As the North West no longer has formal area co-ordinators, something recently crossed my mind. I live close to Clitheroe in the Ribble Valley and mine is a daily drive. It never ceases to amaze me just how many 5’s we see daily/weekly travelling around Lancashire/Ribble Valley. So, I’m wondering if there’s actually any call for an area group and if so, how we might be able to get the ball rolling? I’m just over a year away from retirement and as that time approaches, would love to be more active and to partake in club runs, etc.
Cheers & Happy New Year!
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Hi Mark,
I’ve just been thinking this past week or so how nice it is to see so many area groups posting info here on the forum about their upcoming drives and events.
I hadn’t realised the the “North West” group is currently between co-ordinators. Put that together with the Manchester group also currently “having a rest”, and there’s a big gap across much of North West England. Which is a shame, because we have some wonderful driving country and, I suspect, a lot of MX5 owners who’d love opportunities to meet each other.
If a North West group does get back up and running, I’d love to come along and join in some drives out. Sounds like you’re only an hour away from me.
Nick
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Unfortunately we live at the end of the country’s longest cul-de-sac (Ulverston) and it is a considerable distance to get to the club meets and many of the events, which are mostly in deepest Lancashire. It would be interesting to know how many members reside in South Lakeland as we do see a fair number of MX5s about.
Hi
Steve & Michael are the two new area coordinators for North West and they should be sending out comms in the not too distant future, after a few IT struggles.
We are also reviewing the issue with Manchester and those in the Lakes area, with potential new boundaries being drawn. Watch this space.
Thanks
Helen
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We’re not far off the M6 north of Preston and often drive up to south lakes with our little fur ball. Although in summer we use the Kuga as we take picnic stuff etc. Only 45 minutes from Silverdale which is one of our happy places. But yes, it would be great to have some drives/meets a little further up and more accessible to fellow MX-5 'ers near the Lakes.
Thanks for the update Helen, looks promising.
Can I just add, and this goes for any area, not just North West, that if there are no drives/events/meets going on in your neck of the world then please organise something. What makes an area and the Club successful is its members volunteering to organise runs - this isn’t the responsibility of ACs, they are there just to coordinate them.
So those of you in the Lakes, get involved - if you feel there’s nothing going on then there will be others thinking the same. Offer to arrange a drive, or just a Sunday morning tyre-ticking and coffee type event if that is less daunting, and see who turns up, you might find it’s really successful, and if it’s not, then you’ll have a lovely drive out in your MX-5 or a coffee & bacon butty admiring your P&J!
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Funny you should say that. Silverdale is one of our favourite places to drive out to in the MX-5. We love to go for a walk along the coast there and there are many secluded little bays there to have a picnic.
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Brill!
Fair points Helen. I would love to do this, but usually our Sundays are taking up doing something else, which for my wife takes precedence. If we could arrange stuff for in the week or Saturdays we may be able to get more involved especially if they are a bit closer to us. Evening drives would be great (outside of the winter months) if local members were amenable. Looking forward to seeing what happens regarding new boundaries. Thanks for all your help.
North Thames hold Re-Tyred 5s mid-week meets - they are REALLY successful.
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Thanks Claire - please can you encourage them to share comms here in the NW area of the MX5OC forum?
Hi Ian
The comms are via email, so providing you are a Club member, which you are, and have not opted out to being contacted, then you will receive the email. Events should be posted on the North West diary first and foremost, to ensure the event is covered by the Club’s public liability insurance.
Just to clarify the situation the Nw area does have co ordinators!!
They can’t however post events on the oc website until the hierarchy sort out the idea of crating new parts for the northwest
So far there seems to be no progress from above
Until then we have a perfectly good Facebook site Mx5northwest
You ll find all the events etc on there !
There are also mx5 Facebook groups for Lancashire and Eden valley
They also organise events
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately not everybody uses Facebook (a minority I know). I don’t because I once had some nasty experiences on there. I know many people are very happy to use Facebook but I prefer to use the OC websites.
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It’s the top option with the yellow NA in the thumbnail, in case anyone is looking for it on FB. A few options come up when searching…
Thanks for the update. As we have an “official” MX5OC forum here, please can the respective parties kiss and make up so we have a single place for official NW discussions, communications, and events?
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We ve tried this for months but the hierarchy haven’t resolved their issue
They feel the Northwest should become separate from Cumbria and want to reorganise
They just haven t done it yet
Meanwhile our coordinator s use our Facebook site until ???
Thankfully we have the NW area of the forum here, so no need to use facebook.