The Special General Meeting was held to endorse the new constitution in preparation for RoADAR Wiltshire accreditation with RoADAR Head Office.
Richard Howes, our Regional Coordinator, joined us for this meeting and was able to add some context to the debate. There was one contentious point in the Constitution regarding the handling of funds should the Group dissolve; omission of the statement would have meant the Group not succeeding with Accreditation. This was discussed at length and the meeting unanimously voted to remain with RoADAR to maintain standards and to benefit from the RoSPA branding; the Constitution was agreed.
The Committee will now prepare the necessary paperwork for Accreditation. Richard was confident if we submit by the end of February then he will be able to present the accreditation at the next meeting.
Minutes for the SGM are available from the Secretary should anyone wish to see them.
Richard then spoke to the Meeting to provide his perspective.
Richard is a volunteer; he is not paid by RoADAR. He has been a member of RoADAR for 10 years and has hitherto shared the frustrations we feel as a group. To add some context he informed us of how RoADAR Head Office is structured:
Amy is the RoADAR manager and is the only full-time employee. She has to manage 250 examiners and 60 groups and deals with an average of 200 emails per day. Please do not be upset if a response is a little less wordy than you would like.
There is an administration post (shared by 3 staff on a job share roster) who deal with the test bookings and membership administration.
Richard is one of 4 Regional coordinators who have been established to assist with problem solving and advice for the Groups in their region. Richard looks after the South West which covers from Cornwall up to Coventry. Richard is happy to hear from any members, to chase a test application or to ask for guidance; his email link is at the bottom of this report. His main point of contact with the Group will be via the chairman and Secretary but he is approachable and wants to help.
He provided the following updates as well:
RoADAR are to employ a part time Quality Assurance Officer (there will be no Chief Examiner) to ensure consistency in the testing procedure and homogenise testing standards. More details to follow.
There will be an end of year conference – probably at a central location such as Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. The format is to be determined and we are asked for suggestions. If none are forthcoming we will get what RoADAR think we want. It was suggested we may want to discuss First aid and the duty of care - a popular subject given the recent successful first aid course. Suggestions for forums or presentations are welcome, direct to Richard or via the Committee
The results of the recent Survey regarding member benefits are due out soon. Richard reported the suggestions received were not related to road safety. It was suggested by members at the meeting working with Insurance companies to provide recognition for the qualification would be welcome. Tim Read had problems with insurance when working with the National Escort Group (marshalling cycle races before your minds go to the wrong place), Richard reported Insurance companies load premiums for anything regarding Sport (from darts to motorsport) so this was a difficult area.
Richard raised the subject of insurance for Tutors. RoADAR are working with an insurance company to craft a letter for Tutors to send to their insurance companies to ensure they are covered whilst tutoring with their own vehicle (not really a problem for the car tutors!). He will circulate the draft for comment before it is issued.
The RoADAR insurance covers the equivalent of professional indemnity for activity within the aims and objectives of RoADAR, any training activity is covered but not, for example, 2 mates going out for fun on a nice day!
He agreed the magazine was not the most ripping of reads. He appealed for better content to come from the Groups so all you budding journalists out there put finger to keyboard and submit some interesting stories for publication. If we send in news it will be published - we have the power to improve the content of the magazine.
The Chairman thanked Richard for his efforts to attend the meeting so soon after he suffered from a Sorry Mate I Did Not See You incident which ended in some broken bones, a stay in hospital and a written off bike. We look forward to working with Richard to improve the Group and our contribution to Road safety.
In response to a thank you note Richard sent this message which is a credit to RoADAR Wiltshire.
The pleasure was mine. Great to meet such a group of people that share the passion. Please pass on my thanks to everyone for their attendance and to the committee for their support and hard work.
As mentioned, feel free to share out my contact details with the group, if anyone needs any assistance or questions answers then I'm happy to.
See you at the next meeting, and looking forward to some warmer weather :-)
Richard Howes
RoADaR Regional Coordinator
T: +44 7415 230767
E: rhowes@rospa.com
www.rospa.com
