WSCC Club Dinner and Awards, Friday 14 March

As advertised on Spond and by email the annual WSCC dinner and awards evening will take place on Friday 14 March, at Hoebridge Golf Club, Old Woking GU22 8JH

 The event is open to all club members and you are also very welcome to bring along guests to this sociable evening to enjoy good food, good company, a chance for the whole club to get together to celebrate another successful year and find out who has won this year’s awards. It may be you!

 This is an informal event but there will be a short presentation after dinner at which the awards will be made of the various club trophies to mark the achievements of members who have contributed the most during the last year in leading club rides and participating in our activities.

The full menu for the dinner, which will be served at 7.30,  is shown below.

Last year we attracted around 50 guests to the event and we hope to match, or exceed, that number this year. 

The prices are as follows:

2 courses:        £23.50

3 courses:        £26.00

There is also flexibility to accommodate special dietary requirements, including a vegetarian main course, so if you, or a guest, would like to attend but cannot choose from the attached menu, please let me know as soon as possible and I will contact the venue to explore the options.

In previous years the club has subsidised the event by paying the room hire charge, as there is no separate room hire charge this year the committee have taken the decision to subsidise the cost of meals and the prices above reflect an approximate discount of 25% on the charge made by the venue.

The club bar will be available for the purchase of drinks but please note it does not accept cash, cards only.

Places at the dinner will be secured by payment to the club bank account,  please email  keithstainer@btinternet.com with your food choices and he will let you have details of the club bank account for payment and confirm your choices when payment has been received.

Your menu choices and payment will need to be received by Monday 17th February 2025 to meet the Hoebridge Golf Club deadline for orders and payment.

Future charity events you may be interested in

We have been approached by a couple of organisations offering opportunities for charity rides:

London to Brighton Bike Ride Challenge

15th June 2025

Be part of this legendary bike ride and immerse yourself in a heartfelt community. Setting off from Clapham Common, enjoy predominantly closed, traffic-free, tarmac roads.  Cycle 55 miles through glorious city scenes and breathtaking views of the South Downs. Once you’ve conquered Ditchling Beacon, you can revel in the downhill ride towards Brighton Beachfront, where you’ll receive a celebratory welcome.  

Why This Matters  

Suicide is the leading cause of death for those under 35 and men under 50. The age group with the highest rate of suspected suicide throughout 2024 was those aged 45 to 64. Grassroots Suicide Prevention is dedicated to changing this through education, awareness, and empowering communities to have life-saving conversations. We have trained over 65,000 people to have lifesaving conversations, enabling beloved fathers to access vital tools and resources. Our award-winning Stay Alive App has been downloaded over 800,500 times. 

Why Your Club Should Get Involved:  

Team Spirit: Strengthen the bonds you’ve already built, share the challenge and support one another

A Worthy Cause: Every mile you cycle will help raise awareness and critical funds for suicide prevention, truly making a difference in people’s lives.  

Challenge and Achievement: It’s a challenge that will push you, and one that you’ll be proud to accomplish together. 

What You’ll Get as Part of Team Grassroots:  

  • Free branded cycling jersey  
  • Regular check-ins and fundraising tips  
  • Access to an exclusive Fundraising Hub  
  • A spot in our Suicide Prevention Training  
  • Registration is £35 & the fundraising target is £400

Whether you want to combine your fundraising targets as a team or keep them individual, signing up early gives your supporters plenty of time to help you hit your goal. 

Cycle Surrey Hills

Sunday 13th April 2025

As in previous years, we are raising funds for two local charities, Crossroads Care Surrey and East Surrey Domestic Abuse Services, both of whom benefit hugely from the generosity of the riders who take part in the event – all the entry fees are donated to the charities.

Cycle Surrey Hills is a friendly, smaller-scale event, it’s well-signposted, has decent refreshments both en route and at the finish, which is in the lovely rural grounds of St Teresa’s School, Effingham

There is a choice of three routes – 27k for families (including children over 12), 59k for intermediate riders and, for the first time, a new 100k route for more experienced riders. Those of you who ride the area will know the challenges involved!

More details and the entry form can be found on the website – cyclesurreyhills.co.uk.

We do hope to see you and friends on Sunday 13th April.

G2 Rides

We are planning to keep our programme of Woking area G2 Sunday half-day rides (G2WS) running through the winter months.  Please support these rides, which run on the first Sunday of each month.   However, we are pausing the programme of Woking area G2 Wednesday rides for the winter months.

These are full-day rides that have been running on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.  These rides will re-start in Spring subject to there being sufficient demand and availability of ride leaders.  I am very grateful to Kevin Hawken and Chris Jeggo who have been leading these two rides this year.  All rides are shown on our Rides Calendar with full details posted on Spond.

Thanks

John Carolin

Multiple cyclists can be independent witnesses of an incident

Clarification posted by Pat Daffarn

Multiple cyclists can be independent witnesses of an incident.

Below is a summary of response from 11845 Ceri Morgan, RTC Decision Maker, Criminal Justice – Traffic and Process Unit, Guildford Police Station after clarification was sought following WSCC members stating on Whatsapp that as members of the same club we would not be considered independent.

Her full email is below:

From: !CJ Online Allegations (Surrey) <CJOnlineAllegations@surrey.pnn.police.uk>
Sent: 05 November 2024 11:13
To: pat.daffarn@gmail.com
Subject: RE: Reporting threatening driver with 7 witnesses.
 

Good Morning

It is generally the case that if you were driving in a car with your wife and were involved in a collision (for example) they wouldn’t be an independent witness to the collision.  If they are involved in the incident then they are not witnesses but involved parties. 

However it is common for people in one location to be connected one way or another so we do not automatically rule it out due to them knowing one another.  But it is why we prefer footage to witness accounts as it is impartial.  The crime teams do not always deal with cases the same as we do in traffic matters, as different legislation requires different things, so I cannot speak for them.

Although not helpful in this situation as it has already happened dashcams do help with these matters.  Though hopefully this doesn’t happen again it may be something to consider for the future.  Thank you for making the further report, we will not deal with this matter in this department as the crime element is dealt with elsewhere in Surrey Police so they should be in contact.

Kind regards
11845 Ceri Morgan

RTC Decision Maker

Criminal Justice – Traffic and Process Unit

Guildford Police Station, GU1 9PE

Email: CJRTC@surrey.police.uk

Hamish Smith (1932-2024)

Hamish was one of the stalwarts of West Surrey. He first rode with the club in 1953 and was Runs Secretary from 1963-69. In 1973 he married Gillian, the daughter of club President and founder member, Bill Inder. In 1987 Hamish’s employer, British Aerospace, was closing its Weybridge site and Hamish was transferred to Filton. At the end of the club’s Annual Report for 1987 Marguerite Statham detailed Hamish’s and Gillian’s considerable contributions to club life. Hamish continued to ride with Bristol CTC, and they both visited Woking from time to time while Bill was alive, not so often thereafter. Hamish joined Russ Mantle on tours to the Lake District etc, both taking boots as well as bikes. He was a good photographer, a regular contributor to W Surrey slide shows. Always good company, Hamish will be missed. Our condolences go out to Gill and the family.