December Public Meeting - Speaker Stephen Joseph

For our December meeting we are delighted to welcome Stephen Joseph Executive Director of Campaign for better Transport (formerly Transport 2000)

who will be speaking about local issues to reduce car dependency:

His talk is entitled  "Moving around in a Saner World"

Stephen lives in St Albans and was our guest speaker in November 2001.

Additionally we will present all the latest local cycling news - and there's been lots going on!

Seasonal cheer too - mulled wine & mince pies...

Everyone welcome - bring family & friends  and pass the information to neighbours & work colleagues - a little selective forwarding of this message could help.

I

When: 7.30pm Wednesday 2 December 2009

Where: Committee Room 1, (Lower Ground Floor)

        St Albans District Council Offices ,


        Civic Centre, St Peters Street,


        St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 3JE

Looking forward to seeing you there!

http://www.bettertransport.org.uk

http://www.stacc.org.uk

Have you seen this stolen bike?

The St Albans Review and the Herts Advertiser both cover the story of a Giant mountainbike stolen from Bricket wood:

"It is believed to have been taken around 5.25pm when the owner and a friend were sitting in the communal area rose gardens in the village.He had left the pedal cycle resting against a nearby railing and a man wearing a brown hat, white or grey hooded top and dark trouser bottoms rode off on it.Two other men who were with the thief at the time quickly walked away.One was described as around 6ft tall, of medium build and wearing similar clothes to the thief and the other was white, in his late teens or early twenties, around 5ft 10ins tall with light brown hair. He was wearing a white Adidas hooded top, jeans and white trainers" reports the Advertiser.

Keep youyr eyes open and contact Pc Woods on 0845 33 00 222 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111- especially if you're offered this bike second-hand.

STACC Calendar of Events & Meetings

This is a constantly updated calendar of STACC Events & other local cycling events of interest.
Included are Rides, Meetings (restricted or public) & Social events.
Tell us (via a comment) of any other stuff which might be included.
You can use it in Week, Month or Agenda view, by clicking on the tab.
Agenda View is best - so it's the default setting.
Non-STACC events are included, but they are beyond our control. If you know of changes to any of them please advise - by comment.

To get direct access to the calendar without visiting this Blog, browse to tinyurl.com/stacc-cal - easy to remember.

Existing Calendar Users
If you are a user of your own on-line calendar or MS Outlook or any other organizer which supports ical, you should be able to display STACC calendar alongside your other calendars. You may need the above tinyurl link. I am not an expert on this.

Anyone who knows how, please raise a comment against this Post to guide others - or just advise with a few helpful URLs.

Short trip within St Albans Sun 8th Nov 2009

A short afternoon social trip from Marshalswick Quadrant to the Organ Museum, mostly off road, via Jersey Lane, Oaklands, Highfield and the Camp Cycleway - returning before lighting up time via Fleetville quiet roads (for those needing to return there - or go straight home).

Date: Sun 8th Nov 2009

Meet: Marshalswick Quadrant, St Albans.

Time : 13:30

No charge for the ride, no need to book.

There is an admission charge for the Organ Museum.

(The Museum opens at 14:00.)

Leader: Doug Nevell - phone 01582 762120 in case of queries.

More about the Organ Museum [HERE]

And a little taster of its quaint sounds & sights [HERE]

Afternoon Ride to Welwyn Sat 17th October 12 Miles

An easy afternoon ride (about 12 miles total)

To: Welwyn's Roman Bath House

Date: Sat 17th October 2009

Meet: Sandridge car park

Time: 13:30

No need to book. No Charge.

Leader: Rona - Phone 01727 836470 in case of queries.

St Albans Car Free Day 2009 - Success

Picture by phatcontroller

St Albans 2009 Car Free Day (announced in an earlier post ) was welcomed as a modest success. In this, the first year that St Albans District Council (SADC) has promoted the event, the aim had not been to attempt to reduce the volume of car traffic in the city.

In the end, four stalls were manned - STACC's own, Transition St Albans [see], Intalink (Public Transport) [see] & SADC.

There was to have been a Travelwise/Intalink bus as well, but it is thought to have broken down. (Happily my bike showed better reliability in transporting the contents of the STACC display.)

I must thank the 14 STACC members who turned up to assist and support. It was a remarkable turnout at such short notice & on a working day. Some of you stretched your lunch hours to be there. Your presence was extremely encouraging and generated much additional public interest in our stall and in the whole event. In fact we ran out of stocks of free maps and literature well before the end of the event.

The Slow Bike Race was - significantly - won by St Albans' cycling Mayor - Councillor Chris Oxley, STACC member Pat was second. I am at pains to stress that Pat (who had been much fancied to win) was NOT under team orders allow the Mayor to win.

I believe that SADC will be encouraged by the support given & will, we hope, be able to host a larger well planned event in future years - STACC will be urging them to do so. One idea mentioned was that the next event should take place on the Sunday nearest 22nd September 2010, which will be 19th September - so please pencil in your diaries.

Five Miles to fabulous - Saturday 10 October

This is a led ride for women only, organised by the Cyclists Touring Club, with the aim of encouraging less experienced or 'I've not been on my bike in ages' women riders to venture out. We will ride out from central St Albans along the Alban Way to Sleapshyde. There will be some on-road riding to get to and from the Alban Way and to give road-craft experience.
Meet on Saturday 10 October at 0930h at the Faber Maunsell office on Upper Marlborough Road, coffee stop at Sleapshyde Methodist Church. Experienced riders are very welcome, but they need to be able to maintain a gentle pace!

Rona Wightman, ride leader