TRF becomming Extinct?

[johnnyboxer]

I see from companies house that TRF has some £125k of reserves. What is being done with this, the members funds?

Ltd Company

Are they member's funds or company assets ?

[DavidS]

I presume that refers to the reserves for legal fees on TRO fights, which is reasonable.
Or the directors lunch fund

Although Crowd Funding worked well recently, IMHO it's not something that can be rolled out time after time as I reckon everyone will get cheesed off with being sponged for extra money.

[micksea]

Greetings,

In answer to the various questions, this is how I perceive the current situation.

Every formal society, club, whatever, has to have a set of rules by which the Members and Officials should act, normally called Articles and in certain circumstances, especially Registered Charities, a copy of these documents have to registered at Companies House. The Articles are produced by the Officials, presented to the Members at an AGM, if agreed (ratified) then they are registered and can only be modified or replaced following agreement at the next AGM or EGM.

The TRF, in this case, has an agreed set of Articles which remained in place at the last AGM of 2015, however the current Directors in this current year have produced their own updated version, changing some very serious aspects of the constitution, and they have registered the new documents at Companies House. As I understand therefore the new Articles have not been ratified and therefore must remain as proposals to be voted upon at an AGM if so presented by the Directors.

The original Articles (and the 'new' set) require that a clear 21 days Notice for the holding of an AGM, prior to the 21 days Notice the board should produce a series of documents and reports which should be passed or made available to the whole Membership for scrutiny. The Membership should read and understand those documents, ask for clarification if they do not, and if they should disagree with any parts then the Members can challenge those statements or proposals either before or at the AGM.

The current Directors have advertised their intension to hold an AGM and given a date for that. The current Directors have not yet sent out their various Reports, etc,. They are claiming that the 'new' Articles are the current Official rules under which they are not calling for an AGM but a different category of Meeting and therefore only need to give 14 days notice. They are not presenting Reports, etc, before the Meeting but only on the day of the Meeting.

A number of Members are not at all happy with this and that is one set of reasons why there is some dissent within the ranks. There are many others but they are not for me to discuss in public nor is this a suitable place for them to be discussed.

The TRF has a Forum which has both Public and Members' Only sections, plus another Section reserved purely for named holders of positions within the framework and normally used for conducting internal affairs or business. Neither Members nor Public can see this section and it is to this section that at least one Director is moving Members' Posts, to which he disagrees. Some Posts are being moved from the Forum in their entirety and some are effectively being rewritten/modified without the authors permission. If a Post is deemed to need to be moved from the Forum then the author should be advised accordingly, this is not happening.

Questions which are being asked about protocol from the Members on the Forum or privately and directly to the 'Directors' are not being answered or alternatively are being answered in what the authors feel is a dismissive fashion.

I attach copies of the documents that you have requested and which have been made available so far and that are therefore in the Public Domain.

I am answering your questions as frankly as I may as I would not wish for the TRF to be brought into any disrepute, it is a fine organisation, works hard for the benefits of all recreational and sporting motorcyclists, is run in a family orientated manner and like all families has its internal disagreements, and the TRF wishes to be a good neighbour in the wider contexts of society.

TTFN

Hugh.[/quote

Frigging hell,chairman Mao had a more simplistic outlook on life.why not just post up some gpx routes of legal trails that everyone can all ride? After all,this is all done for everyone's benefit....allegedly. please don't trot out the mantra...join the trf join the trf....because after trying to digest the above bunch of gob wobble I couldn't think of anything I would rather do less.not specifically directed at the postee personally but seriously,I just want to ride my bike

[Hugh]

Mick,

Thanks for your reply, yes I agree that we all want to just get out and ride. Unfortunately there are politics involved and so .......

Anyway I accept your comments in the spirit offered (thumbs)

I do n't know how to add routes to this Forum but if you use/go to the ViewRanger website then you will find that I have published a few routes for folks to use. Just search under Hugh Cleary and you should find them, Peak District and Lake District. So far as I know they are all legal routes but let me know if they need modification.

TTFN

Hugh.

[Marionette]

The current situation takes some believing, reminds me of that famous musician Nero.

The directors were too concerned about losing this jobs and removing posts from the TRF forum that they forgot to give adequate notice of the AGM, then tried to claim the rules they had set up allow them to do whatever they liked (well not exactly but almost).

It looks as though legal advice was taken, at whose expense we will probably not be told, but the AGM will now be next year. I think they are hoping that the membership of all the people who have the TRF's true interests at heart will have lapsed by then so a walk in the park to get re-elected.

Many longstanding members have either walked away or been forced out and now we are being kept in limbo for another couple of months. My membership runs out at the end of the year so I'll probably wait on the outcome before deciding whether to renew.

One has to ask if the fighting fund is being used to fight the members. Will it also be used to defend the directors against other court actions that are being rumoured in the background.

[steve the grease]

I've just had a message off the TRF saying that because insufficient notice of the AGM was given they are postponing it until January

Directors would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the inconvenience caused to members.

The notice was served 21 days before, however, on a point of technicality, it has become evident that only 19 of the days are clear days when 21 clear days must be given.

It all sounds fair enough to me proper procedure must be followed .

If I look at the old 2 1/2 inch sheet for the area I live in , it is peppered with Rupps and so forth. Every single one of these has been downgraded into either a bridle way or a footpath. I support the TRF because I haven't got the clout to take on the authorities in a fight, but I do worry about the slow and gradual erosion of our ROW network and I hope that the TRf is in a position to fight some of these fights on my behalf. I have been on several charity committees andI don'yt know the rights and wrongs of the internal disagreements at present I can't help thinking that whilst we fight amongst ourselves our oponents sit their rubbing their hands together.

Did anyone see this by the way?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-37971841

[Crossrutted]

My membership runs out at the end of the year so I'll probably wait on the outcome before deciding whether to renew.

If you're not a member you cannot vote (?) So you will not influence the outcome.

The ruling junta are relying upon the majority of members not being assed about what is going on, thereby guaranteeing their re-election.

The bending of rules to threaten "vote us all back in en bloc or vote us all out" is pure blackmail.

(pity - there doesn't appear to be a "wa$kers" emoticon on this forum!)

[Marionette]

My membership runs out at the end of the year so I'll probably wait on the outcome before deciding whether to renew.

If you're not a member you cannot vote (?) So you will not influence the outcome.

The ruling junta are relying upon the majority of members not being assed about what is going on, thereby guaranteeing their re-election.

The bending of rules to threaten "vote us all back in en bloc or vote us all out" is pure blackmail.

(pity - there doesn't appear to be a "wa$kers" emoticon on this forum!)

Because of the way the posts are being deleted on the TRF Forum (somebody suggested 90 in a weeks) how is it possible to find out what other members think and assess the likely hood of:
a) the current directors being re-elected
b) there being a mass exodus of dis-satisfied members

I have seen or heard nothing yet that makes me want to continue my membership.
No doubt the next post will say get lost.

[peterjt]

I just wonder how much this postponement and all the subsequent costs of arrranging a new AGM will amount to and be taken directly from members funds.

[peterjt]

My membership runs out at the end of the year so I'll probably wait on the outcome before deciding whether to renew.

If you're not a member you cannot vote (?) So you will not influence the outcome.

The ruling junta are relying upon the majority of members not being assed about what is going on, thereby guaranteeing their re-election.

The bending of rules to threaten "vote us all back in en bloc or vote us all out" is pure blackmail.

(pity - there doesn't appear to be a "wa$kers" emoticon on this forum!)

PM sent with guidance about the emoji, can't go into further details here though.