News

We hope you are already subscribed to our calendar so you can keep up to date with the events happening and sign up for any that you may be interested in.  

Things to look out for in June:

We have our first Thursday of the Month Evening Ride out on the 6th of June, led by Ian Levin. This will start from Kineton at 6:30.

The group meeting on the 10th of June is open to all and will be hosted by a special guest presenter Stephen Wilkinson-Carr talking about the psychology behind SMIDSY! We look forward to seeing you there!

The Monthly Ride Out will be on the 16th of June led by our very own Richard Taylor.

Tours – Last call! If you’re interested in the Vosges in September please sign up before the end of June.

This month’s second Evening ride will be on the 20th of June – Observers can one of you please volunteer to lead this ride?

We have the Cornering Course on Saturday the 22nd!! Please sign up ASAP to attend!

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST!!! It is happening this month!!

Prescott Bike Fest Sunday, June 23rd

SWAR is hosting a stand at the Prescott Bike Fest alongside Gloucestershire Advanced Riders! – We could use one more volunteer! please reach out to Gaya to discuss it if you’re available!

If you’re interested in attending please book your tickets through the website! https://prescottbikefestival.co.uk/

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Achievements

Congrats to James Dawson for his Gold and congratulations to Chris Moody who obtained a well deserved Silver!

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Other news

The observers’ meeting that took place on the 28th of May provided us with some good feedback and insights into the ride reports. These have now been simplified and reformatted to match the RoSPA test criteria.

As per the membership guidelines, non-grant associates are expected to contribute £25 per session to their observer. This is purely intended to cover the running costs of the observers bike such as Insurance, Maintenance, Tyres, Fuel, Depreciation etc.

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Socials

You can keep tabs on what we are up to on all our social media below! Don’t forget to join the WhatsApp group for general discussion and if you want to get out for a ride, take someone with you.

• Calendar
• Instagram
• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Threads
• WhatsApp

Disclaimer: The WhatsApp group is an open discussion forum set up by members to enable exchange of info between same – not an official moderated SWAR forum.

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Tours in 2024

The tours are continuing! If you haven’t already looked into this, please look at them on the Calendar and sign up if you are interested.

For 2024, we have arranged three trips:

April – A Three-day tour around Mid Wales (NOW FULL) – A great time was had by all who went

July – A Four-day tour to Normandy and the D-Day Beaches (REGISTRATION CLOSED)

September – A Five-day tour to the Vosges Mountains in the Alsace region of France (CLOSING DATE FOR REGISTRATION 30TH JUNE)

The conditions of the trips will be:

• Members undertake at their own risk ‘eyes wide open’. ​
• SWAR is not acting as a Travel Agent​.
• Anyone attending will be required to sign a waiver form. ​
• For foreign tours, riders must book their ferries, trains, and any UK accommodation e.g. at Folkestone before le Shuttle​.
• Non-returnable deposits may be required to secure tour accommodation​.
• Riders are responsible for adequate insurance and breakdown cover​.

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Skills days

There are skills days organized throughout the year details of which can be found on the following pages or via the calendar. Please click on the links and sign up if you are going to be attending. There are also other events on the calendar which you will be able to sign up for:

Slow riding

Cornering

Overtaking

Round Abouts

As always thank you for your support and continued membership with SWAR.

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Memberships

Starting with a little reminder… if you have joined before 2023 or have joined us and passed your test 2023, you will need to pay your membership fees for 2024!  

These can be paid very easily into the following account: 

Sort Code 30-91-91  

Account number 51124868  

Please use SUBS24 with your full name as the reference. 

Not all members are due to pay this time around.  Those who joined us under grant funding in 2023, and have NOT passed their test, are covered for 2024.  

Those of you who have passed your tests, joined on the 2022 grant, or joined as a self-funded member, will be due to pay for their 2024 membership for £25 for the year. 

We hope you are already subscribed to our calendar so you can keep up to date with the events happening and sign up for any that you may be interested in.  

Things to look out for:

The group meeting on the 8th of April will be about getting yourself and your bike ready for the start of the season! We look forward to seeing you there

The April monthly ride-out will be on the 21st of April and led by David Gomez

Slow riding Skills Day! – our first skills day is coming up on the 27th of April! if you’re interested in attending please sign up on the calendar ASAP!

Tours – Last call! If you’re interested in the Vosges in September please sign up before the end of June.

Last but not least we will have our first Evening ride on the 2nd of May! please sign up for this event so we know roughly how many will attend.

Associates Weekend May 11th and 12th

The first intense weekend of training is coming up in May. Please sign up to attend!

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Prescott Bike Fest Sunday, June 23rd

SWAR will be hosting a stand at the Prescott Bike Fest alongside Gloucestershire Advanced Riders

If you’re interested in attending please book your tickets through the website! https://prescottbikefestival.co.uk/

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Achievements

We ran an observers’ day at the start of March and saw 5 new observers go through the program!

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Socials

You can keep tabs on what we are up to on all our social media below! Don’t forget to join the WhatsApp group for general discussion and if you want to get out for a ride and take someone with you.

• Calendar
• Instagram
• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Threads
• WhatsApp

Disclaimer: The WhatsApp group is an open discussion forum set up by members to enable exchange of info between same – not an official moderated SWAR forum

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Tours in 2024

The tours are coming! If you haven’t already looked into this, please look at them on the Calendar and sign up if you are interested.

For 2024, we have arranged three trips:

April – A Three-day tour around Mid Wales (NOW FULL)

July – A Four-day tour to Normandy and the D-Day Beaches (CLOSING DATE FOR REGISTRATION 31ST MARCH)

September – A Five-day tour to the Vosges Mountains in the Alsace region of France (CLOSING DATE FOR REGISTRATION 30TH JUNE)

The conditions of the trips will be:

• Members undertake at their own risk ‘eyes wide open’. ​
• SWAR is not acting as a Travel Agent​.
• Anyone attending will be required to sign a waiver form. ​
• For foreign tours, riders must book their ferries, trains, and any UK accommodation e.g. at Folkestone before le Shuttle​.
• Non-returnable deposits may be required to secure tour accommodation​.
• Riders are responsible for adequate insurance and breakdown cover​.

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Skills days

There are skills days organized throughout the year details of which can be found on the following pages or via the calendar. Please click on the links and sign up if you are going to be attending. There are also other events on the calendar which you will be able to sign up for

Slow riding

Cornering

Overtaking

Round Abouts

As always thank you for your support and continued membership with SWAR

---

Memberships

Starting with a little reminder… if you have joined before 2023 or have joined us and passed your test 2023, you will need to pay your membership fees for 2024!  

These can be paid very easily into the following account: 

Sort Code 30-91-91  

Account number 51124868  

Please use SUBS24 with your full name as the reference. 

Not all members are due to pay this time around.  Those who joined us under grant funding in 2023, and have NOT passed their test, are covered for 2024.  

Those of you who have passed your tests, joined on the 2022 grant, or joined as a self-funded member, will be due to pay for their 2024 membership for £25 for the year. 

We hope you are already subscribed to our calendar so you can keep up to date with the events happening and sign up for any that you may be interested in.  

You can keep tabs on what we are up to on all our social media below! Don’t forget to join the WhatsApp group for general discussion and if you want to get out for a ride and take someone with you.

• Calendar
• Instagram
• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Threads
• WhatsApp

Disclaimer: The WhatsApp group is an open discussion forum set up by members to enable exchange of info between same – not an official moderated SWAR forum

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Achievemets

Big congratulations to:

Dave Cooke for a well deserved Gold!

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Tours in 2024

The tours are coming! If you haven’t already looked into this, please look at them on the Calendar and sign up if you are interested.

For 2024, we have arranged three trips:

April – A Three-day tour around Mid Wales (NOW FULL)

July – A Four-day tour to Normandy and the D-Day Beaches (CLOSING DATE FOR REGISTRATION 31ST MARCH)

September – A Five-day tour to the Vosges Mountains in the Alsace region of France (CLOSING DATE FOR REGISTRATION 30TH JUNE)

The conditions of the trips will be:

• Members undertake at their own risk ‘eyes wide open’. ​
• SWAR is not acting as a Travel Agent​.
• Anyone attending will be required to sign a waiver form. ​
• For foreign tours, riders must book their ferries, trains, and any UK accommodation e.g. at Folkestone before le Shuttle​.
• Non-returnable deposits may be required to secure tour accommodation​.
• Riders are responsible for adequate insurance and breakdown cover​.

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Prescott Bike Fest

SWAR will be hosting a stand at the Prescott Bike Fest alongside Gloucestershire. We are looking for 6-8 volunteers to support us on the stand. Please let us know if you’re interested by reaching out to us in the WhatsApp groups, via email or during a group meeting.

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Observers

For all members who have passed their tests and would like to continue to become an observer, the Observer training weekend will be held on the 2^nd and 3^rd of March 2024.

We expect to have some additional observers soon!

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Memberships

Starting with a little reminder… if you have joined before 2023 or have joined us and passed your test 2023, you will need to pay your membership fees for 2024!  

These can be paid very easily into the following account: 

Sort Code 30-91-91  

Account number 51124868  

Please use SUBS24 with your full name as the reference. 

Not all members are due to pay this time around.  Those who joined us under grant funding in 2023, and have NOT passed their test, are covered for 2024.  

Those of you who have passed your tests, joined on the 2022 grant, or joined as a self-funded member, will be due to pay for their 2024 membership for £25 for the year. 

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Upcoming Meetings

Group meeting on 11^th March

Group ride out on 17^th March

Committee meeting

The next committee meeting will take place on the 4^th March so if you wish to share a topic you would like discussed or want to share your thoughts on how we can do better please get in touch before this date.

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Skills days

There are skills days organized throughout the year details of which can be found on the following pages or via the calendar. Please click on the links and sign up if you are going to be attending. There are also other events on the calendar which you will be able to sign up for

Slow riding

Cornering

Overtaking

Round Abouts

As always thank you for your support and continued membership with SWAR

2023 has been an exciting year with lots of training and skills days! We, The Committee, hope you enjoyed everything the Club has to offer and hole you are ready for 2024! Keep reading because there are some exciting things happening.

We hope you all have a great end of 2023 and an incredible start to the new year!

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Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will take place on Monday 22nd January 2024 at the White Swan, Kineton.

The AGM is important, and there is real importance attached to making it a great success.  We really would like to have as many of you – the Group Members – come along and get involved. Please remember that this is your Group – come along and show your support!
 
There will be the activity reports from the outgoing Committee Members including our Financial Position, Membership numbers, Training successes, and perhaps most importantly, plans for the coming biking season and beyond!

Once the outgoing Committee Members step down and the new Committee members take their seats you will have the opportunity to put your questions to them and let them know what you would like to see taking place over the next few months.

Please find below a link to the committee nomination forms, for you to nominate your 2024 Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and the Training Officer.  We also need a couple of other members to join the Committee. These additional Members are needed to help spread the workload around as well as giving a voice to the wider membership – how about you! – You only have to say yes!

Click here to access the form

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2024 Membership Fees 

Alongside it being the time of year for our AGM, it is also the time of year than the annual membership fees are due in.  These can be paid very easily into the following account:
Sort Code 30-91-91 
Account number 51124868 
Please use SUBS24 with your full name as the reference.

Not all members are due to pay this time around.  Those that joined us under grant funding in 2023, and have NOT passed their test, are covered for 2024. 

Those of you that have passed your tests, joined on the 2022 grant, or joined as a self-funded member, will be due to pay for their 2024 membership at a cost of £25 for the year.

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Tours coming to SWAR!

As RoSPA South Warwickshire Advanced Riders grows, we are looking to schedule three multi day tours for qualified (and near qualified) riders to join.

These trips will enable the rider to move to the next stage in his/her riding career within the club and venture further afield with an experienced ride leader. This will help to overcome some of the common challenges involved in riding further afield and, in particular, in a foreign country.

For 2024, we have arranged three trips:

• April – A Three-day tour around Mid Wales
• July – A Four-day tour to Normandy and the D-Day Beaches
• September – A Five-day tour to the Vosges Mountains in the Alsace region of France

Further details of these trips are available in the calendar.

There will be a maximum of 10 bikes per trip (pillions welcome) allocated on a first come first served basis.

To request your place on the tour, please confirm with our Tours Officer, Rob Wilkie, which tour(s) you would like to attend.  We will require a non-refundable deposit of £50 per tour (which may need to be changed if hotels demand a higher deposit to secure rooms). This will be used in part-payment of your accommodation costs.

If there are any questions, please let Rob know by email, rbwilkie@gmail.com

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The Tech Corner

We have a new calendar available for the club. You will find it in the same place than the old one, but it is not more dynamic and interactive.

All the 2024 events are already there, go and check it out!

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Congratulations

Congratulations to Paul Sheehan and Trevor Bradnam for passing their tests this august!

Well done both!

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Club Night meeting

Is there anything you would like to share with the Club? Any tips or anything you think other members would find useful? Please get in touch with any committee member to help the club and run an evening session. Any suggestions or activities are welcome!

Last month Iñigo gave us a demo of MyRoute-app and this month Dave has a quiz for us to open an interesting discussion about Road Conditions.

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Training

For September we have an observers weekend scheduled but check the calendar as we will be running a roundabout course in October! The dates are already in the diary.

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RideOuts

As people are enjoying the evening rides so much, we continue with two this month! Remember, evening RideOuts are on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month. This month’s rides will be run by Andy and David. Keep an eye out for the details.

We need someone to run the Group Ride Out on the 17th September. If you can help, please contact any of the committee members. Any full member that has passed their exam can led RideOuts.

You can check the RideOut dates in the website calendar.

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The Tech Corner

If you enjoyed the MyRoute-app demo, make sure you check their support page. They have articles, videos, guides… Anything you need to get you up and running.