Fundraising to finance maintenance
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 the Teesside & North Yorkshire TRF it became clear that the most effective route to get local authorities to maintain roads was to wave some cash. Host events, raise money, use money to get results, and members get to spend their weekends riding not digging. Leo Crone explains.
For about the last seven or so 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. After that 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 means money so it has been up to the Teesside & North Yorkshire TRF group to raise the funds, which we have done through a number of methods. For example, for horse events we supply score card collectors riding around a course collecting from fence judges. We also hold regular club night raffles. We also host three events in the year, a Moors Camping Weekend, Dales Camping Weekend and the Coast to Coast. Each event needs at least three to four organisers and five to eight 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.
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 Teesside group and Craig, Stuart, Dave and Paul from other groups.
