The Western Region Action Group
|
January 2005 |
Fed up with the relatives and still struggling thro’ the Turkey, then jump
on the bike and blow those cobwebs away because its your chance to come along
and have a say in how your Region's run and let the Committee know what you'd
like taken up to National level for them to discuss.
A great way to spend a
January Sunday!
There will be a few eats and some refreshments with the job
of the day being to elect your Regional Rep and Committee for the forthcoming
year?
And don’t forget your membership cards to allow you to vote.
The venue for the event will be:
Glos MAG proudly presents their first:
MISSEDTHECHRISTMASPARTY
PARTY
On Saturday 22nd January 2005 in Gloucester from 8 till
late with live music Real Ale and some Hot Food. This is a limited numbers
only event and is Pre booked ticket only £7.50. Any profit is being
split between MAG and a charity. Contact Donna or Sheila at Glos MAG for
further details or to book, Or go to: Gloucester
MAG
These items of Mid-Wilts News are from Taff: A very successful if somewhat
chilly Bike Awareness day was held in Chippenham during November at the Fizz
bar.
Thanks to everyone for helping out and turning up for our charity
weekend events on the 4th December. About 30 bikes took part and we raised
around £180 for the Springboard pre-school for children with special
needs, including Severance donating 30 pounds of their booking fee as well.
Big thanks go to the Lysley Arms for waving their booking fee for the hall in
the evening. We are looking to hold our AGM on Thursday January
27th at 8:00pm bring your membership cards to vote.
Paul is
talking to the Shires shop management team about holding a bike Awareness day
in Trowbrige. Inside this time! Finally Nero’s has burnt down so no
more Rock Nights!
That most looked forward too event, the Duk Dik Rally, is to take place
over the Easter Weekend of 25th - 27th March (YES MARCH, so don’t forget to
pack the Thermals), at a location in Gloucestershire. As usual the rally will
have Real Ale, Live Bands and Silly Games. Entrance will as usual be by
ticket only, so keep an eye out for the Duk Dik circulars and Ads in the
Streetbiker, and of coarse The Wrag when further details will be
available.
And as usual Glos MAG will be very grateful for anybody who is
willing to help Marshal the Event, so if you can help let your Reps know,
after all what else have you got to do in March.
Weston & North Somerset MAG are organising a Pet Food Run to be held on April 24th starting in Weston-super-Mare and visiting one or two animal sanctuaries. Keep an eye on The Wrag for further Info.
Here is an item that has come down from Trevor Baird at Central
Office.
MAG continues to move forward in the world of academia as more
University departments become involved in the issues surrounding
motorcycling.
These included safety, a bane on motorcycling and the freedom
to enjoy our chosen form of transport or lifestyle.
A lot of attitudinal
studies have been completed trying to find out what makes motorcyclists tick,
all in the name of safety.
So it’s refreshing to receive a request
for assistance on how a section of the motorcycling population are represented
in motorcycle magazines.
Nicola Fern from Glasgow Caledonian University is
conducting a cultural studies project, which consists of a survey of
“bikers” to see whether the representations of women are backed up
by the opinion of motorcyclists in general or are simply part of the image the
magazines wish to put forward.
The survey is open to both male and female
gender to complete and includes a section for further comments.
You may
think that a biker is a biker no matter what gender and ponder what really is
a biker, but as Nicola says, “personal comments say so much more than
statistics”. The survey is at: Questionnaire
The following Data is from the DfT, Trends in personal travel
Data.
Total domestic passenger distance travel increased by 62 per cent
between 1980 and 2003, from 491 to 794 billion passenger kilometers. Much of
this growth occurred between 1980 and 1990 (up 41 per cent). Since then,
distance traveled has increased by 15 per cent. The majority of the growth
has been due to increased travel by car, which rose from 388 billion passenger
kilometers in 1980 to 678 billion in 2003 - an increase of 75 per cent.
The
average number of trips made per person per year fell by 9 per cent between
1989/91 and 2002/03, from 1,100 to 1,000. The proportion of trips made by car
has increased steadily from 57 per cent in 1989/91 to 64 percent in 2002/03.
The average number of trips made by car was 640 in 2002/03.
Since 1989/91
there has been a continual decline in the number of trips made on foot, from
328 to 244. Trips by bicycle or motorcycle have also fallen, by 33 per cent
from 27 to 18. Trips made by rail or London Underground has remained fairly
constant over the whole period.
However, the number of trips made by local
bus has fallen by 19 per cent since 1989/91, from 73 to 59.
Average annual
distance traveled has increased by 6 per cent since 1989/91, to 6,854 miles in
2002/03, owing to an increase in the average distance traveled by car of 9 per
cent to 5,600 miles. Over the same period, average annual distance walked
fell by 19 per cent, from 237 to 191 miles per year, and distance traveled by
bicycle or motorcycle fell by 14 per cent - from 79 to 68 miles per year.
The Motorcycle Action Group accepts no responsibility for the content of this publication and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the Editor or MAG.
The Demented Troll wishes all the readers of The Wrag a Happy and Prosperous New Year, unless you are a Goat that is!