So what’s been going on at SAM since my last column you might be wondering?Some riders think of the winter as being a quiet time for bikers, but they should see the numbers of riders who turn up for the SAM  Group Rides each Sunday throughout the winter.   Normally between 12 and 18 turn out to the well organised runs led by a selection of our members, some leading a run for the first time.  Many new members have joined in these runs and have been given a warm welcome by us all.  

TV programmes on the 2nd Tuesday of each month must be pretty bad, or is it that the attraction of the SAM Club Night is just too good to miss. The December Club Night saw 80 members enjoying a truly excellent evening and even the Nov and Jan nights saw 70 or so members arrive.  All this has been due to the efforts of our Club Night Organiser Sam Davis. Our MDU is receiving some TLC from new member Richard Ferguson at his works at New Milton.  Richard has offered to do the work in his own time with SAM paying only for the parts that will be required.   Free tea & biscuits for a year must be in order here I would have thought.   The refurbished MDU will be up on Portsdown Hill attracting new members on the 25^th March; so do drop in for a chat if you are that way. The following Sunday is our first SAM Sunday of the year at Sarisbury Green Community Centre and a really good day is being planned, so put it in your diary and join us for a full English Breakfast and much more as well. We are planning some annual changes around the committee with John Parvin taking over the Treasurers job from Godwin Calafato,

David Spicer being handed the Chief Observers job by John Goodson and Rex, who is so busy with other things has said,  "Having served over three years in the position of Group Secretary and having to take on additional responsibilities for another group, I feel that it is necessary to ask to be released from my post.  I intend to continue as a member of SAM and take part in the club activities; however, for the next couple of months at least, for health reasons, I will not be riding my bike nor doing anything too strenuous.  All minutes etc for the past three years are electronically stored and the 2007 AGM paperwork is set to go, just needs a few tweaks.  I will always be available to help with advice on the Secretary front". You will all be pleased to hear that Colin Backhouse our Vice Chairman has offered to take on  the Secretary’s role and to hand over his Skills Coordinators’ job to someone else. We have a new SAM Information leaflet under way and we will need you all to help to distribute these around the Dealers and your places of work etc.

We need to keep our membership numbers up as they have started to fall over the winter months. So please do your bit by spreading the word about the advantages of improving riding skills by joining SAM. Happy and safe riding to you all.