Firstly about me: as many of you know I have now bought a flat and moved to Maidenhead. Very handy for the H25/2 and H10/2 courses which start about 7 & 3 miles respectively from my front door. (Accomodation can be arranged.) This was spurred by the fact that I frequently work late at my job, and begrudge spending an additional hour plus parked on the M25 at each end of the day. I am now able to ride to work most days, and if I do use the car it is a 15 minute drive in quiet lanes.

I have found that the rush hour lasts very late on the M25, and the initial intention to still turn up at club each week has suffered a bit. I am still in West Ewell regularly, most weekends, but hiking over midweek has turned out to be a drag.

Over the last couple of years I have not really had the time to do the job of Secretary properly, and this has been worst during the last few months while I was buying the flat and moving in. I would like to apologise to everybody for not being properly organised, particularly the other members of the Committee. I am beginning to have more time to myself and hope to aquit myself better in the future, in the meantime I would resign from the job of Secretary, but there is a monumental job in sorting out things before I could hand the stuff over to somebody else, so I guess I won't be going voluntarily for a while!

1997 has proved to be a very quiet year for the Phoenix, it seems that most of our members have had a low key year all at the same time. My prediction that there would be 2 members riding a 12 hour in 1997 proved to be wrong, I had in mind Jake and myself. I didn't ride a solo 12 in the end as I got side-tracked into the world of housebuying and although my cycling is up this year, my enthusiasm for the hassle that goes with racing has vanished for a bit. Jake trained for distance racing, but her lack of speed during the year put her off trying a 12 this year. And the tandem: well that record of 235 miles still eludes us. We picked a very hot day this year, and after a cracking start for the first three hours it all slipped away as the day got hotter. Maybe one more try in 1998.

Beyond that I assume that Frank's report will cover more of the racing side.

Membership struggled to hit 34 in 1997, but I am already receiving the renewals for 1998. We had one new member in 1997: Bill Corr, one of my colleagues from work, who at the ripe old age of 30 was introduced to time trialling and wondered why he'd never done it before. He lives in Twickenham and rides 21 miles each way to work 2 or 3 times a week. I think he enjoyed the evening 10's that he rode, and will hopefully do some more in 1998. Unfortunately he is dependant on me getting him to the events after work.

Unlike last year the events ran fairly smoothly in 1997, due mainly to all the hard work put in by Frank in organising and running them all. The job of Time Trial Secretary is probably the most difficult and time consuming of all the jobs involved in running The Club as there is a steady trickle of things to do in order for our club events to happen.

Just to confuse us, our district has brought in a new numbering system for our courses. It is logical, but it is nonetheless difficult to remember what the new numbers are.

I was not the only one to move away in 1997, Rosemary has taken Alan off to the the far corners of Suffolk (B&B might be available for 'B' district courses, folks!). Iain and Carolyn got married in June and Jake and Gary got married in July. As far as I know nobody has had any more children - yet! But George Younger passed away in October having lasted to about 84.

We had a group go back to the Pollensa Park in Majorca back in the Spring, another successful "training camp", I believe, and Jake has booked a further group for April next year, this time going with Ideal Travel.

Due to moving away, Rosemary has resigned from the committee (I don't think that's much of an excuse, if I pick the wrong night it can take me over two hours to drive to a committee meeting) Doreen Powney has agreed to take over as organiser of the dinner, and the committee co-opted her to the committee in Rosemary's place for the remainder of the year. Apart from that I don't know of any planned changes to the committee at the AGM, but volunteers are always welcome.

The usual plug for the Annual Dinner and Prize Presentation. Feb 28th 1998 at the Drift Bridge Hotel (Reigate Road). Tickets Doreen Powney.

The Clubroom: after all sorts of different plans and thoughts we are to drop Ridge Road School completely and use Worcester Park Sports and Social Club (I think that's correct). This should begin immediately in the New Year. I don't know exactly how things will work out yet. Grant has been charged with sorting out the details as it is at the end of his road. To those interested, please note that the clubroom will now have a bar.

All the best for 1997

Lisa Colombo
Hon. Gen. Secretary    November 1997

xxxxx

xxxxx

xxxxx