[DianneH]

Just to put you in the picture re events at the club and hopefully dispel any myths about the club closing and yet another club being lost to the north-east drivers. We have had a very bad outdoor season to date - as you all know the weather has been atrocious and, although we had hoped to run a full calendar of events this season, we have been unable to do this and on the days when we have been able to run we have only had a handful of drivers - at the last meeting we had 12 and the previous one we only had 6.

As I have said before, if the club is to keep running we need your support. We were hoping that with a full calendar of events that the club would build back up to what it used to be but while drivers stay away from the club, this will never happen.

We will continue to race outdoors while we can but with an indoor rent of nearly £200 per meeting we are unable to put on indoor events when we do not know whether we will get sufficient drivers to cover the cost - we need at least 40 drivers per meeting and the numbers at the outdoor meetings do not give any indication that we could attract the number of drivers required. We need more drivers to attend the outdoor meetings so that we can get the club back on track, enabling us to plan for indoors.

Regarding the point made re giving something back to members, I would like to point out that many meetings in the past have been subsidised due to lack of attendance - especially when touring car meetings were being held on Saturday evenings. In addition, there are many costs involved in running the club - replacement equipment, repair of transponders, fuel, track repairs, rent, insurance etc. We also still have to pay the annual outdoor rent even though we have had insufficient meetings to cover the cost and all this when we are not able to hold meetings. I must be old fashioned in my way of thinking - I thought it was more about what we give to the club, not what we can get out of it - should the priority not be about the racing experience - if the club does not survive then local drivers would have to look elsewhere - surely you do not want that to happen?

I would ask you to spread the word that club meetings will be held whenever possible and if we can rely on the attendance of drivers then this will enable us to offer a good indoor series.

I would also like to mention the Interclub which was planned to be held at the Batley venue. Teams need to be formed in order for this meeting to be organised beforehand and if drivers do not attend meetings - how are we supposed to select a team?

I believe that the weather is going to be good on Sunday - so why not call on everyone that you can to come and join us and we could have a really good meeting and get a few names for Interclub teams at the same time. We will be tryi8ng to race on as many Sundays as possible - weather permitting.

I look forward to seeing many of you on Sunday between 10 am and 10.30 am!

Dianne