GMCC News 5 - Spring2014

Apologies for another late newsletter. This time the newsletter was delayed for the outcomes of the GMCC AGM and some promised content that never arrived.

This newsletter has been squeezed into only 8 pages to save costs as we are spending more money than we are getting in with membership fees.

We are thinking about moving towards an electronic newsletter with a much smaller print run, but that will involve a redesign of the newsletter and an overhaul of the moribund GMCC web site.




This newsletter features an even bigger calendar of cycling events from Love Your Bike and lots of great contributions from GMCC members and others.

GMCC News 5 Spring 2014

If you would like to contribute to the next newsletter then please send text and images to newsletter@gmcc.org.uk along with your name and a short byline introducing yourself.

The deadlines for submitting copy for the 2014 newsletters will now have to be earlier in the month so that we can get the newsletters out in time for important events like Bike Week in June. The newsletter deadlines will now be the first weekend of the month, as follows:-

Summer 2014: Sunday 4th May (for Bike Week)

Autumn 2014: Sunday 3rd August

Winter 2014: Sunday 2nd November


If you like to receive the paper copy of this newsletter, then join GMCC - it's currently free for the first year, so there is no reason not to and you can receive a full resolution copy of the newsletter in the post.

Who Pays the Piper?

The old saying goes, he who pays the piper calls the tune, and this is as true in the world of cycling and cycle campaigning as any other walk of life.

In the world of cycle racing the sponsor is emblasoned across the riders' clothing, bikes and cars. Nobody can miss the fact that British Cycling/Team Sky is funded by the Murdoch TV organisation and others, including £24m from Manchester City Council.




However, in the world of cycle campaigning it is not always obvious who is paying whom. It can be a real problem understanding what interests people have at cycle campaign meetings. There are may people who work in cycling based jobs in the UK.

There are many people working in cycle shops as mechanics or sales staff, people who work as cycle trainers, local authority officers and even professional advocates and campaigners as well as "consultants" who work freelance and then those employed by architectural and engineering firms and other organisations that design, manage and build cycle routes. There are also professional writers, photographers and artists and probably many more I've forgotten.

The problem is that it is difficult to remember who is being funded by what organisation.

Almost all bike shops and mechanics are entirely self funded, so whilst they will obviously want to see more people on bikes, because that should mean more sales, they have no worry about speaking their minds. However, people who's work is cycle training or route building will sometimes be funded through a local government scheme. Just think for a minute, if the local authority pays these peoples' wages, are they going to risk their funding by openly criticising the organisation that funds them? I think not.

So next time a "cycle campaigner" says that you shouldn't criticise the local transport authority or local council, ask whether they receive funding from that same local authority, either indirectly through the organisation they work for, or directly as an employee, consultant or pensioner. If they are funded by that local authority then it is perhaps best to ignore their advice...

GMCC News 4 - Winter 2013

By this stage I would have hoped that most GMCC members would have received their copy of the newsletter in the post. However, following a bit of a cock-up last Saturday, none of the newsletters went in the post over the weekend and the rest that are due to be distributed by local members are still being sorted out.



So, in case yours hasn't arrived yet, here is the fourth GMCC newsletter that I have compiled. It features a great new calendar of cycling events from Love Your Bike and lots of great contributions from GMCC members.

GMCCNews Winter13

If you would like to contribute to the newsletter then please send text and images to nl@gmcc.org.uk along with your name and a short byline introducing yourself.

The deadlines for submitting copy for the 2014 newsletters will now have to be earlier in the month so that we can get the newsletters out in time for important events like Bike Week in June. The newsletter deadlines will now be the first weekend of the month, as follows:-

Spring 2014: Sunday 2nd February

Summer 2014: Sunday 4th May (for Bike Week)

Autumn 2014: Sunday 3rd August

Winter 2014: Sunday 2nd November



If you like to receive the paper copy of this newsletter, then join GMCC - it's currently free for the first year, so there is no reason not to and you can receive a full resolution copy of the newsletter in the post.

Manchester's Biggest Bike Protest!

I have only lived in Manchester for the past few years and I haven't (yet) done any research into the history of cycle campaigning in the area. However, I am fairly certain that Monday night's Space4Cycling ride is the biggest cycle demonstration in a very long time, possibly the biggest ever.

Around 500 people gathered on pedal cycles in St Peter's Square. The start was fairly low key, and the start was announced by a police officer.



The ride was marshaled by people carrying, and occasionally wearing blue GMCC tabards.



The police were holding the traffic well on the main roads,



and had kept the roads around the conference centre clear of traffic.



The ride outside Manchester Town Hall.





The ride then carried on into the Northern Quarter where the smaller roads made policing more difficult, and many critical mass regulars found themselves having to plug side roads.



There were only two sound systems on the ride despite the numbers.



There were a few unusual machines like this rickshaw with it's entourage of youngsters.



The police were also much more effective than Critical Mass at holding the trams for the passing riders.



It was only a short ride and it soon returned to St Peter's Square.



The ride ended quietly, though there was a shout for a bike lift for a group photograph.



As a show of numbers the ride was very successful. However, there has not been much sign of press coverage and there was no clear leadership of the ride, nobody got up to talk about the purpose of the demonstration.

The lessons I learnt from the demo are that we can get large numbers of people out in Manchester to protest about conditions for cycling. However, we need to make sure someone is primed to welcome the riders and we need to make more of an effort to get the press involved to report on this growing groundswell of protest.

Protest to Survive - join Space4Cycling

Next Monday, 30th September, will see the first mass protest ride organised by Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign in all the time I have been in Manchester.

The ride is a follow-up from the massive Space4Cycling ride organised by London Cycling Campaign where, on the 2nd September, "for the first time in its thousand-year history, the Palace of Westminster was entirely surrounded by protestors on bicycles."


photo from LCC web site

Space4Cycling is fast becoming a national protest movement pushing the case for better conditions on our roads for people who walk and cycle, taking road space away from motorvehicles to prioritise benign transport.

The ride will meeting in St Peter’s Square, in the centre of Manchester, from 6pm and the ride will set off at 6.30pm. There will be plenty of space as Mosley St is closed to motor vehicles during the conference.

Map from GMCC

We need massive numbers out on this demonstration to send the message to local, regional and national government to stop wasting money on building roads and start relocating space for cycling. This is your chance to make an impact, bring bikes, trikes, quads, sound systems lights and a party mood. I will be there with the Brox sound system.

There are more details on the GMCC web site.

GMCC News 3 - Autumn 2013

This is the third GMCC newsletter I have put together, and the content is definitely getting better with a wider range of writers and photographers and lots going on in Greater Manchester to write about. Unfortunately, at the moment, it isn't getting any easier and I could do with some help with the diary section in particular *.





This is a packed newsletter, the last 3 months have been very busy, and I ended up dropping some content to avoid going up to 16 pages.

There are several contributions by new writers and photographers, a couple of community projects, two bike arts pieces, and three different views of the Velocity 2025 money and what it means for Manchester.

   GMCC News 3 - Autumn 2013

If you like this newsletter, then join GMCC - it's currently free for the first year, so there is no reason not to and you can receive a full resolution copy of the newsletter in the post.


------------------------------------
Update: * Love Your Bike have just started a new Greater Manchester Cycling Events Calendar which will sort out most of the problems I have been having getting this information out of the GMCC web site.

Manchester Day Parade

Manchester Day Parade is quite an experience when you are taking part. The only down-side is that you don't get to see what the other floats look like.

I have to say at the start of the day my thoughts were "never again" with all the hard work and long hours that went into this. I spent many hours trying to help our artist, maker and blacksmith Julian Taylor in his efforts to build our big bike and puppet rider.

However, as soon as we turned the corner into Deansgate I changed my mind. Our group of 30 people on bikes, trikes and a quad with two linked sound systems and Julian's wonderful giant bike just seemed to take over the space.

The other problem is that when you are taking part it is very hard to take many decent photographs. So this post is what I have taken - I will post more when Jasmine and Julian's photos are available...

The chaos before the start - Anna and friends didn't join until we had moved off.



After the main part, a pause whilst we waited for the parade to clear Deansgate - a military band were refusing to follow directions from Walk The Plank and spoilt the parade for the people at the back.



Finally we returned to Deansgate and let (what's left of our) hair down...

Pete Abel had contributed a lot of effort despite also sorting out a lot of the Bike Month Manchester stuff.



Julian Taylor our artist looking very pleased with the result.



And Peta, who also helped with the building of the puppet, soaking up the atmosphere.



We are already thinking about next year. It doesn't have to be under the GMCC banner net time, we could call it Manchester Critical Mass or Mad Cycle Lanes of Manchester. We will have to see what next year's theme is...

Update:

You can see all of  Julian's photographs here.

GMCC News - Summer 2013

Another GMCC Newsletter hits Manchester, this version had to be expanded to 12 pages to cope with all the news of Oxford Road, Velocity 2025, and Bike Month Manchester.



I've put it on Scribid again because the last one still hasn't been posted to the GMCC web site, so I'm not waiting for that to happen when there is so much news to get out there.

One correction to make, the photo at the top of page two is by Agnieszka Jaroszewicz, sorry it all got put together in a bit of a rush.

GMCC News Summer 2013 by Mike Armstrong

The formatting is a bit messed up and the quality isn't brilliant on Scribid, so to make sure you get your own printed copy of the GMCC Newsletter then join us now...

GMCC News - Spring 2013

Hopefully this newsletter will be the first of many, despite efforts by one GMCC member to take over at the last minute and make a dog's breakfast of it all. This individual was so determined to take control that he bombarded me with emails, phone calls and even rang up the printers to try and get it changed. I was so stressed out by it all that I ended up in A&E a few days later.

However, it seems to have been worth the effort and the newsletter gone down well with readers. A big thank you to all the contributors for their writing, photos and advice. When I took a few round local bike shops the staff immediately opened it and started reading. Photos from the second Coffee Cranks Film Night show several people reading it.



In fact the newsletter has been so successful that it has already gone to a second print run to provide more copies to be distributed to bike shops and Cllr Kate Chappell, chair of the Manchester Cycle Forum was so pleased with it she has been handing out copies herself, even giving one to the transport minister....

Btw @madcyclelanemcr I gave Norman Baker a copy of #gmcc newsletter this morning. Can I have some more?!
— kate chappell (@ChappellKate) March 13, 2013

So here it is, the first of a new era for the GMCC Newsletter, I hope you enjoy it. It has not been uploaded to the GMCC web site, so I have uploaded it to Scribd instead. Unfortunately Scribd cannot handle Courier New font correctly, so page 2 is a bit of a mess, but I hope you get the idea.

GMCC News Spring 2013

We'll be aiming to get the next newsletter out before the end of May, in time for June's events. Please send your contributions to nl(at)gmcc.org.uk. Please try and keep them to half a page of text, or less, and include your photos or artwork and your full name and a line to introduce yourself to the readers.

Wish You Were Here, on your bike....

This year's Manchester Day Parade will include an entry from Manchester's cycling groups. Under the banner of GMCC I have been accepted as an entry by the parade organisers. I have yet to discuss any details with Walk the Plank, but the general idea is to reflect on how much better Manchester would be if everyone cycled more.

The overall theme is "Wish You Were Here" so the current best approach to the theme is to turn that into "Wish You Were Here on your bike..."

We will be open to collaborating with other groups who have entered if appropriate. At this stage we have no idea as to whether we could enter as a giant Critical Mass bike ride or whether we will be restricted to a small number of people. This wonderful trike built by Pif-Paf from last year was an example of the kind of thing that inspired me.



I'm also a great fan of Rinky Dink the pedal powered sound system and would love to build something similar to use to promote cycling in Manchester.



Either way round this is both exciting and rather daunting. We will need lots of help to make the impact we need. This video from last year shows the scale of activity that went into many of last year's entries.



So as soon as I have any more details I will be looking for people to help create a positive image about the future of cycling in Manchester.

------------

P.S. I'm hoping we can improve significantly on the 2002 Croydon Cycling Campaign entry in Croydon Carnival...

Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign AGM

The AGM of Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign will be held at 7.00 pm on Monday 11th February 2013 at Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, M2 5NS.

This is going to be a very important year for cycle campaigners in Manchester, starting on February 18th with the opening of the TfGM consultation on the Oxford Road Bus Priority Scheme. This scheme could be a make-or-break moment for cycle provision in Manchester. If done well it could provide the first high quality cycle route in Manchester, but if done wrongly people cycling on Oxford Road could find themselves squeezed between double-decker buses on a token piece of green tarmac.



Come along and get involved. There will be lots to do to push for a decent cycle route along Oxford Road. It is already Manchester's busiest cycle route and is "officially the busiest bus route in Europe, with more than 100 buses an hour." The campaigning will be tough because TfGM seems to be set on imposing a poor quality solution.