there is a limit as to how many can be

catered for at each session so they will be filled on a first come first served basis, however more sessions will be added

as needed

16.

17.

Subscriptions for 2017

Bank Details: - Lloyds Bank – Sort Code 30 93 55 – Account No: 02461873 Email the completed form to, - peter.mcewen@iamnewcastle.org.uk or return your form and cheque made payable to Newcastle Advanced Motorists (for 1year’s subscription (£8.00) to: Peter McEwen – Group Secretary, Newcastle Group of the IAM, 26, Walton Ave., North Shields, Tyne and Wear. NE29 9BS.

18.

News in Brief. Who’s Who. Future Changes to Road Tax. Group Committee. In 2015 the Government announced that the Chairman: Brian Wood way in which they change Vehicle Excise Duty V-Chairman: VED – also known as Road Tax, Road Fund Secretary: Peter McEwen License(RFL) the Tax Disc. Car Duty would Treasurer: Liz King Change from 1st.April. 2017. This is known as Training Officer: Andrew Allerton ‘VED Form’ and the DVLA will implement the Group Mentor: Les Little Change for all new car registrations from the 1st. Allocations: Dave Chapman April 2017.

• It will NOT apply respectively to vehicles Committee Members. • It will NOT apply to other vehicle types

e.g. Commercial Vehicles, HGV’s. Harry Flinn

CURRENT VED RULES. David Noble • Currently VED’s, tested on the CO2 Kevin Whitehead

emissions of the vehicle. John Wild • The higher the CO2 emissions of the vehicle =============================

the more VED is due. • There is one rate for the first year (First For the vehicles with ‘List Price’ of

License Rate and another for the second and £40,000:00 or less the price will be £140. subsequent years (Second Rate).

• Standard Rate, like the First License Rate also * For vehicles with ‘List Price’ over increases with CO2 emissions. £40,000:00 an ‘additional rate’ of £310:00 (a total of £450:00 will be NEW VED RATES. for 5 years at the end of the First Year

License. • From April. 2017 the First Year License

Rate of VED will continue to be related to the CO2 emissions of the vehicle but the bands will change and rates due will increase.

• In the second and subsequent years the ‘Standard’ rate VED will no longer be related to CO2 but be related to the First price of the vehicle.