Never give up, Never give in
August 24, 2017
Big miles. Big smiles.
September 19, 2017
Conservation of Green Roads comes in many forms. Sometimes it's about volunteering with a pick and shovel, or power tool if you have the right ticket. For Leo Crone and Teesside & North Yorkshire TRF, it became clear that the most effective route to get local authorities to maintain roads is to wave some cash. Host events, raise money, use money to get results, and members get to spend their weekends riding not digging.
TRF:
Hi Leo. It’s been a while since we last connected. How’s life in North Yorkshire right now?Leo:
Like always its a challenge with some parts of the various government bodies in North Yorkshire working with us and others at best ignoring us at worst working against us, but with the support of an active membership and a national committee able to support us in court actions we are holding our own.TRF:
I saw a pic on Facebook recently showing you handing over a cheque to the National Park. What’s that all about then?Leo:
For about the last 3 to 4 years we have been working with Dales National Parks in an effort to keep the network of unsurfaced roads in sustainable condition.Initially we supplied volunteers to work on projects that Parks had scheduled on vehicular rights of way, the second year I offered funds to pay the Parks local contractors to carry out the improvement work. This worked out better as we did not have to rustle up volunteers, arrange insurance equipment etc and we were putting monies into the local economy.
Volunteering or fundraising? It looks like it's more fun raising funds through events to Leo and his team.
Of course this costs money so it was up to the Teeside and North Yorkshire TRF group to get the funds, which we did through a number of methods.
For horse events we supply score card collectors riding around a course collecting from fence judges. We hold club night raffles. We also host 3 events in the year, a Moors Camping Weekend, Dales Camping Weekend and the Coast to Coast. Each event needs at least 3 to 4 organisers and 5 to 8 run leaders per day.
The net result is that Dales Rangers now see a worn road not as an impending closure but a candidate for conservation with TRF participation.
TRF:
It sounds like you have a good relationship with the National Park. I’m guessing that’s not something that’s happened over night?Leo:
It was a chance meeting on a UCR, I was leading a group and chanced on a working party shovelling stone (average age 70) I approached the Park Officer with an offer to assist and from then on the co-operation started. Initially other user groups were invited into the working party but to date have failed to participate.TRF:
It sounds like a lot of work, well done Leo and team! And I’m sure I also saw you guys at the BikeWise show put on by Durham Police.Leo:
The group has an active core participating in organising events, club nights, leading runs and the non riding stuff like attending meetings, research, communicating with Parks and Council Officers, members enquiries, and on occasion getting help from other groups. I’d like to thank Martin, Dick, Ashley, Chris, John, Doug, Gill, Stuart, Paul from the Teeside group and Craig, Stuart, Dave and Paul from other groups
TRF:
Thanks Leo, good luck with the rest of this years fundraising.
