East Midlands Rangers Meeting

The meeting, held in Derby, was preceded by a ride from Derby Railway Station, out along the Mickleover Greenway (NCN Route 54) to Hilton, where we enjoyed a meal at Don Amott's cafe
Ranger groups represented were from Erewash, Newark, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Leicestershire, Swadlincote and Derby. Dave Stevens came along to represent Sustrans.

Here we are at the cafe in Hilton.

After cycling back into Derby we held the meeting in the Flowerpot PH, a local hostelry which serves real ale.
Matters discussed were as follows :-
Reports on this years Festivol, CTC/Cyclenation Conference held in Sheffield and Camp Conkers 2011.
It was felt that we would like to see Fesivol 2012 held in the East Midlands, and that Sherwood Forest was a very suitable location.  Should this happen, then all groups present agreed to support the project.
Other subjects discussed the proposition that the Five Pits Trail should be a part of the National Cycle Network, and it was suggested that this be put on the agenda for the Derbyshire External Cycle Liaison Meeting on 24th November.
There was further discussion on Free Range Kids, and how we could get more people out on public rides. The Newark Group have been more sucessful at this than most, by building up a data base of previous attendees and by getting support for publicity. Also they had a compehensive programme of rides and quoted time rather than distance on the publiciy.
Clyde Hinton agreed to host the next meeting, which will be sometime in January 2012. he will advise us of the exact date and the venue in due course..