Midlands Group Lunch and Prize Presentation
Sunday 25th. January saw a total of 67 get together for their annual event which, once again, was ably organised by Greta Spiers with the Kings Court Hotel near Alcester serving an excellent meal.
Members and Guests were welcomed by our Treasurer, Barry Keen, who outlined the support and encouragement tendered by the “other halves” towards their dedicated and committed partners. Judging by some of the amused expressions on the ladies faces other phrases might have been used to describe this attitude but everyone enjoyed Barry’s true-to-life remarks. The main sponsor of the Midlands Points Series, Echelon Cycles of Pershore, was represented by proprietor Tim Wood and his wife Emily who also brought along a few examples of time trialling equipment which certainly created a lot of interest.
Our Guest Speaker this year was Brian Newton accompanied by Arja who graciously presented the trophies later in the day. Brian, who had a serious accident riding in a time trial last May, spoke about his injuries, his treatment and his continuing rehabilitation with a deft mixture of honesty and good humour which drew much laughter from the audience. He spoke also of the many messages he had received over the months which helped him during the early days and told us of his new claim to fame - while being conveyed from Swindon to Frenchay Hospital near Bristol the authorities actually closed the M4 motorway and provided two police cars as escort complete with “blues and two’s”. How cool is that? That everyone was pleased to see him up on his feet again was evidenced in the huge round of applause at the end of his speech.
The award of the Wooden Spoon was handled expertly by Tony Taylor, our former Press Secretary, who delighted the assembly with a convoluted but extremely funny review of possible recipients before deciding that the lucky fellow was Rob Meredith of the Walsall RCC. There were whispers that Tony’s tale benefited from some slight embellishment but………why let facts get in the way of a good story?
The Echelon/VTTA Midlands Points Series awards were presented by Tim Wood – the Age Group winners being Neil Coventry, Phil Brown, Tony Taylor and John Dixson. The full list of winners has appeared in our Group magazine but it was pleasing to see Peter Rose getting some pocket money and also the only lady to qualify, Debbie Sheridan, with a commendable series of rides.
The main awards ceremony was conducted by Recorder, Les Lowe, with the main trophy winners, David Gostelow and Keith Gelder, on parade to receive their trophies. It was interesting to note that although some riders collected more than one trophy, the spread of awards over the Group area was quite wide. As with the Points Series, a full list of winners is in the Winter edition of the magazine and sincere congratulations are due to all winners of the Points Series, Standard medals/plaques and the Group trophies.
Who ended the day with the biggest smile? Our Lunch organizer, Greta, who won the cuddly Teddy Bear in the Raffle – Ah! Bless!!
Alan Colburn |
The C W Cooke Trophy 
The Ted Bricknell Memorial Award, first presented in 1973, pays homage to former President Ted Bricknell and is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding services to the VTTA. Nominations are made by Groups and decided by the NEC. The award is retained permanently by the recipient and in 2008 it has been awarded to Terry Kay of North Lancashire Group. Terry has been Group Secretary and Treasurer for more than 15 years. He has also served nine years as Dinner Secretary (undertaking all the tasks involved). Over the past 18 years he has promoted 28 events and is a prolific Timekeeper. 
from Dave Humphreys, also in the December edition of the Veteran. 
for more information. These meetings are important so please make every effort to attend
against them. Details on the various Record pages which can be found using the links on the right.
