[CAMWEST-announce] CAMWEST AGM

[John Holstein]

Fellow CAMWESTies,
?????????????????????????????? as you would be aware, the AGM for CAMWEST was held on Sunday 28/9/08. Unfortunately, it was?not well?supported with only 7 people attending. There were apologies from 3 relatively active members also.

We held a brief discussion regarding the future of CAMWEST in view of the poor response to the AGM & one of the founders, Ian McIndoe expressed his opinion regarding the continuation of the group. It was a unanimous decision, that CAMWEST should and would continue to exist?and an executive was nominated and elected.

The new executive is John Holstein ( Chair) Michael Goard, (Secretary) & Rob Kemp (Treasurer). I would like to thank those who attended for their support and for also accepting the positions. 

We are aware that many of us have commitments that prevent us from being very active in an organisation such as CAMWEST and we are also very aware that many of you do work in the background as members of CAMWEST without attending formal meetings. The committee is very appreciative of the work done in attending Local Government Cycle Way Committees, lobbying various people regarding cycling and having input into cycling activities in the area by leading rides, conducting saddle surveys, advising new cyclists and etc,.

>From my brief association with CAMWEST it is apparent that it is a name that is relatively well known and well respected in the cycling community and that reputation is a direct result of the tireless work done by our previous members. Many of you may be unaware that CAMWEST is now 21 years old and the level of knowledge held by our senior members is invaluable and as the incoming Chairperson, I would like to thank all of our previous members for their input into cycling over those 21 years. Their efforts have made it easier for all of us to enjoy cycling in western Sydney. I believe that the upcoming Blacktown and Liverpool legs of the BNSW Spring Cycle would not be possible without the past efforts of our members and I think many people will be surprised at the quality and quantity of some of our existing cycling infrastructure.

That said, it is not a reason for us to rest on our laurels as there is much more work to be done at many levels to promote and enhance cycling in Western Sydney. We have been fortunate to have lost some of our territory to the Western Sydney Cycle Network in the Fairfield area and Bike North must be thanked for encroaching on our North Eastern areas. Both these BUGS are very active and by reducing our geographical area enable us to focus our activities. Having said that, two of our active supporters and members are also active in those two BUGS which serves to enhance our relationships. We have also had support from the Children's Hospital BUG and hope to continue to develop a strong partnership and relationship with them.

In the past 12 months it appears that not a lot has been done by CAMWEST. It may surprise you to know what has been going on in the background. We have had?several members participate very actively in saddle surveys that assisted the publication of a map of cycleways serving Westmead Hospital and Parramatta CBD. Another group was active in initial protests over the closure of the Prospect Canal Cyleway and also in carrying out saddle surveys for the Holroyd Council Cycle Plan. Several rides have been organised by members on a regular basis as well and a number of us have been active on the Parramatta Cycle ways committee and have had strong input into the proposed Parramatta City Council Cycle Plan. We have actively campaigned for a remedy to the problems on the T-Way cycle path at the intersection of Hart Drive and Old Windsor Road and should see a partial solution there in the near future.

What is coming up? We have a request from the Childrens Hospital BUG at Westmead to assist with Ride to Work Day in a couple of weeks time. They would like to see a representative of CAMWEST at that event and also a stall promoting our activities. Unfortunately, we don't have anyone available to do that at this time, so, if you have some spare time on Wednesday 15 October,2008, we would love for you to represent CAMWEST.

The City of Sydney Spring Cycle will be held on Sunday 19 October 2008 and volunteers are still needed for this important event. Marshals are needed at various points between Blacktown and Homebush, as well as assistants at the start site. If you are a strong rider with a basic knowledge of bicycle maintenance, then a role as a Cycling Support Person may be the role for you. Please contact BNSW direct for information on these roles by phoning 02 9218 5400.

We would like to know who is active on our behalf as well, so if you are doing something on behalf of cycling in Western Sydney and identify with CAMWEST, let us know about it. Drop us a line through the discuss or announce lists or contact me direct on 0410662390 (M) or jonhol2 at netscape.net.
?
Thanks,


John Holstein
Chairperson
CAMWEST (http://camwest.pps.com.au) advocating for better cycling infrastructure for Sydney's West.

"if we don't change direction, we will end up where we are headed" (Professor Irwin Corey
American vaudeville comic and actor (1914 - ) )
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/html
Size: 6159 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://nicku.org/pipermail/camwest-announce/attachments/20080930/669e4755/attachment.txt