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GoldWings North Wales and other independent GoldWing Clubs which already exist (or are likely to form this winter) are already talking to each other about federating, i.e. forming a cooperative which will allow them to share and communicate things when they want share and communicate, yet keeping their independence for all other purposes. At last there is a real prospect of a completely new national structure for the UK GoldWing Community – a viable alternative to GWOCGB.
In the October edition of Wingspan, GWOCGB’s monthly magazine, a letter by Peter Ware, a former Chairman of GWEF, was published in which he advocates a transition to a national federation of independent clubs, such as happened in both France and Germany when their Wingers became disaffected with their rule-from-the-centre national committees. There is nothing to suggest that GWOCGB’s current National Committee are thinking along these lines at all, as Peter was probably encouraging them to do in their own magazine, quite the opposite, but that wouldn’t and probably cannot, no matter how heavy handed anyone tries to be, stop a Federation of UK GoldWing clubs being formed outside GWOCGB’s control if there is a demand for it.
During the dark days of January 2008, the Light Parade launch on GWOCGB’s Forum was going seriously wrong and I was also beginning to get quite a personal battering for my trouble. To cut a long story short the BLP Organising Committee decided that it was necessary to break away from GWOCGB and run the Event independently. I came to realise during the early part of 2008 just how awful and oppressive a ruling national committee of a club could become. (Little did I realise in January that as the year unfolded it would actually get even worse.)
It wasn’t just the obstructiveness and unhelpfulness we encountered which led us to break away from GWOCGB, we couldn’t get straight answers about PLI cover either. We even came to doubt that GWOCGB’s National Committee really understood was PLI was about. So we formed an independent Club to run the Event, Lancs & Lakes GoldWing Owners Club, which we affiliated directly with BMF to get PLI cover for the Light Parade. It was the same PLI cover and we were paying twice for it, once through our GWOCGB subscription and again directly, but at least this way we were sure we had the cover and GWOCGB’s National Committee couldn’t withhold it or mess it up for us. As a bonus we got reliable PLI cover for all the other events and activities which Lancs & Lakes were involved in during 2008. For less than £3 per member it was very good value.
Because of the behaviour of those on GWOCGB’s National Committee we were dealing with, my thoughts inevitably turned in quieter moments to the sort of national structure which the UK GoldWing Community should really have. It became clear to me, without knowing that France and Germany had done it already, that a national federation of independent GoldWing clubs was the answer. If there were no national rules, so that each local or special interest club was completely autonomous, it would stop all this “you can’t do this” and “I have a right to make you let me do this” business. Individual Clubs could do exactly what they want to do. There would be no rules about having to seek “recognition” before you can publicise an event or as a condition of PLI cover for it, no rules about not being allowed to run a weekend event of any sort if someone else is organising a camping event within 200 miles. In short, there need be no rules at all.
Unless a central committee wants to control things for its own purposes, like a latter day Stalinist Politburo, why would they need to impose restrictive rules on a bike club which is supposed to be, above all, friendly? Can’t friendly people sort problems out for themselves if they arise? Surely the UK GoldWing Community would better off without a national committee at all?
Wingers are mostly decent people, surely they would accept that if another Club organises an event to which they are invited, the host Club calls the shots? If you want to go to someone else’s event you have to behave as a guest and respect their requirements, not try to impose your own, don’t you? And if you don’t like the way an event is being organised you don’t go do you, simple as that? And if a host Club gets too picky or restrictive in its approach, or fails to make their event sufficiently attractive or it sets a date which conflicts with another similar event just up the road, it won’t get many people coming to the event, will it? If there is an open national calendar of events which is easily available to everyone, you can look for conflict before you make your plans and if there is any uncertainty you can make contact with another event’s organisers to check, can’t you?
The result of local and special interest GoldWing clubs having complete freedom to organise any sort of event any time would not be unruly chaos because organisers of events would take care not conflict with others unnecessarily – because it makes no sense to do so. The result would be a larger number of events for Wingers to choose from and hopefully a much greater variety too. These would of course include camping events because camping events are very popular among Wingers, but there would be no rules to try to coerce people into going camping for want of anything else, by making it difficult for anyone to organise anything else. The national GoldWing events calendar wouldn’t end up containing nothing but camping events – as GWOCGB’s calendar does yet again for 2009.
While the independent clubs which federate would still be completely independent for purposes of running their own affairs and organising any type of event they wish, they will be able to share, as far as they want to share, the things which it would make sense to share nationally – like a common internet Events Calendar for all open events. Economy of scale will favour shared arrangements with suppliers and insurers, especially for things like PLI cover.
And would it really require a subscription of over £40 to service these needs, as GWOCGB requires? An All-Clubs Events Calendar has been provided on the Light Parade website for over a year now at no cost at all to the UK GoldWing Community – and it is one of the most popular pages on that website. Visit www.goldwings.org.uk/calendar.php if you haven’t already done so and discover how easy it is to find out what’s going on in your local area and elsewhere.
The £42 you pay to join GWOCGB buys you PLI cover you only get if they decide to give it to you, an out of date and largely repetitive monthly magazine, access to a Forum which is so poorly moderated that you get jumped on and/or vilified if you dare to express an opinion which is not shared by the resident bigots, access to some foreign camping events slightly cheaper than otherwise, likewise cheaper access to GWOCGB’s annual ear-splitting Treffen, with every chance of soggy fields and blocked toilets and showers. But you do get to meet some very nice Wingers from other parts of the Country and abroad too if you share their interest in camping, so providing you do like camping and you don’t mind toeing the National Committee’s line and paying for their expenses, it’s not all bad news.
I got so enthusiastic about the idea of a federation in the early part of the year that I also dreamed up a name: the Federation of United Kingdom GoldWing Clubs, therefore abbreviated to FUKGWC, which reflected the way I was feeling at the time. I conjured up images of T Shirts bearing these initials being worn at GoldWing events, especially the 2008 Light Parade. But would GWOCGB’s National Committee and their belligerent supporters on the Forum see the funny side of that? I doubted that very much. To them it seemed that defending GWOCGB’s core values and sacred cows had become an end in itself, like blinkered zealots defending their faith. In order to give the 2008 Light Parade a reasonable chance of success in spite of their continuing attempts to wreck it, it was necessary to put the T Shirt idea on hold and keep these revolutionary thoughts to myself.
I did however share the ideas with my BLP Organising Committee colleagues, with whom they struck a chord. “Long Live the Federation!” became our standing private joke and our solace as we battled on through 2008 to make a success of the Light Parade, in spite of all that was being thrown at us. One by one, and mostly fairly early on during 2008, and despite all staring off the year wanting to run the Light Parade as a recruiting showcase for GWOCGB, we all became thoroughly disillusioned about GWOCGB’s structure, its obscure rules, especially the unwritten ones which were being quoted at us so belligerently, and also the conduct and even the personal integrity of some of its National Officers.
But the 2008 Light Parade was a real success; Wingers turned up in large numbers and had a great time. The Feedback we have had has made it very clear that there is plenty of support for the Event run independently of, indeed in spite of GWOCGB. Whether GWOCGB’s National Committee and their hard core supporters like it or not, the time for a Federation of independent GoldWing Clubs in UK has arrived. GoldWings North Wales is already strong enough to survive as an independent Club and it will hopefully be one of several independent UK GoldWing Clubs which will get together to form FUKGWC, or whatever it ends up being called, over the coming winter months.
The Federation is not anti-GWOCGB and it has no aim to undermine or compromise it, it is simply a new alternative. It will be non-restrictive – and also a lot less costly. The key difference is that there are no national rules, there is no national committee and there is no fixation on one type of event. Anyone who wants to join GWOCGB as well as an independent Club and the Federation will be perfectly free to do so. For example Golding North Wales has formed on the basis that some of its Founding Members will also renew their GWOCGB Membership, at least for the time being. As far as the Federation is concerned there is nothing to stop a GWOCGB Region affiliating with the Federation too if it wants to.
The Federation’s All Clubs Calendar (which will take over from the Light Parade website’s existing All Clubs Calendar when its new website is launched in the near future) will list all known UK and European GoldWing and GoldWing-interest events. The difference is that it will not restrict the calendar to camping events. The Federation will promote and publicise any type of event, including camping events.
The Federation will therefore be a no-rules, no-committee UK umbrella organisation under which Wingers in UK will find it easy to form and sustain any sort of GoldWing Club they like, either in their local area or a special interest club. Clubs like the former BAR Region, now independent and called SAT, a club for touring in the Alps, http://www.bar-region.com and Elite Wings, hotel-based tours in UK and abroad, www.elite-wings.co.uk are good examples of existing independent special interest clubs. There is plenty of scope in UK for a Classic GoldWing Club, a GoldWing Trikes Club, a GoldWing Sidecar Club, perhaps a whole series of GoldWing Drill Team clubs – and any other sort of special interest club which takes people’s fancy and which might otherwise be too small or too scattered to be viable.
The Federation will also help to put people with shared special interests in touch so they can form a new Club if they wish, and it will help any of these Clubs to publicise any type of open GoldWing event they might decide to run. It will help Clubs to combine resources as necessary to organise larger events too, like a national rally and of course a Light Parade. And it will help to arrange secure PLI cover (so essential these days even for small scale locally arranged group activities) which is transparent, reliable – and is made available without being used as leverage to conform.
Wingers are already working on these ideas to make them a reality. If you would like to be involved in forming the Federation, or if you would like information or advice about forming an independent GoldWing club in your local area or in pursuit of your special interest, please contact me using the link in the footer and I will try to help. Your privacy will be respected.
Long Live the Federation!
(And watch this Blog for more uncensored GoldWing news coming soon!)
Hear…Hear………What a Brilliant idea and long overdue, a breath of fresh air is just what the Goldwing community needs and I am sure that as the word about ” The Federation ” spreads that more of the other 6,000 or so Goldwingers in this country who are not members of GWOCGB will join in and support the Federation …………..” Long Live The Federation ”
Joe Traynor……..AKA…Papajoe
Hi All.I am a member of new Goldwings of North Wales club.I am also a member of The Federation of Sidecar Clubs which was formed to enable one sidecar club to keep in touch with another club, this year that Federation is 50 years old, and is still doing the same job,
As that Fed has stood the test of time, the new Goldwing Fed can do the same.
Blogmaster: Well obviously I agree. The thing about a federation (of bike clubs) is that although individual Clubs which combine to form a Federation may themselves wax and wane or even fade out altogether, as long as there is a common interest with a wide enough appeal (such as in GoldWings or sidecars) and a common acceptance that no Club can tell another Club what to do, the Federation should survive and prosper. I suppose the other essential ingredient is that the Federation must be set up so that no individual or group of individuals can hijack it for their own purposes.
Is that new emblem set in stone yet………I must say with all due respect that I don’t like it, Should it not say “Federation of Goldwing clubs” at the top instead of “Federation of United Kingdom”
Again with all due respect the United Kingdom is made up of 4 Countries, is there no way that the flags of all 4 countries could be incorperated into the design
Blogmaster: And there was me thinking that the Union Flag is a combination of the Saltire and the crosses of St George and St Patrick, so that the three KIngdoms are represented, only Wales (presumably because it is a Principality and not a Kingdom) gets left out. Worry not Papa Joe, its just a working design as yet, although I have to say I really like it.
Continuing on the new emblem theme. I agree with Papajoe with regards to the circling text reading top “Federation of Goldwing Clubs” and bottom “United Kingdom”. Can I suggest that the outer ring be in black (Signifying a motorbike tyre) with gold text. The middle part looks great and I appreciate as a Graphic Designer that the Welsh flag or Dragon would be hard to incorporate. Just as an after thought, how about GL 1000 to 1800 under the eagle??. Whatever is looks like in the end, I’ll go for it LOL.
Blogmaster: Well then, now we know you’re a graphic designer I must thank you for your interest and invite you to produce an alternative design! I will email you a high quality verison of the badge so far and you can have a play with it any way you like – or design an alternative from scratch. By the way the thinking behind the GL winged badge in the middle was that it avoids being partisan about a particular model of GoldWing – and the GL1800 is due to be replaced by another one for 2010 anyway – so this badge was chosen and adapted as being both relevent and sufficiently bold/butch for the job. The wording around the badge wa also chosen with thought – because we want to use the initials (i.e. “FUKGWC”) on T shirts too, and this way round they roll off the tongue a bit better than “FGWCUK”.
I have now read all the articles and comments on your site (I think) At present I am not a member of the GWOCGB (used to be).
Not knowing to much about the problems you had with the committee (GWOCGB) do you not think a lot of your personal bitterness is showing up in the site?
I think the concept of a new club (Federation) is a good idea.
So to conclude, at the begining I thought it a great idea and by the time I finished reading I was disillusioned – but only because of the bitterness being shown by yourself. All your points have now been made so why not keep the GWOCGB out of it all and concentrate on building up FGWCUK.
I have been a Goldwing rider for about 11 years and at present not a member of any club but will continue following your set up for a long time to come before i make a decision which way to go
One main point I do agree with is that the Wingspan Magazine is a very repetitive, far to costly and could be published each quarter at a great saving to the club.
The points above are my own. A happy goldwing rider affiliated to no club. But good luck in what you are trying to achive
Del P
Thank you for your interest. I said I wasn’t going to publish any more personal criticism on this Blog, not least to get away from contentiousness. But there is a constructive undertone to your comment and the personal criticism is of me, so I feel entitled to make an exception.
I understand the risk of irritating those who are not GWOCGB Members (so cannot possibly know the full story and may have little interest in what is going on) with stuff they might see as more like personal bitterness than useful information, so I am sorry to have had that impact on you. I won’t risk irritating you (or anyone else) any further with excuses or explanations. Fact is we are all looking forward to the time when we can concentrate on the future and the positive – and indeed my New Years Resolution is to do just that. I will still publish news stories involving GWOCGB if they are interesting (such as publicising the Scarborough Light Parade) but rest assured I will not be looking for opportunities just to have a pop at it.
Ideally of course this is a time when those who can see the potential value of a Federation to the UK GoldWing Community would do something to help bring it about, rather than decide to steer clear until it proves itself useful to them personally. Maybe talking to their Winger friends about forming an independant Club in their local area (which could then become part of the Federation if they wish) would be an easy way to make a useful start.
And there are many Articles on this Blog which have nothing to do with club politics at all!
Stuart
Thanks for the prompt reply. I hope you didn’t see my comment as having a go at you it was not meant that way. Good luck in your quest with the Federation
Del
No offence taken – and happily it’s not just my quest, it has been promoted by others too, including recently by a former Chairman of GWEF, writing in Wingspan.
It is about time more people took a stance about the biased NC of GWOCGB & some regional committee members & also some of the members of the the GWOCGB.There are too many people in GWOCGB who just go along with what is said by the so called influential members of GWOCGB & those who take a stance like Stuart & some others are vilified by some members of GWOCGB & expelled.
I hope any independent club goes from strength to strength where ever they are based.
Hi all,
I’m French and I’m a member of a similar structure than FUKGC in France called Alliance Goldwing. The aim of these clubs and this structure created in Feb.2006 is not to fight against the Fédération des Goldwing Club de France – the historical French club, member of GWEF – but tu purpose an alternative to the unique existing approach. Since 2006, many owners of Goldwing subscibe to one of these clubs and were very happy because they tasted a club of Goldwing in the past, they leave it because of a doctinaire approach and since this date, they were orphans because they had the “club spirit”.
We make a single event together each year in the spring called “Très Fun Gold”, somewere in France organised by one club for the others.
I’m aslo member of the French GWEF club and 6 others bikers structure (I use to say I spend my money in garages, spare & added parts, club subsciptions, insurance and……petrol !!) and I have also connections with similar structures in 3 others European coutries, because I deeply think that Goldwing friendship can take place in 2009 into more than 1 structure and can’t have frontier neither regardind the structure, nor the languages.
Ride safe
Philippe
Welcome to the Blog Phillipe and thank you for the information, very helpful. (And thank you for letting England win the Rugby last weekend, we needed something to cheer us up!)
Hi All.Hope us foreigners from the Isle of Man, Which is not part of the UK, can join you. Sounds like a good idea.
Of course you can join in – it’s all about freedom of choice!
Hi Royce…….Remember and bring that MBC with you….:-)
I have just seen for the first time your blog about the alternative to the GWOCGB, what a sensible piece of work, thanks, its nice to see that there are some willing to think outside the box.
Bravo Stuart.
Daz.
I think it as is a good idea, unfortunately all big clubs become bogged down in there own politics, a FED would be a great idea, you have my support Stuart.
I joined GWOCGB when I first got a Wing but soon found that they had nothing to offer me, so I look elseware and enjoy my Winging with other clubs.
Hi Daz & Mike…..Glad you found this site, word about the Federation is beginning to spread around the country about an idea that is long overdue and will spread new life into the the present mundane Goldwing community that exists in GWOCGB
As more people hear about what the Federation has to offer in terms of not only better value than the GWOCGB but the freedom of choice that it offers members to do what they want to do as a club or as an individual, without having to seek the permission or approval of people, who in reality only seem to care about the need of the few as opposed to the needs of the many.
While retaining individual choices for those who become part of the Federation the Federation also acts as an umbrella organization bringing together everyone who who rides a Goldwing into a community where the members have the final say in where and when to meet, greet their fellow members and to organize their own schedules and events without incuring the wrath of any governing body who do not agree with their choices……glad you are here and look forward to meeting you both as members of the Federation.
Cheers…Joe Traynor…..AKA…Papajoe
Can anyone remember the first UK Gold Wing Meeting, Am I right by saying it was held in Slough around 1976
Thanks
del boy
For info, the GWOCGB held its inaugural meeting at the Tower House Hotel in Reading during the month of May 1980. Other clubs existed before this but not on a national basis.
Hi Stuart, I have attended the last five BLP’s and have always had a great time…but last year (2009) I found the atmosphere was not as friendly as previous years…whilst lining up for the parade there was not that same family feel or togetherness…and I just got the impression there was a division between GWOCGB and the FED. I will be attending the BLP again this year, but until then I will certainly be taking a closer look at the Federation with a view to contributing……
Good luck with your quest ….Mo
Sadly there was “active unfriendliness” from GWOCGB towards the BLP during 2009, including from the Chairman, Chris Hinds, who went as far as announcing at a GWOCGB Meeting that the BLP was cancelled! The Organisers of the BLP (and the Federation) will continue to show friendliness to all Wingers and hopefully our positive spirit will prove to be contagious eventually!
Hi Mo..Glad you managed to find your way to Stuarts site, and glad to hear that you may like to become a member of the Federation. The Federation has a lot to offer it’s new members and as it grows ever larger I am sure that many new and exciting things will be added that will be to the benefit of all Goldwing owners.
PS:….You and Annette better be Quick I think that there are only 2 places left mate….
Hi there, just insured my wing for this year again, but not my club membership. I like the Federation idea; more power to yer elbow. North o’ the Border Winger, not in any club!
Welcome Alex. Hope you don’t mind me translating your Comment into English for the benefit of the Sassenachs.