Chairman & Secretary Report


We request you read our report carefully and give serious consideratIon to its contents:

On returning from this year's TT we asked ourselves - "what is the present position of the TT Supporters Club, what does it achieve, who and what is the Club's future?"

If the Club's function is to actively support and promote the Isle of Man TT, it must return to the ideals under which it was originally formed .... it was created as the Trophy Club by the ACU in the early 1970s, but it soon became apparent that for it to work it would need enthusiasts, not a governing body, at the helm - it was then that the TT Supporters Club was formed in 1972.

Apart from the Club promoting the Island, it went about the task of attracting and encouraging competitors to the greatest road race in the world. To this end, in 1973, the Club gave every competitor a cheque to the value of £3.00 towards expenses, which does not sound a lot, but with 371 competitors it amounted to £1,113.00. The Club had to raise this money selling Annual and Life Memberships, along with T-shirts, etc at the TT. A year later, the Club operated the marquee in the Paddock - as a Soup Tent during Practice Week and Ladies' Haven for Race Week. This, together with the Club Shop, at the rear of the Grandstand, where Memberships, souvenirs, memorabilia, programmes, etc were sold to raise money to support competitors, were manned by volunteers. These volunteers, helping to promote the Club and the TT, all paid their own way - no money or handouts.

Over the years, during the TT and at other times throughout the year at a variety of venues all over the country, the Club has organised dinners, raffles, stalls at motorcycle shows, wine evenings, darts matches, inter-branch competitions, the Riders' Draw, etc. The organisation of these events involved many people - the tasks carried out in the Isle of Man, ten years or so ago, were carried out by between 20 - 25 individuals. Sadly, this is now not the case.....

The Club now spends over £18,000 a year on Competitors' Gifts and the Riders' Draw, but the Club Shop and the Marquee are being operated by fewer than 8 people spread over the two week period - at times this year the Shop had to be closed to enable our staff to serve soup, etc in the Marquee. This can no longer be tolerated; the Club is now at the crossroads in its quest to continue the fulfilment of its objectives. Certainly, the Club can continue to achieve some of its goals - the cost of the Magazine, which has improved ten fold over recent years, can be met through membership subscriptions. Operating our Isle of Man facilities, however, is a different matter.

The Club Shop has given Members cause for concern during recent years. As a result of the alterations at the rear of the Grandstand, the Club now operates from a portacabin, which varies in size and access, has been difficult to work from and is not particularly customer friendly. However, we are indebted to the loM Tourist Board Special Events Unit for all the help given to the TTSC, without which we would have, at times, floundered. As always, our sincere thanks go to officials of the Tourist Board.

How will the Club's situation improve? We need the following to happen:

1. A strong membership - we need members to renew their subscriptions, particularly, if one year they don't go to the TT; each year we lose a third of our membership, although we pick it up with new members, we would like to keep the original members, thus broadening our membership base.

2. Volunteers to work in the Club Shop and the Marquee during TT fortnight

3. Members to organise Club Nights in their local region, perhaps once a month

4. A building at the Grandstand of which the USC could be proud - this is at present in the hands of the Tourist Board and, we are sure, subjected to internal politics.

5. A Ladies' Haven / Soup Tent where you would like to have a cup of tea [even the Lt Governor commented on the sad state of the equipment that we had to use during his visit this year]

Come the New Year, decisions have to be made - if you can help in any way drop us a line To: Roy & Rose Hanks 50 Lyndhurst Road, Erdington, Birmingham B24 8QS.
Tel: 0121 686 3799 or Email 

WE NEED YOUR HELP - NOW

As a post script, we know the majority of competitors are grateful for the gifts they receive - overalls , anoraks, shirts, tool trays, cable ties, lubricating oil, duct tape, visors, contact cleaner [as examples from over the years]. Some, however, think it's just somewhere to go to receive something for the price of a membership - would competitors join the Club if we didn't hand out gifts? Some competitors who won financial awards in this year's Riders' Draw failed to collect their money and so received their cheques through the post - not one contacted us to offer acknowledgement or thanks!!.

Roy & Rose Hanks 
[Chairman & Secretary]

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